Jolly Parrot Sailing  Reviews 86

I have been sailing with Jolly Parrot for 2 years, once for my Day Skipper and again for additional skills and experience. My instructor Ian Goodwin was amazing, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things nautical, plus giving all his students a challenge to really understand the physics and mechanics of sailing. I learned so much in just 2 weeks. I would highly recommend Ian and Jolly Parrot for anyone serious about understanding sailing.

After doing the Dayskipper fast track course here is a little review of Jolly Parrot. I've given this review 5stars but that is purely down to the Instructors, Jason was brilliant on the Theory, but the best award goes to Jill for the fantastic on water training and coaching. Jill is a true professional, Jill does not tick boxes, you have to achieve and do it well. But after leaving after a week with Jill I feel very confident to skipper a Yacht. The down side to Jolly Parrot is the slight lack of attention to the training boats, we had been there 6 weeks previous and things were broken on the boat and 6 weeks later they were still not fixed. C'mon Jolly Parrot get your finger out and fix the issues. Its no good having excellent instructors if you are letting your boats go to rack and ruin.

Booked a 9day Day Captain course under Jill Fisher,
What an amazing experience! Jill was an amazing way of instructing, straight to the point and just an all round fantastic person.
Boat was comfortable with everything we needed and served it's purpose
Overall fantastic time , can't wait for the next leg of my captaincy journey.
Thank you Jill and jolly parrot sailing
Ger

I have just successfully completed the the novice to Day Skipper two week course.
It wasn't easy as there were four days in the classroom plus an RYA exam and then 10 days out at sea, but the intrustors were excellent.
Jill Fisher taught me the theory and Day Skipper and MarkL Competant Crew.
Both very so knowledgable and made the learning interesting and relatable.
I would highly recommend Jolly Parrot Sailing.

Avoid — After training at other professional maritime schools, it’s clear Jolly Parrot sits at the bottom. The principal’s attitude was dismissive, the boats were poorly prepared, and transparency around fees was lacking. When I asked for clarification on examiner expenses for a canceled exam, I was met with a defensive response and an implied threat to invoice me further.

The culture at Jolly Parrot is condescending — not the clear, calm, and patient teaching environment you should expect from a professional training provider. It’s unacceptable, and it’s not how serious maritime schools operate.

I earned my Yachtmaster Offshore elsewhere, and the difference in professionalism and respect for students was striking. Do yourself a favor and go to a proper school — one that doesn’t act like it’s doing you a favor while taking your money, with the principal sipping champagne on the dock.

I spent almost 3 months at Jolly Parrot doing my Yachtmaster fast track.
From the very beginning I felt welcomed and in the hands of capable instructors.
I was mostly thought by Tom, Jason and Ian and all three of them were knowledgeable, friendly and just all around great to hang out with.
The instructors were always happy to answer any questions and went out of their way to help me learn the theory - even after a long day of sailing. They didn’t let any mistakes slide and always pushed me to be better. Besides that I was able to volunteer for some maintenance tasks and sail with other people as well during my time off which all just contributed to learning more!
The boats are all older but well kept and clean. They are all slightly different so it is great to be able to switch around and experience different types of sails and boats.
Clive and Rachel are great owners and were always there to answer any questions and help me make the best of my experience there. They even planned a sailing trip to the Channel Islands to me so I could get more miles.

I learned so much in my weeks there and am very happy to be leaving with a Yachtmaster Offshore.

Make no mistake - if you’re looking for a vacation you’re in the wrong place.
But if you want to learn how to sail and be a good skipper you’re at the best place you could be!

I took the novice to day skipper course with Jason as the instructor. It’s by no means an easy course, but it’s all the better for it. Jason took the time to work on my weak areas giving me a fair bit of confidence by the end. Without question, he is a passionate and knowledgeable sailor and instructor, and I very much I appreciate the effort he put into teaching us.

I’ve just completed the Yachtmaster Offshore Fast Track program with Jolly Parrot Sailing, starting from Day Skipper level, and I’m really pleased with the experience and the people who helped shape it.
Ian was a great lead instructor — calm, clear, and incredibly knowledgeable. He made sure we understood the 'why' behind everything, which really helped things click early on.
Jason brought real energy to the course. His passion for sailing was obvious, and his motivation was contagious. He pushed us to aim higher and showed genuine enthusiasm for helping us improve, which made a big difference throughout the course.
Tom provided a lot of practical insight, especially when it came to long passages and passage planning. His calm, experienced approach gave us a clear picture of what offshore sailing is really like, and his advice has definitely stuck with me.
Hannah stood out for her enthusiasm and the way she shared her knowledge about working in the industry. She offered useful guidance for anyone looking to take sailing further, not just in terms of skills but also in understanding the professional side of things.
Alastair challenged us in a really constructive way. He was great at asking the right questions to test our knowledge and get us thinking, which kept things sharp and helped build confidence.

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)!

Had a great comp crew course. Communication with JP about booking was clear and easy. Jolly Parrot (the boat, that is) was well-used but clean, safe and in good order. The best part of the experience was our instructor Jill, who is a superb teacher. I especially appreciated that she made a lot of time to bring my partner & me to the level where we could be useful crew to the three day skippers in our group, and even practice a lot of the day skipper-level maneuvers. She's also a very inspiring and thoroughly nice person! Thank you for the great course, Jolly Parrot. We'll be back for our own day skippers.

Had a great 15 days with Jolly Parrot on their RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper Theory & RYA Day Skipper Practical courses.

Great instructors, all with a clear passion for being on the water and skilled in imparting their knowledge to others.

Ian Goodwin instructed the RYA Competent Crew course. This course was 100% on the yacht with Ian teaching us first & foremost to be individually & collectively safe on a yacht, but also taught sail handling, points of sail, helming, some basic navigation and other aspects of not being dead weight on a yacht. Great instruction from Ian, balancing getting the learning points across to students, with the right amount of humour mixed in.

Ian also instructed the RYA Day Skipper Theory course. This was 100% in the classroom. This was no walk in the park!…there is a lot to learn and I would advise investing time in studying the recommended RYA books prior to attending this part of the course. Again, great tuition from Ian with input from Alex.

Sue Fisher instructed the final RYA Day Skipper Practical course. This course brought together the Competent Crew learnings with the Day Skipper Theory learnings…and added a lot more on top in a practical sailing environment. Jills approach was great. She was able to teach all students collectively whilst recognising and focusing in on each individual students areas of improvement. Jill really brought all components of the 15 days together in 5 interesting, rewarding & challenging days on the yacht.

Really valuable 15 days with Ian, Jill & Alex at Jolly Parrot. Would recommend the experience.

Just completed my Yachmaster fasttrack with Jolly Parrot Sailing!

Having spent 100 days with Jolly Parrot, just wanted to quickly sum up my experience.

Gibraltar is a great place to learn, a good balance of challenge and lots of exciting places to sail to, Ceuta, Moroccan, Portugal and around the Alboran Sea. The weather is mostly fantastic, even in Winter and Autumn.

The real reason to choose to sail with Jolly Parrot though is the people. The instructors are truly top notch, know their stuff inside and out but also genuine down to earth folk. I had the pleasure to sail with...
Jason - wonderful first week. A great laugh who has kind approach to teaching
Ian - really really experienced sailor and instructor. Says he will push you and make the best sailor out of you and it's true!
Alastair - really professional and great at tweaking his approach for different people and what responds best for different students.
Greg - super friendly, switched on and got us thinking about different approaches and what works best
Tom - brilliant guy, really smart and again really accomplished sailor. Would encourage us when you're making mistakes.
Rachel and Clive who run Jolly Parrot are definitely worth a mention. They were always there to congratulate us at the end of a big exam. Having been with Jolly Parrot for so long, I've come to appreciate quite how much these guys do behind the scenes which might not be noticed on a single week course but really do an ace job.

Couldn't recommend Jolly Parrot enough! Get booking.

I completed the day skipper fast track course with Jolly parrot over 2 weeks in September 2024. From the very beginning, while I was selecting which sailing school to choose, Jolly Parrot was extremely responsive and answered every question I had quickly and thoroughly. The website is also well laid out with all relevant information easily accessible. This professional communication was one of the main deciding factors which helped my choose Jolly Parrot.

All joining instructions were clear and I met my course mates for competent crew to begin our 2 weeks. Our instructor John was very knowledgeable with an effective teaching style which really helped us grasp concepts very quickly. This made for an enjoyable week of learning and sailing while all the time building confidence.

After successfully passing the competent crew course I began the 4 days of classroom theory required for dayskipper. This was conducted in a classroom in town a short 10 min walk from our accommodation on the boat every morning. Our ground instructor Alex is one of the naturally gifted teachers I have ever met. He broke down what could have been a very daunting workload into manageable chunks over the 4 days we were together. He really made sure that each of us on the course (4 students) had a thorough understanding of the subject and his knowledge and passion for sailing really shone through. Alex’s engaging interactive teaching style made learning enjoyable and the time flew by.

With the theory passed we progressed to the last 5 days sailing with our next instructor Greg. Once again the very high standard of instructors at Jolly Parrot was evident, and Greg’s professionalism, knowledge and wit made the weeks learning great fun.

I’m looking forward to returning to Gibraltar and Jolly Parrot in the future for more sailing.

After a 'less than ideal' competent crew course in 2022 with a UK sailing school, I was looking for a school that I could continue my sailing adventure, and remain, with through to as far as I can take it.

I found this with Jolly Parrot. I was able to complete both my Shorebased Day Skipper and my Practical Day Skipper back-to-back over a nine day period, with my partner joining for the practical to complete her Competent Crew.
The booking and joining instructions were comprehensive and detailed and Rachel and Clive were always available to answer any questions.

For the shorebased course we were instructed by Alex who was able to take us through the syllabus at a pace that we could all comfortably work to. Alex's knowledge was both technical and practical, injecting real world examples to give us an enhanced view of the subject, he made it clear and understandable, which will be invaluable as I do this, hopefully, on my own boat.

The five day practical sailing was instructed by Greg whose zest and enthusiasm is second to none. Greg is a natural teacher with serious, detailed, knowledge, and examples, interjected with humour and fun. The nights on shore and the days on Naughty Parrot were always a great place to be and some long lasting education, friendships and memories were made over a short period.

We will both definitely be back for more to rekindle friendships, consolidate learning, and enhance our knowledge. Gibraltar is an excellent place to learn to sail it has everything you need from beginner to yachtmaster whilst enjoying the sun.

Having completed the Day Skipper Practical Course with John, and having learned so much paired with practical, confidence building experience - I can fully recommend Jolly Parrot Sailing. John took the time to go through the theory with the entire crew, who had mixed ability and knowledge, so that all aboard were comfortable and excited for our week on the water. Kudos to the JP team!

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.

I recently attended a sailing course with Jolly Parrot Sailing and had an extremely disappointing experience. Despite severe weather warnings, the course proceeded in dangerously stormy conditions, which significantly limited our time on the water and the quality of instruction. As a beginner, I felt it was highly irresponsible to be put in such unsafe conditions, and the course structure did not accommodate the challenging weather.

Moreover, the instructor's behavior was completely unprofessional. Not only were there frequent inappropriate, sexist remarks made in front of me, but the teaching style was aggressive and belittling, which severely impacted my confidence. The lack of proper guidance, especially in such harsh conditions, left me feeling unprepared and unsupported.

To make matters worse, the company did not handle other issues well, such as towing another boat, which further reduced our already limited practical sailing time. I ultimately left the course early due to the accumulation of these negative experiences and the ongoing unsafe weather conditions.

I expected a lot more from this course, especially considering the significant time and money invested. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Jolly Parrot Sailing based on my experience.

I can only follow up with the comment made in June 2023. Jolly Parrot is highly unprofessional. With my skipper making sexist and misogynistic jokes as well as being altogether unpleasant, after speaking with the owner Clive this doesn’t surprise me that the culture at the company is unprofessional. The ‘training’ was poor at the best of times. It is disgusting how I was treated and for any women out there. DO NOT BOOK THIS COURSE at jolly parrot. Sexist behaviour was not taken seriously and rather responded with “ I can understand that in a bygone age this may have been meant, and taken as a compliment it is not acceptable now, however innocently the comment was intended. ” a quote directly from Clive which is absolutely unacceptable for me. Admitting that comments have been made, not apologised and simply downplayed it so women now have to STILL accept this behaviour due to sexist owners- just disgusting

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.

Had Big Ian as instructor. He was great. Professional instruction with humour.