Mariner Sailing School

Belle Haven is a hidden gem. I almost feel selfish having to share my guilty pleasure. I visit from as far away as the northwest corridor of the state and arrive within 40 minutes barring traffic. It is easily accessible off the GW Parkway or the capital beltway. The staff makes me feel right at home, and when I’, m out on the water, need I say more! It has become my oasis and try to sail there at least twice a week. Their instruction is bar none and I would encourage any beginner looking to take up the hobby or even novice to experience their instruction and certification.
Belle Haven you guys are a special breed, and thank you for being a part of my daily in season routine :)

Learning to sail had been on my bucket list forever so when I saw that the Mariner Sailing School offered sailing lessons for adults every week of summer I decided to sign myself up for my own «summer camp». I have to tell you that learning to sail was an excellent decision because I actually learned to sail a 19 foot flying scot independently!
My lessons consisted of four 2.5 hour morning sailing lessons out on the Potomac, Monday through Thursday. The sailing school also offers adult weeknight and weekend classes and different kids camps. The instructors split my class up into groups of two or three, went over some of the materials and then out onto the water we went to learn how to rig the boat and raise the sails. My instructor Ray was awesome, he taught us what we needed to know and even pushed us to run docking drills by ourselves on the last day of classes. Yes, at times the lessons were super challenging and nerve wracking, but once you get some practice time in, you’ll get the hang of it. It’s worth it to learn how to sail. I myself now find sailing enjoyable and ridiculously relaxing.
Everyone I have encountered at the marina either teaching lessons, working in the office or out on the dock have been super friendly and helpful. They give you a free week of practice sails after your lesson so that you feel totally comfortable sailing independently and the people at the dock give plenty of tips to help you continue to hone your beginner skills.

Took sailing lessons this weekend from Brian. He was so patient and upbeat. We had tons of questions the entire 2 days and he answered every one of them thoughtfully and with good humor. The 3 of us were novices and loved our time on the boat. He taught us so many things — and we have a week each — on weekdays to practice. It was really a great experience and I totally recommend it. Have fun!

As a complete sailing novice I used Unilocal to find a sailing course that had the best reviews and Belle Haven Marina came out on top. Having been on the course I now know why… the staff and instructors are really friendly and helpful; they only take a maximum of 3 students per course (unlike other Marinas who have 5) which means you’re always doing one of the key tasks on the boat; they give you a free practice week after your course and encourage you to take it with your fellow students so you can get up to 3 free weeks of sailing together; you then get half price weekday sailing forever… great deal, great place, highly recommend it for any age and experience. Thank you!

Great place. They’re friendly and it just couldn’t be better.

For our 9^th anniversary, my husband bought us sailing lessons at Mariner Sailing School. He has had previous, but limited, experience with sailing and I had no prior experience. We were paired with Joan as our instructor.
The boat was a Flying Scot and was super easy to maneuver. Joan is an EXCELLENT instructor with a great sense of humor. She is patient and thorough in making sure you understand what you are doing and why. The small student to teacher ratio meant that my husband, the other student, and me all had equal opportunity to practice all of the basic sailing procedures. I had been concerned at the beginning of the weekend that it wouldn’t be enough instruction to really feel comfortable going out on our own afterward. I now feel completely confident about being able to handle the boat on my own. The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed and happy.
Our time on the water allowed us to experience good wind and almost no wind, but Joan used our time to teach us how to get the most out of our sails and our time on the water. As a result, I really have no worries about being on the water with little to no wind or being out there with a nice steady breeze. I just feel good and confident now about being on the water.
I think it is awesome that each student gets a free week of sailing and ½ price boat rentals for life. My husband and I are planning on going sailing almost daily for the next two weeks to really lock in what we learned.
All in all, I highly recommend Mariner Sailing School, Joan, and just spending some time at Belle Haven Marina. The area is beautiful and there is a lot to do. We couldn’t have had a more enjoyable weekend and plan on spending a lot more time there. :)

Came to Belle Haven Marina to go kayaking with my daughter. The young lady in the office was unfriendly and unhelpful, clearly didn’t want to be working. Rude and short.
The young men operating the dock were very friendly, yet slow. The kayaks and canoes were in good working order and relatively clean. The sailboats need a good bottom scraping and cleaning.
The initial meeting at the office really drove the experience down.

I would recommend the Mariner Sailing School to anyone who wants to learn to sail, or needs a refresher course.
Mariner Sailing School is located at the Belle Haven Marina, which is just south of Old Town Alexandria. It’s very convenient for those who live/​work in Old Town or SE Fairfax County. There’s plenty of parking.
I took the adult basic course taught by Allen. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and patient and when I «graduated», I felt very confident of my abilities.
One of the best things about Mariner Sailing School (besides its location) is you get a free week of practice sailing, and after that rentals are half price during the week. That’s a really reasonable price for sailboat rentals in the area.

If you’re looking for a place near DC to learn sailing, look no further! I did quite a bit of looking around and settled on this place and after taking their 2 day weekend class and am completely satisfied. My instructor, Brian, was very nice and was able to cram as much as possible into the sessions. They typically have just 2 students per boat, which is better than most schools. This means you get a lot more hands-​on time. They use 19′ Flying Scots which are easy enough to sail solo. I was able to do so myself after the class. Another great benefit is the free sailing time (1 week = 14 hours) after your course that other schools don’t seem to offer. Make sure you make good use of this. Yet another great benefit is the lifetime half off weekday rentals you get when you do their course. The waters of the Potomac here offer a good mix of all typical sailing conditions. During our class we were lucky enough to have perfect conditions the first morning, followed by dying winds in the afternoon, which forced us to get every bit out of the sails. The morning of the second day brought strong winds which allowed for great practice. That afternoon brought even stronger winds which required taking the jib sail down and sailing with a reefed main sail, which was a fun experience too. When I went back for my free sailing time (albeit 2 weeks after my class, mind you), the staff was very friendly and let me sail solo without any questions. To my own surprise, I am doing very well — haven’t given them a reason to come bail me out while in the water. I was also able to dock perfectly. All perhaps good attestations to the quality of their instruction. There is enough room to keep tacking without having to worry about running into other boats. At the same time, you do encounter canoes, kayaks, power boats (going up and down the channel on the Maryland side), etc., so you can practice avoiding them too, if you wish. Overall, a great place to start sailing and fine tune your skills.

I, along with a buddy, took lessons last fall. We both thought everything about it was great and don’t have a single complaint about the experience. The folks who run the school are very nice and friendly and our instructor (Jack) couldn’t have been better-​great guy, easy to be around, patient with us, and has a great teaching style. I basically started from scratch and by the end of the 2-​day class felt comfortable enough to take a boat out on my own.
I would recommend Mariner to anyone who wants to learn to sail. I’m looking forward to renting boats from them when the season starts.

I took sailing lessons here back in September & October and it was so great. You’ll notice I said September AND October — the lessons were only supposed to take one weekend, but there ended up being no wind and we had to reschedule three different times. Despite Mother Nature not wanting me to learn how to sail, Mariner Sailing School was so accommodating — they were great in letting all of us reschedule and were really dedicated to making sure we all got the time in that we needed to be responsible sailors. On the bright side, even on days with no wind, we still had some good times out on the water… I can now tie three different types of sailing knots… (shoutout to Brian, our very patient instructor who can tie a knot like nobody’s business)
Once we actually got some wind, it was so much fun! I never really thought I’d learn to sail, but it’s really one of those learn-​as-​you-​go and I-can’t-believe-I-just-did-that things. It DOES get scary when the winds are squirrely and unpredictable, but it’s definitely an adventure and you’ll be glad you did it. The prices are reasonable and they let you get your free sailing time for the week following, + discounted sailing for the rest of your life.
Tip: Study the packet that teaches you about wind. I know that sounds weird, but it will help you understand sailing so much better. And the wind. Who doesn’t want that?
Definitely recommend if you’re looking for something different to do in DC!

I took the intro to sailing class with a friend a couple weekends ago. Everyone was really knowledgeable and eager to help us learn. We spent about 10 – 15 mins the first day on land, reviewing the basics of a sailboat (they teach on Flying Scots), tacking, jibing, right of way, ect. Then we hit the water. Our instructor was great. Although there were 3 of us in the boat with 0% experience (we were slightly on edge with the amount of other boat traffic) our instructor stayed cool and directed us in navigating safely around all obstacles. The second day we had a different instructor who was not as ship savvy as our instructor the first day. Non the less, we sailed that boat! The two day course left me feeling adequate to sail one the their Flying Scots. I have since taken out their rental boats a few times, and really enjoyed myself. I would recommend taking this course to anyone

I signed up for weeknight lessons at the Mariner Sailing School in August of 2009. I had some experience sailing sunfish in Boy Scouts, but I didn’t have the confidence to go out on a larger boat by myself. The classes were well taught. Most of the instruction was done on the boat and little emphasis was spent on memorizing terminology. It seemed a little repetitive, but practice makes perfect, whether you’re learning to ride a bike or sail. By the end of the week, I was confident and competent enough to sail a Scot, and probably any other day sailor or small cruiser solo.
The staff is very friendly and down to earth. The marina is laid back and far from pretentious, which is great for newcomers to the sport.
I highly recommend taking the weeknight classes. I found that going home each night helped me think about the techniques we learned and enforced the muscle memory.
The wind on the Potomac is usually 5 – 10 mph, which is passable for sailing, but not if you want to learn how to sail in difficult conditions. Ultimately, you still learn the skills to sail, just not at high speed :) There have been a few days when I’ve been out and gusts have been up to 20 mph, which is rare, but quite awesome. I was told by my instructor that the winds are more active in the Spring/​Fall, so one might want to try that instead of the summer. Ultimately, it’s hard to beat the location in Alexandria if you live in the DC area.
Overall, it was a great experience for starting out. I hope to take a more advanced course at Annapolis in the near future.

I took sailing lessons here last fall. The instruction was good and I enjoyed it. For about 15 minutes on the first day we had some strong wind and it was truly fun, but the rest of the time we ended up sitting on the water not moving because there was hardly any wind.
I think that to really enjoy sailing you need to have strong wind, and sailing on the Potomac you simply don’t get that kind of wind on a regular basis. I’d still recommend this sailing class. It is also a good place to rent boats — but call ahead to see if conditions are good for sailing.

I love water sports. Being on the water. Being in the water. Battling nature. All that good stuff. I also dream of being able to sell all my earthly possessions and travel the world as some rich person’s first mate. Probably not a huge coincidence, but nearly every other person who signed up for my weekend sailing certification course had the same wanderlust and dreams of world travel.
The lessons are taught at the Belle Haven Marina, which is about a mile past Old Town Alexandria, not to mistaken to the Washington Marina, which is near National Airport. Its about an eight or nine mile bike ride on the Mt. Vernon Trail for those with no car, or a fairly cheap cab ride from the Old Town Alexandria metro stop on the blue and yellow line.
I’ll be honest, I don’t love sailing like I thought I would. I like it. I’m glad I learned because, well, it is still pretty fun. But it lacks that primal «man vs. nature» thing I love about whitewater kayaking or rafting or climbing a mountain.
The Mariner Sailing School offers two-​day classes, which run from about 9:30 am to 4:00 pm with a lunch break in the middle. They tell you to bring a bag lunch and offer up their fridge in the office for your use. Honestly, if you’re not a brown bag lunch kind of person, there are enough places close by near Old Town you can get to. Parking, according to those who drove, is a challenge since the area is very popular, so arrive early.
The class sizes here are perfect. Its nothing but you, two other classmates, and your instructor on your 19′ Flying Scotsman. These are great boats to learn on. Small enough to be fun and feel like its you and the wind. Big enough to have a full rigging. But still small enough to sail by yourself when you get experienced enough. They arm you with a handout to read and then off to the boat you go to learn how to rig the whole thing. The hardest part is just getting used to the sailing lingo and some of the instructors had a hard time getting away from that, which made following instructions interesting (instructor «put this in the jibcleat» me «the what?» him «the jibcleat» me «the what?» you get the idea).
But somehow I managed to make it through and get my certification. The school gives you a free week of practice plus 50% off rentals for a lifetime. This makes it super cheap to come out and play. If you grab one or two friends, you can rent a sailboat for $ 10/​person for two hours.
Overall, I felt like people were satisfied with their instruction. My instructor was a bit of character, and while he knew what he was doing, I’m not sure he was ready for our crew of three girls who had almost no intuitive sense of sailing. Honestly, the only reason why I ding this place a star is because I think my experience would have been better with a more patient instructor. Having spoken with some of the others who went out with other instructors, it might have been a bit of a mismatch.
But still, I can’t really fault this place much. I feel comfortable enough to take out a sailboat on my own. My docking skills maybe need a little help, but they’ll come tow you in if the wind dies on you and you need to be towed in. And now, I can even tell you why you need to be on a beam reach to dock properly, and what a jibcleat is.

If you want to learn how to sail, check out this local marina, hidden away just south of Alexandria, conveniently located right off the GW parkway. They have a variety of programs for adults and kids, with Flying Scot, sunfish & canoe/​kayak rentals. It’s not as geared towards racing as Wash. Sailing marina, but the surroundings are nicer and the water doesn’t smell like jet fuel. I learned pretty much everything during the 2-​day weekend course. One week of free practice time is included. It’s a treat to head out on the river on warm spring days when the the breeze blows up from Ft. Washington and all you hear is the slap of waves against the boat.