Offshore Sailing School President and CEO, Doris Colgate, announced several major initiatives to kick off a year-long celebration of the company’s 60th Anniversary. “We’re hosting a media reception on the first night of the 2023 U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD, on October 12, and this is the perfect opportunity to share our many exciting plans for the coming year,” said Doris Colgate.
Colgate continued, “We are thrilled to announce that we are opening a new location in Key West, Florida! Starting January 2024, we’ll have Colgate 26s and a new 40’ catamaran available for US Sailing certification courses from Stock Island Yacht Club & Marina.”
In addition to the new location in Key West, the company has added a new Boat Handling & Docking course, offering Offshore Sailing School graduates and experienced sailors the opportunity to increase their skills and confidence with big boat maneuvering and docking aboard 40’-50’ catamaran and monohull yachts. This course will also satisfy clients’ desire to obtain US Sailing Catamaran Endorsement, if they originally learned to bareboat charter aboard a monohull.
The company will host four new Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacations for its graduates and other experienced sailors in 2024 and already has three more new destinations set up for 2025. Colgate Sailing Adventures® Flotilla Cruise locations in 2024-2025 include Belize, the Greek Islands, Sicily, Italy, Croatia, St. Martin and St. Lucia.
Winners of Offshore Sailing School’s 60th Anniversary Contest were selected by three esteemed judges. Herb McCormick, award-winning journalist and author of OFFSHORE High, the biography about Steve and Doris Colgate and Offshore Sailing School; Theresa Nicholson, Sr. Editor of Cruising World magazine; and Norwood Smith, Vice President, Director of Sales & Marketing for Mainsail Development (a resort developer, owner, and management company with hotels such as, Scrub Island Resort, The Luminary Hotel & Co., and Epicurean Hotels) unanimously chose Michelle Little’s submission, “Still Looking On,” as the Grand Prize winner of The Moorings charter vacation and Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina, BVI, gift certificate. Over twenty photographs and essays were submitted by Offshore Sailing School graduates and participants of Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacations, outlining how learning to sail with Offshore Sailing School changed and impacted their lives.
Offshore Sailing School is located at 6338 Presidential Ct., Ste. 201, Fort Myers, Florida, 33919. The school offers every level of US Sailing and Powerboating* certification courses on Captiva Island, St. Petersburg, and Key West in
Florida, on Scrub Island and Tortola* in the British Virgin Islands. To support Offshore Sailing School’s continued growth, the company has hired new instructors, a new maintenance manager, more sales associates, added an Operations Coordinator, and promoted several internal directors. The school has graduated more than 160,000 adults and families through its sailing, racing, bareboat cruising, navigation, and passage making courses.
