Discover British Columbia Like It’s Your Own
Quiet anchorages.
Waterfront villages.
Forested shorelines.
Wildlife appearing when you least expect it.
Coastal British Columbia is one of the world’s great cruising grounds – and it’s a lot more accessible than many people think. The sheltered waters of the Gulf Islands are a perfect place for new boaters to learn. Newly minted sailors and power boaters looking to gain experience and mileage can gain valuable experience with short jumps between harbors.
Voyage Makers creates the pathway from learning to chartering. Seaport Yacht Charters is one of our key fleet partners who make that possible. Together, we provide a practical progression from your first course to your first charter – with all the mileage building and coastal cruising opportunities in between. So you can enjoy the freedom of exploring British Columbia by boat on your own terms.
Go Further on the Coast
Voyage Makers regional focus allows us to provide our clients with the most personalized charter and training experience in British Columbia. Our network allows us to provide clients with their choice of more than 45 boats in British Columbia and nearly 150 boats throughout the PNW.
Our partnership with Seaport Yacht Charters is special. Seaport’s boutique fleet of thoughtfully selected yachts has elevated the bareboat charter experience – their personal touch and hospitality focus delivers the highest level of bareboat charter services in the Gulf Islands.
At Voyage Makers, we believe boating education should lead somewhere. It should go beyond completing a course and lead to greater confidence and connection. That requires more than instruction alone. It requires the right boats, access to cruising waters that provide variety and challenge – and a variety of opportunities so you can grow, learn and take your skills further. Our collaboration is designed to provide training, elevated experiences and specialized local knowledge that goes beyond simply training and chartering.
A Family’s First Sailing Journey
Adventure Awaits recently experienced our approach to teaching and chartering during a six-day instructional charter through British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.
Departing from Port Sidney Marina aboard Seaport Yacht Charters’ 45-foot Catalina, Simply Dreaming – the family of four took their first sailing course together as they enjoyed stops at Montague Harbour, Ganges, Genoa Bay and Brentwood Bay before returning to Sidney.
Over the course of the journey, every member of the family became an active participant. Both son and daughter progressed to docking the 45-foot yacht. Together, they learned to sail, navigate, communicate and operate as a crew.
The experience was not memorable simply because they learned new technical skills. It was memorable because those skills opened the door to a different way of experiencing British Columbia. They arrived in communities by water, explored quiet harbours, encountered wildlife and discovered the rhythm of living and travelling aboard a yacht.
Adventure Awaits ultimately described it as the family’s best trip ever. You can read all about it here. That is the transformation Voyage Makers works to create.
The Ultimate Sailing Experience at Brentwood Bay Resort
Introduction to sailing courses at Brentwood Bay Resort allow us to introduce people to the cruising lifestyle in a luxurious day of dining, sailing and relaxation at the Resort. This year we featured S/V Simply Dreaming from Seaport Yacht Charters for a 3-day training experience for 9 special couples.
Taking the wheel for the first time. Feeling comfortable as the boat heeled while we sailed upwind. Cruising into Tod Inlet to see the moon jellyfish. Saanich Inlet is an incredible place to learn – and it’s the home of our Coastal Learning Lab. Our collaboration with Seaport Yacht Charters makes chartering even more luxurious when you can enjoy the spa, sauna, dining and other amenities at this award winning adult-only resort.
The Coast is the Classroom
Our clients don’t come to us for just a course. They come because they want to do something bigger.
They want to charter a yacht.
Cruise with their family.
Prepare for boat ownership.
Achieve a dream.
Our role is to identify what stands between the person and that experience—and then help them close the gap. Sometimes the barrier is technical skill. Sometimes it is limited experience. Often, it is confidence that has not yet been supported by enough practical competence.
Voyage Makers brings these elements together through personalized instruction, local knowledge and what we call the Skipper’s Mindset™. And by introducing coastal travellers to the magic of experiencing British Columbia and learning to bareboat charter.
Why Our Partnership with Seaport Matters
A strong instructional experience requires the right vessel and charter environment. Seaport Yacht Charters provides professionally managed cruising yachts, with immediate access to one of Canada’s most extraordinary cruising regions.
That allows Voyage Makers to place students in one of the world’s best learning environments and develop the skills needed to become qualified to bareboat charter anywhere in the world.
Seaport provides the charter platform. Voyage Makers provides the educational pathway, coaching and skipper development. Together, we offer a progression that does not end when the introductory course is over.
From Learning to Independent Adventure
The journey begins differently for every student.
For one person, it begins with an Intro to Sailing course.
For another, it begins with private docking instruction.
For someone else, it begins with a readiness assessment before an upcoming charter.
The next step may be personalized coaching, a multi-day instructional charter or additional development in navigation, anchoring and crew leadership. Eventually, that progression can lead to an independent bareboat charter.
We do not rush towards an outcome – we make people ready and build the experience needed to reach it responsibly.
The goal is not simply to get someone through a charter-company checkout. We aim to create skippers who can make their charters enjoyable and fun for everyone on board.
Experiencing British Columbia Like It’s Your Own
Travelling by boat changes the way you understand this coast.
The Gulf Islands stop being separate destinations on a map and become part a connected cruising landscape.
The voyage becomes yours – your route, your decisions and your accomplishments, achieved together with memories that continue long after the experience ends.
Not simply a course or charter preparation. We help you and your family and friends build the capability to travel differently, experience a place more intimately and find the connections to place and one another that money can’t buy.
From your first course to your first charter, we are here to help you become ready for what comes next.
