A sailing association without sailing is obviously not a good idea, but neither is a sailboat without any sailors on it. When new members join our association they all have different levels of experience with sailing, some have no experience at all while others have been sailing their entire lives. To ensure that sailing is always done safely at our association it is important to make sure the sailing level of our members remains high enough en keeps improving. This is where we, the Skippers Council, come in. The Skippers Council consists of members that have been named skipper for at least one of the disciplines; Valk, Dinghy and/or Lelievlet (the boats typically used at the Waterscouting). The skippers ensure that our sailing activities are all conducted safely and during the sailing season they give trainings in the different sailing disciplines.
Every week there are scheduled trainings on the Rhine to become a Lelievlet Skipper. To become a Lelievlet skipper, you need to have passed a CWO III theory exam for rowing and keelboat sailing, and then you need to do a practical examination with an external examinor. Aqua organises theory lessons and exams in February/March. If you pass the practical examination, you will officially receive a CWO III keelboat certificate.
To become a Valk or Dinghy Skipper trainings can be planned in consultation with the Skippers Council. Furthermore, Aqua organises a lot of sailing weekends during which members can train to become Valk Skippers if they want to (not obligated) and specific training weekends for the Dinghies and the Valks that are more focussed on improving the sailing skills.
Aside from the trainings we also evaluate the sailing level of our members and guide them along the trajectory of becoming a skipper. We are always looking for new skippers in all disciplines so do you want to become a better sailor or become a skipper? Don't hesitate to shoot us a message!
If you want to go sailing, you can always message one of our skippers directly. You can find a list of our skippers here: