Ep. 19 Erie Islands Sailing School

Jibe Talking talks with Tricia Purvis & Kent Purvis who are the owners of Erie Islands Sailing School. This organization helps bring high quality ASA sailing instruction to anyone interested in learning to sail. Check out https://www.erieislandssailingschool.com/ for more information.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Alright, good afternoon. Well, actually it's still only 1030. Well, what if they're listening and it's the evening? Okay. Good afternoon evening

(00:07):
Good morning. It could be like what's that show the Truman show?
Anyways, this is Ted Mount and I am the host of jibe talking and I have a co-host her name is Christina Columbus
famous co-host
Famous. Yes, you never added that before
Alright, and today we have and I'm gonna try to get this right
The owners of Erie Island sailing and adventure sailing school school and adventure

(00:35):
Adventure. Okay, let's do it again
Erie Island sailing school and adventures. Did I get it right this time?
You got it. Alright, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself? You guys are the owners, right?
Okay, go ahead and introduce yourselves
So I am Trisha purpose I am an owner of Erie Island

(01:01):
And
We know who's your other the other person on the line
So, my name is Ken purpose. I am also part owner in the school with my wife Trisha
Which part do you own? No, I'm just kidding. I own the 49%

(01:22):
Yeah, I know how that goes
Well
Let's start with this how long have you owned the school?
This will be our third season as owners
That's good, yeah
so I hear
Um, so what what does your company have as far as?

(01:47):
sailing lessons
You can dive right in on a dive right in
so we work with the ASA program American Sailing Association program and
They have classes ranging from entry-level classes
So for someone who has never set foot on a boat or a sailboat
All the way to someone who's looking to more advanced their classes

(02:11):
Or advance their knowledge and using classes for doing that or in addition wanting to go
Charter a boat somewhere like the Caribbean or the Mediterranean
So we can help with proper licensing and certifications to assist with that
Well, that's nice. You know you mentioned this
I guess maybe I want to ask this question
You said who have never stepped on a boat if someone comes in to take lessons

(02:34):
Do they everyone start at the first class or can they jump in at a different place or how would that work?
If they never have set foot on a boat before they would start at the ASA 101
So the introduction class and we want several several people that come through and that's their scenario
They just want to see if this is something that they want to pursue

(02:57):
Now I was looking on your website that's that course in particular is that the one that's offered online
No, there's actually an online course that when you sign up for that first course that first entry-level course
There is an online program that gets sent to all of our new students to sort of give them an introductory of what it's about

(03:19):
You know some basic terminology things of that so it kind of gets them prepared for
For the class all of our classes are hands-on and on the water
The only exception would be there is a navigation course the 105 that is the classroom course
But all the other classes we want to get them out on the on the vessel

(03:41):
That's pretty that's pretty neat now what if someone comes to you and let's say they've been
Say then to an adult sail at a school at a club
Obviously not a certification or have a boat and sailed a little bit would they jump in at a different level then?
So it depends upon kind of what their experiences typically what we'll do there is kind of ask where they're trying to get to right

(04:05):
What are their goals?
Are they just trying to get more experience or are they trying to get a certification so they can go to go charter or bare?
boats somewhere
So once we understand that we'll understand what their experience level is just from their perspective
And then we do have test out options for some of the first level classes the first two classes will do an a test out offer

(04:26):
but in order to do that we recommend that they speak to one of our instructors just do a phone conversation and
They'll kind of run them through some you know some material and contest them if you will and then we'll get feedback from our instructors
As to whether they're able to test out of one or two particular classes
And then that gets in the level of class from there on out that they could start up in so it really depends upon the

(04:49):
Individual but we we do run them through a discussion with our instructors to validate kind of what their knowledge is
and experience
Looking for knowledge and experience
Just reading the ASA 101 book would not be valid for testing out of 101 now the way you said that I take it
Someone's tried it. I'm just kidding

(05:09):
We've had individuals that have said hey I've sailed on like a crude on a boat for you know a number of years
And so they may just be you know individuals, you know hang you know a ballast hanging over the side or they're a grinder or something
Like that, but they've not really fully been immersed into it. So again, we'll go through and do some of those basics and
Most people after talking to our instructors appreciate the you know the direction

(05:34):
And we don't want to set them up for failure
We're not trying to get them, you know through the course fast
We want them to succeed and be successful and achieve whatever their dreams are
So if that's to be more, you know more knowledgeable and more experienced then if they're lacking some basics
We'd rather them start from the basics and get a good foothold now you use the term that I don't know if everybody

(05:56):
listening because we have
Of the ten people that actually listen actively maybe a variety of
Knowledge but use the term bare boat. What does that mean?
So bare boat is when you go to you know, the Caribbean or the Mediterranean or any place and you're renting a boat without a captain

(06:17):
Okay
Now are you finding that how many levels of ASA?
Or how many classes would someone need to take to be able to go somewhere and they would say yeah
We'll rent you a boat or does that vary by location or how does that work? Because I've only ever run it in the u.s.
So I don't know
Yeah, it's gonna be different a little bit from the u.s. To the Mediterranean. They're a little more strict overseas in some areas

(06:43):
But then in some areas not so it really does kind of depend
But it's a combination of the certification
So the certification is sort of one check mark to get them over the board of yeah
I've got experience
I've taken classes things of that nature the second item is
Having experience in time on the water. So ASA has a lot of different classes

(07:06):
We have nine total classes to be support out of our school right now
But if they were to go through the first two or three, I'm sorry three or four the 101 102
Which is a new class this year 103 and 104 that gets them the
Certifications for bare voting but then they really need to have kind of a resume a failing resume or experience

(07:27):
But they can also show that I have been failing and I didn't just go take some classes
Now 102 you said is new this year. What what is that going to be?
So 102 they found a gap with that experience on the water or time on the water I should say
Between the first entry-level class the 101

(07:47):
And the 103 class the 103 is where you get into what's called coastal cruising and it's an intermediate class
We get a little bit more experience
But the 102 is meant to give them a
An additional amount of time on the water to build upon those 101 skills or those basic skills
And so there's a requirement of 20 hours of sail time in that 102 class

(08:11):
It's about a four-day class just to give people more experience
102 class it's about a four-day class just to give people more time on the water
Because you got to understand some people that are coming through
You know our school and any school around the world because ASA is a global organization
And they have schools all over the world, you know
A lot of people have never sailed before or don't have a sailboat

(08:33):
So they take the class and they're kind of looking for what's next
How do I get more time on the water?
And if they don't belong to a club or they don't have a friend with a boat then this 102
Option is another opportunity for them to get more time on the water
Yeah, okay. Okay, so you got so you're saying if they had 102 103 101 102 103 and then there's what would be the next one?

(08:56):
There's a 104 which is the bare boating class and that really
Into that, you know that rental capability. So if you had those four classes and
And you went let's just say somewhere in the US to rent you probably
Wouldn't have a lot of problem
Yeah, they're gonna they're gonna at least look at you and understand that you've gone through some certifications

(09:20):
You've got those certifications. You can show them your logbook. They may still ask experience and what's your time on the water?
you know in addition to those classes, but they're gonna feel much better about you stepping on their boat and
Then instructing you on how to use their boat for a bare boat
rental
what I found was kind of interesting someone told me but I

(09:42):
Been out had a chance to sail in San Diego a few times and
And I had to fill out the resume and all that once they found out that I sailed on Lake Erie and
They kind of caught me a break
Yeah
We've had that same conversation with a lot of our instructors, you know work up and down the coast and they also work down in

(10:05):
the Florida and the the Caribbean and
When you talk to individuals down in the Caribbean and they say, you know, what's your sailing experience?
They're like well either grew up or I've voted and sailed on Lake Erie as long as they know Lake Erie
They're like you're gonna be fine down here
Because we all know living here on the lake. It's a very different
animal when it comes to weather and

(10:28):
Just the lake in itself. I know the first time I went out
at San Diego and took the boat out and I was like
Wow, you know, I didn't get beat up
you know, it you know, I wasn't used to more swells in the chop and and
I was like, wow, this is really really different now. It presents other problems, but but let's face it

(10:52):
Yeah, it was a lot different. I said that's all I've ever known
So when someone told me that I thought they were making it up, but then you go somewhere else. Oh, no. Oh, okay
So we've heard that same you had that same analogy. Yeah
I just say it's nice. I have a healthy respect for Lake Erie. It's just really good to respect the lake
Well growing up around it my grandma used to have a cottage and you know, we've all seen

(11:17):
Some vicious storms get whipped up out of nothing
and and you know, you only have to be caught out there one time to figure that
You don't want to be caught out there a second time. Although we know what you are going to be but yeah, you get that healthy respect
Yeah, absolutely. We did an instructor last year that was with a student
they got caught in one that just popped up very quickly before they could get back from the islands and

(11:40):
Yeah, it was he said and you know with the weather changes that we've had over the years the storms have gotten much more severe and
It was a it was a strong one. We were we were benefit we benefited from having on
The National Weather Service a couple weeks ago, which was kind of neat
they came on and talked about the weather and the weather patterns and

(12:01):
Yeah, so that was kind of that was kind of fun too. So
Now now let's say someone were to come to you take a class. What kind of a student?
to
instructor ratio do you have
We do no more than four students to one instructor. Oh, that's good. Okay
What does your schedule look like for?

(12:23):
Offering classes are they day night weekend?
So I have current availability out on our website I add more if those classes fill up I add more
What we do with a lot of classes is we add more
Classes that are just on the weekends Saturday Sunday those fill up pretty quickly. Those are pretty coveted spots

(12:47):
When they get to the asa 104
That's a pretty good spot to fill up
And then we have the
The asa 104 that's a three day two night class

(13:13):
So those we go out to the islands we we are very fortunate that we utilize kelly putin bay
Go out to islands for those those we typically run during the week
because we all know that the
The islands can get pretty lively on the weekends
And just getting into restaurants and dockage and that is a real challenge

(13:36):
so
For classes purposes, we try to hit the islands during the week. I love how you put
lively
Well, and let's be honest too, not only that but um the boat traffic in between sandusky and uh
putting bay on the weekends can be a little um

(13:56):
intense
Very much so. Yeah. Yeah that that becomes to those of us that have grown up on the lake and washing machine effect
uh between the islands there so um
And it becomes a good opportunity to show students sometimes what other individuals are doing that we don't recommend or should not be
I like to call it the moron effect, but you can't say that i'm last time I went to cedar point

(14:21):
uh sailed over to cedar point and went between uh put in bay and anyways
It was crazy the amount of people in power boats that were just
Just being so incredibly rude and and anyways, but i'm not I don't want you to comment on that, but you're right
It is it is something different. So now you mentioned it's it's let's talk about 104 for a second. You said that's a four-day class

(14:47):
That one's a three days two nights class, okay
So do you say 24 hours you stay on the boat you let you basically live on the boat
Just as though you would be bareboating if you went out and rented a boat yourself
So do you sail it all at night during that or just stay overnight?
That one you stay overnight there is an advanced class the 106

(15:08):
Where they sail at night and that's uh, definitely a more intense class
that one they
Sometimes even get like three hours of sleep and then they get up and sail and so that one
The 106 is designed more for dealing with some of those unexpected
um
Situations that you hope never come up on a sailboat

(15:29):
But sometimes do or if you're sailing through the night, right?
If you're making a long passage and you need to sail through the night and you know doing different watches with your crew
Things of that nature. So that one really dives into those advanced skills
I gotta tell you those anybody listening if you've never been out on the lake at night, uh, it's vastly different
And it's nice to go out the first time

(15:51):
With somebody who's been out there. I mean that's my opinion because the first time I went out by myself
I didn't go out with somebody else and I gotta tell you it's easy to get lost if you're not paying close attention to your nav
very much so and it's very challenging to understand where you are, especially when you are around the islands or even the mainland because

(16:12):
Especially in seater point right? You've got all these lights everywhere and it's hard to determine what's what right between what's a navigation marker?
Or what's something on land?
And so that part of uh, and you run into that in other parts of the country as well
If you're down in miami, right or you're on the coast or something
You're going to see those same types of situations and so that's where that advanced class really

(16:33):
Um, you know really challenges that and and they try we try not to rely a lot on
electronics
um
Because while those are nice and they're a great feature, uh, the electronics will eventually fail at some point
And they usually fail when you need them most so we do work on chart plotting and you know planning through navigation that way
Um, so that they've got kind of both skills both sets of skills. You can rely on one or the other

(16:58):
or the you know, the electronics will be wrong because the first time we were bringing our
47 back from where we purchased it it was showing our boat on land and we were clearly in the water
This is clearly not right
Interesting, you know, it's interesting because a lot of
boaters

(17:19):
Don't even understand how to read a paper chart or
Or you know if they don't have their electronics, they're dead even during the day. They they just don't know
Yes, that's right. And you know, uh, you know, they're starting to go away from the paper chart
They're not printing them as much anymore and I have to kind of cut the print them so forth
So, um, you know it is it is kind of a dying skill, but that's where our 105 class comes into play

(17:42):
which that is all chart plotting and understanding how to do dead reckoning and how to
You know find your position on you know using three points of reference through with landmarkers and things of that nature
Now just some basics. Go ahead. I'm sorry finish. Yeah, just just some basics to uh to get you started
You know the interesting thing though
On our part, I guess i'm lake eerie and our part of the lake that's helpful obviously

(18:05):
You can see like uh, davis bessie unless it's really obscured
So you at least know if i'm heading from my place to the islands and in and like davis bessie is is not ahead of me
I know i'm going the wrong way
But I will say I came out of putting bay one day. It was early in the morning
And uh, I would have sworn that I was heading in the right direction and I looked at my compass and I

(18:31):
My buddy goes what are you doing? I said we're not going the right way
And he goes what because it was kind of still a little foggy and uh and overcast and had I not looked at my other stuff
I probably I don't know
I would have probably ended up over uh in cleveland or something not quite but
But I was I was it floored me because i'd been in and out of there a number of times

(18:52):
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty easy to get turned around really quickly
Especially if you're a little bit of fog in there or you know, we're on some other obstructions like that. Uh, it's it
Yeah, and we've run into situations as well where you know people are like hey, you know
Go down cedar point take a left and you know, uh, you know from cedar point
That's not how you navigate on a lake. So

(19:14):
Yeah, sometimes so now if if you were to take your classes and you decided to uh
Purchase more than one at the same time. Is there a price break? Do you offer like a packages you can buy or
Yes, we do combo pricing. We also do a discount each class
Um, we we honor the veteran program

(19:36):
If someone comes in and says hey, I want to take asa 101. I think I might want to take 103. They're not sure
I always recommend start with asa 101 and if you want to take 103 in the same season or even 104
I will always like retro honor the discount pricing or the combination pricing. I'd rather have individuals

(19:59):
Be sure and enjoy the classes
Before they commit to more than they may want to do. Okay. Okay
So then if I were going to come and I was going to take 101
Let's just let's just say one class
How much does that run?
So the 101 class, I mean initially is 595 right now, uh, and that covers everything in the class

(20:21):
It covers your materials because we do send out books
Uh, there's you know class books and everything you get your log books. It covers your certifications through asa
Uh and any registration fees through asa from that perspective
Um covers, you know the cost of our instructors and everything so it's a full fully encompassed class
But the 595 then covers your two days
Um, and then the other one covers the cost of the class

(20:44):
595 then covers your two days
Uh with the instructor
Um, and then you've also got that video that you mentioned as well
Which is that kind of instructional video the first time video that goes through there. So all that's included
in that
So now what if I bought 101 103 package then how does that go?

(21:04):
There is roughly like there's a combination that gives you 140 dollars savings if you do both of them in the same season
That's substantial. So
As long as you take them in the same
2024 season that is honored
Now, when does your season run?
That's a good question. Our first class is

(21:26):
May 10th and 11th and I know that one is full our next class is so
Last weekend of may like the beginning of june
That one has some openings and then we run through september with the bulk of our classes running
in june
through august
Okay, okay

(21:48):
Nice and the adventure portion of your
Business, what does what kinds of things do you offer on the adventure side? That's when you go to put in bay. That's the adventure
Yeah, exactly
That is the adventure. So, um, the other side of our business is we've got the black pearl charters, which is our 47 foot

(22:08):
Um sailing vessel and it is called the black pearl
Um, it is kind of like it's got a little bit of a pirate look to it. It's an older vessel. It's a 1980s vessel
and um
So we'll take uh day sales like uh half day sales and full day sales. So just charters on that with the captain
And then we'll do sunset sales in the evening

(22:30):
On that as well. So we'll go around the the islands or we'll go around seagr point. We do have
You know on the fourth of july a fourth or um fireworks, uh sunset sail
Uh, so there's only one of those obviously, um, that one usually fills up pretty quick
and then
We're also expanding the opportunity of using that boat to look into providing high adventures for different organizations like the boy scouts

(22:56):
You know, maybe church organizations things of that nature. We're just starting that out this year
Um to where we can take them out around the islands and just do some high adventure teach them how to sail
They can do some hiking
Uh, they can do some hiking they can see you know, the different features that we have available on the islands
Uh, and so, you know some some youth don't really get the opportunity to do that

(23:17):
And so we're trying to expand into that this year. I love that. That's that's great get young people involved and
That's what it's all about getting the next generation set up and doing some sailing. Absolutely
Exactly. That's now when you have the pirate sail
Do you wear like an eye patch or like a bandana or anything?
We do have some on the boat. Yes

(23:39):
I just probably wouldn't appreciate the coast guard. I wouldn't appreciate it for only looking at with one eye
Yeah, they don't have much of a sense of humor. Do they?
No, they really don't so
We want to stay on their good side. So that's kind of our guest
Certainly wear them and you know, we can do
We can do engagement proposals on the you know, individuals can come if they want to do something unique like that

(24:04):
Or engagement photos, so we do a variety of things
It's kind of the boat has had the unique care characteristic about it now as the captain. Can you marry him then?
Yeah, I guess you can I mean if they want to go that route we could I would charge more for that by the way
absolutely

(24:25):
And throwing the bouquet on there might be a little difficult beings that it's kind of kind of small area
You might have to tie a string to it or something. It's not that small. Yeah. Yeah, but you can throw the bouquet
The wind could catch it
Yeah, the deck space on our big boat is quite nice. It's very comfortable to walk around on and there you go
There's a lot of now. What do you do the lessons on what kind of uh vessel?

(24:50):
So new for this season we have
a 36 foot catalina mark two that will be
and
that was some uh
Vessel that we newly acquired at the end of last season
So that one is a 1995 and then we have a 1990 beneteau first

(25:11):
Um the length is 35 on that so
Those are our two primary school boats that we use for the training classes
And then i'll add as well that um one of the classes we haven't necessarily talked about what you talked earlier about the bareboating
You know and the chartering
um, if you go down to a lot of the caribbean area or even the mediterranean pretty much most of the vessels now that they're

(25:35):
chartering are the catamarans
And you know the big cats and we don't have those up here in the great lakes yet, but we are getting one this year
Um, so we'll be adding that class in there's a 114 class, which is a cruising catamaran
So it's basically an augmentation of that 104 bareboating but just getting you into the catamaran experience

(25:55):
And so we've got that coming in june and we'll be doing those classes this year out of the school
So we'll be the only school in lake harry and really in most of the great lakes the lower great lakes
That'll have a catamaran to do those types of classes and we do have a couple of combination classes
On the camera and that are actually out on the website right now that are the 104

(26:16):
114 combination on the cat
Get through the 101 and the 103 and they really think that a camera and as the route they are looking to go
they could take that 104 and 114 on it and there is a
substantial savings for
Doing that combination and it is a five-day class so they get
Five days for four overnights on the camera end so you can really get that experience of you know

(26:41):
Bareboating here in the great lakes and you get to go to all the islands and so forth
So that'll be a really good a really good ad for us this year. I would say so. Yeah, we're really
We're really excited about that. I'm not excited about how long it's going to take me to wash that boat
both but
We're really excited about offering offering those you say how to wash the boat

(27:02):
Yeah, because I do that part I I get so I get to scrub all the boats down
We want to make sure that they're clean and present presentable
You know every time the students go out so we do take care and making sure that they look good for a
$20 discount once you have the people clean it themselves
You know there is a thought of that
There are some other schools that do have the students clean all the boats before they leave
The Boy Scouts do it

(27:24):
It you know they can come over and do it for like service projects
I mean they do need to learn how to maintain the boats
Yeah, Eagle Scout project
Yeah, Eagle Scout project. Yeah, they need service hours. That's a good idea. See well
We do have a 14 year old son that's a Scout that sometimes we employ his services. So
Well, yeah, the other thing too i'll add

(27:44):
You know will add to that adventures name on there
So we've got the catamaran coming here in the in Lake Erie where we do that 104 114
This year, um, we also did a destination training
Dungeons and we're probably going to repeat that. Yeah, so we're going down to British Virgin Islands in june
We're taking pretty much the whole school down
We're taking the majority of our instructors

(28:05):
And we're taking 24 students down to bbis to basically teach down the bbis
Nice that would be really nice. That would be really cool
We got a couple people from here that go down there. I think every other year to sail
They really like going down there to sail
Yeah, one of our captains has their boat in charter down there. So, um,
We've got three boats. We're going to do our own little float tail if you will

(28:28):
We're kind of jumping on alongside asa. They're doing a larger float tail up
but we've got two catamarans and a model hall down there and
Students are going to either take from the 101 to 104 on the model hall or they're going to do the 104 114
And do the you know, the bare boating classes while they're down on the camera
Now you said it's going to be that's going to be in june. You said

(28:50):
Yes, wow. Wow
Okay, and that class is sold out. Obviously that was sold out probably in about two hours
Nice. Yeah, the location probably had a little bit to do with that. I would think
Just a little bit. Maybe it was your charisma. Maybe it was your charisma. It could have been i'll take that i'll go with that
You never know
Probably probably the captain's charisma and the location. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we find that our students really enjoy our instructors

(29:18):
um
You know, they'll they'll come back for repeat classes and make a request to stick with a specific instructor
So speaks very very highly. Um, and I would be you know remiss not to mention that they're the ones that are really
Doing the heavy lifting and and keeping these students happy and providing them a really solid foundation for instruction
um, many of our students have gone from there to purchase boats where they didn't have both before

(29:43):
And uh, you know expanded their their learning so
Our instructors are top-notch and we've been told so by many individuals within asa and others and so we really appreciate them
Yeah, we couldn't I mean they're they're the foundation. How many instructors do you have?
Currently we have five. Okay, that's a good number

(30:07):
Yeah, that's a good number it's a good number
It's a good number always looking for more. So if anybody's got some sailing experience and they sail for years and they want to uh,
They like to teach others then we're always looking for more. Yeah, and they've got the personality for teaching others. It's um
Then that's what's a good fit for us. Well, that's an interesting thing

(30:28):
So if somebody wanted to do that, what would you bring them over put them through some of your classes and then say, okay?
So asa is yeah as they have a very strict program for their instructors and they have to go through asa's um
Instructors program if you will and so they do have to take classes and we have a master instructor come in
And teach them. Um, you know those and then they have to have a certain amount of time teaching before they can advance to other classes

(30:54):
Uh, so we would do what's called an iqc which is an instructor qualification clinic
And um, you know, we would have a master instructor come in and we'd run a clinic to basically teach new caps or new, you know instructors
Um, so they would have to have that underneath them and we would help them to acquire that
And then they would also have to have their you know, us coast guard captain's license as well

(31:16):
We have all of our captains are required to have a us coast guard license. That makes sense. That makes sense
Well, it sounds like uh, what are we gonna have a question there?
Christina, okay, just stretching. Yeah, all right
One of the things we offer a um, I was talking to somebody here about the fact that we were going to have you guys

(31:36):
Talk on the show today and we said this would be really nice after we have our adult learn to sail
That we could send some of our people over say, you know, i'd like to get some more
Uh time some more structure because as you well as we all know, um, yeah, we all have a
As you well as we all know, um, yeah, we all need crew but

(31:58):
But the thing is like you said telling somebody sit on the rail
You know that that doesn't really help them learn very much
And the first time they ask you to put the whisker pole out and you say what is it or you drop it in the lake?
And they cuss at you
Uh, yeah, they don't float. Well, well I asked that question. We were out at the islands doing um, uh

(32:19):
Uh the bay week and after the captain said, uh, I want a starboard set
No, I want to port. No, go back to starboard. I'm like, you know what? I don't think this pole floats
So you got to make a decision or it's going no we didn't drop it in but yes
But yeah, you got to pick one but but the point is, you know, even I go with them and it's like, okay

(32:42):
I need you to sit up front. It's like, okay like
I sometimes i'm like should I just take my own boat out and I understand you know
Because I don't have the experience these guys do and for me to make it into the cockpit
I don't think i'm going to live long enough
Uh, you know because you know, you got to know, you know sail with somebody a while
So I think some of our learn to sail students it

(33:03):
Would benefit greatly from getting some more hands on
Uh, yeah, because let's face it if somebody's done it for a while, especially if they're used to racing
And they're going to get all freaked out about the boat not being trimmed out, right?
Next thing you know, you don't own the tiller anymore
What happened are you watching the telltales? One of my buddies asked me that here neil i'll mention his name and i'll say

(33:26):
No, he'll say I already knew you weren't so
I say it with him all the time. I love him, but but I know i'm not going to be the one on the tiller
No, you bring up a good point, um is you know all the clubs around here right galley roger north plate north cave port clinton
Um, even even over to cleveland. They've all got and there's someone send us a an adult learn sail program

(33:50):
You know introduce somebody to sailing
And that's great and we're not at all looking to compete with those or anything like that
We think those are wonderful because it gives somebody that initial experience to see if they like it. But listen
Instead, yeah, see if they like it and then we're going to take that, you know further and start, you know
Adding certifications to that and really get them
Through the training and get them the course books and everything else to where they can start advancing and understand if that's really where they want to go

(34:16):
so
That's an it's a it's a great opportunity for them to just take that next step
And you know and further their experience. Um, it's also good too because all the different clubs have different types of boats
Yep, and that's why we've got two different, you know, two and three different kinds of boats as well
Because it's good to sail different types of boats. They all behave differently

(34:36):
um
So it's good to have that experience on different boats and you know, the other thing too i'll mention is
Um, you know a lot of the people that are coming through our courses aren't necessarily looking to race
Um, they're looking to cruise or just go sailing
Uh, and they might want to go do something down, you know in you know in charter a boat or something like that, but

(34:59):
um, that's a that's a big difference is you've got a lot more people that are
Coming in looking to just cruise and not necessarily getting into the racing aspect of it
so when we
We do find people that want to go that route then we say then that's where you want to get connected with a club and
And start working with them. So we'll you know, we'll suggest that they go that route
Well the thing I like too about the idea behind uh,

(35:21):
Uh taking a course even if you sailed a while is like you mentioned you get to see different kind of boats
Because like for instance my boat does not have a roller furtler the first time I was on a boat with one
They said pulling that line. I was like, what's that going to do?
I mean, you know, and I just got to look and they said oh you don't have one of these on your boat
I said no. No, we have to go up front and put that thing on and

(35:43):
Raise it and you know, and some people have all their stuff to the cockpit and then some people don't
You know, and if you've never seen it a different way
You're like you start heading up on the deck that where are you going? I'm going up to put the sail up
They say we can do that from here
Oh, that's right. I didn't know that what about taking it down?
Oh you pull on this one and and I think that's where you know being in a in a class and somebody that

(36:07):
Experienced and can explain to you too. What's going on?
Um, because i'll go with guys sometimes and they'll say we got a bad sail shape and i'm like
I don't even know what that means
You know, right just look and say well the boat's moving
you know
But but again and and that's exactly right in the beginner classes

(36:28):
It's just getting the sail up and getting the boat moving and we start getting into the more advanced classes
Then they start looking at sail shape
Yeah, and then they'll say move the jib cars back. I said I didn't know you could do that
So you can tell my boat i'm i'm the cruiser guy. I like to just put the sail up
Go out to the islands stay overnight. My boat goes fast enough for me

(36:50):
Um, and yeah, I don't trim it out the best. But again, that's i'm not I don't I will go with somebody to race
But i'm not a racer
Yeah, and that's that's the benefit. Do you have any additional questions over here? You've been so talkative today christina
I don't I don't know what we're gonna do
Well, how would a let me ask you this
She's never really sailed much how would a person get started?

(37:17):
Uh, so the first thing they're going to want to do is go out for our website
Uh, eerie island sailing school.com
And they're going to want to look and see what uh is available for some of those entry-level classes
And if they you know, if there's information out there about what's covered in the class
Um, you know all the pricing is out there they can book immediately online

(37:38):
And we'll get the registration immediately. So everything's online from an availability perspective
And of course if they have any questions they can call trisha or myself trisha is usually the one that handles all the phones
And you know, she'll talk them through anything that they need
So that's the first step is find a class and book it and get in mind, you know
Get in mind to uh to take it
We'll ship your materials to you as soon as we receive your booking

(38:01):
And then it's a matter of starting to look through those materials, you know reading the books and getting familiar
Uh doing that online class
And you know get prepared to come and have a lot of fun for a couple days on the water
so I could just you would take care of all the uh,
All the materials I just show up with what you sent me

(38:22):
Correct, um, we'll tell you to bring you know, there's there's um
Information in the material that we send back to you as far as things that you might want to consider bringing
The basics when you're going to be on the water, right a hat sunscreen
Um, you know protective clothing, uh, we do sail in the rain
So if it does rain or we have some weather we still sail in the rain now
We're not going to sail during a thunderstorm lightning things of that nature

(38:44):
But if it's just a rainy day, we're going to sail
Um because you might get caught on the water on the water in the rain, you know, that's not going to
Deter you and so we will prepare you for that
Um, and then yeah, bring your materials your books and you should be good to go everything else we provide we provide life jackets
We provide all the safety gear for the uh for the boat and um, we provide the instructor

(39:08):
What if somebody falls in
Well, then you get an opportunity to practice the man overboard drill
Have you had to happen what we tried?
No, we have not had that happen. Um, and you know, we're very careful to prevent that from happening
We've had people that have come on that have had mobility issues
Okay, and you know when we go through if you were to go through and request a class

(39:32):
There are some questions that we ask you about your experience
And uh, do you know your health and that kind of stuff because it's very good for our instructors to know
What the individual is coming on board? Uh, you know our like and if they have any
Uh situations that we need to be aware of and so we've had a gentleman that had some balance issues and he was asking
Can I do the class?
and you know, uh

(39:54):
Our suggestion was to take the first class. We'll let the instructor know
Um, and you know, just being very careful that we're on the boat
Typically when we're out there, I mean the boat's not heeled over uh on the monohulls
I mean, we're not looking to race again. We're looking to be comfortable
So the captain is going to keep the boat at a comfortable heel or a comfortable level so that everybody can get good instructions

(40:18):
in our boats being
35 feet 36 and length
Um, they are quite stable boats. That was one of the reasons that we upgraded
We formerly had a 27 foot and so we upgraded to the 36 foot catalina just to provide more space more stability
A more comfortable experience for our students. It's more comfortable for our over our 104 overnight

(40:43):
Yeah, I would think so that would be especially on that side yeah
My 27 would be a little little cramped for
four people
Yeah, we've done it
We've had four people on the 27th and if you get a couple big guys on there that are
We I think one time we had a couple guys that were firefighters and so they're bigger bigger gentlemen
And uh, it gets a little tight trying to move around and change positions

(41:05):
Well, that's where if you go to the islands first, no one cares
At night where they're sleeping, right? Just you lay out there. Okay. No, i'm just kidding about that. Exactly anyways, um
I was gonna ask you something else. Yeah, I think
I think it sounds pretty cool the stuff especially the new catamaran
I did I did not know anybody on the lake offered it sounds like they did not until this year

(41:28):
So, nope, they're gonna be the first that'll be kind of neat. Yeah, we're gonna be the first
The other thing we're experimenting in this year. Um, we're still working through some stuff
Um, we are going to start working with a company called safer voter
And they actually provide on water training and certification for power boaters
So you mentioned early on in the broadcast about you know going between the islands and cedar point and all these power boats

(41:52):
That's in which way in every way
You can yeah, I mean you can buy a boat and get on the water with no real training or license or anything. And so
um, we're starting to work toward adding that as a as another option of training power boaters how to
Just basically how to use their boats and how to you know how to maneuver basic rules of the road things of that nature

(42:13):
And that will come with a certification and that certification advantage here on the power boat side will be
um lower insurance rates or if you're changing boat sizes
Um, sometimes the insurance underwriters are going to question your experience level and so having training again, just like on the sale side
Uh will help them to get lower insurance rates or even just help them to get insurance

(42:36):
And I know some people are like, oh i'm sailboat only or i'm power boat only and our captains are all
trained in both and
We like them both so we
Uh, I like to eat like eerie perch my husband likes to fish so I we can't commit to just sail or power boat at this point in time
So we're open to both. Good good

(42:58):
Yeah, my son had a 31 foot criss craft we used to take out and
And uh, but that was a little bit difficult to dock, you know being that big. I never got real good at it, but
Yeah, and that's the other piece too is right
You know some people get intimidated when they buy these boats and they realize how how much challenging it is to dock and so
You know, we've part of that that training for the power boat and the sailboat

(43:19):
That's one of the things we do on the sailboat too is docking and maneuverability
Um, and so adding that from a power boat perspective as well
You know we can cover both and and while we love to be out sailing
We'd love to have some knowledgeable power boaters around us. Yes
And you know, you mentioned docking let's face it
There's nothing worse than going out for a great day and their docking experience is less than nice

(43:42):
It can ruin a whole a whole day on the water
Especially if you got a bunch of people on your boat that just never just don't know how to dock don't know how to help you
Right. Well, that's exactly and and if you're you know, you being the captain of your vessel
You know can't instruct others as to what to do or what you would like them to do to help you
You know, that's challenging as well. So you're kind of you know on an island by yourself and so

(44:05):
Helping someone to be able to instruct your crew
Even if they're just there for a pleasure day to help you dock is just gonna be much more enjoyable
My wife says sometimes I instruct her too much though
Communication is key. We've been we've been married almost 30 years and we tell our kids we're still practicing and it applies at home and at the dock

(44:25):
Yeah, I think the thing is that I don't say please. I say get over there grab that and and so I have to be careful
You know the guys we don't care, you know, but but my wife's anyways, she never listens to this podcast
So I can tell you that she's a very good person. I think she's a very good person
Anyways, she never listens to this podcast. So I can say whatever I'm gonna let her know she needs to listen to this particular one

(44:52):
All right, do you have any other questions? No, no. All right. Thank you very much for coming on. I found this just
Really enlightening and fun and we will definitely tell our learn to sail
students
Uh that there's this this is available if they want to increase their knowledge and I would say encourage them

(45:12):
Uh, because the more comfortable you are on the water, let's face it the more fun you have
you know, there's nothing worse than going out and
You know, you're way beyond your limit and you worry the whole time
Or you're comfortable and you know if something comes up
Yeah, you won't be happy about it
But at least you have the knowledge to deal with it and and we all know if you especially if you sail

(45:35):
Because you're not going anywhere very fast
Something's going to come up something's going to happen in that four hours. You're out
And if you're comfortable and you've been trained you can at least say, okay, this is what we need to do
Instead of everybody just throwing their hands up and things getting worse and uh, and i've done that too, but literally

(45:55):
In the words of captain ron if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen
You just hit the nail on the head. He loves his captain ron
I always say if we get lost we'll just pull in some where's and s direction
Absolutely, and you know the vessel the black pearl that he does we've got a position up there where that was in the movie

(46:17):
And that's where captain ron stood while they were taking some shots of the movie. Okay. Okay. All right
I'll leave that with you. Well, thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you very much for coming on and um
If you don't have anything else and we'll let them go. Yeah, we'll let you go. We really
Really appreciate your time and letting us talk about uh, you know our love on the water and trying to help people get more confident

(46:41):
That was we had fun and you