Viking Mariners – The East Coast Sailing Experience

Operating from the stylish Ipswich Waterfront and sailing along the picturesque River Orwell and East Coast, we have a fleet of luxury sailing yachts and power boats.

We provide a range of sailing opportunities including sailing days and afternoon sailings to competitively priced exclusive yacht and boat chartering for a small family celebration to a major hospitality event for up to 100 people. We also work with partner hotels to offer stay & sail packages combining a day sail with a one or two night stay to make a truly memorable weekend.

You can also learn to sail with the Viking Mariners Sea School, an RYA accredited sailing centre providing RYA sailing courses from Start Yachting through to gaining RYA Yachtmaster™ certificate of competence.

– Sailing days & afternoons
During the year we offer a flexible schedule that offers both half day and full day sails to complement the seasonal weather conditions. During your sailing experience you will enjoy cruising along the rivers upon one of our luxury sailing vessels

Autumn & Winter Sailing
During the autumn and winter (October – March) we offer a flexible schedule that responds to the prevailing weather conditions. We offer slightly shorter leisure sails to ensure our guests get the most of their time on the water.

Spring & Summer Sailing
During the spring and summer (April – September) we have a packed schedule of sailing include afternoon cream tea sails, full day luxury sails and midweek special offers.

– Stay & sail packages
Enjoy a unique and sailing experience; a day sail, cruising the River Orwell and enjoying the breathtaking scenery, combined with a one or two night luxury stay with one of our local partners: Milsom Hotels (Kesgrave Hall or The Pier, Harwich) and The Salthouse Harbour Hotel, Ipswich

Are you looking for a day out, something romantic, luxurious or fun? Join us at on one of our luxury yachts for an unforgettable experience. This is your chance to relax with great food and enjoy beautiful scenery on board one of our stylish yachts.

Choose to stay at either Milsoms Kesgrave Hall, a luxurious boutique hotel situated in stunning grounds near Ipswich, Suffolk or The Pier in Harwich, a historic buildingoverlooking the water with beautiful views over the harbour.

Option 1: Kesgrave Hall

Milsoms Kesgrave Hall is a luxurious boutique hotel situated in stunning grounds near Ipswich, Suffolk; a relaxing stay here will prove to be the perfect combination after your sailing experience, cruising the Rivers Orwell/Stour and sailing the local coast.

Our price of just £310 per person* includes:

A full day sail with a qualified skipper
Refreshments, including coffee & pastries, a buffet lunch and cream tea onboard the yacht
A glass or two of something special on the return sail
All weather clothing
Two night’s bed and breakfast accommodation
Prices are based on double occupancy in best available room.

Option 2: The Pier, Harwich
The Pier Hotel is located in two historic buildings that stand proudly on the quay side of old Harwich overlooking the water with beautiful views over the harbour. The hotel consists of 14 bedrooms and two celebrated seafood restaurants.

Our price of just £320 per person* includes:

Return travel between Harwich and Ipswich via the Mayflower railway line
A full day sail with a qualified skipper
Refreshments, including coffee & pastries, a buffet lunch and cream tea onboard the yacht
A glass or two of something special on the return sail
All weather clothing
Two night’s bed and breakfast accommodation
* Prices are based on double occupancy in best available room.

Optional Upgrades
Upgrades are available on all our packages and services* including:~ room upgrades, menu upgrades, wine and champagne, dinner ashore with our partner restaurants.

*Subject to availability

– Adventure Sailing
Whether your just starting your life as a yachtsman, trying your hand at sailing further afield for the first time or need more miles and experience logged for you RYA qualification, join Viking Blue on one of our adventure sails.

Mileage & Experience Builders

Viking Blue was designed, built and equipped for long range passages and in 2020 will be exclusively engaged in lengthy cruises around the UK, Spanish & Portuguese coasts.
The first of our adventure sails will take place in May and June and we are looking for early indications of interest from those who have previously sailed with us and those seeking new horizons in 2020.

Mileage building from Alicante
We can offer both 3 and 5 day mileage building trips. These cover between 200 and 400 nautical miles with a mixture of night and day sailing and practical navigation and seamanship exercises. Prices range from only £395pp.

– Catamaran Training
Catamaran sailing is becoming increasing popular due to the rising opportunity to charter these vessels abroad. Alchemy, our BroadBlue 38 Catamaran, is the perfect platform to gain experience to prepare for holidays abroad or gain RYA qualifications.

Our catamaran, Alchemy is a very roomy and comfortable boat with high load-carrying capacity – this BroadBlue 38 was designed and built for serious cruising. She is equipped with a rolling reefing genoa sail, slab reefed mail sail and powered by 2 x 20hp Volvo Penta inboard diesel engines.

For those chartering abroad, you will need at least RYA day skipper and an International certificate of competence (ICC) or in some cases RYA coastal skipper.

Once you have completed your training we can offer a seamless transition to our partners at borrowaboat with a 10% discount on charter rates.

One day catamaran familiarisation day
We offer individual places on our scheduled catamaran training days throughout the year. This one day session is run in small groups designed to cover the following areas:

Charter Vessel Equipment Checks and what to look for specifically on a CAT
Safety Briefing Content
Boat Handling
Berthing
Locking
Anchoring
Mooring
Sail Setting
Man Overboard & Recovery
Navigation and Col Reg refresh
Please note the itinerary of the day will be very flexible to ensure we meet the needs of those onboard, with greater emphasis in some areas than others and plenty of opportunity for everyone to have hands-on practice.

In addition we also offer private training days on a one-to-one basis or for groups and can work with you to find a suitable date either over a weekend or during the week. If you are chartering a yacht with friends or family, a group training day can be a cost effective and more flexible option so if this is of interest do complete our enquiry form (including your preferred dates if possible).

– Sea School
Viking Mariners has developed a strong team of trainers in leadership, management and team building and are pleased to now offer a programme of courses and learning to deliver first class training and qualifications through our RYA recognised training centre operating on the east coast of the UK and from Alicante in Spain.

We offer RYA theory courses and practical training to both new or existing corporate and private clients wishing to seamlessly progress from leisure to RYA qualifications whilst experiencing the Viking Mariners approach to personal development.

Viking Mariners Sea School in the UK is located in Ipswich on the East Coast and led by Paul Foddy, our highly experienced chief instructor. Our location is ideal for those based in East Anglia (Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk) as well as London and the Midlands with excellent road and rail links.

Click on the links below to find out more about our RYA practical and theory and shore-based courses as well as mileage building adventure sailing trips to Belgium and France as well as further afield.

RYA & Practical Training
We offer the full range of RYA Yacht Sailing Courses from Start Yachting, a 2 day introduction to sailing to YachtMaster. We also run our own training & familiarisation days on both monohull and catamaran vessels.

RYA Theory & Short Courses
One of the great joys of sailing is being able to make a safe passage from your home port to another as a visitor. We teach the RYA Day Skipper and short courses (VHF & first aid) ashore from our base in Ipswich.

Mileage & Experience Builders
We can offer both 3 and 5 day mileage building trips in both the UK and Spain. These cover between 200 and 400 nautical miles with a mixture of night and day sailing and practical navigation and seamanship exercises.

– Yacht Chartering
Our exclusive use yacht chartering options provide a truly personal and exclusive sailing experience. When you charter one of our yachts we will create a bespoke event especially for your family celebration or corporate entertainment event.

Exclusive use Yacht Chartering in the UK
All our sailing yachts are available for exclusive use charter. At Viking Mariners, we can create a bespoke package to suit your needs and budget – each fully coded yacht comes with a skipper and mate and can be booked for a minimum of 4 hours from our base in Ipswich. We can even cater for up to 100 guests on the water by creating flotillas using a number of vessels.

There is also the option to pre-position the vessels to start (or alternatively finish) in a number of locations around the East Coast such as Harwich, Woodbridge, Yarmouth, Dover or Ramsgate or even St Katherine’s Dock London. Further afield why not try our favourite overnight continental destination of Nieuwport Belgium just a short distance from historic Bruges.

For corporate or busy private clients our services have been designed to look after everything. Whether you want to get ‘off site’ to think clearly about strategy and take the time to make some clear plans; meet with your team in a different setting or just relax and savour the east coast tranquil surroundings while enjoying some fine food and wine, we can provide a complete package that delivers exactly what you are looking for with the options to add on accommodation and fine dining if required.

Talk to us on 01394 421209 to talk through your personal requirements.

Corporate events

Sailing is an increasingly popular choice for corporate events. You can entertain your clients (or reward your staff) with a luxurious cruise or at the other end of the scale we can put your team through their paces with a more intense sailing experience.

Special occasions
For a truly personal and exclusive experience, why not charter one or more of our vessels and let us create a bespoke event especially for your family event such as a birthday, anniversary or celebration? We can create a package to cater for anything from 10 to 100 guests.