Next up in our Winter Wednesday Program series we are honored  to have Ace Spragg. In 2006, Ace took a couple of friends and her 40′ sailboat Fraid Knot to Hawaii and back, having never sailed out of sight of land before. Part project management, part human resources management and a ton of learning – this talk will describe some of the challenges involved in gearing up the boat and the captain and crew for our first offshore passage. Lots of pretty pictures and sea stories too!

Carolyn “Ace” Spragg grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, messing about in boats. Her first boat was a raft, which went through many upgrades over 5 summers of glorious adventures. Her love of the water became the basis for her teaching and camping career, which spanned 20 years as a camp Waterfront Director and Program Director. Relocating to the Puget Sound in 2000, she moved aboard a sailboat and found her way back to teaching – adults this time – who were afraid to dock their boat. This led to 11 years with the Northwest Maritime Center as an instructor, Sailing Director and Program Director.

Ace has her USCG 50 ton Master’s License, International Sail and Power Association Yachtmaster Offshore teaching certification, US Sailing teaching certification, and is a US Maritime Academy Captain’s License Instructor. She’s skippered her boat to Hawaii and back with all-women crews, and happily cruised the beautiful waters of the Salish Sea. She also speaks at various seminars on Docking, Anchoring, Navigation, Tides and Currents and Trip Planning. Somewhere in her twenties she ended up landlocked at Kansas State University and got a MS in Biomechanics (hurray for physics!), but has mostly stuck to the coastal waters of the continent, where her addiction to boats is understood and encouraged. She is currently the Education Director at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding.

Ace at the helm