UKSA - Cowes

Dustin M.

I would highly recommend UKSA to all my friends, colleagues and family and anyone I know in the Merchant Navy industry as I attended 1 course there which was HELM (M) and the experience was exceptional, from the time I checked in from meeting the receptionist Kirsten who looked after all my needs gave me the best advise and directed me in the right direction to my course, she deserves a 5 star review in itself. Finally Ruari the course instructer for HELM (M) made the course so intercative, informative and most importantly so experience based from all the years of all the students put together for which has enlightented my knowledge and I took a lot from the course. I will definitely be booking more courses here for the experience I have had 5 start rating all the way UKSA 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Emily H.

Did my powerboat lvl 2 here in June. I had a fantastic experience. My room was big, bigger than I expected, clean, and very comfortable, and the price for it was far less than anything I could book in Cowes itself, although to be fair it was Round the Island race weekend.

The course itself was fantastic. My instructor Peter Thorogood was very welcoming, friendly, and a tremendous teacher. He was able to impart knowledge without ever making you feel stupid, and it's clear he has many many years of teaching experience. The boat used in the course was good fun and I learnt a lot over the 2 days.

My only negative point was that the buoyancy aids provided during the course were very old and worn, and inflating life jackets would have seemed more appropriate for a powerboat course. Had I known, I would have brought my far newer, within-service-date life jacket, despite being told I wouldn't be allowed to use it, as it's clear the instructor brought and used his own for the course.

I've seen the food mentioned in other reviews, and while I must say it was nothing special, it was adequate, and what one expects from a training school, no real complaints from me on that front there. Overall I enjoyed my time with UKSA and would very much consider further visits to obtain more qualifications.

CHRIS R.

Completed residential Yachtmasters Dec 22. Really enjoyed my 4 months here. Great professional staff, would highly recommend.

ben S.

The reason i have given UKSA two stars are as follows:
I was on the AEC 2 course, the course was taught really well. The instructor was very knowledgeable and coming from an experienced background I still learnt a few things.

The accommodation side is very different.

Initially my impression was good, I arrived the day before and asked to check in before 15:00 which they accommodated.

Things started to deteriorate once I saw the room, the MCA says that its students are entitled to a two man room, so that is what I was expecting. (Being on an MCA course)
I was placed in a four man room in their new build block.
When questioned (which was by another student) they said that only deck courses are entitled to two man rooms.
So engineers are treated as second class here it seems.

There are multiple children’s schools and clubs which are present, which is fine, however it means there is a lot of noise on site. In the accommodation I was roomed below a school and they insisted on making as much noise as possible. Not helped by the fact that the walls are paper thin.
I asked reception to do something about the noise at least 3 times. To which they responded that they can ask nicely but that’s about it. (It didn’t work)

If you’re going to have a no noise policy, occasionally you might have to enforce it.

I moved rooms over the interim weekend of my two weeks at UKSA due to a noisy roommate who insisted on 04:30 get ups.(Exactly the same 4berth just two doors down) I was told that on Sunday I would have to move back. A strange request as you’re just swapping a person around and in reality have exactly the same sleeping arrangements as you did in the first place. Anyway, I won’t stop them making work for themselves if they want.

I was told to move back to the original room at 10:30. To my surprise at 09:00 I was woken up my the manager asking my to vacate my current room. So as I write this review I’m sat in a closed bar waiting for my old room to become available. UKSA seems to be determined to make sure you get as little sleep as possible.

You have people here who are pursuing a career who are paying thousands and probably studying for exams.
Children and adult professional students do not mix well. Especially when housed in the same building.
UKSA need to decide if they want to be a water sports facility for children or a more serious merchant navy school.

Overall, save your money and just pay the course fee, do yourself a favour and get a hotel. Or even better go to professional merchant collage where things are taken a-bit more seriously.

Martin W.

Firstly, I must say the engineering instructors were very knowledgeable and ran a great course. Unfortunately I did not enjoy my time at UKSA for a multitude of reasons. Firstly it is way overpriced compared to others yet the quality does not represent this. You are treated like a number and the staff here are cold and not very professional. The extortionate price for the accommodation, a shared room with bunk beds and prison thickness mattresses that costs more than the local BnB. The food was hit and miss. The bar isn’t really a bar just a fridge where they sell bottles of beer at an extremely marked up rate. They couldn’t have done less for me, with the thousands of pounds I paid for this course, not even a free pen. You even have to pay for a mug to have your coffee in if you didn’t bring your own.
They had cancelled the last part of my training with short notice and due to this, they made a mistake with my last night’s booking. Whin I tried to get it sorted, they were super aggressive towards me. They did not want to fix their clerical error but demanded I had to pay for an extra night. Thus ending me having to sleep in my car before my return ferry the next day. Very unhappy with this experience and will never be returning.

Daniel H.

An amazing place with the best facilities and very helpful staff for career progression. Our son Sam has had the best experience and we have enjoyed watching him flourish. Thank you everyone at UKSA.

boyz T.

I went for a week residential with my school. I was given bad people in my bunk but that’s not their fault. I really enjoyed the water sports except for the start where we were getting used to the water. Paddle boarding was probably my favourite. During that exercise me and my partner were both behind everyone but we got help from a coach. The lunch sandwiches got very repetitive and I didn’t enjoy it. Last thing is our wetsuits were always soggy,

Katherine P.

Went to the open day yesterday and we were all very impressed. Amazing facilities, had a great tour, excellent presentation and lunch laid on. Really helpful 1 to 1 chat, my daughter loved it and hoping to go on the sea.change course next month which I think will help make her decision if she wants to attend from September next year. Thanks for a great day out.