An increasing number of hobby-sportsmen and windsurfers are fascinated by catamaran sailing.
Learning catamaran sailing has never been that easy. Even kids and teenagers can turn their dream into reality.
How come? You can learn the basics of this type of sport in a few hours. Visiting a good school is the key to a quick success: modern catamarans are used there, guaranteeing a secure and fast way to learn sailing. By using the latest training methods, professional instructors teach you to handle the catamaran in a few hours.
The basic course is focused on traffic rules, safety tips and environmental consciousness. It’s important to complete a course with the exam for the basic licence as it is a proof for the practical and theoretical training and makes it easier to hire a catamaran.

What are the contents of the catamaran basic-licence examination?
The basic-licence is composed of the following parts :

Practice: setting sails and taking them down, casting-off and landing, steering different courses with adequate sail position, up-wind beating of at least 300 m., tack, jibe, orders, stopping by sailing into the wind and into the waiting-position, capsizing and righting, man-overboard manoeuvre, what to do in special situations.

Theory: Equipment, physics of sailing -especially the position of sails and the wind's and sail force's mode of action, general law, relevant maritime rules, local particularities, meteorology, nature and environment, relevant knots and their different applications, attitudes in emergencies and bad weather conditions, safety.

Does the sailing basic licence represent an official paper ?
The sailing basic licence is not an official paper. Thus, a homologation with regard to the official sailing licences is not possible.

I would like to rent a catamaran - do watersports centres recognise the basic licence?
Yes, they do. Schools which also propose official licences generally recognise the complete practice part, meaning that after a short introduction the exam for an official paper can be passed. As to the catamaran basic licence: even it is not an official paper, it constitutes a proof of your basic training and the corresponding examination, illustrating by this that you acquired catamaran-specific knowledge and skills. Moreover, the catamaran basic-licence facilitates the renting of a cat and is recognised by every VDWS-school, home or abroad.