Power and Sail Academy

Reviewers Male / Female Recommend Yes / No Number of Reviews Classes & Instruction School Facilities Boats & Courses Cost Total Average Rating
4 / 1 4 / 1 5 9.40 8.20 8.20 10.00 8.95

Date Submitted: January 27, 2011
Sailing School: Power and Sail Academy
Location: Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Classes & Instruction: 7 out of 10
School Facilities: 1 out of 10
Boats & Courses: 1 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: No
Review: Very cheap, but very bad
No, no, no I think these guys started off ok but it has gone from bad to very bad. I looked into these guys a while ago and went to visit Gibraltar before I committed to a 14 week fast-track course, boy am I glad I did. They are no where near, not even close to the image they portray on their website. I met up with 2 guys on one of their fastrack courses and they said they would definitely not recommend PASA and wished they had booked elsewhere but could not get a refund. The yacht was recalled from a mileage trip because it was not legal with the MCA.
One lady I spoke to said the theory class was painful, the instructor was not actually a sailing instructor and did not understand the syllabus one bit. She had to re do her course by self study. I do not normally bother with these review sites but I looked into pasa because of all their good reviews. These reviews do not in any way seem to fit with what I have seen. Take my advice and book with an established Fastrack provider like UKSA, Flying fish, Hamble, Allabroad, or OnDeck new-ish but they look very proffesional.
Comments [ 2 ]
Submitted by: HensonGalls
31 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Brandenton Fl

Date Submitted: October 20, 2010
Sailing School: Power and Sail Academy
Location: Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Classes & Instruction: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Boats & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Superior training
I did a Fastrack course with PASA last year and have now completed a season skippering for Sunsail. I can't thank Peter and the gang enough for taking an 18 year old who couldn't make a cup of tea and turning him into a confident skipper. Halfway through, i really thought I wasn't going to get my Yachtmaster certificate but they put a lot of extra time in to give me extra tuition and I did it. The knowledge they gave me about maintaining and fixing boats was all put to good use with Sunsail. Having worked on other boats has made me realise how good their boats are. I saw other schools' boats in Gibraltar and they were really quite dirty and old in comparison.
All of the instructors were good and were around at night if you had questions.They gave us a budget for shop for our own food which was more than enough and they also made home cooked meals for us. I loved the lasagne.Really helped me learn to cook for my Sunsail job.

Thanks for a great start to my sailing career.

Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: Richard the Third
19 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   London

Date Submitted: July 12, 2010
Sailing School: Power and Sail Academy
Location: Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Classes & Instruction: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Boats & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Fabulous week
We recently did one of PASA's Express day Skipper courses where we learned navigation as well as learning to sail. Our theory teacher Carrie was very patient and professional as we both bumbled through our courses to steer. Once we got on the Yacht, Bombay Sapphire with Peter, it all made sense. We sailed across the Straits of Gibraltar to Ceuta and had a fabulous dinner in the Oasis restaurant at the top of a mountain. We also visited Morocco and Spain. Great food onboard as Peter is an excellent cook. They couldn't do enough for us and we can't wait to go back next year.
Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: Brenda
42 year-old   ::   Female Reviewer   ::   Yately

Date Submitted: January 7, 2010
Sailing School: Power and Sail Academy
Location: Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Classes & Instruction: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Boats & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Friendly and Professional
I did a fastrack yachtmaster course in 2009 and it was the best 14 weeks I have ever spent. I had very little sailing experience and shopped around quite a lot to see what school would be best for me. I chose PASA after several conversations with Peter Ormond, Chief Instructor, who always found time to talk me through any questions I had.

The thing I liked about PASA was, once I had signed up and paid my money, they were still as willing to find time to check that I was happy and getting what I needed in terms of tuition and home comforts. The budget given to us to feed ourselves every week was more than adequate and we always had some home cooked treats brought to the boat at the weekend. They have four yachts, which gave me valuable experience of how different yachts can be to handle. If you sail just one type of yacht, you end up able to sail just one type of yacht. The yachts were always clean and well maintained. We had a rule that if something needed fixed, it would be done quickly and we would be taught how to do it, which was really great as I went on to work as a skipper afterwards and I knew more about maintaining yachts than most of the people I have spoken to who have Fastracked.

Recommend highly.
Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: Scotsman
35 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   UK

Date Submitted: January 7, 2010
Sailing School: Power and Sail Academy
Location: Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Classes & Instruction: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Boats & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Simply excellent!
My wife and I did a five-day Competent Crew course with PASA, and were positively impressed by all elements of our experience. Pete, the skipper / instructor on our course, was highly experienced and eager to share his knowledge with us. His sidekick Carrie was highly service-oriented, and knowledgeable on elements of sailing theory. The overall experience was very enjoyable, due to the friendliness of the staff and sensitivity to our needs.

My wife and I enjoyed a front double berth en suite in a 40 ft Jeaneau Sun Oddessy yacht, which made things quite comfortable. The crew prepped the standard array of food for a Comp Crew course. We stayed in different ports every night, from Gibraltar to Ceuta, on to Smir, and finally Sotogrande. This gave us ample opportunity to see major sites near each of the ports.

We were positively impressed by the sociability of Pete and Carrie, with our days infused with lots of interesting conversation and fun evenings.

Last but not least, we learned a tremendous amount from this sailing course, starting from very little experience. I'm sure that we benefitted from more learning than the average Competent Crew course, as we were provided with plenty of opportunities to cover material normally reserved for Day Skipper course.

In short, a wonderful experience---My wife and I recommend PASA without hesitation!
Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: patrick
36 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   London, UK