Sailing Curls

Ahoy, Carina and Barracudas, we cannot wait to get to meet every single one of you and show you something special aboard our 54.5-foot sailboat Sailing Curls here at ActionQuest! What are you going to get to do with us you ask? Well let me tell you. Do you love to Scuba Dive? Have you ever wanted to learn how to sail? Have you ever wanted to wakeboard, sail a Pico, or learn how to drive a dinghy? Well guess what, you get to do all of this and more with during your stay on Sailing Curls! We have our new Barracudas joining us to complete their PADI Open Water Advanced course where we will spend the next three weeks refining their dive skills, teaching them how to do deep dives, navigate underwater using a compass, fish identification and how to safely dive from a boat. We will be doing a minimum of 18 dives during this trip with some special operation missions mixed in between. Our staff will personally cater to each and every students needs while they sail with us during their stay. The staff that will be teaching all of our new divers and skippers aboard Sailing Curls this session will be Gwen, our professional skipper extraordinaire, Kelly, our director of dive operations and also an instructor, and finally Alexander, a master scuba diver trainer who will be aiding both Gwen and Kelly in day to day activities whether it be sailing on the water or diving under it. We are so excited to meet all of our new shipmates and cannot wait to be under way!

Here is an introduction to the crew of Sailing Curls:

Gwen: Skipper

Born in New England and raised in an active family, Gwen has spent the majority of her life exploring the best the East Coast has to offer. A water sports enthusiast, surprisingly Gwen was not introduced to sailing until the fall of 2013 when she spent a semester in the Caribbean with Seamester aboard S/Y Ocean Star. After a life-changing experience with Seamester, Gwen joined the ActionQuest/Lifeworks team as a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) in 2014. Since then Gwen has earned her Master of Yachts 200 ton certificate and she returns for her third summer with ActionQuest as a skipper and a WFR. When she is not at ActionQuest, Gwen attends the University of New Hampshire where she studies Human Geography.

Kelly: Dive Instructor/Mate

Kelly grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and began scuba diving while attending the University of Arkansas. She sailed with our college program Seamester in the fall of 2012, afterwards completing her IYT Master of Yachts 200 ton, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, and B.A in Communications. Kelly joined the ActionQuest team in the Sarasota office in 2013 and loves sharing her experience with incoming and future shipmates. When not in she spends her time at the dog beach with her black lab Maggie, and is the starting catcher for her kickball team.

Alex: Dive Instructor/Mate

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Alexander has spent most of his life living in Ottawa, Ontario. After graduating from Carleton University in2012, he became a certified Event Manager at Algonquin College. While working as a wedding and corporate DJ for over 6 years and managing a restaurant, he volunteered his spare time teaching teenagers and adults boxing at his local MMA gym. After the tragic passing of one of his friends, he decided to change his life. In March 2015, Alexander took up scuba diving. He went traveling, for the first time in his life, to Utila, Honduras where he completed his PADI Open Water and Advanced courses. He then came back to Canada to complete his Rescue and Divemaster training. By September, he was on his way to Thailand where he became a PADI Open Water and EFR Instructor, and then immediately a Master Scuba Diver Trainer. Since then, he has worked with a prestigious live aboard company in the Similan Islands. Alexander's passions include cooking, DJ-ing, hiking, boxing, and scuba diving.