Every year, before the season starts, we take our pilot cutters around to the boatyard to have them antifouled and checked out below the waterline. Here they are waiting their turns. Click or tap here to learn more about our boats.
“Boutique” Teen Sailing Expeditions
QBE is what people these days would call a “boutique” sailing program(me): small, lots of personal attention, and “unique selling points (USPs).“ Our boats are very much old-school chic. Our European destinations are right out of a Rizzoli® coffee-table book. And our expeditions are largely organized by crew members who take ownership of most of the everyday tasks, including navigating and taking turns at the helm. We even give our crews the latitude to get lost! (Yes, we have GPS, but that doesn’t mean we let our teens use it.)
Come to think of it, QBE is a bit like the small school in the Swiss Alps where our founder, investors, and volunteers all first met. The views were spectacular. We organized our own mountain expeditions. And the houses/dorms were old converted hotels that oozed charm but needed occasional roof repairs*.
Our pilot cutters are far from state-of-the-art, but they were solidly built by an artisan boatwright a number of years ago, using a 19th-century design. We think they significantly upgrade our value proposition. They are wonderful to sail, very steady in choppy seas, and eye-popping to look at, whether tied up by the quay or cutting through the water at full sail. As an additional plus, our director, Will Sutherland, is a world-class sailing coach and experienced high-school expeditions master. When it comes to premium personal-development and summer enrichment for youngsters, you can’t do better.
*For clarification, our boats DO NOT leak.
Sailing in style. Spend a few weeks pretending you're Cary Grant or Katherine Hepburn.
Does style matter anymore? Well, it should. Beautiful hand-made things, original art, magnificent old churches, and walks through beautifully landscaped gardens nourish the soul. Which brings us to our boats. QBE owns two Insta-worthy pilot cutters, handsome single-masted boats that have been called the best sailboats ever designed because of their seaworthiness, maneuverability, and ease of handling. If we weren’t using our cutters to teach, we’d probably be renting them to film production companies. They really are remarkable yachts. And they’re perfect for showing teens the ropes—the ones they use to trim the sails and others they’ll use throughout life. There are a number of sailing courses available to high-school students. Some of them appear to be very good. A few have the benefit of cruising clear, tropical waters and exploring the reefs that lie beneath the surface. But few of them offer the European cultural component we do. And none that we can find offer boats like ours, because, well, because there just aren’t many boats like ours. QBE sailing is about character development, history, culture, and old-school style. You should join us and spend a few weeks pretending you’re Katherine Hepburn or Cary Grant (or, if you’re not old enough to know who they are, Léa Seydoux/Idris Elba) on a great European adventure. How many chances will you get?