Fort Myers, Fla (June 17, 2024) – Steve Colgate, founder and Chairman of Offshore Sailing School, is pleased to announce that, after a long search for a new builder for the popular Colgate 26 keelboat, Tartan Yachts of Painesville, Ohio has been selected.

Known as “A Boat for All Reasons,” the Colgate 26 is designed by renowned naval architect Jim Taylor and Olympic and America’s Cup sailor Steve Colgate who mandated that it be fast, fun, safe and unsinkable with big boat characteristics that make it easy to transition to larger boats.

The Colgate 26 was awarded Boat of the Year in the Pocket Cruiser Division by Cruising World magazine the year it debuted. A great boat for round the buoy racing, the Colgate 26 is also popular for individual and family daysailing and is used for teaching sailing fundamentals and racing techniques at many sailing schools including Offshore Sailing School. The US Naval Academy has 42 Colgate 26s, which they call the Navy 26, in its fleet.

“Owners rave about how easy it is to care for this boat and how much fun it is to sail,” says Steve Colgate. “It’s unusual for a customer to tell a vendor his advertising is absolutely true,” wrote Joe Silverberg of Madison, Wisconsin. “The Colgate 26 is a joy to sail! It handles well in all wind and wave conditions, and all points of sail. It’s a comfortable, stable, easy to sail daysailer and a fast sophisticated racer,” Silverberg continued.

A new Colgate 26 built by Tartan Yachts can be delivered four months after order is placed, with an introductory ready-to-sail price of $87,500, including main, jib and spinnaker.  There are also optional extras available including a new asymmetrical sail kit.

Offshore Sailing School, headquartered in Ft. Myers, FL, was founded in 1964 by Olympian, America’s Cup Sailor and National Sailing Hall of Fame Inductee, Steve Colgate. The school sells the Colgate 26 and provides a full range of sailing and boating instruction with US Sailing certification – from beginning sailing and cruising to racing, advanced cruising, and passage making – at six locations in Florida and the British Virgin Islands.
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For hi-res images and more information visit Colgate26.com and contact Steve Colgate at 239-218-0471, [email protected].

 June 22, 2024, brings the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. This is when one of the Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. In our industry, we call it Summer SAILstice, and we are inviting adults and families to discover sailing through a 2-hour sailing lesson for just $25 per person. This special value sailing experience will be held at the Pink Shell Beach Resort on Fort Myers Beach, and from the Downtown Municipal Marina in St. Petersburg, Fla. Minimum age is 7 with adult, and we’ll host a maximum of five participants aboard a Colgate 26 for each session beginning at 9:30 a.m., with the last session starting at 4:30 p.m. based on availability. You must book online at www.offshoresailing.com/news-specials/. All participants will need to provide their name, email address, and phone number. This low-cost experience is non-refundable unless we are unable to sail due to weather conditions. We do sail rain or shine. There is plenty of room on board to stow personal items. Once we receive an online booking with payment, the participant will receive email confirmation for the time they chose online. Please arrive at the location provided in the confirmation email :15 minutes before sailing to sign the Waiver before boarding the boat. The email confirmation will contain information on what to wear and bring aboard your sailing adventure. No previous sailing experience is necessary.
 
Learn how to harness the wind to move through the water. Understand the effect wind and current have on the sailboat. Practice different maneuvers and learn about the roles in each position aboard the sailboat. All participants will receive a $100 Gift Certificate to participate in a future lesson, clinic, or course with Offshore Sailing School.
 
Sailors around the world are encouraged to share where they’ll be sailing to celebrate the SAILstice by listing their event and location on www.summersailstice.com.
 
Offshore Sailing School is owned by Steve and Doris Colgate and is celebrating its 60th Anniversary Year in 2024. The school has more than 160,000 graduates and teaches all levels of US Sailing and US Powerboating certification courses, hosts special racing clinics, and group team building sailing events at four resort locations in Florida and two in the British Virgin Islands. Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacation trips take place in exotic destinations all around the world.

​On May 18, and every day, Offshore Sailing School salutes women in maritime. On this International Day for Women in Maritime, we’re highlighting our two current female instructors based in the British Virgin Islands. Since we have four instructors based in the BVI, we’re delighted to have gender equality in our instructor ranks therewith a goal of similar equality at our Florida locations.
 
Instructor Elin Sandberg took up sailing within the past 10 years, starting in the UK and Ireland. She was the lone woman in every sailing class up to her Yachtmaster Offshore and her instructor qualifications. Elin said the intro to sailing class opened her eyes to the world of sailing and she wanted to explore it all. Elin enjoys her role in training and mentoring women who are getting into sailing, especially those considering working in marine industries. She loves offshore sailing and passage making, with a bit of yacht racing when she can.
 
Instructor Briana (Bri) Boele van Hensbroek is originally from New Zealand and grew up by and on the sea, spending many summers cruising around New Zealand on her family’s sailboat. Bri has done many long-distance passages, including crewing on both Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean crossings. She is passionate about all things-marine, sea life, scuba diving, etc. Briana also enjoys sailboat racing.
 
Both Elin and Briana have noticed an increase in female skippers and charter captains in the BVI within the past year. Our partners at The Moorings on Tortola have increased the number of women in its ranks and currently has a female fleet manager. Even the greetings have changed with the times, where our instructors are greeted now with, “Good morning, Captain,” rather than “Miss.”
 
Our company’s mission is to get as many competent sailors as possible enjoying everything that the sailing lifestyle has to offer. Women have made strides within the world of sailing, between our own President & CEO Doris Colgate founding the National Women’s Sailing Association, the Women’s Sailing Foundation, Take the Helm program to get young girls and women on board to confidently take the helm, and being recognized and inducted to the National Sailing Hall of Fame class of 2022; to our accomplished instructors Elin and Bri; to recent “in the news” sailors Cole Brauer, becoming the first American woman to sail solo around the World and finishing second in the Global Solo Challenge; to the first ever all-female crew to sail around the world aboard Maiden, winning the 2024 Ocean Globe Race.
 
 
Q & A with Offshore Sailing instructors Elin and Briana:
 
Q. What do you believe has hindered women getting into sailing in the past?
A, Elin: “Women assess risk differently and it can make us hesitant to speak up or try new things, especially in a mixed group. There are still cultural and physical barriers, and without female instructors or local role models, it can feel lonely being in the minority.”
 
Q. What is your goal moving forward to assist women getting into sailing and boating?
A, Briana: “I want to support women and pay it forward to the next woman. I love being on the water and want to share knowledge and skills with more women for them to love it as much as I do.”
 
Q. Which female figures in sailing inspire you?
A, Elin: “Dawn Riley and her accomplishments on the water and in business as the Executive Director of Oakcliff Sailing Center, a training organization for competitive sailors; and Tracy Edwards, Maiden’s first skipper and visionary behind the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.” (Note: Dawn Riley was the lead coach for Offshore Sailing School’s Performance Race Week® in 2019).
 
To foster and encourage more women to enjoy the sailing lifestyle, Offshore Sailing School has relaunched our Women’s Week sailing certification courses in a Sail, Sip, Spa format with our partners, Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina in the British Virgin Islands. Scrub Island Resort is led by General Manager, Sandra Grisham-Clothier. In January 2025, Offshore Sailing School will host a Performance Racing Clinic for four days of competitive sailing, featuring Olympic Gold Medal Champion Allison Jolly as one of the four coaches. Offshore Sailing School’s team with headquarters in South Fort Myers, Fla, is predominantly comprised of women, including our President and Chief Executive Officer, Doris Colgate; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Dana Matthews; and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Beth Oliver.
 
One may participate in the International Maritime Organization’s 2024 Symposium: Safe Horizons: Women Shaping the Future of Maritime Safety” on May 17, 2024, from 2:30 p.m. London-time, in person in London at IMO Headquarters, or online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QIaThyb6DM
 
Call 800-221-4326 or 1-239-454-1700 for more information on our programs for women.
www.OffshoreSailing.com
[email protected]
 
https://www.imo.org/en/About/Events/Pages/International-Day-for-Women-in-Maritime-2024.aspx
 
Offshore Sailing School is owned by Steve and Doris Colgate and is celebrating its 60th Anniversary Year in 2024. The school has more than 160,000 graduates and teaches all levels of US Sailing and US Powerboating certification courses, hosts special racing clinics, and group team building and sailing events at four resort locations in Florida and two in the British Virgin Islands. Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacation trips take place in exotic destinations all around the world.

​Offshore Sailing School President and CEO, Doris Colgate, announced several major initiatives to kick off a year-long celebration of the company’s 60th Anniversary. “We hosted a media reception on the first night of the 2023 U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD, in October, and want to share our many exciting plans for the coming year,” said Doris Colgate.

Colgate continued, “We are thrilled to announce that we are opening a new location in Key West, Florida! Starting January 2024, we’ll have Colgate 26s and a new 40’ catamaran available for US Sailing certification courses from Stock Island Yacht Club & Marina.”

In addition to the new location in Key West, the company has added a new Boat Handling & Docking course, offering Offshore Sailing School graduates and experienced sailors the opportunity to increase their skills and confidence with big boat maneuvering and docking aboard 40’-50’ catamaran and monohull yachts. This course will also satisfy clients’ desire to obtain US Sailing Catamaran Endorsement, if they originally learned to bareboat charter aboard a monohull.  

The company will host four new Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacations for its graduates and other experienced sailors in 2024 and already has three more new destinations set up for 2025. Colgate Sailing Adventures® Flotilla Cruise locations in 2024-2025 include Belize, the Greek Islands, Sicily, Italy, Croatia, St. Martin and St. Lucia.

Winners of Offshore Sailing School’s 60th Anniversary Contest were selected by three esteemed judges. Herb McCormick, award-winning journalist and author of OFFSHORE High, the biography about Steve and Doris Colgate and Offshore Sailing School; Theresa Nicholson, Sr. Editor of Cruising World magazine; and Norwood Smith, Vice President, Director of Sales & Marketing for Mainsail Development (a resort developer, owner, and management company with hotels such as, Scrub Island Resort, The Luminary Hotel & Co., and Epicurean Hotels) unanimously chose Michelle Little’s submission, “Still Looking On,” as the Grand Prize winner of The Moorings charter vacation and Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina, BVI, gift certificate. Over twenty photographs and essays were submitted by Offshore Sailing School graduates and participants of Colgate Sailing Adventures® flotilla vacations, outlining how learning to sail with Offshore Sailing School changed and impacted their lives.
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Offshore Sailing School is located at 6338 Presidential Ct., Ste. 201, Fort Myers, Florida, 33919. The school offers every level of US Sailing and Powerboating* certification courses on Captiva Island, St. Petersburg, and Key West in
 
Florida, on Scrub Island and Tortola* in the British Virgin Islands. To support Offshore Sailing School’s continued growth, the company has hired new instructors, a new maintenance manager, more sales associates, added an Operations Coordinator, and promoted several internal directors. The school has graduated more than 160,000 adults and families through its sailing, racing, bareboat cruising, navigation, and passage making courses.
Visit https://www.offshoresailing.com/.