We are very excited to be starting the next chapter of our sailing adventures!

This summer we have agreed to help start a new ASA sailing school / Water Sports Program (Grace Harbor Watersports) out of River Dunes near Oriental, NC. It will be in part with one of our previous boss's that we both worked with at the Boy Scout camp in Islamorada, FL. This opportunity will also allow me to be closer to my family (by 8 hours, instead of 19)

A few weeks ago we drove up to River Dunes on my way home to WV for the holidays and went over their program ideas. We were also able to commodere a few kayaks for a few hours and had a an excellent guided tour kayaking through their beautiful backwaters with a local resident of the River Dunes community.

During the summer, starting close to April, we will be helping with everything from ASA classes, kayak tours, paddleboarding, sunset cruises, to helping dock boats to get our new program up and running. S/V Bandit, along with S/V Barefoot (the boat I helped to deliver to NC last month) will be a part of the new school's fleet.

This opportunity will also allow us to "upgrade" for the winter season... **** insert super excited part here!!***.....as we will be bringing S/V Barefoot back down to Miami to continue our ASA couples charters working in conjunction with Island Dreamer Sailing School. S/V Barefoot will present to be a bit of challenge in that it draws just over 5 feet.... something we will have to consider with tides on our anchorages/state parks we visit.... but will be a huge luxuory in her spacious galley, large grill, massive dinghy davits, sleeping arrangements, and bathtub.... yes bathtub!! It will also be a bit of a stress reliever as she is a newer boat, compared to S/V Morning Dance, so her systems are bit easier to work/live aboard with (including inboard generator, wind vane, and solar panels), and is a sloop rig with roller furling (oh yes!!).

We have many plans / ideas with the new sailing school, Grace Harbor Watersports. We want it to eventually include upper level ASA classes such as offshore passagemaking, celestial naviagaion and floatillias to places such as the Bahamas or Caribbean... Currently we are working on advancing our ASA instructor licenses and to also increase our captain's licenses by getting our Master's License. We also hope that the watersports program may come to include sailboats for bareboat chartering and jetski rental.

Stay tuned for links to our upcoming Grace Harbor Watersports website and info on the new Sailing School!!!