10 Years of LSS: why we love this job!

Here is our story about cheap Croatian white wine, Antiguan sausages and big rocks.

LSS turned 10 this year, so although it feels that we should something about "the lessons we've learned along the way,” this isn’t about navigating business headwinds or how a race start improved our strategic thinking.

Back in 2014, Ruaraidh started LSS after years of teaching sailing courses and noticing the same thing happen time and again, people would learn loads, pass their course... and then never really go sailing again.

But sailing isn't just about the qualification. It's about that feeling you get when you cast off the lines, and realise this is what you're doing with your weekend. And Ruaraidh wanted to bring his passion for sailing to the world!

Here’s one of many great memories from the last ten years sums that up.

It was our very first LSS flotilla in Croatia in 2017. Two of the boats, had a very newly-qualified skippers and crew who were pretty new to sailing together. They'd stocked up on the essentials: plenty of cheap Croatian white wine, many bags of crisps, and enough enthusiasm to power the whole flotilla.

On the first evening we were all sitting in the cockpit watching the sun disappear over the horizon cold drinks in hand. The crews couldn't quite believe this was their life for the next week, in awe of the experience they were already having.

That's a moment in which we knew we were building exactly the kind of company we'd hoped to.

Another is the Caribbean 600 crew from 2024 that we'll never forget. A group who raced hard all week, then quite enthusiastically embraced Antigua's après-sailing scene for the next 2 days, brunching like royalty on a diet of for some reason, mostly sausages and rose. We like to think they left as a much-improved offshore racing team, but mostly we're pleased to have shared an incredibly fun experience with them and that they left as our really good friends.

Ten years on and we've raced around the Fastnet, competed in countless RORC races, cruised around the UK, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, taught hundreds of RYA courses, and introduced all sorts of people, from complete beginners to corporate teams, to life on the water. And, we're still slightly amazed that this is what we get to do!

Looking back, though, the thing we're proudest of isn't the races completed, the miles covered, the corporate teams boned or the hundreds of qualifications.

It's the people we’ve sailed with. (Ok maybe the people JOINED with the Fastnet finishes)

We love seeing strangers become friends, watching someone who's never stepped on a yacht before leave wondering when they can get back on one.

We love seeing the group chat after a trip, "What a weekend, can’t believe I’m back at my desk," or waving off a corporate team after their day with us, having experienced people who spend every day together in an office together discover something completely new about each other, brought together on the water.

So to everyone who's sailed with us, whether on an RYA course, a race, a flotilla, a Caribbean trip or a corporate day on the Solent, thanks for being part of our story.

Here's to the next ten years. Hopefully with just as many racing sunrises, Solent sunsets, cold beers, warm Croatian wines, delicious Greek Gyros, big cats, charter yachts, and just as many lunchtime wraps ADVENTURES.