Vikings Sailing Club

Vikings Sailing Club is a friendly, volunteer-run dinghy club on the Floriana waterfront, just outside Valletta. It was founded in 1984 as a non-profit organisation, and its aim is simple: to make sailing easy to try and easy to keep up, especially for young people. It teaches sailing all year round, and the water in Malta stays warm and workable for much of it.

For a UK family on holiday, a resident who has always fancied learning, or a company looking for something different for a team day, the club offers a way into sailing that is relaxed rather than formal. Anyone aged seven or over can join a course, and age is just a number. If you are weighing up sailing against other options, our boat charter directory lists other operators on the island.

Courses for children, teenagers and adults

The programme runs at beginner, intermediate and advanced level. Young sailors start in Optimist dinghies, with beginner groups for children aged 7 to 15 who have never sailed, and move up through the Optimist and Topper groups into the ILCA racing group for those who want to compete in local ranking regattas. Adults can take a beginners course of five sessions for those aged 16 and over, then an intermediate course of 17 hours and an advanced programme for people who want the most demanding experience the club offers.

Most groups are for club members, so joining the club comes first. The beginner courses are the SportMalta #onthemove courses, designed for people who have never sailed, and extra beginner courses run in the summer. The club also runs Sailing with the Vikings Women, a course that encourages women who would like to give dinghy sailing a try.

What you need and how the club works

You do not need your own boat. The club has a fleet that includes RS Vision and RS Feva dinghies, Optimists, Laser Picos, Hansa 303s, Toppers, Topazes and RIBs (rigid inflatable boats), and sailors use club boats while on a course. Anyone who wants to carry on sailing is asked to buy a boat of their own after a maximum of one year.

Kit is simple at the start. Good swimwear, a buoyancy aid designed for sailing and closed shoes that can get wet, such as crocs or aqua socks, are all you need. The club offers both a racing pathway and a social sailing pathway, so you can race in local and international regattas or sail for fun and make new friends. The clubhouse is not large, but it holds the whole fleet and some members' boats, and the roof above the garages is used for social events and prize givings. A classroom for theory sessions and briefings is still being refurbished.

Inclusive sailing and the community

Inclusion is central to the club. Through its Sail4All initiative it offers safe, structured sailing to children and adults with physical or intellectual disabilities, using adapted dinghies, and it fits participants into regular programmes wherever it can. A programme for young people aged 11 to 16 gives a supportive team setting for learning and training.

The club is a partner in the SAIL GREEN project, a European initiative on sustainability in sailing, and has held pilot sessions that combine e-learning with practical activity for young sailors. It also welcomes companies for team-building days and introductory sailing tasters. The club is led by an eight-member committee, with a team of coaches who teach hundreds of sailors every year, and it is affiliated to the Malta Sailing Federation and registered as a voluntary organisation.

Planning your visit

If you are exploring the wider area, our Valletta guide and things to do in Malta page will help you plan the rest of your day, and our Malta weather guide shows what conditions to expect by month. To ask about a course or a corporate event, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the club.