Your
Seagoing Classroom
The art of sailing, once learned, will be with you forever! Our Maine Sailing School offers private sailing lessons available to novices as well as more experienced sailors, tailored to your current level of knowledge.Chart your own course. You decide your level of participation.
Captain Frank is a USCG licensed Captain and US Navy Veteran. He has sailed the waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Mediterranean. His sailing experience and knowledge of local waters will help provide a unique and memorable learning experience on Penobscot Bay. Boating safety, rudimentary navigation, trimming the sails, knots, basic seamanship and rules of the road canLesson Topics:
be part of the learning experience. I have also created a page of Sailing Terms and
a glossary to help identify parts of a sailboat! Knot tying is shown on our animated knot tying page.
1. Plotting a course, coastal piloting and deduced reckoning (ded reckoning )
2. Learning to use the global positioning system, (GPS)
3. Correcting for set and drift
4. Setting course to steer by
5. Estimate time enroute
6. Estimate time of arrival
7. Checking and making use of tidal conditions
8. Steering accurately by compass and wind angle
9. Plotting a safe course through restricted waters
10. Checking charts for depth and tidal currents
11. Studying the running rigging and its safe operation
12. Studying the standing rigging and its safe operation
13. Weighing anchor
14. Dropping anchor
15. Raising and unfurling sails
16. Adjusting and trimming each sail each time a waypoint is reached
17. Adjusting and trimming each sail each time the wind angle changes
18. Trimming for a better turn of speed
19. Getting used to how she handles under power
20. Docking and backing up in tight quarters
21. The importance of knots, hitches, bends and their proper use
22. Boating safety and rules of the road
July 13, 2000
For my 50th birthday I asked my family for “sailing lessons on the ocean”. Captain Frank & Goddess of the Sea Cruises appeared out of my daughter's research and here I am. I spent 2 separate days learning about the Aphrodite as well as sailing terms, navigation, safety, courtesy, and, of course, sailing.
Today was a perfect day with great winds, variable seas and Captain Frank taught me so much and allowed me the helm for the day. What an experience!
For all of you would be sailors, Captain Frank exudes the “spirit” of sailing more than anyone I've met in all my days. This was a unique opportunity to learn hands-on with an expert! I will be back – Captain Frank has the gift of teaching and is a “kindred spirit under sail.”
Charles Burns, MD
Auburn, Maine
A man who has found his true passion in life is a rarity. A man acting on that passion is rarer still. I can not imagine having my first ocean going sailing adventure with anyone but Captain Frank. He is truly a man who is meant to be sailing and teaching others how to sail all the days of his life. An endless well of patience, long years of sailing and teaching, and the way he still “lights up” when the wind freshens, ensures great sailing regardless of the weather and sea state. Captain Frank and the “Aphrodite” delivered on all promises.
We saw dolphins, actually heard them first, because they were so close. In a moderate breeze and calm seas we were able to crank it up to almost 8 knots. We outran a squall and were treated to a double rainbow for our efforts. Davetta, a city girl through and through, who has always had a deep water phobia, was so filled with the spirit of adventure, that she dove right in the deep dark Atlantic Ocean while at anchor in Long Cove.
We can hardly wait until Captain Frank expands his operation into St. Augustine, Florida. We will definitely come down for a longer adventure!
Authentically Yours,
John & Davetta Thacher
Connecticut