Craft Of Sail
Learn and enjoy big-boat sailing with a master.
John Correa claims that he was literally and figuratively raised by a river (the river being his first mentor). He grew up on Bass River on Cape Cod sailing in Beetlecats and Wianno Seniors. His very first job was working at Ship Shops, the local boat yard run by Ted Frothingham, another of the many mentors to John. He later taught sailing at the local sailing school SAILING VILLAGE, also under Ted’s tutelage. John attended Tabor Academy where he crewed on TABOR BOY, a 92’ square-rigged topsail schooner. In his senior year he was the Executive Officer under Captain George Glaeser, yet another important sailing mentor. John has cruised extensively on the East Coast, Southeastern Alaska, and crossed the Pacific Ocean. He has competed in numerous offshore races including 13 Bermuda races, both Marion and Newport, and at least 4 Halifax, Nova Scotia races, mostly as a navigator. During all of these experiences he was mentored by many excellent skippers and fellow crew. John has spent most of his working career in the boating industry, first as the Service Manager of Bass Harbor Marine followed by Sales Manager at Morris Yachts, and finishing as a Sales Director at The Hinckley Company. Since retiring, John became a USCG 100-ton licensed captain and has done many deliveries along the East Coast from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean. He is extremely thankful for the many individuals who have advised him and continue to mentor him. John has always strived to tutor others, believing in sharing his understanding of sailing and other life experiences.
Robin Lincoln grew up sailing on Cape Cod. She says the greatest gift her family ever gave her was exposure to water and boats at an early age. Sailing has been a constant thread throughout her life. Racing as a young girl in wooden Mercurys, Beetle Cats, Lightnings, and Wianno Seniors, she won many championships. Robin also taught sailing seminars, organized races, and helped establish summer sailing programs for children and adults at yacht clubs and summer camps. She sailed to Europe aboard the schooner WESTWARD and cruised the west coasts of the U.S., Mexico, and Central America aboard a 38-foot cutter. Over the years, Robin’s sailing experiences have taken her up and down both coasts of the U.S. from Canada to Florida, Mexico, and the Carribean. She was a partner in a sail loft in Costa Rica for four years, where she had the opportunity to examine sails and rigging while sailing on different boats from all over the world. For over 20 years she owned and operated Center Harbor Sails in Brooklin, Maine. Robin’s life both in the loft and on the water gives her an intimate and well-rounded knowledge of boats and sailing. She has enjoyed teaching at the WoodenBoat School for almost every year since its inception. She continues to spend every spare minute she can sailing the beautiful coast of Maine.
Designed and built by Brion Rieff in the Spirit of Tradition class, this clipper 32 yawl has proven to be a fast daysailer and an excellent weekender. Launched in Brooklin in 1999, ARROW has been a regular fixture on Blue Hill Bay, Eggemoggin Reach, and other local waters. A versatile craft, she is able to perform in a variety of conditions and promises to be a great learning experience while sailing intercoastal waters of Maine. She carries a medium sized jib with roller furling; a tradtional main: and two asymmetrical spinnakers. Sporting a spacious cockpit, she is every bit as sensitive to sail as she is lovely to look at, and if ever there were a representative boat to prove that a thing of beauty is a joy forever, this yawl would be a leading candidate.
Originally from midcoast Maine, Arista Holden grew up sailing in various traditional small craft throughout Penobscot Bay, She is a captain and long-time seamanship instructor for adult and youth programs including Outward Bound, the National Outdoor Leadership School, Atlantic Challenge Team USA, the Nova Scotia Sea School, the Viking boat Polaris, and Morse Alpha Expeditions. A student of languages, culture and craft, Arista has traveled, sailed, taught, and studied all over the world. Just last year, she sailed 800 miles of the Norwegian coast in a 42′ square-rigged femboring with Fosen Folkehogskole (Folk School). Arista holds a B.A. from Hampshire College, current Wilderness First Responder and CPR certifications, and a 50-ton Master’s captain’s license.
MISTY is one of the famed 39′ Concordia yawls built at Abeking and Rasmussen in Germany for the Concordia Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Designed by Ray Hunt and Waldo Howland in 1939, the 39s served as family cruisers and successful bluewater racers, and are known for their intricate construction details, beautiful proportions, and grace on the water. MISTY spent 45 of her 52 years on the Great Lakes in the care of one loving family who raced her successfully. She’s received excellent care over the years, and has never needed a major rebuild. Her layout and details are original. Her yawl rig provides many strings to pull to adjust her sails to perfection. MISTY is easy to sail in nearly all conditions, because none of her sails are too large to handle.
Queene Hooper Foster taught herself how to sail by reading books and studying the photographs of Morris and Stanley Rosenfeld. Right out of college she purchased a boat and learned to sail the hard way. She continued her education by sailing annually to Maine from the Chesapeake Bay, participating in the early classic yacht events in Newport, Rhode Island and in Maine. She has sailed in numerous Newport to Bermuda Races, always in classic wooden boats, and was the first woman to skipper her own boat in the that famous ocean race. Sailing for the New York Yacht Club in her Aage Nielsen Ketch SAPHAEDRA, Queene sailed across the Atlantic to Cowes, England and was the only woman skipper to race in the America’s Cup Jubilee. She and her international crew received a Third Place Trophy from Princess Anne for the week of competition. Her career has been in publishing in New York City, specializing in marine titles, including Chapman’s Guide to Boating Etiquette, a detailed guide to boating traditions. Queene, who holds a 100-ton USCG license, is an experienced sailing instructor and lived aboard SAPHAEDRA for many years. These days she enjoys being out under sail on her beautiful Concordia yawl MISTY.
Prudence is a 36″ Nereia ketch designed by L.F. Herreshoff. Low slung, with clipper bow and raked masts, she’s exciting to look at, and a joy to sail. Built in 1972 with mahogany planks on oak frames, a mahogany laid deck, and varnished cabins and caprails, PRUDENCE recalls that pre-war era we now call “classic.” Setting forestaysail, main, and mizzen, she carries 673 sq ft of dacron sails. Add a balloon jib and mizzen staysail, and you have almost 1,000 sq ft! As Herreshoff describes her, “She’s a real little ship. I believe she will prove to be very able and comfortable as well as quite a little faster than one would suppose.”
Descended from grandparents who logged over 100,000 nautical miles, Hans Vierthaler has spent over 25 years sailing the coast of Maine. His love affair with boats started when he spent six years working for a sailboat rental company in Deer Isle, Maine, where he took care of a small fleet and taught sailing to vacationing summer residents. He then became interested in larger vessels and crewed on the schooners NATHANIEL BOWDITCH, AMERICAN EAGLE, BILL OF RIGHTS, and NEW WAY, as well as other, smaller boats. Fifteen years ago he joined the crew at Brooklin Boat Yard as a rigger and carpenter, and in 1992 Hans earned his 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard license. In 1994 he fulfilled a longheld dream and purchased the John Alden ketch ABIGAIL. After many wonderful years sailing the coast and teaching aboard ABIGAIL, he sold her in 2016. Hans bought ACTRESS, a 75′ brigantine, in 2017 and taught aboard this vessel for two years before selling her in 2019. He has enjoyed teaching at WoodenBoat School for 23 years.
Tuition: $950

Craft Of Sail is for folks who have some previous sailing experience, whether it comes from a seamanship program or personal involvement with boats. The course is designed for those who want to improve their skills on the water, particularly in the context of a cruising-sized vessel. Subjects include sail theory, hull and rig balance, helmsmanship, piloting in clear weather and fog, approaching and leaving floats and moorings, knots and rigging, man-overboard strategy, handling ground tackle, crew management; and, with those of our vessels that have power plants, maneuvering under power, and the rudiments of auxiliary engines and navigation instruments.

The seaman aspires to the mastery of many subjects, but the essence of the craft of sail is sea sense: the ability to tune in to a boat, the weather, and the crew, and apply good judgment so that all work together. Our instructors understand this, and they will help you to acquire that sense by sharing their own experiences and by encouraging you to think and feel a boat through various real and “what if” situations. With a maximum of five students, there is plenty of opportunity to ask questions and try tricks at the helm. There are numerous sailing schools out there, but few offer experience in cruising/charter-sized vessels like these—and none that we know of offer instruction by such experienced sailors on such lovely yachts.