I have sailed and
loved sailing nearly all my life, or at least since
having discovered it40 years ago. My father introduced me to sailing in 1960. We built a small boat
together. I was in my teens. It was 7 feet long, plywood and painted blue. We have
always referred to it affectionately, as "the little blue boat". I remember well my first
sail, not very successful I might add. The "little blue boat" couldn't go upwind very
well! It was on Mauthie Lake, in eastern Wisconsin.
In college, in Wisconsin and
Indiana, in the sixties, I was a member of and officer in
college sailing clubs. At Purdue University, in
Lafayette, Indiana, I taught new member
how to sail in Tech Dingy's, Flying Juniors and Gannets.
In California, in the late sixties,
I taught navy personnel in Rhodes 19's on windy San
Francisco Bay. I bought my firs
boat in 1974, a Melges, 16', "M" scow, and
raced in local, state and regional races.
Wanting to move up in the size of boat I was sailing, I began crewing for owners of 30-40 ft sailboats, on 7-10 day, recreational charters in Lake Michigan and the Bahamas. I was smitten. I had found, and reveled in, "big boat" sailing, the navigation, the self reliance, the solitude of cruising, and the intensity and camaraderie of racing. My first bareboat charter was a pearson 27 for a week on Lake Michigan. As my ability and confidence grew I pulled groups together chartered extensively and was always teaching. I sailed Michigan's western shore, from Chicago to Mackinaw Island and the Abacos Islands in the Bahamas extensively.
One cold day in 1982, on the deck of an Islander 30, tied up at Mackinaw Island, MI, I questioned why I was living in the north if I loved sailing and warm weather as much as I did? With the question posed, it didn't take me long to realize the answer. I moved to Florida later that year and joined not one but three SW Florida sailing clubs. I began to charter and race extensively on all kinds and sizes of boats in club and interclub regattas in the tranquil waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Since those early days I have made and learned by innumerable mistakes. Most sailors do it seems. I have been in gales, tropical storms, hurricanes, have had rigging fail, rudders break, engines quit, sails tear, and been hard on reefs. I learned over and over again the critical importance of vessel preparation, navigation, and weather. And today still I remember well all the mishaps and misadventures and the specific contribution each has made to what is now the "muscle" of my present sailing skills & knowledge.
1984 marked a milestone in my sailing career, I changed sailing from an avocation to a vocation and I formed Ocean-Pro's predecessor company, Gulf Wind Yachting, Inc. I earned my USCG Captain's license, (100 ton Master). In 1985 I became certified as an ASA, Advanced Coastal Cruising Instructor and began teaching sailing professionally. I usually average 7-10,000 sea miles per year. Since 1985 I have logged thousands of hours and thousands of miles, sailing all kinds of boats around Florida, the US East coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean. I even squeezed in a 4,400 nm trans-Atlantic. After 15 years and 100,000 sea miles, I can say that Ocean-Pro became what I had originally envisioned it becoming, a first rate, advanced level, coastal and offshore cruising school. The latest addition to the mix, is weather routing. Starting in 2002, drawing on my years and miles of ocean experience in the North Atlantic and my strong interest in weather and communications, I have added weather routing for others, (power and sail), to the family of services that Ocean-Pro offers. Over the years, the boats, the waters, the miles, there has been a constant theme to Ocean-Pro. And that theme is sharing it with others, not just how to do it, but how to do it safely, well and having fun.