Flying Fish Sailing

The story goes back nearly 30 years. I created Flying Fish in the UK, and we were looking for a destination that would let us make better use of the British winter. I already had connections in Australia and at Middle Harbour, so we developed a UK–Australia Yachtmaster Fast Track programme—a concept Flying Fish pioneered in the UK.

It proved so popular that the programme evolved into a permanent local training centre at Middle Harbour. Today we have a strong Australian customer base, while students still arrive through Flying Fish UK and European agents for professional Fast Track programmes.

Many graduates are now captains and senior crew around the world. They have become part of the network that helps the next generation get started.

It is visually spectacular, but it is also excellent and surprisingly challenging. The bays produce different wind effects, there is generally plenty of breeze, and we can quickly reach either the Tasman Sea for offshore training or the main harbour.

Sydney has less tide than many UK training areas, but the harbour and Tasman Sea provide plenty of other challenges. For an international student, there is also something special about leaving a cold European winter and sailing on Sydney Harbour.

That advice is a big part of the conversation before someone books. For international work on sailing yachts or in the superyacht industry, the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster is generally the key qualification. For commercial work on sailing vessels in Australia, the AMSA Sailing Master pathway matters. Many professional candidates will ultimately benefit from both.

Australian Sailing is particularly strong in areas such as dinghy sailing and Safety & Sea Survival. We are also an Australian Registered Training Organisation delivering AMSA-related training, with further programmes under development.

A typical starting point is an RYA Start Yachting weekend. Students meet the instructor and crew, receive a safety briefing and learn the basic equipment—winches, clutches and lines—then we get sailing quickly.

We begin by reaching across the wind, tacking at each end and rotating everyone through the positions. From there we introduce sailing upwind, the no-go zone, tacking towards an objective and sailing downwind. By the end of the day, students have actually sailed the boat rather than watched somebody else do it.

It is a broad mix of Australians and international students who want to make sailing their career. Some aim for superyachts; others want to become charter skippers, instructors, mates or professional skippers in Australia.

Former students have gone on to skipper in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and work on commercial and private yachts around the world. Yachtmaster is not really the end of the journey—it is the beginning of being a professional skipper.

You get out what you put in. There is substantial theory as well as practical sailing, so people who study, participate, work as part of the team and immerse themselves in the programme generally do well.

People learn at different speeds. We sometimes call one option the ‘slow-track Fast Track’: a student spreads the programme out, sails independently between modules and builds experience progressively. Motivation and participation matter more than arriving as a sailing superstar.

One route is to complete a Fast Track programme, gain Yachtmaster and potentially an AMSA Sailing Master qualification, then build professional experience. Some graduates become RYA Cruising Instructors and build command time by teaching. Others enter the superyacht industry as deckhands and progress from there.

I think of a newly qualified Yachtmaster like a newly qualified pilot: you have earned the licence, but the important next step is experience and command time. I like the route where people skipper smaller vessels early and build genuine command experience before moving to larger boats.

It creates a useful international pathway. A student can train in Sydney, complete STCW training in the UK and then head into the European superyacht industry, including through our connections in Antibes. Others combine sailing qualifications here with Yachtmaster Power training in the UK.

British and European students also come to Sydney for part of their training. It turns professional training into an international adventure as well as a qualification.

Our principal training yachts include Beneteau First 40.7s and a First 40, which provide a strong balance of performance and comfort. We want boats that actually teach people to sail and give students a feel for the raw sailing skills.

For offshore work we also have Arctos, a locally built 55-foot Radford cutter. It is a substantial, capable offshore training yacht.

Personality is key. Qualifications and experience matter, but we want supportive leaders, good communicators and team players who genuinely enjoy teaching. A good skipper looks after both the boat and the crew: happy boat, happy crew, happy skipper.

Practical and technical skills add another layer. Someone with an engineering or diesel-mechanic background, for example, brings valuable knowledge to a yacht.

The key is understanding what each person is trying to achieve. Course outcomes need to be clear, but good service and instruction also mean understanding the individual.

Someone who wants an enjoyable first day has a very different objective from a Yachtmaster candidate or career changer. We need to deliver appropriately for both.

Sydney is a good place to sail all year. I particularly like autumn—March, April and May—when the water is still warm and the strong summer southerlies have usually eased, provided there is no East Coast Low.

Spring is excellent too, and winter can produce beautiful sailing days. You simply need to watch for the stronger winter westerlies.

People often worry that everybody else will know more, or that they will not fit into the crew. They quickly discover that everyone brings different strengths and that becoming a crew is part of learning to sail.

A crew forms much like any team: people learn to communicate, establish routines and gradually perform together. That process is a big part of the fun.

We are expanding the online academy with short courses that support practical training. The aim is not to replace time on the water, but to make it more effective by helping students arrive better prepared.

We are also considering a larger RIB and, potentially, another offshore yacht.

Sailing is much more accessible than people imagine. You do not need to have grown up sailing, own a boat or know all the terminology before you start.

Complete beginners regularly become very capable sailors and, in some cases, professional skippers. Whether the goal is a weekend on Sydney Harbour, confidence to charter on holiday or an entirely new career, it starts the same way: get on a boat and have a go.