Everybody,

A friend of mine whose into sailboats and has time on his hands wants to
start up some sort of little sailboat charter business for the
spring/summer/fall season but with little sailboats and no motors. He's
not a mechanic and doesn't want to mess with motors. I can't blame him
one lick.

I told him he could probably cash in on the "green" movement since
sailboats have no impact on the environment as long as they don't have a
motor. Another thing is little sailboats without a motor don't have to
be registered and they have positive flotation. Safe for adults and
children. If you were going to get a fleet of say a half-dozen boats to
start with what brand and size boat would be safest and hold up well for
sailing lessons and day charters. Probably slow and stable would be
preferable over fast and unstable. Something suitable for novices.

If he gave lessons would he be required to get one of those Coast Guard
licenses? What if he didn't go out on the boats but just gave lessons on
the land or wading around in the water? He does drugs too so he probably
wouldn't be able to get a teaching license anyway if he was truthful on
his application. Is there a sailing instructor course that doesn't
require drug testing?

Opinions appreciated.

Capt. J.E. Ganz