To reserve a space on one of our voyages you’ll need to complete a booking form and pay the required deposit (see below).
Payment information is shown in the booking process for each voyage.
You must pay a 30% deposit and travel insurance premium when booking your voyage and 70% eight weeks before the voyage start date.
Any voyage priced at £349 or below, special offers and any voyages booked within eight weeks of the start date require full payment (including travel insurance premium) at the point of booking.
If you have a young person who may need financial support, further information can be found about applying for a bursary (see FAQs)
For individuals voyages, no. The majority of people will not have met each other before unless they happen to have travelled to the vessel together. We do operate group voyages where members of organisations and schools will then travel and sail together.
For each of our voyages, the descriptions show the level of previous experience required. We operate voyages for complete novices through to development voyages for more experienced sailors.
Exploration youth voyages and many adult voyages do not require previous experience, but Empowerment and Leadership Youth voyages and some adult voyages do require it.
If you need help finding the right voyage for you, please call reservations on 02392 832055.
If you are, or are referring, a young person (up to 25years old) who needs financial support towards voyage costs, we have an online bursary application form to complete which needs information including the reasons for your application.
Bursary application – CLICK HERE
If you have any questions about the bursary process for financial support please contact our Youth Development and Outdoor Learning team on 02392 832055.
Payment options are shown in the booking form for each voyage.
You must pay a 30% deposit and travel insurance premium when booking your voyage and 70% eight weeks before the voyage start date.
Any voyage priced at £349 or below, special offers and any voyages booked within eight weeks of the start date require full payment (including travel insurance premium) at the point of booking.
If you have a young person who may need financial support, further information can be found about applying for a bursary (see FAQs)
Contact the Reservations Team on 02392 832055 for more information. See our Conditions of Booking.
On all of our vessels you’ll have a skipper and a mate. On our challenger voyages you’ll also have watch leaders and potentially a youth mentor for youth voyages.
Please see Our Fleet page for further details.
You’ll find the start and end ports in the programme, along with ‘places you may visit’. It’s not possible to guarantee where you’ll go during the voyage as this is dependent on the weather and the voyage crew’s ability.
Your Skipper will keep you up to date with where you’re likely to travel during your voyage and we’ll always aim to get in as much sailing as possible.
Your joining and leaving ports will only change if absolutely necessary and you’ll be informed of any change as soon as possible.
Check the voyage information listed under each voyage to find out whether you require a passport. If it’s noted that a passport is required and the voyage starts and finishes in the UK, it does not guarantee that you’ll visit a foreign port but the option to will be available and dependent on weather and circumstances.
It’s your responsibility to check whether you need a visa for any of the countries you may visit including the Channel Islands. Please note that the rules may be different for travelling by sea compared with by air.
Flights are NOT included in the voyage price.
Our recommendation for booking flights is to either visit a local travel agent or book through the internet. Please note that we advise against booking any travel until we have confirmed your berth on the voyage.
Once berth confirmed and you have booked your flight, you’ll be asked for your arrival and departure times.
Tall Ships Youth Trust automatically include travel insurance within your booking costs.
Insurance is included to ensure that everyone sailing with us is insured with a suitable policy. We have arranged this specialist travel insurance for all crew members taking part on all Voyages aboard any vessel owned or managed by Tall Ships Ltd.
For further information about our policy, see these links:
Key Facts are available by clicking – Key Facts
Full Policy wording (including how to claim) is available by clicking – Policy Wording
Policy Schedule – Policy Schedule
A suggested kit list, top tips and further information about what to expect can be found in our Crew Handbooks.
These can be downloaded at the bottom of the life onboard page
There is a chance that your feet will get wet whilst sailing so we recommend you bring a spare pair of trainers that you don’t mind getting wet. Alternatively, a pair of wellies or sailing boots are recommended.
You can invest in a pair of special sailing boots (or clean garden wellies), we would advise this if you are doing a long offshore passage or sailing during the winter months. If you do wish to buy some sailing boots, try your local sports shops (that provide sailing kit), yacht chandlery or visit an online marine store.
Challenger fleet – there are no 240v sockets onboard, but limited USB and ‘car charger’ style sockets aft.
Ketch – limited 240v sockets onboard, but these only operate when alongside and plugged into shore-power.
If you have a specific charging requirement for medical equipment, please call the Reservations Team on 02392 832055 to discuss further.
You will be sent joining instructions either as soon as your berth is confirmed or when we are able to confirm berthing details of your voyage.
No swimming is allowed from the vessel during voyages. On our youth voyages you will be required to wear a lifejacket whenever on deck with the added safety feature of being tethered to the vessel, if needed.
Please have a look at our Careers and Volunteer with us pages for more information.
The following certificates/ qualifications can be completed on some of our voyages:
Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award – the residential and expedition components of the DofE Gold Award can be completed with TSYT. For Residential, it must be a minimum of 5 days/ 4 nights. For Gold Expedition, please contact our reservations team on 02392 832055
There are many ways to support us – shore-side, at sea, fundraise or donate to name but a few.
Without our supporters we cannot operate and deliver the vital youth work that we do. To find our more visit our Support Us section in the main website menu.
As part of the booking process, you’ll be asked to complete a form which includes both medical and dietary needs. In all cases, medical conditions/ medications will be referred to our medical advisory team for clearance.
If you have food intolerances and/ or allergies, our provisioners will work to ensure we can meet your needs.
If you have any questions, please call reservations on 02392 832055
If your emergency requires urgent contact with the vessel for a crew member, please contact our main office number (02392832055), during office hours. Out of hours, the number is diverted to a member of staff on call.
If you are delayed travelling to join your voyage, please follow the same process as above.
Voyage recommends:
Recommended to complete an Exploration, Empowerment or Leadership voyage, your next step is to find a voyage date that suits you, (apply for a bursary if you need financial support) and book yourself on. You will also receive information via emails to promote voyage opportunities suited to you, including information about funding support.
Volunteer Crew recommends:
Recommended to join us as a training Watch Leader, Youth Mentor or Mate, you will need to complete your volunteer crew application form with references and DBS form. We do request a full Enhanced DBS covering both working with children and vulnerable adults. As part of your progress to Volunteer Crew, we ask that you attend a Volunteer Crew Training weekend to kick start your volunteering with us.
Young Ambassador recommends:
Recommended to join our growing team of Young Ambassadors, a member of our Youth Development and Outdoor Learning team will be in touch to complete your volunteer paperwork and opportunities to support our work through voyaging, events and fundraising.
We aim to make all our voyages as inclusive as possible. On adult voyages our age range starts at 18 with the maximum upper limit of 80 being determined by our vessel insurance.
All our voyages can be physically demanding, however due to the additional demands over an extended time period of our more challenging voyages, especially those going further offshore, these generally have a limit of 65. If you are over this age but physically fit, agile and understand the specific nature of the voyage (including vessel demands, possible weather and sea conditions, the length of time at sea at any one time and the distance from a safe haven or assistance) we can extend this on a case by case basis. If you are interested in joining an adult voyage but are over the age limit please do contact us and we would be delighted to discuss this further – call us on 02392832055 or email info@tallships.org with details (including your contact details, voyage reference and any relevant details) and one of our team will call you back.
The safety of everyone onboard is our priority and as part of this for some of our more challenging voyages we also require individual medical assessments for all crew.
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