 Boating News & Events
Passagemaker
Maker
May/June 2009
written by Sally Bee Brown
Congrats, Sea
Sense,
On Your
20th Anniversary!
 Twenty years
ago, Carol Cuddyer and Patti Moore, cofounders of Sea Sense,
launched their sailing and power boating school by entering the
first women-only sailing team in the St. Petersburg Yacht Club's
Florida-to-Mexico regatta. That event earned them second place in
their cruising class, and many more achievements have followed.
Don't think
that their Florida address limits them – Sea Sense is global! The
women of Sea Sense have taught boating from Greece to Tahiti and
at numerous ports in between. Carol and Patti began teaching
mostly on sailboats; now they primarily instruct aboard
powerboats. Although they specialize in teaching boating skills
and safety to women, they also coach families on their own boats.
Credentials
abound. Both women hold U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton master's licenses
– ones that are "old enough to drink and vote," says Patti.
They've sailed and cruised the world, and Patti even made a
transatlantic trawler crossing that forever labeled her "the
captain in bunny slippers." Try wearing those at a sailboat's helm
(rather unfashionable with foul-weather gear).
Carol and
Patti have a history with PMM that predates our premiere 1996
issue. PMM founders Bill and Laurene Parlatore were verbally
testing their magazine concept when they met Patti at a
Connecticut boat show, and it wasn't long before Sea Sense was
presenting seminars for our readers on boat handling and safety.
"I've met dozens of women throughout the years who took their
classes and beamed as they walked aboard their own boats again,
feeling so much more confident," says Laurene, who includes
herself in that group.
Two of our
staff have experienced Sea Sense's weeklong "women-only" hands-on
live aboard training (see PMM April '02 and February '05). Carol's
and Patti's teaching methods are geared toward the different ways
in which women and men process information. They build
self-assurance by explaining "why" while showing "how." Their
onboard courses offer ample opportunity at the controls, yet
there's always kick-back time to savor. They inform. They involve.
They just plain know what they're doing, Sea Sense is common
sense.
That doesn't
mean everything goes 100 percent smoothly all of the time. At a
boat-handling demonstration at TrawlerPort in St. Augustine,
Florida, members of Sea Sense performed maneuvers while folks
ashore watched and listened to an announcer describe each move. No
problem, except the announcer's voice didn't carry to the boat, so
it was "sort of like a ballet where you couldn't hear the music,"
says Patti.
Patti also
remembers the thrill of assisting with the PMM-sponsored Pokie Run
to the Bahamas. Powerboats of all shapes and sizes crossed the
Gulf Stream where most had not ventured before. "The excitement in
the air was palpable!" she recalls.
It's that
emotion that keeps the women of Sea Sense doing what they do – and
loving it. They're currently developing additional seminars and
are working on a teaching video and textbook.
Carol says she
would like to do more one-on-one teaching, especially through Sea
Sense's "On Your Own Boat" courses." It gives me a good feeling to
set people on their way with a solid knowledge of their boat and
systems, safety procedures, and everything they need to cruise
with confidence," says Carol, who is also writing a book of
women's sea stories.
She teaches
crew members to work together as a team, incorporating effective
communication skills.
Visit
www.seasenseboating.com
to check out the variety of classes offered by Sea Sense. Are the
courses affordable in these trying economic times? They're
probably less expensive than the fiberglass you'll need to repair
when you try to dock your boat without understanding winds and
currents, less costly than a new transmission when the term "slow
maneuver" isn't in the helmsperson's vocabulary, and far less than
the value of a life when the response to "man overboard' is sheer
panic.
Carol and
Patti work hard to achieve that moment when the light goes on for
their students and their cruising enjoyment is heightened by their
newfound skills. Sea Sense is owned by empowering women who
transform their students into empowered boaters. On the to the
next 20!
–Sally Bee
Brown
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