My name is Eric. I am licensed by the US Coast Guard. I have been boating my entire life. I built my first boat in 10th grade as a shop class project. She was a pirogue, a flat-bottomed boat somewhat similar to a canoe. I used her for paddling around the backwaters of the Mississippi.
I spent the next 30 years in relentless pursuit of our finned friends. For the last 16 years, I have been a sailing nut. I spent almost every weekend sailing Lake Pepin until starting Lake City Sailing. Now, I sail 7 days a week all sailing season. I’ve also have taken a number of trips to other sailing destinations. Over the years, I have sailed on Lake Superior, the Northeast Atlantic Coast and the islands in and around the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
I decided to pursue a professional career in sailing so that I might introduce more people to the activity I love so much. Of course, in order to do that, a USCG Merchant Mariner Credential is required. After speaking with a number of other sailing captains, I decided to jump all in.
A little more history about your captain
Captain Eric sailing into the Sir Francis Drake Channel aboard a DuFour 460 sailboat in the British Virgin Islands.
In 2006, we decided to buy our first sailboat, a Catalina 14.2. The next year we moved to a Precision 18 and the following year a Precision 23. Of course, we moved up once again the next year to an Islander 28. We finally settled down a bit and sailed her for next six years. In 2016, our current sailboat Baroque, became available and we jumped at the opportunity. We have made many upgrades and improvements to her since, including new sails. I learned a great many lessons from owning each of these sailboats.
As you can tell, I am a boat person and love life on the water. I cannot imagine it any other way.
I love introducing other people to the sport of sailing. If I can share just a little bit of my passion for sailing with you, then we all succeed! I have had so many great experiences doing just that!
Seeing the smiles on peoples faces as the wind catches the sails is truly the best reward.
Come sailing for a private day sail and see just how much fun it can be! Who knows, you may get the sailing bug too!
