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Offshore Sailing School launches new Web site

By Staff | Sep 28, 2009

Doris Colgate, CEO and President of Offshore Sailing School, announced on Monday the launch of a totally new Web site that brings together all the entities owned and managed by Steve and Doris Colgate.

“It has been over five years since we last did any radical changes to our Web sites,” stated Colgate. “With so many different products and locations, and ever changing ways search engines allow these products to be found by consumers, it was time to tackle the big task of totally revamping our Internet presence.”

The new site, according to Colgate, uses all the most current web best practices in a totally new format. Working with Bayshore Solutions in Tampa, Fla., the Offshore Sailing School, Colgate Schools, Colgate 26, Offshore Sailing Club and Power Cruise sites now all reside in one location, “with truly beautiful templates wrapping each one.”

Offshore Sailing School, founded in 1964 by Steve Colgate, started with one location and one boat in New York City “well before computers and the Internet,” said Colgate. When Doris married Steve “and the Company” in 1969 Steve was running Offshore by himself while keeping a very active racing schedule including the 1967 America’s Cup trials and 1968 Olympics.

“Everything we did was on paper,” Colgate added with a smile. “And response to our ad placements was so easy to track; all we did was ask when someone called.”

Over nearly 46 years of reaching out to consumers, Offshore Sailing School has seen many changes and adapted quickly.

“But if you don’t have your finger on the Internet pulse these days,” said Colgate, “you’re operating in the dark.”

With the help of Doug Sparks, Chief Operating Officer, the Colgates operate multiple locations with courses ranging from Learn to Sail to Offshore Passage Making. Both writers, their comprehensive books Fast Track to Sailing and Fast Track to Cruising, published by International Marine/McGraw-Hill, are standards for their most popular programs.

“One of the great things about this new Web site,” noted Doris (who wrote most of the Web copy), “is I can change anything in it on a moment’s notice.” Bayshore Solutions designed completely new templates, with a content management program that allows immediate response to changing conditions in the market place.

With seven locations (including Captiva) in Florida, the British Virgin Islands, Eastern Shore of Maryland, New York City and Jersey City, N.J., Offshore Sailing School has expanded its product line and is poised for growth as the economy comes back.

“Colgate 26 sales are starting to pick up again,” reported Steve Colgate, who is expecting to sell the 350th hull in the next few months. The school and boat will be exhibiting at the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis in October and Strictly Sail Chicago at the end of January.

For more information on the Colgate 26 and Offshore Sailing School, call 800-221-4326 or send an e-mail to Sail@OffshoreSailing.com.