On a bright Sunday afternoon, boats loaded with three and four people took to the "high seas" of the Hudson River's Harverstraw Bay to learn to sail.
Faces and shoulders red from the sun matched hands wrung red from pulling and tugging rope. As dormant muscles were shocked into action, the mind received a workout of its own: Instructor Trevor Standard likes to quiz.
On a bright Sunday afternoon, boats loaded with three and four people took to the "high seas" of t .be Hudson River's Haverstraw Bay to learn, to sail.
Faces and shoulders red from the sun matched hands wrung red from, pulling and tugging rope. As dormant muscles were shocked into action, the mind received a workout of its own: Instructor Trevor Standard likes to quiz.
And it's not a trick question when he asks where the cockpit is -it's the area in a sailboat where one sits down. Like in an airplane, it's where all the action takes place. The mainsail, the jib and the tiller, which are used to control the boat, are all within reach.
"We've made our niche in what we call hands-on sailing," says Steve Jennings, who owns Croton Sailing School Inc. with his wife, Katherine. They started the business nearly nine years ago after returning from Virginia to Jennings' boyhood home in the Hudson Valley.
After graduating from Bucknell University, and sailing boats to the Caribbean and teaching sailing in the early 1980s, Jennings, 34, realized a suit and tie would never be for him. But the boating business was. "It quite literally just grew and at the early stages wasn't even a conscious decision," Jennings says. "What's ironic is I'm really more of a businessman now than a sailing adventurist."
That's bound to happen when a business starts to grow. Much like the boats he sails, guiding the business in the right direction isn't easy. To make the business viable, Jennings had to find ways of expanding it to include more than just weekend outings for those curious about sailing. There was the other question of what to do during the winter.
"We're not a resort area," Jennings says. "We were thinking, 'How are we going to ' attract people?' In Key West there would be opportunities for a sailing school.
"The answer was corporate business," he continues. "I took what I initially thought was a liability and turned it into a positive. That's something we'll be expanding on in the coming years."
Racing sailboats is an activity companies' can use to build teamwork, Jennings says. And they have. Crews of managers from Salomon Bros., General Electric Co. and McKinsey & Co. recently have signed up at the Croton Sailing School. And Armonk-based IBM has provided a steady stream of sailing enthusiasts. A steady stream of former IBM employees, Jennings says, who have time on their hands after taking early retirement
Jennings is putting his corporate marketing efforts into high gear. Using the telephone directory and other listings, Jennings is contacting companies and offering sailing lessons, corporate races and cruising parties as a training vehicle and an alternative for awards and bonuses.
Businesses typically measure their growth in sales; the Croton Sailing School sort of does the same. Each year since its inception,, the business has added 44 sails" to its business. Started with one 19-foot sailboat in 1986, today the sailing school commands a fleet of 15 boats, including a 35-foot yacht.
The school also doubles as a sailing club. For a yearly membership fee that ranges from $450 to $1,400, boating enthusiasts can use the school's boats.
"Boats require a lot of time and a lot of money," Jennings says. "This concept of a boat club has worked really well for us."
The Croton Sailing School isn't the only school that has benefitted from local residents interested in boating. Tarrytown is home to the Seas Sailing School and Wildrivers Canoeing Instruction is in White Plains. And the New York metro area is a port, so to speak, for several others.
Hands-on sailing experience is exactly what Tony Ventura of Mount Vernon was looking for when he signed up for, a weekend crash course in sailing.
"I watch the sailboats go by my office window everyday and I get jealous," says Ventura, who works for Smith Barney on the 38th floor of a downtown Manhattan skyscraper. "By Friday afternoon, especially, it's packed with sailboats.
It's an activity that comes alive this time of year. The warm weather and the crowded streets of the metropolitan area draw people to the water and the sport of sailing. In addition to sailing lessons for the beginner, the Croton school offers advanced courses, chartering, racing, Navagation and a captain's licensing program.
"Boating in general used to be very exclusive, but the yachting image has changed," Jennings says. "As with anything, once you start mass producing something, access is brought down to more people."
