Cruise-n-Learn Sailing International
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John’s first sailing experience was at age 11 sailing little sunfish sailboats at Big Lake Youth Camp in Central Oregon.
As an adult, he really got into sailing in 2005, after a random invitation to the Portland, Oregon boat show.
He completed his ASA Basic Keelboat course on the Columbia River and then a few months later, Basic Coastal, Bareboat and Catamaran in Belize.
John then focused on getting out on the water as much as possible. He volunteered as delivery crew on multiple offshore deliveries and was part of a race crew in The Puget Sound for over 12 years.
He also cruised extensively on two of his own cruising sailboats as well as on friend’s boats and charter boats, sailing throughout the Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, British Columbia, The Sea of Cortez and Pacific Coast of Mexico, The British Virgin Islands, and The Bahamas.
John holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master credential (Captain’s license) with over 1000 days at sea. He has been a professional sailing instructor since 2016, the sailing school director for an ASA school in La Paz, Mexico since 2018 and is a recipient of American Sailing’s prestigious, “outstanding instructor of the year” award.”
John has helped hundreds of new sailors begin their own sailing and cruising journeys and is thrilled to help you on your sailing journey.
Amber is an amazing project manager and Cruise-n-Learn Sailing’s chief problem solver!
Amber is very familiar with breaking the mold! Her background is as a home builder, including a company she co-founded to design, develop and sell a complex, waterfront, residential community. A woman owner in the construction business is quite uncommon and not for the faint of heart!
True to her nature, the project and her business was wildly successful, but aside from that Amber learned how to solve any problem and find her way over, around, under or straight through, any obstacle!
We call her our “HSLIC” because she keeps the “business of sailing” operating smoothly and, of course, she keeps all of us around here on our toes and minding our P’s and Q’s!
John and Amber Ensley are avid sailors, cruisers and entrepreneurs.
They founded a Puget Sound sailing school to help aspiring sailors earn internationally recognized sailing certifications and licenses while developing competence as sailors and skippers.
They were neighbors and friends almost 20 years ago and then through happenstance ran into each other again in 2020. It just so happened they were both single and sparks turned to flames and flames to fire! They were married, barefoot, on a beach, in 2021.
When they started dating, John said, “hey, this sailing thing is a pretty big deal in my life” and next thing Amber knew, she was out on a boat getting her ASA certifications! Many miles have passed under the keel since then
They bring a unique blend of passion for sailing and cruising, big servant’s hearts and a hard won business savvy from years of experience building businesses and serving customers across a wide range of industries.
Traditionally, most sailing schools operate from a fixed location and maintain a fleet of sailboats of varying size, age and condition. We founded Cruise and Learn Sailing International with a different model in mind!
With the wide availability and affordability of sailing charter fleets world-wide, we are not limited to any particular geography and are able to offer sailing courses at pretty much any world-wide sailing destination.
The number one complaint we have heard at every sailing school we’ve worked with over the years is in regard to the (poor) condition of the school’s sailboats. The vast majority of charter operators maintain fleets of newer, well-maintained and appointed sailing vessels, so with rare exception, our students are typically thrilled with the condition of the vessel they are learning to sail aboard.
Believe it or not, we’ve calculated that with the cost of acquisition, the scarce and rapidly rising cost of moorage, plus maintenance, repairs, upgrades and the opportunity cost of being stuck in a single location, it is far more cost effective to charter sailboats for our 1-Week Cruise and Learn Sailing courses than it is to maintain a fleet of our own sailing vessels.
Having said that, we do have a smaller sailboat that we use for our basic sailing classes, day-sailing and racing in our Pacific Northwest Immersion Program and we also collaborate with a couple of other schools and private boat owners to utilize their vessels when it makes sense.
Below is a gallery displaying the types of sailing vessels you can expect when you set sail on your Cruise and Learn Sailing courses.
