Topmast is committed to conducting courses in a safe and responsible manner to ensure the health and safety of our students and Instructors. At Topmast we are mandated by the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act and will act accordingly. We carefully examine...
Jim Garvin is the kind of student Sailing Instructors really enjoy – he’s teachable, he gets along with everyone and he’s along for the experience more-so than the certificate. Jim Garvin is low maintenance. So low maintenance in fact, that when he had a...
Topmast gets a few enquiries from Sail Canada and ASA instructors who want to become RYA instructors. Because of the difference between the schemes there is no easy cross-over. Find out how below. This is the process:1. Become an RYA Yachtmaster with commercial...
Sailors are a literate crew and we at Topmast get a lot of questions about where best to satisfy their maritime intellectual cravings. Probably the best nautical bookshop we’ve encountered over the years is in Toronto, aptly called Nautical Mind. Located at 249...
In the 2015-16 Clipper Around the World Race, two people died. One crew member was struck by the mainsheet and had his neck broken during an uncontrolled gybe and the second was washed overboard in poor conditions at night, tragically it took 80...
Being back in North American waters has highlighted a rather unique feature of being a Canadian – units of depth. Canada falls somewhere between the metric system and the US (Imperial) system of measurement. We’re caught at that dangerous crossroads between modernity...
Join us on a Swan 44 as we make our way down the east coast from Newfoundland to Annapolis, Maryland. 4 legs with stops in St John's, Lunenberg, and Newport RI.
Topmast was established in 2016 by Fintan Hartnett as an RYA Training Centre and offers a wide array of boating related courses which can lead to employment in the yachting industry for those looking for professionally accepted credentials. Topmast is located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.