A cruise school approved by the French Sailing Federation
The Sailing Centre was created in 1987 under the impetus of a group of Macif members who were passionate about sailing and who were concerned about the lack of risk prevention. Sailing requires knowledge and know-how and it is in this sense that Macif has launched its own training school. Each year, more than 1,700 trainees follow one of the many courses offered by the cruise school: family, offshore or cruising courses, regattas, fleet sailing, theme courses, etc.
Since its creation, the non-profit association, approved by the French Sailing Federation, has welcomed 42,000 trainees who have come to learn sailing or motorboating. Because even if the Macif's speciality is training on a habitable sailboat, the school also trains for a motor boat licence.
A fleet of living sailboats from 12 to 14 m
The Macif Sailing Centre specialises in training on habitable sailing yachts and provides students with a fleet of 10 Dufour brand monohulls, from 12 to 14 m, which can accommodate 5 to 6 trainees on board. The oldest is the Dufour 445 (2012) and the most recent is the Dufour 36 (2017). All are equipped with cabins to spend the night on board, as part of a cruise course or an initiation course, with return to port every evening. 1 motorboat is also used for the boat licence.
Training locations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
The sailing school has several bases in France in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the West Indies. Even if in the majority of training courses, one is attached to a port, it is possible to visit several bases during a training course, in particular within the framework of cruises, or to leave a port and arrive on another port, within the framework of itinerant training courses.
The main base in Atlantic France is La Rochelle, with 9 trainers all year round, employed or on fixed-term contracts. Marseille is a reference in the Mediterranean, with 6 trainers all year round, including the only woman on the team, Pascale.
Employee and graduate trainers
Macif Centre de Voile's trainers are all holders of the French Sailing Federation's patents, i.e. the Brevet d'Etat and/or the BPJEPS specialised in cruising. They are also merchant navy graduates and hold the Captain 200 certificate, not mandatory to practice, but enriching from an educational point of view.
They spend 208 days/year on the water, and sometimes several days in a row as part of an offshore course.
An extensive training programme
The Macif Sailing School offers courses for all levels, from beginner to advanced.
You can start with a weekend discovery course and spend 13 days on the water for an offshore course to consolidate your skills as watch leader and skipper with night sailing and night shifts.
In addition to these level training courses (beginner to skipper), the Macif Sailing Centre offers themed courses such as harbour manoeuvres, weather, the CRR, regatta courses, professional training courses such as World Sailing (for sailors) or the Federal Cruising Monitor, or individual training courses on its own boat with the Coach Plaisance .
Photo credits: Bateaux.com
