Seven Seas Sailing School of Buffalo is currently celebrating its 40th year on the shores of Lake Erie. I contacted Seven Seas’ Captain Ed Quinlan who is currently in India at his winter residence teaching sailing at Seven Seas East India Sailing School.
Captain Ed, I hear you can start classes any day of the week, each week, all summer long. What does it take to Learn to Sail at Seven Seas?
With 40 years experience, we feel we’ve just about perfected the flexible schedule for the busy person wanting to learn to sail. It takes just $240 for our Learn to Sail program, and we guarantee you’ll graduate. You get two 2-hour classroom sessions, a 2-hour dockside to learn the parts of the boat, the all essential safety equipment, and how to motor in and out of the dock, followed by three to four 2-hour on-water sail lessons with an instructor. You can read all about the course on www.SailingBuffalo.com.
Then you can sail and/or rent a boat?
True, once you graduate. If you need any more classrooms, docksides, or on-water instruction, you can have as much as you need–at no extra charge, because we guarantee you’ll graduate. We have loads of social sailing programs too–our Tuesday Women’s Night, Wednesday Picnic Charters, Friday try Sailing Nights followed by a picnic and fireworks, Saturday morning friends and Family sails, and much more. Once you take the first step with lessons, the club atmosphere draws everyone back for more.
Where is Seven Seas Sailing School located?
We have five locations, depending on your need or perspective. There’s always our base home at RCR Marina on the Buffalo Canal–a full sailing campus with clubhouse, classrooms, outdoor activities such as lawn net games and gardens, boat repairing, and picnic vistas of the aligning docks. Then we also hail from two hubs–we have a Sail Cabin and slips for lessons and charters at the NFTA Boat Harbor, as well as free weekend Handicapped Sailing at the Commercial Wharf in the Inner Basin.
You said five locations? You mentioned only three.
Right–there’s our new sailing school in Karala, India, which is where I’m talking to you from right now. Sandy and I came here after the season ended last autumn, and we’ll be returning to Buffalo in a couple weeks to start the new season. We shipped Seven Seas’ boats here finally after three years preparatory efforts. Sandy is a nurse and volunteers at the Indo American Hospital each day. I run the Seven Seas East India Sailing School, which aligns a five-star resort on the waterfront. We’re also building some beautiful sail boats here we’ll be introducing to the US market. We encourage what is called “medical tourism,” whereby one spouse assists the sailing school, while the other or both give aid to the adjoining hospital. It’s called the Seven Seas’ Sailors Who Heal program.
And the fifth location?
That’s the British Virgin Islands. For 40 years we’ve sailed there on Easters. Many of our graduates love it, sailing and island hopping each day. Our advanced courses at Seven Seas prepare a student to self-charter a sailboat in the BVI’s or anywhere around the world.
You call yourself “Captain Ed” (Quinlan)?
Yes, I’m a US Coast Guard licensed captain, as are many of our instructors at Seven Seas Sailing School. We Follow Coast Guard principles to exactitude, especially rules for wearing life preservers (pfd’s). In addition, I’m presently re-certifying as a US Sailing certified instructor for the upcoming season, as we believe it is an important option in offering US Sailing certification, which is regarded worldwide as the pinnacle of accreditation.
There are other sailing schools in town. What do you think of competition?
Sure. The saying goes “rising tides lift all boats,” and we truly believe that. There’s a couple of schools or more, which is terrific for everyone. Seven Seas has always been supportive of competition–but we think of them more as waterfront colleagues. You know, Sears won’t anchor a mall unless there’s also JC Penny. McDonald’s won’t take a corner unless within proximity to Burger King. On that basis, we wish there were even 10 or more sailing schools in Buffalo. Everybody raises the excitement!
How many sailing schools are at the NFTA Small Boat Harbor?
We’ve returned to operating a hub and sailing camp there since last season. It’s also for lessons and charters. I do hear another is coming to neighbor with us–which is wonderful. They may have options we don’t and vice-versa. Maybe we should talk to them about combining our nautical camp and theirs they seek to establish and see where the discussion goes? We’ve actually not met, but it might be a good idea.
Seven Seas sounds pretty confident. Does that come with 40 years?
I’d say so. The fun of sailing is a serious safe matter of concern. We calculate that year round we earnestly spend about two hours planning on the safety issues for each actual hour that a boat goes on the water. We seek each individual’s equal attainment of competence as well as confidence before they ever solo a journey on the water.
Tell me about the Seven Seas’ mystique – what is it?
Ever see the movie Brigadoon? It’s kinda like that, as our season “pops up” each Spring and sails into late October. Our captains and instructors welcome everyone to try sailing, and the school’s participants are made to feel as if they’ve always belonged. Our patron saint is Tom Sawyer, meaning, as soon as someone signs up for lessons, it seems as if we hand them a paint brush and a hot dog and put them to work. Not really, but we just don’t charge very much for any of our programs, so we enlist community spirit and everybody wants to help out. It tends to create some amazing new friendships every season.
Does Seven Seas ever race?
We send out graduates of our school every week on the Tuesday night races called China Lights, which is part of the Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club, which is among the top three fleets in North America. We’ve supported them from their inception and are proud to say there are dozens and dozens of their captains hailing as graduates of Seven Seas Sailing School.
What’s next for Seven Seas?
A great summer of sailing. Summer lasts 2232 hours. Give us twelve of these hours, and we’ll teach you sailing, for life. Enroll now at www.SailingBuffalo.com. With over 25 sailboats to our fleet, there’s always room for you!