12 Reasons to Choose a Wildwind Holiday…
and only One Reason not to!
1. Sailing Conditions: Whether you’re a beginner or an expert our centre offers you the best sailing conditions of any holiday sailing centre in the world. Light winds in the mornings make learning how to sail a breeze while the stronger afternoon cross shore winds are perfect conditions for those who know what they are doing.
2. Equipment: Again, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been sailing all your life you’ll find something in the impressive line-up of boats to suit you perfectly. Our fleet consists of more than 50 dinghies and catamarans including beginner boats such as Laser Picos and RS Teras all the way through to 49er, RS 500 & 800’s, and a complete range of Hobie cats including Hobie Pacifics, Tigers and Tornado. For a complete list of our 2013 equipment look here.
3. Instructors and teachers: Our staff are renowned for being the best in the business, a view that’s echoed by the excellent feedback that they receive every single week of the season. As you’d expect we are an RYA recognised sailing centre and we offer a range of RYA courses from simple Level 1 certificates to the Performance Sailing courses. What’s more, unlike many other centres, we make no charge for our courses! For our complete list of RYA courses click here.
4. Time on the Water: There’s nothing more frustrating than to have to be told to come in off the water just as you’re starting to really have a good time. At Wildwind the centre opens at 10:30 am just as the on-shore breeze starts to build and we close at about 7pm or whenever you’ve had enough, whichever comes earliest. Although you can take a break for lunch (or for any other reason) we keep the centre open and manned throughout the day; although our official teaching sessions and joy rides finish at 5pm.
5. Accommodation: The Wildwind centre and accommodation is only few yards back from the beach and sailing centre, and equipped with 2 swimming pools, bars and restaurants – so if you’ve forgotten anything or you fancy a bite or a beer it’s just a few seconds from your room to the beach. Our rooms are set in beautiful landscaped gardens and the centre has a warm and relaxed feel, ideal for any type of holiday.
6. Vassiliki: Vassiliki is a small fishing village, pretty much a two street town but with a great selection of tavernas, restaurants and bars lining the pretty harbour side. The village is just a few minutes walk along the beach from Wildwind – you can choose to eat at our centre or go out as you please.
7. Lefkas: Known as the Emerald isle in the Ionian sea, Lefkas is an absolutely beautiful island in all respects. The name Lefkas (Greek for white) come from the white cliffs at Cape Lefkada, while the rest of the island stays green even in the heat of summer due to an abundant supply of underground water. Even if you join us for only a week’s holiday it’s well worth spending at least half a day exploring; the west of the island is blessed with award winning beaches while the east coast is covered in pine trees and with spectacular views to a number of smaller islands just off shore. Ferry boats leave several times a day from Vassiliki to a number of smaller beaches, or to explore the nearby islands such as Ithaca, home of Odysseus, and Cephalonia where Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was filmed.
8. Transport: Lefkas is only just an island, being connected to the mainland by a floating bridge and a causeway. This means that Vassiliki is easily reached from Prevesa airport one the mainland with a coach journey just over an hour, while flights from Gatwick to Prevesa takes just under three hours. So you can even go sailing on your arrival day! Of course Wildwind is ATOL recognised too, so your monies are fully protected and we have contracted our flights with Monarch, one of the most respected and secure charter flight companies.
9. Healthy Options: Seven years ago we opened up our ‘Healthy Options’ programme, ideally suited for anyone in your party who is not so keen on watersports, but who wants more from their holiday than just sun-bathing around the pool. It offers a gentler activity programme including yoga, Pilates, and a selection of other fun fitness classes, as well as guided cycling and walking trips, and some watersports taster sessions, along with a free massage. For more info click here.
10. Other Activities: As well as sailing we can also offer you superlative windsurfing to add to our sailing on our FREE AS THE WIND programme, with the world’s No 1 windsurfing company, Club Vass, who are right next door to us. For the more adventurous our Active Adventures programme offers 6 different sports (including sailing, windsurfing, scuba diving, kayaking, mountain biking and a sea safari) on 6 different days or you can tailor your week with us. We also offer you free use of our own mountain bikes (including a selection of guided tours).
11. Kids: Want your kids to learn to sail while you take a bit of time for yourself? Our kids club is available at half term and during the summer school holidays, and, not only will we offer you a kids’ discount price, we’ll also look after them for you during the mornings and afternoons. For Kids Club here
12. FUN!!! There’s more to a successful holiday than providing a perfect place, brilliant instructors and wonderful conditions, and that’s where we excel too. We have a relaxed social programme that includes a welcome night, a BBQ with live music, cocktail nights around the pool and informal forays into the village and its bars. And, as a small independent company we can (and do) give you individual personal attention from the moment you call our friendly booking office in the UK until you finally leave us on your homeward journey.
One Reason NOT to choose a Wildwind Holiday?
We pride ourselves on the quality of the sailing that we offer and the great atmosphere we create around our centre. One of the things we do ask our clients is to help rig and de-rig the boats that they are using. Of course our instructors will be right next to you helping you but we firmly believe that no one should go out sailing without knowing how the boats work…it’s part of learning to sail after all! If your kind of holiday is one where the staff simply rig the boat up for you and send you out onto the water without what we would consider correct preparation and proper safety instruction then Wildwind is probably not for you.
