Captain Erin started her sailing career on board a 180’ squared-sailed tall ship in Tampa Bay, FL at the age of 16.  Mesmerized by the traditional art of sailing, she became hooked and spent two summers and countless hours in between as a volunteer deckhand and topman, as the Bounty sailed up and down the Atlantic Coast, from Maine to Key West.  After graduating high school, she spent 5 landlocked years in undergraduate school in the highlands of North Carolina, before returning to sea once more, this time primarily on the west coast.  The following two years found her fulfilling four professional contracts on the following tall ships: the Lady Washington (112’ brig), the Hawaiian Chieftain (104’ ketch), the Bill of Rights (112’ schooner), and the Pride of Balitmore II (157’ topsail schooner), on the waters of the Pacific coast between Mexico and Canada, as well as a small foray into the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.  During this time she met her future husband, a fellow sailor.  They both moved to California where they started racing and teaching on 27’ to 38’ vessels.  Fresh from her Masters degree in Geophysics, currently Erin is residing part time in the US and British Virgin Islands and part time among her family in the Tampa Bay area.

What Erin enjoys most about teaching is seeing the wonder and enjoyment when the sails are up, the engine is off, and a whole new world opens up out on the water.  She believes that building confidence is the number one thing she can pass onto her students, so that when they pass the tests and leave the class, they know they can continue to sail and learn from their own successes and mistakes.

Captain Erin has the following certifications:
•    USCG 100 ton master
•    STCW with Lifeboatman
•    Wilderness First Aid
•    ASA instructor for levels 101, 103, 104, and 114.