Specialties
At Island Sailing, we believe sharing sailing is its greatest joy, and that good seamanship belongs at the heart of everything we do.
Island Sailing School & Club was founded in 1978 and has been training sailors ever since. We are located on Tomahawk Island, a peninsula of Hayden Island, on the edge of the mighty Columbia River in Portland, Oregon. Our purpose is to create an environment that empowers and inspires new and growing sailors to reach their own sailing goals. Under its current ownership, Island Sailing continues to grow and create new opportunities for anyone drawn to sailing.
At our core, we are sailors. Some of us began young and others found sailing later in life, but we all started where you are. We have sailed classics and modern yachts, large boats and small, on back rivers and in distant waters, and over time our passion became our profession.
We are neither a boat brokerage nor a charter company. As an accredited American Sailing Association school, our focus is the best possible instruction and coaching, led by U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captains who are also ASA-certified instructors. They pay careful attention to each student’s goals and learning style, so every sailor builds the seamanship and skills to truly enjoy sailing.
Since 1978, generations of sailors have learned, raced, and cruised together here, building skills, lifelong friendships, and a shared love of sailing on the Columbia.
History
Established in 1978.
Island Sailing was founded in 1978 on Tomahawk Island on the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon. As an ASA-accredited sailing school and club, we train new and growing sailors with USCG-licensed captains, drawing on decades of experience and a community rooted in good seamanship.
Meet the Business Owner: Stephen F.
Ahoy there! I had the great good fortune of spending all my summers growing up on Lake Michigan. I got my first boat, a Sunfish, when I was 10 and have been in love with sailing ever since. At 12 I was 'adopted' by the crew of The Northern Light: the 1938 12 meter US14. I raced and cruised on the boat until I was 19; the high point each summer being the famous Chicago to Mackinac race. For six years I worked the waters of Alaska from Prince William Sound to the top of the Bearing Sea as a commercial fisherman. I chose to settle down in Portland, Or. and was very happily surprised to discover the amazing sailing on the Columbia! I joined ISC right away and began racing avidly and working and teaching at the club. I am now the proud owner of the club as of February 2020 which allows me the pleasure of sharing this amazing world of sailing with the many wonderful students who, like me, "have been called by the sea..."