Nomad Sailing
Nomad Sailing
5
Full view
About
From one day sailing experiences in the Solent to full RYA training, Nomad Sailing provide a safe, sound and good humoured way to get out on the water on our fully equipped modern cruising yacht with highly qualified instructors. Food, accomodation and wet weather gear provided on all our courses.
Gosport, Hampshire, England
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2023
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Travellers talk about
(48 reviews)
Contribute
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
5.0
302 reviews
Excellent
302
Very good
0
Average
0
Poor
0
Terrible
0
Timo B
London, UK1 contribution
Oct 2023 • Solo
Did my Competent Crew Course with Nomad. Had an amazing experience. Already looking towards doing my Day Skipper with Nomad in the future. Highly recommend
Written 3 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Martin Smith
6 contributions
Oct 2023 • Solo
Costal Skipper practical course
This was my third course with Nomad and my second practical one
Like the previous two courses the tuition was first rate, the instructor Matt was friendly knowledgeable and vastly experienced.
Matt kept the crew and the boat safe whilst allowing the three candidates to develop their skills.
We spent each night in a different port making it to Weymouth before the weather forecast suggested a return to the Solent for that last day was a sensible option.
Meals onboard and snacks and drinks including some beers and a bottle of wine were included just as advertised although we did eat ashore a couple of times.
All of the RYA syllabus was worked through during our time onboard and it never felt like we were under time pressure.
It was a wet and windy week but the dehumidifier onboard helped to ensure that we were able to be dry and ready to go again by the next morning, everything worked as it should on the yacht Menai III.
All in all a thourghly enjoyable learning experience
This was my third course with Nomad and my second practical one
Like the previous two courses the tuition was first rate, the instructor Matt was friendly knowledgeable and vastly experienced.
Matt kept the crew and the boat safe whilst allowing the three candidates to develop their skills.
We spent each night in a different port making it to Weymouth before the weather forecast suggested a return to the Solent for that last day was a sensible option.
Meals onboard and snacks and drinks including some beers and a bottle of wine were included just as advertised although we did eat ashore a couple of times.
All of the RYA syllabus was worked through during our time onboard and it never felt like we were under time pressure.
It was a wet and windy week but the dehumidifier onboard helped to ensure that we were able to be dry and ready to go again by the next morning, everything worked as it should on the yacht Menai III.
All in all a thourghly enjoyable learning experience
Written 30 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Inglezita
Great Missenden, UK9 contributions
Aug 2023 • Couples
My partner and I went on two Adventure Cruises organised by Nomad Sailing this Summer. The Skippers (Matt & James) on both trips were very experienced and great fun. They both managed to share their knowledge, helping to raise everyone's level of sailing aboard. Both skippers' versatility, meant guiding all aboard when responding to changing weather conditions and adapting the trips accordingly. I would highly recommend anyone going on these Adventure Cruises. These two trips provided invaluable extra sailing experience gained prior to us doing the RYA Coastal Skipper Practical Course (instructed by Joe) in September. Thank you to all at Nomad Sailing.
Written 11 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rebecca R
1 contribution
Sep 2023 • Solo
I did my Day Skipper with Nomad and can highly recommend. Nomad is a small family-run sailing school. Lou and Jim and the team are so passionate and professional and really make you feel welcome. The homemade lasagna and flapjacks were a real treat. The DS curriculum is intense so I felt that I learned a huge amount. My highlights were skippering the whole day, doing our night passage and having the freedom to fit in a bit of swimming and angling! We also got to see so many different areas of the Solent and Nomad generously paid for the mooring fees for the nights we were out of our home harbour. The Solent is such a great area to do the DS in as you see and have to put into action so much of what you learned about in the theory.
Written 10 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
PitPony99
Wokingham81 contributions
Aug 2023
Boat handling drills - it was all very good and we achieved more than I expected. Normally I don't spend time doing man over board drills (neither do the crew) but this was accomplished under engine and sail. Other drills were: stern to mooring (for the med) mooring onto a buoy, etc. It was all created in a learning atmosphere that was patient, relaxed and stress free and definitely no shouting. And in only two days. All adding to experience and confidence. Thanks Alex. The boat was in extremely good condition. The only boat I've been on recently, that doesn't have a squeaky head flush and was squeaky clean. If the dates fit then it will be my first choice.
Written 24 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Emma H
4 contributions
Aug 2023 • Solo
I did my RYA Competent Crew course with Nomad in Aug from Gosport and had a truley wonderful time. I went hoping to gain enough skills to help crew on a yachting holiday with friends in the future and left excited to learn more and progress to Day Skipper. We lived on the boat for five days, almost all food and refreshements were provided and to a great standard. As a solo female, I felt safe and very happy the entire time. The tuition from Alex was excellent and he made the whole course both educational and very fun. I can't wait to gain more sailing experience now and continue learning!
Written 8 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nick B
2 contributions
Jul 2023
A great 5 day course. I did the sailing with my wife on a 37 foot boat. The instructor was very thorough and did a fantastic job in teaching the basics required to skipper a small yacht in a safe and competent manner. We sailed to Southampton, Lymington, Cowes and to Port Solent Marina. Nomad Sailing come highly recommended.
Written 30 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
OriandNickUK
8 contributions
Jul 2023 • Friends
Day Skipper course.
Excellent instructor.
Course is very well explained and comprehensive.
Highly recommended.
Oriana
Excellent instructor.
Course is very well explained and comprehensive.
Highly recommended.
Oriana
Written 23 July 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John R
Nuneaton, England, United Kingdom16 contributions
Jan 2023 • Solo
A excellent yachtmaster theory course, made all the better by a knowlegable instructor, with follow on courses and practical's available throughout the year
Written 13 June 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Derek M
Leamington Spa, UK22 contributions
May 2023
I signed up for Nomad’s RYA Competent Crew course: 5 days and 5 nights aboard this 6-berth, nearly 12m sail boat. Out of the ~300 RYA Recognised Training Centres in the UK I knew nothing about any of them: my choice was driven by having met the owners ~15 years ago at an exhibition.
My prior experience was confined to dinghy helming on inland waters and 8m gaff-rigged sail boat helming on the Norfolk Broads. No meaningful tidal experience or use of winches.
My choice paid off: owners had selected an extremely good trainer, Richard Tarr. He is an excellent coach, clearly very experienced, patient, thorough, fair, honest, and with useful teaching aids and a good sense of humour.
The boat is adapted for training and well maintained.
We ate on board for 3 out of the 5 nights: one is expected to be able to cook. Food supplied by Nomad was well chosen.
The location, the Solent, is an exceptional training area because of the complexity of its tides.
We covered a distance of 92, all tidal, and tied up in 5 marinas: Gosport, East Cowes, Hamble, Southampton, Port Solent (near Portchester), and moored off Yarmouth resting before our 4 hour night sail. Marinas well run with plentiful clean shower and toilet facilities. Weather was sunny, winds Beaufort 2-4.
There were 5 of us as trainees: 3x Day Skipper and 2x Competent Crew. Ages ranged from 21, 37, 56, 61 and I am 71 years old. 3 men, 2 ladies. Whether a crew mix together well is a lottery: ours did, and we had a lot of laughs.
My prior experience was confined to dinghy helming on inland waters and 8m gaff-rigged sail boat helming on the Norfolk Broads. No meaningful tidal experience or use of winches.
My choice paid off: owners had selected an extremely good trainer, Richard Tarr. He is an excellent coach, clearly very experienced, patient, thorough, fair, honest, and with useful teaching aids and a good sense of humour.
The boat is adapted for training and well maintained.
We ate on board for 3 out of the 5 nights: one is expected to be able to cook. Food supplied by Nomad was well chosen.
The location, the Solent, is an exceptional training area because of the complexity of its tides.
We covered a distance of 92, all tidal, and tied up in 5 marinas: Gosport, East Cowes, Hamble, Southampton, Port Solent (near Portchester), and moored off Yarmouth resting before our 4 hour night sail. Marinas well run with plentiful clean shower and toilet facilities. Weather was sunny, winds Beaufort 2-4.
There were 5 of us as trainees: 3x Day Skipper and 2x Competent Crew. Ages ranged from 21, 37, 56, 61 and I am 71 years old. 3 men, 2 ladies. Whether a crew mix together well is a lottery: ours did, and we had a lot of laughs.
Written 2 June 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tonya C
Toronto6 contributions
Hi, would it be possible to just got out for a few hours of sailing as a passenger with an experienced captain and crew?I'm a Canadian who is in Portsmouth for a conference and I would like to go on Thursday, June 27, 2019.
Nomadlou
Hastings, UK10 contributions
Hi Tonya
Thank you for your enquiry, I'm afraid neither boat will be available for that sort of trip on 27th June as they will both be being prepared for the Round the Island Race at the weekend. I would recommend someone else but unfortunately I can't think of any other company that offer a few hours sailing as we pretty much all do minimum 2 day courses. I hope you find something.
Kind regards
Lou
GoPlaces702942
1 contribution
Is this available for June 16th? There is 3 of us. 2 adults and 1 child, is this a possibility?
Thanks a million,
Nadine