OWNER MAKES A PRACTICE OF SCREWING OVER HIS INSTRUCTORS--by not paying them. He screwed me over for $2500 in instruction time. I believe it primarily occurred because his accountant ripped him off and much of the work hours records were suddenly not available. When finally I gathered all the information, his excuse was it took too long to submit and he refused to honor that. Many other instructors have had similar issues with delayed payments. So placing an obstacle in your path was his reason not to pay. He successfully passed his accountants theft losses to innocent instructors like me who had nothing to do with that.
Another example of the horror show there. US Sailing planned an week long instructor training event one year. The instructor trainers arrived to find none of the boats in the water. Additionally, these boats lacked the full suite of sail shaping controls--eliminating many of the key components of the training program. The entire event was a disaster, except for the owner, who got a bunch of free labor launching his boats--his typical tactic--act clueless and accept free labor. US Sailing no longer uses this facility for instructor certification. Once was enough.
Many of his courses occur even when there is no wind and the students learn very little in conditions in which the courses should be cancelled.
In a similar manner he has an offshore delivery "course" in which he has people pay him to deliver his boat to St Thomas. He would rather depart into a small gale than wait for better weather, for the main reason, he would have to refund the course participants. One year he put them to work on his boat for many days, only to finally postpone the trip. Great vacation for students--working on someone else's boat for days and then being sent home when they had to return to work. There are many horror stories like this.
Owner offered one office manager/licensed captain a commission on yacht sales, who sold one yacht, and then the owner fired him just before the transaction took place--depriving him of a commission. They bragged about screwing him over afterwards.
He also demanded instructor's in a cruising course anchor by the USCG station at Eaton Point, while never having anchored there himself. How do I know that? Because I myself and other instructors--one a well regarded Greenpeace captain, did anchor there and the holding was not only terrible, but dangerous. Arriving late I had no option but to stay and lose a nights sleep. He held one captain responsible for an accident to a rudder that was unavoidable--a buoy off station. All because the owner had no clue how dangerous that harbor was. No one anchors there! The USCG ties up to a dock. In short, the owner is incompetent in many ways--but not in screwing over his employees--he is good at that. Lots of fanciful, overly ambitious, untested ideas resulted in sending people out with dangerous instructions.
By the way, do not trust the owner sailing at night. He is extremely color blind. Which is why he is unlicensed.
Having been a sailing instructor at six different sailing schools, I can tell you this. While the venue is good--I like the Norwalk Island, the school is a shyte show. Poorly rigged boat, poor maintenance, under-staffed, and it is horribly managed. Choose another school. Even if you have to drive farther. Newport or New York are better options. read more
