Florida Sailing and Cruising School
 
 
 
 

Meet Our Captains & Instructors


Captain Chris Day

Captain Christopher Day grew up in England, where his love for the sea was born. Chris is a certified American Sailing Association (ASA) Instructor as well as a Charter Captain and an Instructor of our Trawler Training Classes. He has Skippered boats from 30 to 120 feet in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. Chris also enjoys gardening and art; however, it is his first love, boating, that he feels offers a personal challenge that puts one in touch with Nature.


Captain Paul Carlson

Paul Carlson has 20 years of sailing and teaching experience on vessels
from 20 to 53 ft. Paul is certified to teach all ASA levels through Advanced Coastal including catamarans. Paul holds a 50 ton USCG masters license. Through his ownership of a yacht delivery business his offshore experience includes West Coast and Pacific NW deliveries between Los Angeles, CA and the Canadian Gulf Islands as well as East Coast boat deliveries. He is now a charter boat captain out of St. Petersburg, Cape Coral, and Naples, FL. Paul’s professional career was as CFO with Exxon Corporation affiliates in Latin America, and with two significant non-profit organizations: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (NYC) and the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (Portland OR). For Paul, watching a student gain confidence in their ability to sail/motor is the ultimate reward of the teaching experience.


Captain Charlie Ryan

Captain Charlie Ryan is a lifelong boating advocate who followed his love of the water and all things nautical into his life�s vocation. He is now retired from two separate careers � first as a naval officer and secondly as an executive with Honeywell International Inc. His love of boating began with competitive sailing dinghy racing at age 8 and cruising aboard family boats on the Great Lakes through his high school and college years. He later owned a series of his own boats � both power and sail. During his navy years, Charlie spent more than a dozen years at sea in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and served part of that time as captain of two destroyer-class ships.

Captain Charlie holds a 100 Ton U.S. Coast Guard Masters License. Charlie particularly enjoys helping boaters improve their yachting skills. When not boating on his own cruiser or working as a yacht delivery captain, Charlie and can often be found teaching boating at Southwest Florida Yachts and the Florida Sailing and Cruising School. Captain Charlie lives with his wife Ricki in Fort Myers and also spends some time during the summer at their cottage on the Chesapeake Bay.


Captain Steve Lineberry

After a few, now comical missteps, Captain Steve Lineberry learned to sail on Kentucky Lake. When he stepped away from a career in office products, Steve turned to his love of sailing as a second career. He started his boating profession in 1993. Since that time he has received his 100 tom USCG Master�s License and American Sailing Association (ASA) instructor certification through the Advanced Coastal Cruising level. His teaching skills have earned him ASA�s annual �Outstanding Instructor� Award eleven times!

Captain Steve enjoys all types of boating and is an avid scuba diver.

Steve�s job as a professional Captain along with his own personal cruising adventures have taken him from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, along the East Coast of the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean. His greatest reward is seeing his students discover their own nautical abilities along with seeing the joy his students experience as they learn to handle a boat on their own.


Captain Jeff Lewis

I have over 40 Years of sail and power boat operation. I started sailing when I was 9 years old and competing in races at 14. I was the Texas State Junior Champion on Dolphin Class sailboats at 16. I joined the Coast Guard out of High School and retired after 20 years of service in the Aviation branch as a Helicopter Crewman and Navigator on the C- 130 Hercules. I have three kids. (Two grown adults, one 16) I live in Tampa, Fl., and have lived on the Gulf Coast my whole life.

I am a Licensed Captain with Towing Endorsement, ASA 101, 103, 104 Instructor. Recreational Power Boating Assoc. (RPBA) Certified Instructor on Directed Thrust, Multi-Engine and Single Engine Close Quarters Power Boat Handling and Power Boating Made Easy. I am the owner and operator of my own yacht delivery business. My hobbies include playing guitar, and anything that allows me to be on the water!

I have a huge respect for people who seek professional instruction in boating.

For me, instruction allows me to keep reviewing the fundamentals of boating.

I NEVER stop learning along with my students. My years of experience mean nothing to me until I pass on what I have learned over my four decades of boating. There is nothing like being a part of bringing new people into the boating life.

Captain Glenn Smith’s love of the ocean started during his youth on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

When he was young, Glenn spent his free time sailing and fishing off of Cotuit, MA. He has carried his love for the water with him throughout his life. Glenn has worked on offshore oil rigs in Texas, as the Captain of a private yacht and as Captain of large tour vessels in Southwest Florida. He has also cruised the Keys, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico from the Alabama and Florida coasts to Cancun, Mexico. Captain Glenn holds a 100 ton U.S. Coast Guard license.

Glenn also loves the history and the wildlife of beautiful Southwest Florida and enjoys teaching people about it while exploring the islands by boat. He often quotes President Kennedy who said, 'we all came from the sea; all of us have in our veins the exact percentage of salt water in our blood that exists in the ocean . . .'

Captains John and Marty Sherrard


Captain John

John and Marty Sherrard share a love of being on the water, a love of sailing and a love of sharing their passion for boating with others. That love took them around the world compliments of the United States Navy. Both gentlemen served as US Naval Flight Officers with years of both carrier and land-based operations. They also have almost identical experience on the water over the last thirty years. Why have they both followed almost identical paths in life? They are identical twins!


Captain Marty

In addition to the Navy, their experience includes over thirty years of sailing. Fifteen of those years were spent on racing sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. They have participated in long distance and overnight races as well. In addition, both have done ICW/Offshore deliveries from Annapolis to Florida and from Newport to Halifax, Nova Scotia and from Virginia to BVI. They also have extensive cruising experience around the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys, the Bahamas (Abacos, Berry, Exumas, and Andros Islands), British Virgin Islands, St Maarten, and Antigua. They recently participated in a sailing rally from Key West to Havana (Marina Hemingway) Cuba. Their experience is not just limited to sailing. They have captained motor yacht and power catamaran charters out of Fort Lauderdale, Nassau, and the BVI.

Of course, these twins have been known to pull a few tricks from time to time. Once when one of them was on a date and it wasn’t going well, he traded places with his brother from behind a pole on the dance floor and the girl never knew the difference!

In addition to being licensed US Coast Guard Captains, John and Marty are also American Sailing Association certified instructors and instructors of our Trawler and Motor Yacht training courses.

With either Captain John or Captain Marty as your instructor, you will gain valuable experience that cannot be found in any book. Of course, these two could switch places halfway through your class and you’d never know!

 

 

Click here to visit Southwest Florida Yachts

Florida Sailing & Cruising School
6095 Silver King Blvd • Cape Coral � Florida 33914
(239) 656-1339 (800) 262-7939 Fax (239) 656-2628
E-Mail: info@swfyachts.com

Tarpon Point Marina 26° 32' 14" N;  82° 00' 06" W


© 2000-2013 Florida Sailing & Cruising School. All Rights Reserved. This website contains
original copyrighted graphic and textual material created and owned by Southwest Florida Yachts., Inc.
Reproduction and other use of this material without the express written consent of Southwest Florida Yachts, Inc. is prohibited.