How sailing schools run courses, boat hire and club memberships

Update, November 2026: We’ve cut our booking fee to 2% + VAT, one of the lowest in the industry, so booking with eola now costs less for you and your customers. Any features below that were part of Pro are now available to all our partners. See our new pricing

Running a sailing school means courses that run over several days, a fleet of dinghies and kit to share out, instructors with the right qualifications, and weather that can change the plan at short notice. Add club members, taster sessions and families booking the summer holidays, and the admin soon builds up.

eola is a booking system built for activity businesses. Sailing schools and watersports centres across the UK use it to run their courses, including Stranraer Watersports on Loch Ryan and Ardingly Activity Centre in West Sussex. Here’s how it handles the parts of a sailing school’s week that take the most time.

Courses, tasters and club sessions

Set up each course, taster or club session as an activity, with its own schedule, capacity and price. A course that runs over several days can be one activity, so customers book every day of it in one go. You choose how to charge:

• Per person, with different prices for adults and children.
• A flat price for a private lesson or a boat for a group.
• A base price for a set number of people, with an extra charge for each person after that.

Each activity can have its own child age, so a junior course can count teenagers as children without changing the age for everything else you sell. If the wind is forecast to build, you can change the capacity of a single session without touching the rest of the schedule.

Waivers and questionnaires before anyone launches

Customers sign your disclaimer and answer your questions online when they book, such as whether they can swim, their experience and any medical needs, so nobody is filling in forms on the slipway. Regulars can save a signed disclaimer and reuse their answers.

Every session has a Participants tab listing everyone taking part, with the questionnaire answers you choose to show, ready to print for your instructors or download as a spreadsheet.

On Pro, the AI questionnaire checker reads completed questionnaires and flags the answers your team should look at before a session.

Boats and kit that never double-book

With automated resource management on Pro, eola keeps track of your dinghies, buoyancy aids and other kit as bookings come in, so a course never takes more people than you have boats for.

Spare boats can earn money too. On Pro you can sell boat and kit hire as rentals, and eola checks they don’t clash with your courses. Walk-ins can book and pay at the front desk by card reader or cash.

Instructors and their qualifications

Each instructor has their own calendar, so you can see who’s free, assign them to courses and avoid double-booking anyone. Add each instructor’s qualifications, such as instructor and powerboat certificates, and eola lets you know six weeks before one expires. Unlimited instructors, instructor calendars and instructor permissions are included on every plan.

When the weather changes the plan

If the wind is too strong or there’s none at all, you can move a session’s bookings to another time from your dashboard, and eola emails the customers to tell them. For a course over several days, moving it moves all of its dates.

Club members, gifts and reviews

• Memberships: club members pay monthly or yearly, book members-only sessions and get member prices automatically. Memberships are included on every plan.
• Class passes: sell a block of sessions to sailors who come back every week. Class passes are part of Pro.
• Vouchers: sell credit vouchers or activity vouchers for a set course, so people buy them at Christmas and sail in summer. Credit vouchers are included on every plan.
• Reviews: eola can ask every customer for a review after their course, which helps new customers choose you.

Bookings day and night, on your website and the marketplace

Most people book in the evening, when your office is closed. The eola booking widget sits on your own website, so customers can choose a course, add their group and pay without leaving your site, including with Apple Pay or Google Pay.

You can also list your courses and tasters on the eola marketplace, where people search for things to do near them.

What sailing instructors say

“I was apprehensive about learning a new system, having used so many different ones at every centre. But with eola, I learnt it within a week. I have found it to be the easiest and simplest way of doing everything and running the centre,” says Abby Blondell, a lead instructor who runs a centre on eola.

What it costs

Starter is £0 a month and Pro is £249 a month. Card payments have a 1.7% + 30p processing fee, and customers pay a 5% booking fee at checkout. See our pricing page for what each plan includes, or read more about eola’s booking system for sailing schools.

Questions sailing schools ask

Does eola work for sailing schools and watersports centres?

Yes. Courses, tasters, club sessions and boat hire all run from one calendar and one booking page.

Can customers book a course that runs over several days?

Yes. A multi-day course can be one activity, booked and paid for once.

Will eola stop me selling more places than I have boats?

Yes, on Pro. Automated resource management counts your boats and kit as bookings come in.

Can club members book members-only sessions at member prices?

Yes. Memberships are included on every plan, and members get their prices automatically.

What if we have to cancel because of the weather?

Move the session’s bookings to another time from your dashboard, and eola emails the customers about the change.

How much does eola cost a sailing school?

Starter is £0 a month and Pro is £249 a month. Card payments have a 1.7% + 30p processing fee, and customers pay a 5% booking fee at checkout.

Updated October 2026.

See eola in action

Want to see how this could work for your business? Get in touch with our team.

New to eola?

eola is the booking system made for activity and experience providers. Take bookings and payments online, run courses, boat hire and club memberships in one system, and put your activities in front of new customers on the eola marketplace. Book a demo and we’ll show you how eola could work for your business.