 Boatwise
was founded in 1990 by Captains Rick & Sue Kilborn
with the objective of offering affordable and convenient
education to the boating public.
Boatwise pioneered the “1 day” class concept
in boating education when the only available classes
at the time were traditionally held over 9 to 13 weeks
of 2 hour weeknight sessions. Growing very fast in popularity
due to the convenience and superior quality of the professional
education Boatwise was soon a household name associated
with expertise in boating.
In the mid 1990’s, the USCG approached a number
of chosen schools in the country, asking them to author
a curriculum and testing series leading to the 6-pak
and Masters licenses.
Boatwise was one of the first in the country to have
its curricula and test approved by the USCG National
Maritime Center in Washington, to substitute for their
own testing processes for the licenses.
Boatwise is now one of the largest private Marine
Training schools of its type on the east coast.
With a staff of 23 professional and USCG Licensed instructors
across New England, Boatwise annually teaches thousands
of boaters the necessary skills to operate with safety
and skill out on the water. Boatwise Instructors hold
USCG Licenses from Master 100 Gross Ton through Master
1600 Gross Ton and several are Maritime Academy graduates.
Boatwise also founded the free popular web site database
www.callacaptain.com, offering all levels of boaters
access to professional Captains to help them with on
the water training and vessel deliveries.
Boatwise has solid history working with a number of
federal, state and local government agencies to help
bring their department staff to a higher skill level.
Some of the agencies are; NOAA, National Marine Fisheries
Service, Veteran’s Administration, Environmental
Protection Agency, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute,
US Coast Guard, Mass State Police, US Navy, Anteon Corporation,
Hampton (NH) Fire Department, Boston, Fire Dept., Winthrop,
MA Fire Dept., MA Commonwealth Corporation, Mass Work
Investment Act (WIA) career retraining, Maine Career
Centers (WIA), Portland USCG Small Boat Handling course
and more.
Various Harbormaster’s Departments in; Beverly,
MA, Salisbury, MA, Situate MA, Newbury, MA, Hampton,
NH, to name a few, have looked to Boatwise for their
USCG License training needs. Gloucester Fisherman’s
Assistance Group contracted us to provide USCG Master’s
License training for over 100 Gloucester Commercial
fisherman yielding a 100% success rate for passing the
exam. We were also contracted by the Portsmouth, NH
Fire Dept. to provide training for over 70 Firefighters
on all our non commercial course offerings as well as
on the water and night cruising training on their new
jet drive Fire Boat.
It is also important to note that the Boatwise USCG
Master’s License class was approved as a 10 credit
course at Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts
demonstrating the quality of the training and course
content. We are in our 4th year of classes at NECC.
Boatwise was one of the first training schools in the
country to hold scheduled public classes on GPS Chartplotters
and Radar. Starting these public classes in 1992 in
partnership with RayMarine (then Raytheon Marine) allowed
the new technology to be better understood. Boatwise
continues this training today not only in the class
room year round, but throughout the boating season both
on its own training vessel “Triple Play”
and also on customer’s boats. Boatwise still uses
Raymarine brand equipment in its recreational and professional
training classes across the region.
Maptech Corporation contracted Boatwise exclusively,
to conduct the training in New England for its high
profile “Red Carpet Program”. This training
includes instruction on the high end Sea Ray Navigator
touch screen navigation systems offered as part of the
larger Sea Ray vessel sales package.
You will find Boatwise instructors to be frequent speakers
at all the major boat shows on topics of electronics,
vessel safety, and USCG Licensing. When the larger east
coast boat dealers are looking for quality training
for an important customer, you’ll find them calling
Boatwise to supply it. Large dealers like Russo Marine
hold Boatwise classes every weekend at their showroom
in Medford, MA from October to April.
Many established Yacht clubs across New England have
Boatwise return to their clubs annually to provide training
for their members and families. Corinthian & Eastern
Y.C. in Marblehead, Manchester Y.C, Wianno Y.C. in Hyannis,
Hingham Y.C. are just a few of the local clubs on this
long list.
Boatwise continues to lead the way in offering key
education to boaters across the 5 New England states.
Consider Boatwise when you have training needs demanding
the very best.
|
