Even with all the sailors worldwide, the cruiser community is small. But it doesn't always feel like that. More times than we can count, Brady and I have pulled up to random anchorages, poked our heads out the companionway, and seen a familiar boat dropping anchor just a few feet away. The story of Captain Ryan Noble joining Cruisers Academy started with one of these serendipitous moments. We often joke that we manifested his addition to our team by discussing who would be the next perfect fit.
One of the first two sailboats to join the Cruisers Academy fleet was a dreamy 1980 Catalina 22' owned by no other than Ryan and his wife, Allie Noble. They were refitting their 'new to them' Blue Water Cruising Boat, 'SV Wabi Sabi,' a beautiful 1977 Alajuela 38' with a full keel, double-ender hull, and 8' tiller (uncommon yet fun for the size of their boat).
Having sailed a decade on Lake Tahoe, the couple was ready to hit the big blue and experience the cruising lifestyle firsthand. Over the next five years, they would sail to the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the ABCs (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao), Colombia, through the Panama Canal, and from Central America to Mexico. Little did we know as we talked to Ryan about his Catalina 22', 'SV BlueBird,' that he was about to embark on the most valuable training experience any Cruising Instructor could get.
But let's bring it back to 2020 when SV Bluebird was sitting on a trailer right down the road from our house in Lake Tahoe. When we first drove over to see her we were immediately impressed at how well she had been cared for. The boat was sentimental to Ryan, who had spent every summer for seven years sailing her with his brother, wife, and friends on Lake Tahoe. From the day we towed her away, she began to serve up good memories on Lake Tahoe, teaching hundreds of people to sail. Meanwhile, Ryan continued his real-world training at sea.
Ryan and Allie's time spent cruising wasn’t all easy but they loved it.
“We didn’t have an autopilot or a wind vane at that point, we were mostly hand steering, but then, since we had a tiller, we figured out sheet-to-tiller steering…and rigged it. It was literally a bungee cord and a 10-ft piece of line. And the boat sailed herself. It was amazing.”
One of the most valuable skill sets that Ryan put into play as a full-time cruiser was his background in industrial rope access which naturally made him a celebrity in the anchorage for his rigging skills. An old colleague introduced him to industrial rope access, knowing his love for rock climbing might make it the perfect job for him: “You can make money working on ropes,” Ryan was told. He quickly took to rigging. Across the world, Ryan inspected bridges, fixed wind turbine blades, serviced the space needle, and even trained the riggers of Cirque du Soleil!
"When it comes to sailing, rigging is all the same. The physics, the load ratings, and inspecting things. Many people are afraid of heights and don't want to go up their mast…and I love that stuff,” Ryan said.
Like a true cruiser at heart, most of these experiences started simply from lending a helping hand which ultimately came back to help him when he needed it most. “People are so helpful. And if you don’t know something, your next-door neighbor probably does.”
There are few trades Ryan hasn’t explored that make him a great sailor and even better instructor: he’s worked as a cook, skier, rigger, trained EMT and, for fun, dabbles in sports that demand an expert understanding of the wind like paragliding, skydiving, and kiteboarding. Perhaps most exciting for those looking to join a trip with Ryan are the hobbies he fell in love with while living aboard, like free diving, spearfishing, and trolling.
For Ryan, “You have to have all of it when you’re on a boat—you're the doctor, the diesel mechanic, the sailor…” And he’s right. While our goal with Cruisers Academy is to prepare people who want to go cruising on their own to be ready for as many situations as possible, the only training that truly prepares students is doing it themselves. Living your life by the weather, getting caught in a lightning storm, having your engine break down in the middle of nowhere, and making mistakes that teach lessons, are situations that can't be taught in a classroom. Much of cruising is a mentality, how do you get along with yourself? Your crew? Your boat? Nature? Each of these relationships is dynamic and can only, truly, be learned and earned with every nautical mile sailed.
Fast forward to June 2024, our fifth summer of running Cruisers Academy on Lake Tahoe. We were buying and selling boats (as per usual) and Brady got a message from Ryan about the Catalina 27' we had for sale. They decided to take a break from cruising and were back in Tahoe looking for a boat to enjoy for the upcoming summer. In full circle, Ryan and Allie re-entered the Tahoe sailing world via one of the boats that had become a part of the Cruisers Academy fleet. We grabbed some beers to catch up, and one thing quickly led to another as Ryan explained he had gotten his USCG Captain's License and was interested in working on Lake Tahoe. Brady and I quickly agreed that Ryan had been the Captain we had been looking for: someone with a deep love for weather, sailboats, fixing things, going with the flow, and most importantly being a kind and good human who is enjoyable to be around.
We had realized early on that though we may have been able to grow the business 100x faster by hiring a ton of Captains who have "instructor experience" or maybe even cruising experience, choosing someone whose personality and mindset fits the Cruisers Academy culture would always be a one-in-a-million find not just for us but for the students who join us.
Captain Noble is the fifth Captain who has fit that bill for us. Someone who we would love to cruise with and are constantly learning from. It turns out, more often than not, the students who join us become best friends or even business partners with the very Cruiser Captains we've grown to love. In Ryan's case, after our first summer working together in Tahoe, it was clear that his raw talent and love for teaching, and students' admiration of him, made it a no-brainer for us to have him join our Offshore Cruising team.
“Having fun. That’s the culture of Cruisers’ Academy,” Ryan says. “I took the US sailing [course and] it’s great. You learn a lot, and I do get that style but for what we are going for, with Cruisers Academy, you have to have fun and embrace the weather.” Like a true Cruiser Academy student himself, “Only after owning Blue Bird for 7 years, did I finally go to a sailing school. I would have loved it if there was a school like Cruisers Academy back then.”
Come see why Captain Noble and Cruisers Academy are the perfect fit.
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