I came solo and Julie found a partner to me in one single day to make my course possible (but a posteriori i would definitely go for it solo, despite the extra cost !!) and adapted the schedule 2 days before so i could make it !

Daryl was my instructor for the course. It was way above my expectations.
Indeed, the purpose of the course is really to make you autonomous with a boat, from planning a trip with forecast and charts, checking the safety elements on the boat and giving you all the basics to navigate safely, to the technical aspects of sailing.
It is a lot of thinking and hands on practice.
Don't forget the part where you sleep on the boat which makes it really a complete immersion experience !

Daryl was an amazing instructor, very clear,kind and calm, making us involved and alert, verifying at each step that we were fellowing and understanding, and sharing some tips and stories born from his huge experience !

The school is really about sharing the passion of sailing and making you a secure and good skipper. This is human size and human oriented, communication is easy and they will help you the best they can. You can go eyes closed and my only regret is that my time there was too short !! If you can go for the 6 days holidays, go for it !! I definitely would do that on my next time here !

We had an exceptional experience with Great Escape when we hired a 25 foot yacht for 5 days in the Bay of Islands including 2 days hands on refresher sailing instruction. The instructor Martin was extremely knowledgeable and patient, and imparted huge amounts of information in absorbable chunks. The support from Julie and Bill was superlative. I really feel we have cracked passage plans and transit points :) and have a good foundation for future land based island sailing! Having 5 days fine weather and light seas helped, the scenery is spectacular and the wildlife also wonderful, a shoutout to Project Bird Song for the birdlife on the islands.