I have been down to Poole, the nine days ending 1st July. The company Moonfleet Sailing offer a nine day combined theory and practical course for the RYA Day Skipper. This offers a weekend in the class room, five days and nights on one of their yachts for the practical and the following weekend to finish the theory and take the exam.
If the travel distance prohibits a return home, one needs to arrange accommodation for the first Saturday and the second Friday/Saturday, although I was able to return home for Friday evening without too much trouble. They recommend several B&Bs but I stayed in the Arndale Court Hotel, where the service and welcome was very friendly and the rooms both large and comfortable.
We sailed from Poole to the Folly Inn, on the Isle of Wight and then sailed on to Chichester Harbour. We returned to Portsmouth and from their made a dash back to Poole against the wind, which was fun. We arrived back in Poole very late and discovered that Imran’s Tandoori Takeaway delivers to the Marina. i.e. Cobbs Quay Marina in Hamworthy, Poole.
I have put my pictures of the week up on my page at flickr, and put them in a set called South Coast Sailing. I hope you enjoy them.
I also recorded my adventures on the then Sun/Oracle blog, now copied to davelevy.info.
I removed the comment about plazes from the article.