Mola Yachting

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I recently took part in MOLA Yachting GmbH's skipper training and I'm absolutely thrilled! The week was a perfect blend of intensive learning and pure sailing pleasure. Anyone looking to refresh their skills or prepare thoroughly for skippering a yacht independently has come to the right place.

The sailing area around Rügen is simply breathtaking! The Baltic Sea here offers wonderful variety – from the impressive chalk cliffs to the picturesque harbours. You'll find both sheltered waters for relaxed manoeuvres and more challenging conditions for training in slightly stronger winds. A dream setting that makes every day a visual experience.

Our skipper was outstanding. With his vast experience and his calm, extremely competent manner, he managed to give us the utmost confidence in all seamanship and navigational situations. He explained all harbour manoeuvres, sail trim and safety aspects patiently and clearly. A true professional and an excellent instructor!

The sailing yacht used was a modern GRP yacht (Dehler 38) that left nothing to be desired. Not only was she very well maintained and comfortable, but also exceptionally fast and responsive. This allowed us to put what we'd learnt into practice perfectly and we had tremendous fun sailing sportily. Handling the yacht enormously enhanced the training success.

Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars! The training is worth every penny and I can recommend it without reservation. Many thanks for this fantastic week on the Baltic Sea!

I did the SKS practical trip with Mola in 2025 and there are 3 things you should know about this course

1) The course is advertised as a mile-building trip with 320 nautical miles, but it's a training course for the practical SKS exam. The entire week essentially practises 3 manoeuvres that are tested in the exam: lateral berthing in harbour, man-overboard manoeuvre under sail and under motor. We sailed from Sunday morning to Thursday midday, each day from approximately 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In addition there was about 30–60 minutes of theory in the harbour each day. Thursday afternoon was free and Friday morning was the exam. We didn't sail on Saturdays. We stayed overnight in Breege each time and for the manoeuvres you leave harbour for about half a nautical mile. This means you cover less than 100 nautical miles during the week. I spoke to Mola several times before the course about the nautical miles and I was never clearly told that you practically don't reach them: you either sail miles or practise manoeuvres. You can't do both at the same time. The fact that this course is advertised as a trip from Saturday to Saturday with 320 nautical miles I find misleading.

2) The course took place on a Bavaria yacht that was over 20 years old. The boat sailed briskly but showed certain signs of wear. This was evident below deck, for example, where certain lockers no longer closed properly or some screws could no longer be tightened. On deck many of the sheets had lost their grip, one of the two steering wheels didn't work and the steering was generally quite stiff.

3) We had an instructor who brought a great deal of sailing experience, who had a passion for teaching us the manoeuvres. Someone who could explain the theory very well and who gave us quite a lot of freedom on the last two days. But he was also someone whose tone on board could be very brusque. I realise that everyone has a different learning or teaching style, but I found the first two days in particular stressful and at times unpleasant. I can't reproduce the tone here but there were things like 'Hurry up at last!', 'Stop faffing about!' or 'What are you doing now?!' After the first two days it improved because we made fewer mistakes and the instructor partly followed the manoeuvres from below deck. But we had quite strong winds on some days and the stress created by this tone also increases the risk of injury quite considerably.

I would nevertheless recommend this course to those doing the SKS certificate. It's partly demanding but prepares you well for the exam. Incidentally, there were several people who were taking this course for the second time. Those with hardly any previous sailing experience may need more than one week's preparation for the exam. For those not doing the SKS certificate this course can be useful, but it's definitely not a mile-building trip.