About Stowaway Sailing Adventures

Stowaway Adventures is a sailing school on Vancouver Island that offers the full range of ISPA and CRYA sailing instruction and certification. Whether you are intending to set out on a world voyage or charter a bareboat – our goal is to get you sailing with skill and confidence. Explore Desolation Sound, Gulf Islands, Sunshine Coast or the West Coast during week-long courses while we teach you how to sail the tidal waters around Vancouver Island, BC. and beyond.

Graham’s Sailing Logbook

Sailing and Marine Certification

• ISPA and CRYA Certified Sailing School
• ISPA and CRYA Certified Sail and Power Instructor up to Yachtmaster Offshore level
• ISPA Sailing Instructor Evaluator
• Marine Advanced First Aid
• CYA-ISAF Approved Offshore Personal Sea Survival Course
• Marine Emergency Duties (MED)
• Small Vessel Operation (SVOP)
• PADI diving Certification

Sailing and Outdoor Experience

• Certified Sailing School and Instructor:

  • ISPA – CRYA Certified Sailing and Power Instructor – owner of Stowaway Adventures Sailing School since 2000
  • ISPA Instructor Evaluator since 2017
  • Sailing Instructor – skipper of 43 ft. SV Moku Lana – log over 1000 nautical miles annually in Desolation Sound, Johnstone Straits, the Broughton’s, Georgia Strait, the Gulf Islands, circumnavigating Vancouver Island or trips to the Great Bear Rainforest, Central Coast
  • Sailing – power instructor for other sailing schools, charter companies or individualized sailing instruction and/or boat deliveries
• Offshore and International Sailing Trips

  • 2005 – Offshore crossing Hawaii to Comox BC to sail SV Moku Lana to home berth
  • 2004 – ISPA sailing course with private instruction and charter in the Grenadines, Caribbean
  • 2000 – ISPA Yachtmaster Offshore Instructor’s course sailing 42’ sailboat from Hawaii to Victoria
• Marine Mechanical Skills

  • Mechanical, fiber glassing and boat building skills to make major improvements to 43 ft. SV Moku Lana over the years, including:
    • Custom design and manufacturing arch and hard dodger for sailing in any weather
    • Custom design, fiber glassing and installation of fridge/freezer and holding tank
  • Perform all major and minor maintenance and mechanical repairs including re-building the engine, changing lighting for LEDs, scraping and re-painting hull during haul-outs
  • Woodworking skills to design a twin berth that can be expanded to a queen berth
  • Sail and canvas repairs and re-upholstered interior berths and cockpit cushions
  • Mechanic for auto dealerships plus self-employed including marine repairs
  • Assisted with the design and manufacturing of ocean kayaks in the 1980s for Ocean River Sports
• Other Sailing, Instructing, Guiding and Racing Experience

  • Ocean kayak guide on the east & west coast of Vancouver Island, BC
  • Sailing, kayaking and windsurfing instructor at Strathcona Park Lodge, Vancouver Island, BC
  • Whitewater raft & kayak guide on Ottawa River
  • Trained with members of national Olympic whitewater kayak team for 4 years in the early 80s
  • Outward Bound guide – taught youth how to sail Montague Whalers while living aboard 36 ft.  forestry vessel in northern Vancouver Island waters
  • Raced on J34, “Let Them Eat Wake”, in Comox, BC and a Viking 33 “SV Madeline” out of Sidney, BC
• Growing up on a Sailboat in the Caribbean

  • Left England age 5 to live on a 32 ft. sail boat in the Mediterranean until crossing the Atlantic
  • Lived with family on 52 ft. sail boat in the Caribbean, based out of Grenada & St. Lucia in the 70s
  • Assisted parents with sailing charter business
  • Worked on large, well-known Caribbean charter boat, “Ring Anderson”
  • Raced Lazers and Mirror dinghies and represented Grenada in the Mirror Caribbean Championships in Trinidad
  • Helped build a 30 ft. Trimaran and then raced aboard her

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