Jolly Reviews

I booked a 10 day Yachtmaster Prep course and exam with Jolly Parrot in June-July 2025. It was not at all what I anticipated, but it was an amazing experience.

The boats - a little tired, but very sound, comfortable and great training boats.

The instructors - Ian and Jason. Very different personalities, both great at what they do. Ian is a bit of an old sea dog, clear in both his instruction and his feedback on progress. Jason was extremely enthusiastic and encouraging. I learnt a lot from them both.

And there is a lot to learn! You need to be on top of chart based navigation and Colregs before attending or it will all be too much in 10 days. Much of the time is spent practising manoeuvring in and out of marina berths, harbour walls and pontoons, picking up men overboard, anchoring, mooring, and navigating to specific points on charts, by day, at night, in ‘fog’ and all under both power and sail. It’s really great practise.

The exam itself is challenging. It is a strange situation where the candidate is making all the decisions on board without any discussion or input from the other crew. It somehow shows up all one’s weaknesses; there is nowhere to hide!

But it is a great experience and one that my brain is still processing in my sleep two weeks later.

I passed Yachtmaster Coastal, and I will be back to take Yachtmaster Offshore when I’ve spent more time practising all the great things I’ve learnt.

I also made some good friends that I hope I get a chance to meet again.

Thanks a million, Parrots!

THE best! Hands down the best weekend we had for a long time! We did the Africa weekend adventure with Jason who has been absolutely fantastic, patient and knowledgeable, making sure we had a safe and yet fun experience on Cheeky Parrot (the sailboat)!

I had an incredible experience with Jolly Parrot - fully recommend. They have excellent facilities and equipment. The instructors are very knowledgable and make the whole experience very fun (I had Hannah for my comp crew week, and Ian for my day skipper week). I liked that their teaching was tailored for each individual. They help you with any weak points that could do with a bit of extra focus, so you can be more confident on the water by the end of the course. If you’re looking for a top notch sailing experience, Jolly Parrot is the place to be!

From comp crew to Day Skippers, Chris and I were in safe hands from day one with Ian. He was a great instructor with so much knowledge putting us at ease on the water for our comp crew and in the classroom for our day skipper theory. Back out on the water for 5 days, Greg took us for our practical day skipper. Again, another great instructor who gave us loads of confidence Building our skills and giving us loads of advice for the future. The whole Jolly Parrot team from start to finish were all really friendly and helpful. We can't wait to continue our journey thanks to you all. Big love, parrots for life. Annabelle and Chris xx

Just completed Yachtmaster offshore through Jolly Parrots yachtmaster fastrack program. I would like to thank everyone at jolly parrot for the great 3 months and making Queensway Quay feel like a home. All of the instructors were consistently knowledgeable and helpful throughout the process. A special mention goes out to Jason, Alistair, Ian, Tom, Greg and to Rachel for being super helpful and organising everything! Would recommend Jolly Parrot for Yacht master, especially the fast track program, I have no doubt ill be back in Gibraltar soon enough.

I did the competent crew and day skipper combo course and wow it was full on! This condensed course schedule is not for the faint hearted. Alex was instructor for the comp crew and he was great-very composed and patient with everything. Ian was always available and also the instructor for the classroom theory portion (recommend you review materials before arriving as it is ALOT) and was very knowledgeable. Gill was my instructor for the day skipper portion and she is very experienced and really passionate about sailing. A tough cookie I absolutely lucked out she really took time to make sure everyone was understanding each component. Her little model boat was very helpful to explain concepts about manoeuvring and wind direction. Fantastic! I will Recommend Jolly as it was recommended to me. Fair winds everyone!

I completed the 16-week Fast-Track program with Jolly Parrot, starting as a complete beginner with no prior sailing experience. From the moment I stepped aboard, the instructors—Ian, Greg, Rob, and Jason—became my guides, transforming my raw inexperience into something far more seasoned and confident. With their patience, skill, and unshakable belief in every student, they taught me far more than I could have imagined. If you’re considering joining, I can wholeheartedly recommend Jolly Parrot. The program is well-structured, and the instructors are highly knowledgeable, making it an excellent choice for anyone looking to develop their sailing skills.

Successfully completed a Novice to Day Skipper course with Jolly Parrot Sailing and had Ian Goodwin as the instructor for the day skipper theory and practical element. Ian was an excellent instructor for both theory and practical, and instilled the confidence to get an ICC and successfully take out a bareboat charter without any dramas! Highly recommend Jolly Parrot and Ian.

I turned up in Gibraltar, not really knowing what to expect. I had booked on a “fast track day skipper course”. This consisted of 4 days in the classroom and 5 days at sea. What a great overall experience although hard. The classroom sessions can be tricky, with the volume of information to take in, and the one thing I would highlight here is to ensure you have an “over strength” pair of glasses to see the charts, or a magnifying glass. The food and drinks in Gibraltar are really reasonable and exploring at lunchtime will reward you with something different to eat every day. In the evening, often the Jolly Parrot team are around and will meet up, if you are so inclined. The sailing around Gibraltar is great, and mine was made even better by my Skipper (trainer) Jason, who was so incredibly enthusiastic and energetic and other crew member John with whom I became good friends by the end of the week. Looking back now, it is amazing to see how you develop such teamwork in such a short time. Thank you Jolly Parrot Team for a great experience, I have learned a huge amount that I can and will transfer to my sailing in the UK. Special thanks to Ian for his patience in the classroom and Jason whose completely relaxed method of teaching put be completely at ease.

I completed a Competent Crew to Day Skipper course over two weeks. I fortunately have some sailing experience but nothing that I would be confident with. Communication was reasonable, considering the logistic involved having to sailing boats out on the water crossing the Gibraltar Straits and settling in different ports. Greg, Ian, and Jason, our instructors, have a passion for helping people and are adept at supporting their trainee crews where they need help with support and confidence. They are obviously passionate about sailing. The instructors gave up their own personal time to support us. I am personally grateful to all of them. If you want a professional, supportive, down to earth, fun course at a fantastic location, this crew delivers. From quiet bays, I learing to rescue crew over board to along in a gale across the Gibraltar Straits. A total experience is a guarantee. I not only met people with different backgrounds but have made friends too. A big thanks to Clive, Rachel, and the team. Can wait to get back for my next adventure.

Just completed 2 weeks with Jolly Parrot Sailing. Really great experience. We did Competent Crew followed by Day Skipper theory and Day Skipper practical. The organisation was really good and Jason our instructor on the two practical sections was amazing. He is a great teacher, tailoring explanations to everyone’s needs and adjusting to abilities. We felt safe at all times and have learned a huge amount of skills and information. Ian was our theory instructor and he too is a great teacher of a lot of information in a short space of time. I would thoroughly recommend the whole experience for anyone interested in sailing. Not only do you learn a lot but it is great fun being with the crews and meeting other aspiring sailors.

I’m just back home from spending 12 days with this very knowledgeable RYA training centre in Gibraltar. I did my day skipper with them previously and returned to do Yacht master theory and coastal skipper qualifications. The theory was instructed by Flipper. A very capable lady able to explain complicated navigation, col regs and passage planning in the way that made it manageable in the 7 days. On the practical side Ian was my instructor. He has such a wealth of experience and took me to my limit and passed it. I now feel really comfortable in so many sailing situations I previously would of avoided. A big thanks to everyone at Jolly Parrot. Thanks for the hoodie 👍 I’ll be back for my YM if you’ll have me. 🍻

Had a great YM prep week with our instructor Ian! He found a really good balance between serious instructing & creating a good vibe on board, really wanting us to become better sailors. Learnt a lot, got pushed to improve on my weaknesses & would definitely recommend them to anyone! Also Gibraltar is an awesome playground for sailing, & the marinas we went to had very nice facilities.

Great week with Jolly Parrot our instructors Ian and Lissie were excellent and prepared us above and beyond for our Yachtmaster assessment at the end of the week. Would definitely recommend for any of your training.

I’ve just returned from a Day Skipper fast track course and it’s been a blast. The quality of the instruction from Josh and Lissie was exceptional on all levels and I thoroughly recommend them both. They managed to get across a huge amount of information, both theory and practical, in a clear helpful and relevant manner. I’ll definitely be back to try the next level in the spring.

Amazing 10 days with my instructor Ian working on my yacht master coastal prep course, which I successfully passed the day after the course. Great company couldn’t recommend them enough booking was easy and very well informed thanks to Rachel working behind the scenes.

I had an excellent week with Michelle Weeks and Jolly Parrot. I was completing Day Skipper after doing theory online. The experience was brilliant and Michelle was always relaxed and in good spirits whilst teaching. This meant I could develop skills whilst having lots of fun and copious amounts of laughter. The weather forecast couldn’t have been more wrong, so we got to experience unexpected strong winds and also had a couple of mechanical issues with sails at sea. Michelle was amazing and I learned loads about problem solving in what could have felt like a pressured situation. Alas with Michelle I always felt in safe hands. The camaraderie championed by Michelle on board was second to none and the week was full of constructive feedback. I can’t believe how much I learned without it feeling over-prescriptive.

I've recently completed competent crew to day skipper, which I can highly recommend. Both instructors we had, Ian and Alastair were informative, knowledgeable, passionate and overall great at getting the most out of us. Not having done much sailing at all, this course was brilliant at getting us up to speed practically, and the three days in the classroom was very intense, with anything we missed being focused on after. Would recommend this company to anyone at any level, and I expect to be seeing them again over the years. Many thanks.

Super week doing my day skipper course with Jolly Parrot!!! My instructor Lissie (Alicia) was incredibly knowledgeable. I asked to learn as much as possible and she went the extra mile to answer any questions in as much detail as I wanted to know. She also kept the energy up and everyone had a lot of fun! You can see how much time and energy she puts into her work to make sure that everyone is getting what they want out of the experience. We also received a little bit of co-teaching from Iain, who was just as awesome to learn from! Clive and Rachel were lovely also :) Cheers to all the Jolly Parrot Team! ⛵☀️⚓

Just completed my day skipper. A really tough, but highly rewarding week. I had to work hard, think, get on with a diverse team and practise. The days were demanding but the evenings were relaxing and great fun. We had a highly experienced skipper, who was demanding but a lot of fun (Ian). Lovely part of the world to do something like this

Just finished the two week course Novice to Day skipper. What a truly brilliant couple of weeks !!! Many thanks to Clive and Rachel for  their help and making everything go smoothly. But my biggest thanks go to our instructors Alastair McLoughlin, young Tom “Top Gun” and Flipper for the theory in the classroom. Super nice people full of patience and knowledge with a great way of putting their teachings into practice. Sad to leave but I’ll call by for a beer when I get my yacht  😁 Regards Mark and Sharon.

We spent 10 days with Jolly Parrot doing our Competent Crew and Day Skipper. The entire experience was incredible - Jolly Parrot were so accommodating, the booking process was smooth and we felt so at home on the water. To top off the whole thing, we had two incredible instructors - Tom White & Trevor Walkingshaw. They were inspiring, engaging and made everything fun. We learnt so much and have come away with much knowledge, confidence & new friends! A huge thank you to Rachel, Clive, Tom & Trevor - we absolutely loved every moment of it and will definitely be signing up for a mile builder in the near future.

Very professional outfit. Instruction is of a high standard with your safety being put first. Will be back soon.

I’ve just completed an amazing two weeks of tuition with this company for my RYA Competent crew and RYA day skipper qualifications, passing both. I met an amazing group of fellow students and had the pleasure of sailing with them on two different vessels. The sailing yachts a Bavaria 36 and a Bavaria 37 were truly superb. The vessels are not crowded, with a limited number of students per vessel. Both vessels were clean, well fitted out and in good condition. We visited ports in mainland Spain, namely Alcaidesa, Duquesa Estepona and Ceuta in North Africa, (but kept to the rules during these troubling times, facemasks etc). There was a variety of different foods available on board which catered for all tastes. The company even went out of their way to cater for the lovely vegan couple onboard on the second week. Meal times was a bit like ‘Masterchef which added to the fun, with everyone chipping in ideas and having a go. I would even say we had food left over afterwards on both weeks! (vessels were restocked after each course with fresh produce). I come from a mainly motorboating background, through work and fancied the idea of trying something a bit different and I wasn’t disappointed I truly recommend you give it a go. It has been a great experience and thanks to the two great and very knowledgeable instructors, (Flipper & Trevor), I feel I have learnt so much in these two weeks in a relaxed environment which made learning easy, pleasant and fun. My experience has definitely sparked an interest and I hope to progress further. One thing is sure, I will definitely by using ‘Jolly Parrot Sailing’ in Gibraltar for my next RYA Coastal Skipper Course.

I just spent 5 days doing a competent crew course with Ian and to be honest I had a great time. Josh also joined us on various nights out when all the boats were in the same place and he also made our trip, with his hilarious stories.
I consider myself very lucky to have had a really nice couple of guys on our boat to share the week with, along with friendly people on the other yachts. We had a big 46ft yacht called Silent Years and we each had our own cabin, which I know is probably not the norm because they tell you that on their website.
Also we saw loads of Dolphins, Pilot whales and visited some great restaurants and pubs in Gibraltar, Spain and Spanish Morocco.
Ian and Josh showed us places you’d never find on your own and opened our eyes to what sailing in the Med is really like. We all learnt a lot from Ian and we all grew as a crew getting more confident by the day. Conditions went from flat calm to force 8 gales to perfect sailing, which for us was a great learning curve. Ian dealt with everything, as did the other instructors and that’s a real credit to them, because teaching novices isn’t easy.
Thanks again.