TRAVEL / Hobby Holidays: Sailing

CRASHING through Atlantic waves, drifting down the Nile, anchoring off a deserted beach or sailing into a Caribbean sunset - it's easy to conjure up an image of the perfect sailing holiday. It's much harder to arrange in reality - especially if you have never sailed before.

The crucial thing to consider is what you really want out of the holiday. If that amounts to not much more than a convenient way of getting a swimming platform to the quiet side of a Greek island, you may be better off renting a fishing boat for a day.

Otherwise, the destination you pick, the type of boat you choose, the people you go with, and how much you want to have to do with the sailing itself are all critical factors. Even when you've weighed up all these, no sailing holiday is predictable. The tideless Mediterranean can be quickly whipped up by a summer gale; and you can pack a bag-full of oilskins and fisherman's jumpers to take to the West coast of Scotland in September, then find yourself sunbathing under flapping sails for a week.

Here's a selection of what's on offer. Prices are per person for high season in 1993 and include flights for overseas holidays only; they're likely to be higher for 1994.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE: Rockley Point Sailing School (0202 677272), based in Poole Harbour and Lake Biscarosse near Bordeaux, runs Royal Yachting Association (RYA) dinghy-sailing courses including a six-day programme for around pounds 300 including B&B. At the Emsworth Sailing School (0705 210510), near Portsmouth, three days' preparation for beginners going on a yacht-based flotilla holiday will cost you pounds 100- pounds 145. There are schools and clubs all around the country - look in the classified sections of specialist magazines like Yachting Monthly, or contact a local tourist office, or the RYA (0703 629962) for details.

THE SINBAD FACTOR: For Romantics who want to get away from fibreglass hulls and aluminium masts.

Egypt: Nile feluccas - open, wooden boats with a single lateen sail - are usually handled by two crew. Extremely relaxing, but you have to sleep on deck and there are no facilities on board. Boats hold 2-10 people. Sail downstream from Aswan in case the winds are light - trips last 5-6 days if you sail all the way to Luxor. Go in the winter or you'll fry. Most tour operators going to Egypt offer felucca trips. A 14-night Egyptian holiday including four-day Felucca Sail Trek with The Imaginative Traveller (081-200 8733) costs pounds 650.

Scotland: The Lorne Leader, an 80ft gaff-rigged ketch, sleeps 12 guests - in close proximity - and five crew. Cruises around Inner and Outer Hebrides: a week in July costs pounds 395 (08525 212).

TAKING IT EASY: For sunbathers and hedonists.

Turkey: Gulets, traditional 50ft to 70ft wooden motor-sailors, cruise the southern Turkish coast. They sleep up to 16 in double cabins with showers and loos. The three crew do the sailing and cooking, leaving you to lounge on deck. Two weeks with Thomson (081-200 8733), for example, costs around pounds 500- pounds 600.

SPLASHING OUT: In search of the exotic.

The Galapagos Islands: Journey Latin America (081-747 8315) will charter you a crewed schooner or a ketch sleeping 10 people for a seven-night cruise around the islands from pounds 7,700 - but you'll have to pay for flights on top of this.

The Caribbean: A week's sailing around the British Virgin Islands on a crewed yacht will set you back at least pounds 700 per person (flights extra). Contact BVI Holidays (0279 656111).

FAMILY FAVOURITES: Go the whole hog and head off for two weeks in a chartered yacht, or spend a week on the beach and a week at sea (a 'villa-flotilla holiday'), or dilute the whole experience by sailing dinghies off the beach. Flotilla holidays are the classic way for beginners and regular sailors alike to explore the Greek islands or Turkish coast. Most boats are fibreglass yachts sleeping 2-9. You usually sail in small convoys following a leader boat until you have enough confidence to steer off on a course of your own. There's usually a defined cruising area - the Ionian islands (around Corfu) is one of the most sheltered.

Med Choice (071-439 7233); Sovereign (0293 599909) and Sunsail (0705 210345) all offer flotilla programmes - expect to pay pounds 600- pounds 700 for two weeks including flights. Greek Islands Sailing Club (0932 220416) does a range of options in beach- based dinghy and windsurfing centres on Paxos and Cephalonia, including courses for children in the school holidays. Two weeks all-in costs up to pounds 800.

GOING SOLO: Many operators will book solo travellers on most types of sailing holidays - but it's a hit-and-miss affair, since you'll have no control over who else is on the boat. If you don't want to share a cabin, you're also likely to face hotel-style single room supplements. Sovereign's Small World brochure (0293 599909) - 'Sociable Holidays for the Single Traveller' - includes Turkish gulet and the similar Greek caique cruises.

CUTTING COSTS: You can cut 20-25 per cent from the cost of most of the holidays listed here by travelling in May rather than August. Going in a group and squeezing the maximum number on board will also keep the price down. Otherwise take comfort that, once on board, you'll find it hard to spend money.

THE INDEPENDENT SAILOR: Gulets, feluccas and other crewed boats are quite easy to hire locally. You can pick the boat and the crew you like, and can often bargain your way to a good deal (for instance, I booked a felucca for two days in Aswan last February for pounds 30 including food).

If all you want is to occasionally hire a dinghy off the resort beach, get written confirmation from the operator you book with that boats will be available: resort facilities don't always live up to the brochure's promises.

Experienced sailors who want to charter a yacht to sail on their own ('bareboat') will usually need to prove their competence in navigation and yacht handling. You'd be well advised to get an appropriate RYA qualification such as its Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper certificate.