Please note we will not begin confirming places until after 1900 BST on Monday 1 June and it will then take some time to update all places.

Please do not book flights until the CUYC Committee emails you directly to confirm that you have a place by sending you your joining instructions for that specific trip.

The website may update to indicate different statuses of your sign-up throughout this time.

Ipswich - North Sea - Stavanger - Bergen - Fjords

Orkneys - Shetland - UK East Coast

10 trips   |   11 weeks   |   3400 nm

Click on the photos to view each trip page

Yacht Skylark Tracker

Track Sailing Yacht Skylark as she crosses the North Sea and explores the Fjords:

2023 Summer Programme Overall Map

Two adventurous offshore trips will see Skylark across and back from the North Sea,

with 6 trips of summer cruising in the Norwegian Fjords in between and 2 five-day RYA training trips on each end.

About the Summer Programme

CUYC's annual Summer Programme is the highlight of our calendar. We take our Club yacht away from home on a grand adventure, passing from crew-to-crew in a big relay of week-long cruising trips that run back-to-back all summer-long. This year, the destination is Norway. There are 11 weeks of sailing, comprising 10 trips (one two-week long trip!). There are three kinds of trips this year: training, cruising and adventurous. The two training trips are RYA 5-day courses taught by an RYA Instructor, in which you can earn either your Competent Crew or Day Skipper qualification. These are both based in Ipswich in the UK and have a slightly smaller crew, with focussed training covering the extensive syllabus of whichever qualifcation you take, part of the RYA's Yachtmaster Scheme that progresses upwards towards your skipper's license. The 6 cruising trips are the main trips that most people go on: these will involve 6 days of sailing around the Norwegian Fjords - likely around 5hrs of sailing each day and either stopping at anchor or in port overnight. These have a full crew of 8 people, including qualified Skipper and First Mate provided by CUYC who are responsible for the safety and navigation of the yacht. You sleep, cook, eat, sail, sunbathe, read, take photographs, swim, and do most other things you could want to on board although if your crew and Skipper decides, you may go ashore for an evening, for example to go to a restaurant. There are two adventurous trips, both of which involve a North Sea crossing. These trips are extensive journeys in which you will expect to spend at least 50% of the trip at sea (that means sailing continuously through the night, where the whole crew takes it turns to complete night watches). These are still fully-crewed trips of 8, although owing to the more demanding nature, CUYC will typically have more involvement in selecting the crew to ensure there is enough experience on board. The regular cruising and training trips are organised in line with our normal Sign-Up Policy - first-come, first-served (with current students prioritised). We do have space on board for the odd novice sailor on our adventurous trips and providing access to this kind of sailing is part of what we care about as a Club, however you need to be up for it and be prepared to get stuck in,

These trips are not strictly a holiday: YOU will help sail the boat, cook meals for your crew, keep your cabin area tidy and get stuck in giving the boat a thorough clean at the end of the trip. Everyone contributes a little bit and it is more akin to an adventure holiday, walking or camping, type spirit. That being said, the trips are AMAZING. You will likely meet some incredible people, undoubtedly see some awesome sights and hopefully have the absolute time of your life.

No.	Trip Name	Dates	Location	Type
1	RYA 5-day	10-14 July	Ipswich	RYA Dayskipper / Competent Crew Training
2	AEGIR	17-23 July	Ipswich - Stavanger	Adventurous / Offshore
3	JØRGEN	24-30 July	Stavanger / Bergen	Cruising
4	KAIA	31-6 August	Stavanger / Bergen	Cruising
5	RÜDIGER	7-13 August	Stavanger / Bergen	Cruising
6	FREYDIS	14-20 August	Stavanger / Bergen	Cruising
7	ØDGER	21-27 August	Stavanger / Bergen	Cruising
8	NJORD	28-3 September	Stavnager / Bergen	Cruising
9	BRYANJAR	4-17 September	Stavanger - Orkneys - Ipswich	Adventurous / Offshore (two weeks)
10	RYA 5-day	18-22 September	Ipswich	RYA Dayskipper / Competent Crew Training

How much does it cost?

You must be a member of Cambridge University Yacht Club to come on one of our trips. Our membership fee is currently £30 per year and is paid when you pay for the first trip you sign up for. The trips themselves for this Summer Programme are priced as below. Junior members are any current students of the University of Cambridge (verified using Raven). Senior members are alumni and Affiliates are friends of the Club without a necessary direct link to the University. Trip places are allocated to Junior members first and the majority of the Summer Programme places tend to be filled by current students (more details below).

Please note: you must pay and arrange for your own travel to and from the trip AND then all food and other expenses you spend together as a crew are split between the crew following the trip. This includes marina fees (which change depending on how many nights you choose to spend in a marina as a crew during your trip), diesel for the boat and obviously food cooked and eaten on board. We expect expenses to be in the region of £100 per person this Summer. We are also able to offer each crew member a full set of waterproofs and boots to hire for a fee of £15 and £5, respectively.

To be TOTALLY clear, here is an example for a Junior member who has not sailed with us before...

£30 membership + £294 sign-up + £100 expenses (paid after the trip) + £ FLIGHTS + £ any money you choose to spend outside the crew-wide budget (e.g. at a restaurant, club, bar, etc..).

Where do these trip prices come from and why are they different to normal CUYC prices? Similar to how many commercial sailing schools have a 'Hi' season rate and a 'Lo' season rate, the Summer Programme is more expensive than the rest of the year. This is because it is extremely popular and requires an enormous amount of work from the Committee, as well as increased risk taking the boat further away from home. CUYC also relies on the income from the Summer Programme to cover the running costs of the Club's boat, which are extremely high. Currently, Summer Programme trip prices are set at 1/3 higher than the regular season. The two-week adventurous trip is simply priced at double the one-week trips (with the excpetion of the Junior rate, which is slightly lowered to try to avoid this trip being filled solely by Senior/Affiliates). RYA training trips are also priced at 1/3 higher than our usual rates. All training rates are always higher because there are fewer crew on board, because it is increased risk with novice crew learning to e.g. moor the boat, and because our isntructors are professional sailors who are paid for their time, unlike our cruising skippers who are volunteers. All trip prices are increased 5% year on year.