2025 Sailing Instructions
Bob Rice - patient, experienced teacher.
Private sailing instruction for adults and all ages. Small boat instruction (17’ O’Day sloop) is offered on Brewster’s Upper Mill Pond (257 acres) in the Punkhorn Conservation area. For GPS, #700 Run Hill Road, ZIP 02631, gets one to the lane at the Town Landing.
All lessons are private and by appointment. Parking WITHOUT a Brewster sticker is free and a 5-minute walk. With sticker is even closer.
Basic Sailing Course
Most students are able to confidently sail their own boat in moderate conditions after 6 hours of private instruction. It is suggested that the basic course be done in three 2-hour blocks. This normally allows the student to experience a variety of wind/weather conditions, and the repetition of rigging the boat three times is useful. Other durations are possible.
Safety and proper terminology are incorporated into each lesson. Students are typically at the helm within their first fifteen minutes.
For those in need of a “brush-up” or who just want an introduction to sailing, a single 2-hour lesson is possible.
What to Wear
We will be wet about to our knees in rigging the boat, so shorts or bathing suit is prudent. Most prefer some sort of water-sport footwear as part of the landing is pebbled. Sun protection of course.
PRICING: The cost for one sailor is $100 per hour; a second sailor is $60 per hour. Thus, each 2-hour lesson is $200 for one, $320 for a couple.
Need help is safely docking that bigger boat? I will also do instruction on your boat. The cost for that is $110 per hour for one person, and second person at $60 per hour. Travel fees may apply.
Sorry, no credit cards. Cash or check, please.
Please pay checks to ROBERT RICE;
If mailing: POBox 931 Brewster MA 02631
The Captain
Bob first came to the Cape in the 1950s on family vacation. His first sail was as a teenager on Cape Cod Bay and he went on to captain the 42’ training vessel, Syriene, in Harrington Harbor, Quebec for the Quebec-Labrador Foundation.
After running the sailing school at Arey’s Pond Boat Yard in Orleans he founded Cape Sail in 1983.
He also crewed one summer on a tuna boat out of Provincetown and since his retirement from high school teaching in 2007 has sailed extensively in the Caribbean.
He has held a USCG captain’s license for more than 40 years.
