First established in 1990 as the Sunshine Coast Sailing Academy we are now called Sunshine Sailing Australia Pty Ltd and recognised as one of Australia's leading sail experience providers.
We are located at The Wharf Mooloolaba,  Parkyn Parade on the edge of the Mooloolah River, meters from the sea and 100 paces from the best beach in Queensland. MAP

Mooloolaba offers a unique shopping experience that is unrivalled by other holiday destinations. There is an exciting new shopping precinct with many upmarket retail stores and dinning, Mooloolaba has something to offer everyone. Mooloolaba's great accommodation, fashionable cafes and shops make it a top vacation and leisure spot for locals, Brisbane, out-of state and overseas visitors.

Mooloolaba is also well known as an excellent venue for state, national and international sailing events, as well as other water sports and social activities.

Our location provides sheltered waters for dinghies in the Mooloola River, yachts in the small bay and open ocean sailing in minutes. The Sandy Straits and Fraser Island are just to the north; Moreton Bay, its inland waterways and Gold Coast are just to the south; it's perfect for overnight courses.

We teach sailing to people from 7 to 77 years old, in dinghies and yachts, inshore and offshore, beginner to yachtmaster. All completed courses include certificate and logbook endorsed by the RYA, recognised nationally and internationally.

Our satisfied customers include local schools, Maroochy council programs and sailing enthusiasts locally, nationally and internationally.

We also offer sailing adventures: skippered local yacht cruises for introductions to sailing, 3-day getaways, 6 and 12-day offshore trips for the more experienced yachtsperson, and ocean sailing adventures to Lord Howe and the Louisiades in the Coral Sea Basin.

At the helm of Sunshine Sailing Australia is John Bankart, winner of the 2003 and 2007 Melbourne-Osaka double handed yacht races. John is one of only two Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster Ocean Examiners in Australia as well as a RYA Yachtmaster Offshore examiner.

John is an accomplished yachtsman, highly respected by his peers throughout the world. John has sailed over 130'000 sea miles worldwide, competed in 4 Sydney to Hobart yacht races, the infamous Fastnet, and was skipper of the yacht 'Maiden' racing around the world. John amoungst other things is now preparing on the next sailing adventure, we'll keep you posted!!

As chief instructor for The Challenge Business, John skippered 'Nuclear Electric' and trained the crews for the BT Global Challenge, the toughest around the world yacht race for amateurs.

John continues to contest major ocean races, campaigning to enter the worlds first Solo-Double Global Ocean Race in 2008 and also working on his next Melbourne to Osaka in 2011. See www.oceanman.net

John has put together a team of world class skippers and instructors including Warren Boadle our Senior Instructor and Andrew Hamilton our Corpoarte Events manager, both having sailed extensively within Australia and abroad.

This is a sailing school run by offshore racing professionals, a school with a difference!

Warren Boadle, Chief Instructor:
From the early days of learning to sail in Sparrow fibreglass dinghies at the Port Albert Sailing Club to now, covers over 30 years of sailing in many forms of yachts.
Racing has been the development for most sailors and Warren is no different from 125 dinghy racing and trailer sailors through to ocean racing.

As a member of the Royal Geelong Yacht Squadron Warren has raced in the Port Phillip and also down to Tasmania. He has covered a number of solo and personal cruising passages including: a solo Geelong to Sydney return; a cruise from Geelong to Whitsunday’s; sailing the San Francisco Bay area and delivery from Adelaide to Mooloolaba.

Warren has over 6 year of sail instucting experince operating from Sydney to the Whitsundays.  He has logged over 12,000 teaching miles in this time. He also draws from working in the IT industry for many years and instructed in the use of major software systems. He is qualified as a teacher, Dinghy and Yachtmaster Instructor under the Yachting Australia (YA) and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) systems.

Our Sunfast 37 is designed for optimal sailing performance with the comfort of a 3 cabin layout.

A deep draft 2.07m lead keel, big suspended rudder, special mast & other racing equipment are standard. Overall length is 11.4m, hull length 10.95m, waterline length 9.7m, beam 3.7m, 29Kw (40HP) diesel engine.