I recently completed the ASA 103/104 class with Octavio Frisoli and I wanted to take a moment to thank both of you for the exceptional professionalism he displayed as an instructor for South Coast Sailing.

Mr. Frisoli's knowledge and skills as a sailor were obvious and extensive, but his calm demeanor, patient instruction, positive encouragement, and persistent enthusiasm made him one of the most effective teachers of any kind I've seen in my 29 years in public schools.  I was very impressed by his ability to foresee potentially overwhelming situations and defuse our frustrations before they occurred.  His ability to instantly command the respect of his students, especially considering we were all more than twice his age, is uncommon.  I have never seen such natural leadership and people skills from someone so young.

It was a pleasure to be a part of his class and have the opportunity to get to know this fine young man.  As an employee, he is truly an asset to your business and I look forward to having the opportunity to work with him again.

Dear Captain Lucy Newman,

Now that I've caught up on sleep, I wanted to reach out and thank you again for the instruction over this past weekend on ASA Course 106.  I was reflecting back on the weekend to review what had made it so enjoyable.  It had been a bit of a beat the last several weeks, spending the evenings after work completing the required bookwork for courses 105 and 106.  I wanted to list some of the things I enjoyed over the 4 day weekend:

*It was nice to put the books down and spend some actual time offshore

*New ideas found when provisioning with new crew

*Stepping on an unfamiliar boat discovering the things that are new as well as recognizing the systems that are the same

*Problem solving as a team

*Fried fish and free rum!

*Crossing the Start line first

*Strong steady winds

*The sound of the air horn at the finish line

*Dingy rides

But what I think I've enjoyed the most was the time spent with the sailing/cruising community.  As a new club member I hope there are more opportunities for these types of weekends.  What's next!!

Cheers and fair winds.