My friend is a member of Boston Sailing Center and I love that he can take me along. Sailing in…read moreBoston Harbor is a wonderful experience. The COVID summer of 2020 limits vacation options. The COVID measures are good. Masks until you are out and about.

I took a 5-Day Learn to Sail Lessons, I was with just one person so it was almost a "private"…read morealready. The staff on reception are very helpful. The boats are clean and in good working condition. We have 3 instructors total, Chris was amazing!!! Brad was funny and made us comfortable on our 4th day (Whole Day) Sail and taught us practical methods so we could sail on our own comfortably.

Captain Dave is the kind of guy that not only oozes knowledge of sailing, the route, and…read moresurroundings on your trip, but he also fit into to group seamlessly and doesn't feel like an outsider... and that makes it feel like you're on the water with a bunch of friends and one just happens to own a boat. First, we had to reschedule our trip from last year as I was hospitalized and unable to make the original trip. My wife contacted Dave and they refunded us initially without hesitation. These are not only professionals, but people with kind, large hearts. The policy could have easily taken our money but we were able to reschedule and not have to pay any additional fees or money given our extenuating circumstances. The boat is clean, well-kept, and the comms and instructions were passed along early and with plenty of detail to leave no room for misinterpretation. Payment and scheduling were easy (as my wife told me, at least) and expectations were set as to what was (and was not) provided in the cost. As far as the value and trip itself, it's money well spent. We've done dozens of chartered routes along the coasts as well as in the Caribbean when we travel. Captain Dave was easily in the top 3 in terms of overall experiences and how effortless the day felt. It wasn't too long or too short, and Dave made sure to capture plenty of moments and memories for us instead of all our photos missing one (or more) members of the group. We also got to stop at 2 of the islands and swim around for a bit at each of them before returning back to the docks. There were 6 people in our group and we had plenty of space for all of us, 3 backpack/YETI soft coolers, and about 4 bags of food/snacks. There is also a shaded area if you forget sunscreen and/or just need to get out of the wind or sun. If you're curious or wondering if you may enjoy an experience like this, my best advice to you is just book it and don't overthink it. It surpassed all my expectations and was a blast of a way to spent a hot, sunny Saturday in the summer. Given the other reviewers' experiences, it doesn't seem like anyone has had a bad experience with any of the captains either. If you have anywhere near the experience I did, you'd be okay with paying double what we did for the day... it's just that much fun. Thank you to everyone at Classic Sail for the kindness, understanding, and above all - the awesome product/experience. You've made a few new fans in the Boston area!!!

What a great experience! We sailed with Captain David on a beautiful day in early May. Because my…read morepartner has such a strong desire to learn to sail, he asked a lot of questions to learn about the vessel and different verbiage. David enthusiastically answered every question, while also giving us lessons on different sights around the sail. Highly recommend - hope we can make it back another day!

I was hoping to learn sailing this summer but this place is very disorganized. The people…read moreconducting orientation have apparently not even been out on the water. And discourage you saying the water is really dirty. They have you take two classes on land on your own and then take a boat out on your own by coordinating yourself on Slack. It's not really a place to learn with a coach. Might be fine if you're just here to rent - can't speak to that.

This is a review just for kayaking:…read more On a beautiful Sunday, we wanted to kayak. We first went to another sailing pavilion that was unfortunately closed and then tried Community Boating. The office / guest services area inside is pretty well staffed and they have bathrooms and lockers so seemed promising. Unfortunately after you pay it becomes clear the main intent of this place is sailing. If you want to do anything else, do not come here. I had to chase multiple people down for us to get assistance with getting paddles and we had to go out into the water on our own with little to no direction. In the end, we didn't even get to spend the full 2 hours you pay for out on the water because it took so long to get setup on our own. Don't come here for anything but sailing!

If you are an adult looking to learn to sail you have much better options, Please don't waste your…read moretime or money at Courageous Sailing. If you want to learn the basics of sailing at a fraction of the cost of courageous just check out Community Boating on the Charles River, it is only $275-445 for the entire year. With this you will have access to Mercury, laser, 420 (race boats), ideal 18, sonars & windsurfing. With courageous the learn to sail is scheduled for 2 weekends (4 days) with Community the classes are being held all the time and you can take them whenever you want, so you can avoid cold rainy days, and take the classes with different wind conditions (light, med, high) as many times as you want for no charge, unless its an advanced class which is only $50. When I took my learn to sail at courageous it was cold, rainy with fairly large waves. One of the people I took the class with actually started to cry. This is a non issue with Community because if the conditions are awful just come another day. After 1-2 years at community, if you like sailing you can go to a real adult school if you want to level up your sailing skills. Note the internal ratings at community and courageous have little to no value at other sailing organizations. If you are serious about sailing you need to build up your ASA certifications especially ASA 101,103 and 104, there are many ASA schools and you can take classes at different schools all across the country, Caribbean & world. Once you are ASA certified these credentials will follow you to other ASA schools & organizations. Once you reach ASA 104 you can apply for a type of international license. Also note that community has a much nicer facility and dock with actual restrooms with a shower. At Courageous they have portable toilets, no shower and 2 outdoor sinks which almost never have soap. These are the same sinks the staff preparing the cookout food uses. Also note that the traffic on the Charles is much safer vs the harbor, in the harbor you will run into huge tug boats and huge freight ships. On the Charles the boats need to pass under the bridges, so the biggest boats there are duck boats and some small/medium sized tour boats. Actual ASA alternatives to Courageous are First Reef Sailing in East Boston, one of the owners is Capt Paul Sullivan 5 time outstanding ASA instructor, they have the best learn to sail boat in the Boston Area Colgate 26, unlike Courageous the motors actually work & are reliable. If you are a student you can get a Colgate membership for 2K which I think they allow you to share with other members so better boat & may be less expensive vs Courageous also once you achieve 104 status (can do in one year) there is no range limit you just need to be back by sunset. They also offer memberships on cruisers & catamarans, these cost more like 10 K but you can also share those memberships. These are new boats almost everything works on them unlike courageous, And you can go on multi day to week long trips. Another ASA alternative is Reef Runner in Friendship Maine, one of the instructors there is 4 time outstanding instructor, its pretty close to Arcadia National Park. They are less expensive than Courageous and they quality of the instruction is vastly superior. Once you pass a class in an ASA school your log book will be signed by the captain, you will also receive an official stamp for your log book from ASA and the results will be uploaded to ASA so all other ASA organization globally will see your rating. Another tip is no matter where you sail keep a log book on the miles & a brief description of the trip

Primary fleet is a bunch of old Rhodes 19 boats that are falling apart. It's incredibly…read moredisorganized and understaffed. Focus on the youth program, which is really good, however the adult program suffers by lack of attention Even the larger boats 4 J80s frequently mean maintenance and are under maintained. They wait for people to donate boats to them so the cost is low, but you get what you pay for.

I selected this company based on good reviews, but wonder if things have changed during the…read morepandemic and encourage you to proceed booking with caution as my experience trying to get on the boat was terrible and they held 50% of my total payment illegally. We originally planned to set sail, however, due to inclement weather reports on the day of the charter, we jointly decided to reschedule for another time and did not set the reschedule date at that moment because my party size was large, 15, and I needed to repoll the group on another feasible date. My group worked together to select a reschedule date, which the company made for a Saturday. The Tuesday before, we found out that one of our co-workers has COVID. As a result, all of us were potentially exposed. Out of concern for the safety of the crew and captain, I reached out by text message on Wednesday to inform them of the situation and figure out how to proceed. My coworker who had COVID also tried to contact you to find a resolution but could not reach them by phone. We received an email stating they unable to reschedule on this charter, and could do a cancellation that would result in a partial refund. They did not offer the option to reschedule to a fee, and said short of canceling, the charter would be scheduled to take place on Saturday with full awareness of the situation I expressed. I responded saying that we would like to proceed with Saturday in this case. I again emphasized that we had been exposed, and they cancelled without calling or communicating. After repeated calls and emails from Saturday to Wednesday, and finally a warning to report to the FTC for poor business practice, only half of my payment was returned. Nothing in the contract allowed them to retain it. So- beware. If you book, make sure you are going and don't expect your money back if you need to make a change for anything reasonable like being honest about a COVID exposure

This is a harbor tour on a sailboat. The summer of 2009 was their first year in business and they…read moredon't sail in the wintertime. The sail boat, called the Tupelo Honey, can carry up to 12 people. I'd lived in Boston for several years but had never been on a sail boat there. I had previously been on boat cruises around the harbor. We were back in town for a visit and I saw an advertisement for this harbor tour. I absolutely love sailing and wanted to try it out. I called a day before we hoped to go on a sail and asked if they had any times available. Generally, the cost is about $25/person. But because we didn't have a large group, only two of us wanted to go, there was a minimum price to take the sailboat out. That was $140.00, which was fine with us. We had an absolutely fantastic time! The captain and other crew member were very hospitable, friendly and really easy-going. They asked us if we wanted to stay near the buildings to see the scenery or to go further out into the harbor and let us make the decision. I would definitely do this again and it was well worth the money. It couldn't have been better. Call at least a day in advance to make sure that they have room to take you out for a sail. Their website says that you can take a T-Boat (affiliated with the MBTA subway, the T) to a nearby pier and walk.

Charlie, Hannah and Eric were amazing. Great fun, great service and lots of fun. This is worth your…read moretime in Boston!

My son and I took the Harbor Cruise on the Patriot yesterday to see the Tall Ships in Boston…read moreHarbor. The boat holds a maximum of 25 passengers, and therefore, is a very calm environment for the tour. It is also a comfortable boat. Eric, who was manning the wheeel, got us as close as possible to each ship and navigated safely in a busy harbor. The crew was great. Do yourself a favor and book a cruise with them!

If you love sailing, appreciate history, and enjoy "life at sea" you need to book an excursion on…read morethe Fame or Liberty Star or both as I did! The captains and crew are great, and the feel and sights are excellent. Me and my walking stick were welcomed and helped every time I sailed with them over a period of six days while staying in Boston for the 4th of July!!! I could be a seriously be a stowaway. Read about each ship online, book your cruises and ENJOY!!! Photos: sail "with" the USS Constitution July 4th, reflection of our tall ship in the glass (sorry I do not remember name of building), the sails and rigging! Photo 1 in review by J Diane Farris Photo 2 in review by J Diane Farris Photo 3 in review by J Diane Farris

My daughter and I have a delightful cruise around Boston Harbor on Saturday August 1, 2026. I…read morethought we would be surrounded by tourists, but lo and behold, some locals were celebrating a family reunion. It was a bunch of Bostonians enjoying the harbor. It's something everyone should do. Great fun!

Charles River Boat Company did an excellent job presenting the Tall Ships to our Senior Center…read moregroup. It was an easy trip to plan from the cruise to the lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Thank you for a wonderful presentation of the many Tall Ships viewed from the water.

We had a great time. The cruise was very comfortable and educational. The young lady who narrated…read morethe cruise was very good. She kept everyone engaged, answered questions, and made sure to fill any quiet time with fun facts about Boston and the area around us. I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone interested in Boston and enjoys a nice boat ride in the Boston Harbor.

The family and I had an amazing time on Artemis sailing with Captain Rick and his wife Deb. What…read morean amazing experience to sail on such a beautiful yacht and with such wonderful people. If you've never sailed or are an experienced sailor, you will truly enjoy this great experience and discover Gloucester and the surrounding area. This sailing yacht is super stable, fast and fun. Make new friends, new experiences and memories! Sail Artemis!

From the owner: Set sail for an unforgettable experience aboard ARTEMIS, a 65-foot high-performance sailing yacht…read moreoffering luxury sailing tours along the stunning coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Meal included. Maximum of 6 guests. Daysails, sunset sails and more. Enjoy 3-hour or 4-hour excursions for 1-6 passengers featuring breathtaking coastal views, smooth sailing, and farm-to-table meals that elevate your journey. Departing from Historic Gloucester, you’ll have the chance to explore ports like Marblehead, Salem, and Beverly, soaking in the beauty of New England’s waters. With 45 years of combined boating experience, Captain Rick & Deb Miles ensure a safe, comfortable, and truly special adventure. Whether you’re looking for relaxation, exploration, or an elevated sailing experience, ARTEMIS is the perfect choice. Contact us today to plan your custom voyage and experience sailing at its finest! Learn more at Artemissails.com