Club Nautique Sailing School and Charters

The School: My first two years as a club member, student and charter skipper earning three US Sailing Certifications through the clubs excellent training programs have been an exhilarating ride with no end in sight. There’s nothing like slicing through San Francisco Bay on a sailboat with friends and family! I became a Club Nautique Groupie long before I joined with no experience and could kick myself for waiting so long. It’s true, you can become a certified skipper in just a few weekends of fun and hard work. The pride of coming out of your first classroom lesson and training aboard a real sailboat the same day, can’t compare to earning your first sailing certification the following weekend. It opens the door to chartering right away, enjoy what you have accomplished so far or build your experience and take it to the next level.
The Charter Fleet: From 31 foot cruisers all the way up to 41 and 52 foot ocean class yachts are new Beneteau’s, Jeanneau’s and Hunter’s. As an active member sailing an average of every two to three weeks having chartered through the club, I can vouch all these boats are stunningly beautiful and immaculately maintained. Most are newer models 2011 – 2015. There is no debating that Club Nautique has the finest charter fleet on San Francisco Bay. Visit their website for a close up look of the yachts available for charter at both locations In Alameda and Sausalito.
The Club: As a club member additional benefits include discounted yacht charter, workshop, and certification course rates. Associations with yacht clubs on San Francisco Bay. Participation in awesome club sailing events, meeting new and interesting people from all walks of life and certainly some of the best sailors and instructors in the world.
I’m so thankful in having been afforded the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to be entrusted with some of the most beautiful sailboats in the world. Today I’m proud to skipper and charter our largest ocean class yachts on San Francisco Bay armed with the confidence, knowledge and safety that certification from the US Sailing Association through Club Nautique provides. Family, friends and co-​workers, including clients are all amazed and I so look forward to my fourth US Sailing Association Off Shore CPM (Coastal Passage Making) certification from the club to build on my training.
This is the sailing school to attend, the club to join, and place to charter if you want to have fun and learn to sail on San Francisco Bay or charter the best yachts in one of the most beautiful and challenging places to sail in the world.

Update: 3 weeks later and the owners of Club Nautique are still viciously hanging onto my money. My card company provided them evidence that they did not provide the classes I ordered as they described them. However, they are unwilling to accept this and so have countered my dispute a second time. Its’ probable at this point the money they’ve cost themselves trying to keep my money has cost them more than refunding what they took from me. I don’t intend to give up though. I’ll keep working with my card company to get what is owed to me.
Be very wary of doing business with this company. There are many other sailing schools in the Bay Area that treat their customers with respect.

I have taken a first day of the Symmetrical Spinnaker Class at Club Nautique about 5 years ago. Our instructor was Doug. During the practical session, our boat broached such that 4 out 5 of us (including the instructor) ended up in the water. The instructor then asked one of the students to swim around the boat and push on the keel to straighten it. When the guy did it, the boat just shot forward. The rest of us managed to get on the boat by then, except for the guy who pushed on the keel. It took us about 20 minutes to get the guy out of the water. When we discussed what went wrong, Doug admitted that he forgot to tell us not to put the stopper knots on spinnaker sheets. That what made the boat broach.
I never finished the class because I was kind of shaken by the whole experience. Recently, I have left Club Nautique for a different reason. I have emailed David Scott and asked for the refund of the class since I would not retake the class. David emailed me back right away that he would think about it and asked if I would remove a previous review about the club (on a different Unilocal listing). I said I would not because these were unrelated issues. It has been more than a week and no reply from David. I assume that the answer is no.

There are two locations for one business: Sausalito and Alameda. Alameda location is bigger (more boats). Sausalito is more attractive.
You have to think of them as the same, but there are two different businesses run by one grumpy old man (ex-gov’t).
1) A school (which is generally excellent with exceptions, see below)
2) A boat rental business (which has generally excellent boats with gov’t-quality ‘customer service’ outside of its front-​desk staff).
Detail:
School: The curriculum is generally thorough if tired. The pedagogy? Recognizable to those in the early 20^th Century. Some of the instructors are very good. I have had two that were awful. One with my wife and one with me that was so bad I would quit sailing if I had to be with people like that. The head of the school (Dave) is responsive to feedback. This half of the business understands what customers are.
The rental business: Generally good boats, but confusingly small price discrepancy between the nearly-​new ones and those that should have been retired years ago. The customers here are generally professionals and are good people with whom to share a boat on occasion. However, the maintenance crew (Jerry) has a reputation of being condescending. Have you ever been called «childish» by someone in service industry? Yeah, me neither.
Don’t argue with the owner, Don. It is like arguing with a gov’t worker. «I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.» –George Bernard Shaw

500 REVIEWS!!! Wow — it only took 6 years, but here it is!
The nicest people I have ever met! As a first timer I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Everyone in this group shows an obvious love of all things nautical and they are very welcoming to newbs like me.
I can’t say enough about how awesome this sailing trip was! You haven’t see the bay or the GG bridge until you haved seen it on a sailboat! I want to go back ASAP!
Thinking this would be a great way to spend every sunny weekend!
Happy 75^th Mr. Bridge!

5÷17÷2011
We started with Club Nautique 2 years ago with no sailing experience. Both my husband and I have taken basic keelboat and basic cruising classes. In addition my husband has taken the bareboat cruising class.
We have been extremely happy with Club Nautique! The instructors are professional and the fleet is well maintained. They really care about you! After lots of hours on the water, my husband and I just chartered a 44′ catamaran and sailed around the British Virgin Islands. It was amazing! We could not have done it without them! We highly recommend them!

I checked out a few of the clubs before I signed up to take lessons and learning how to sail. Just have the sailing bug. Club Nautique offers solid instruction, and the variety of instructors means you’ll definitely learn a lot, both in class time and on the water. I know I sure did. As others mentioned the boats in the fleet are some of the nicest in the bay.
For me the sausalito marina offers a bit more of a challenge, tighter slips, more traffic. Which is good I like a challenge. Makes you learn.
If you’ve been thinking about sailing, ask about some of their weekday or moonlight sails.

Took sailing lessons here and at the Sausalito site — they may seem more expensive than the other schools but I checked out the other fleets on the Bay and their fleet was soooo much nicer than any of the other schools. Now I’m a member and I love it! The staff is awesome and they all love sailing so they’re excited to get you into it!

The people that work in this club are amazing! They customized a sailing event for our whole department and tended to all our needs. Our event coordinator was very helpful and accommodating and the skippers were wonderful. The boats were great and clean. Overall very good experience and would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone, be it for group experience or just individual sailing.

My wife and I started with the Discover Sail charter from the Sausalito location just to see if sailing was for us. It was great experience and we signed up for the Basic Skipper package that day. We have complete our Basic Cruising certification we are having a great time. We have two handed a Colgate 26 and felt confident and had a great time sailing on our own. We joined the club at the Passage Maker level to complete training and certification for ocean passage. Club Nautique is a well run organization, staffed with knowledgable, helpful instructors and staff. They make you feel welcome and aren’t in a rush to take your money and get you on a boat. It’s all about having fun and doing what’s right for you and helping you meet your sailing goals. It sounds like a commercial but it’s true. We have found it to be a great place for learning to sail.
UPDATE: Well it’s nearly two years after we started sailing with Club Nautique and we still love it. We have taken our Bareboat certification class and plan to continue certifications through Coastal Passage Making. The Club Nautique instructors are great and have given us great training. We’ve done a few charter shares with other members and really enjoy the comaraderie among the Club Nautique members. If you sail or have ever considered learning to sail, Club Nautique is an awesome place to start your training or to charter sail. Our rating still stands after two years.

I was a member for a couple of years. The instructor quality is very high. For our large motor yacht class, we had a salty tugboat captain and he was ust true to the stereotype. We had an overnight stay out in a channel and he woke us up at 4am to avoid a large cargo barge coming upstream.
Rates are reasonable for rentals. I would recommend this highly if you are looking to rent or learn…

I’ve sailed out of Club Nautique several times now. Most recently when the blue angels were here in SF. Getting here is like driving through a giant maze through the suburbs of Alameda, but once you do… ah, bliss. Last time I was here, it was the perfect day. Good sailing crew, lots of beer, sun and a spectacular air show. Our fearless captain (hi steve!) was skilled enough to overcome many obstacles that day… extremely shallow waters, out of control boaters, dangerous sharks and mean pirates. Ok, maybe not those last 2 things but I’m a notorious exaggerator. This marina is fine overall, but I definitely prefer the Sausalito Club Nautique better. (I accidentally posted that review under Richardson Bay Marina. don’t ask, I was really confused that day) anyway… if you’re interested in chartering a boat, this is an excellent place for your group.

Great boat charter experience from this place. Very laid back and the staff are super friendly and helpful. We chartered a Santana 525 from this place and it worked well and we had beautiful weather in the Bay. The Marina was easy to maneuvre in and out of and ample parking spot when chartering from here.