How about a morning with one of sailing in BC's most influential characters?  



Our JIB SET club is hosting an open to all event from 9am to 12noon on February 11 at Granville Island.  

Check it out and rsvp HERE

There's definitely a racing flavour to this session, but lots of people (including you we hope) this summer will blow off the work week with Friday Night Fun Racing, so why not attend a session that prepares for that?  Don is sure to entertain - his quirky approach blends silly with simple straight forward talk.  

Join us!

Delivered this morning -- wrapped and ready to go under the tree... a Beneteau 343 for our Powell River base. 

The dinghy on davits will be a big hit up north! 

This boat includes a brand new dodger and bimini -- carefully wrapped in snow this morning.

Giving the gift of boating is so much better than socks.  Socks, however, are great if you are going to be boating in the very near future - it is a little cold these days! 


We've got some great ideas for gifts ranging from the introductory level one courses starting at $399 up to a full selection of live aboard adventure programs.    
Our modular format CREW program is a great option for those wanting to start sailing here in English Bay  - $399 provides two evening sessions followed by a weekend of fun on the water and includes the Please Craft Operators Card 

For folks already well underway on their courses, clinics like DOCKING, ANCHORING and SPINNAKER SAILING are only $199 each.   

We offer gift certificates in the form of any dollar amount or a specific product we offer (courses/charters).

Gift Certificates can be applied to any of our courses or charters. Give us a call at 604.687.4110 and let us help you find the perfect option for your current or future boater!

This is the BEST PART - you don't need to leave the comfort of your home, office or car (well for safety purposes, at least pull over).  Our gift certificates have serial numbers and can be E-MAILED right to you -- and forwarded on to the recipient.  . It's the green gift alternative.  Wrapping is so much easier this way! 

Do you know which of our three bases is in a place labelled the "Least Polluted City" as confirmed by the Guinness World Record folk?  Well, you might be surprised it's that mill town we love as Powell River.  Check out all the scientific data that backs up this lofty claim.   Don't fortget to breathe easy next time you visit!



ps... we've suspected the air was clean for a while now... our boat ownership briefing explains how we can clean boats in all three locations and the boats in Powell River stay clean the longest after a bath!

.

The whole story is fascinating and takes a little while, but let's let the pictures and results speak for themselves.  Our JIB SET sailing club rescued the legendary local race boat HARWAR on JULY 2 and in not long over a single month, transformed her back to her winning ways. 

Thanks to all the community members who have been part of this adventure so far.  We're excited to report that on her second race with the JIB SET crew, HARWAR was back with both line honours a first place finish on corrected time again.

 
before pickup


beautiful flowers growing from cockpit drains


a deck only a mother could love


after our community rescue efforts - & many pounds of sealife removed!


back sailing - 5 weeks afer project began


back winning - in only her second race in 8 years!


Come to Granville Island and join the fun rolling unfolding with this great boat.  Remember our core philosophy: BOATS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

.

Ask anyone who's done a big adventure and they will always credit the people who helped get them there. We've been uniquely positioned with a collection of boats, instructors and a compulsively helpful shore and dock crew.

 

It all comes together to become great experiences mostly because of the people who plug in to this community.

 

Recently, we had one of our fleet owners, Allen,  go around Vancouver Island offering a jump on / jump off experience for members to plug in and experience the beauty of that region.  His role aboard is as a mentor, helping others move forward and become more comfortable with a modern boat in a more remote region. 

Another member, Ryan, who intends to become an instructor, took it upon himself to spend many Thursday afternoons mentoring new people.  Watching what they are doing and getting them feedback and a path to future success… the mentoring sails have been delightful for all. 

 

At the heart of these new opportunities are our clubs - the JIB SET for affordable day sailing and the CREW CLUB for cruising adventures together. 

 

Talking with participants, the club happens to solve three common problems:

 

1) NEED MORE BOATING FRIENDS ~ You may simply not have people to get on the water with.  Your current group of friends and family may not be boating enthusiasts (they may simply be "boating polite".  That's okay, they are probably still nice people.  We happen to collect nice people who ARE PASSIONATE about exploring by boat. 

 

2) A NURTURING ENVIRONMENT ~ We have a paradox whereby the boats are becoming more complex and require more training to gain comfort with, but people have less time to devote to training.  If you can't drop the rest of your life to immerse yourself in the marine environment, why not join someone saltier than you in an environment where you don't initially need to take charge of the boat?   NEW PLAN: become a part time "old salt"

 

3) CHARTER RISK ~ We've watched it over and over - you book a boat, your friends jam out and then you have a really expensive vacation taking on the cost without them.   Our program has less jam outs (we start with PASSIONATE boating fanatics) and we pick the boats after we know how many people we have? 

 

HOW CAN YOU PLUG IN TO ALL THIS MAGIC?

EVENTS

CREW CLUB

JIB SET including JIB SET EVENTS

FLOTILLAS 

(EASTER IS OUR FAVOURITE - kids of all ages!!)



MILLIONS OF EXPERIENCES ~ ONE COMMUNITY


 

Our very own Alegria is off on her way to Maui in the 50th year of the VIC MAUI race.  Owner Eberhard Heinzemann and Navigator Tom Wahl are both Cooper instructors who sailed the race in 2014.  The rest of the crew comes from our community here at Cooper and a collection of first time participants. 

After a tricky start in light winds, she's fighting her way back up in the fleet.   Early reports are a couple crew members suffering with some sea sickness... but we're hoping their bodies adjust quickly to life offshore.

Cooper Boating has helped prepare people for offshore experiences for the last 33 years.   We also help people learn to cope with the bucket issue the crew has been dealing with so far!  

Follow her here with hourly updates on position, speed and distance sailed and distance to go. 

The crew is posting to the TEAM ALEGRIA facebook page. 

Coming soon to a harbour near you: a really great cruising kitty and one absolute lion!

Our F45 is well underway with the interior fully formed.  These are lightweight machines from the mind of legendary designer Ian Farrier.

Latest factory update.



But, check her out with her cousin "Cheekee Monkee" - Kim Alfreds' carbon fibre machine.   It could be appropriate that ours is facing Cheekee's stern - will be hard to stay in front of this magnificent creation.

For interest sake, Kim Alfreds was a big part of the original JIB SET, his father Les having founded the great organization that set so much of our North American training systems in motion.  

There is a certain irony meeting Kim for the first time in the Philippines last year - both boats are destined for Vancouver!

.

It all starts today - the VICTORIA FLOATING BOAT SHOW in the inner harbour (which certainly beats the other, non-floating... aka sinking... boat show!)

We're down on the Aquila 44 and the Hanse 47 - so we've got monohulls, multihulls and power and sail.  All the bases covered - so come talk about boating courses, charters and club events for this great season ahead!

More than we asked for!  A band of merry mentorors and mentorees set off yesterday afternoon for a sail to polish those skills and blow off a few cobwebs. 



Conditions were near perfect... starting off in windier conditions that moderated, there were opportunities to sail the boat and get the most out of it.  Then it got better - while coming in, a humpback whale was spotted off the bow.   Using newly freshened skills, the crew worked to sail closer to their great whale - which moved strategically upwind!



So, we've all heard about humpday -- but with us you can experience humpback day!  Want to be part of the fun... our community connects via Meetup site.