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Barefoot Offshore Sailing School

Cruising Instructor Team

Longest-established (more than 20 years) and most active American Sailing Association (ASA) and Sail Canada sailing school in the south-eastern Caribbean.

Barefoot Yacht Charters and BOSS are owned and run by sailors, one of whom is a former America’s Cup yachtsman whose family has lived here in St Vincent and the Grenadines for many generations.

Our team, some of whom have been with us for many years, are not only certified American Sailing Association and/or Sail Canada Instructors and Instructor Evaluators, but also people who know the islands intimately and are able to get along with folks of all ages and from all walks of life. Several of our instructors have been recognized multiple times as ASA top 32 “outstanding instructors”. Others are innovators and leaders in nautical education.

Meet the BOSS Cruising Instructor Team

Rob McLean

Lead Instructor

Rob McLean leads BOSS's offshore adventures. He is the only person certified as an Offshore Instructor by both ASA and Sail Canada.

Since the early 1980s Rob has logged more than 50,000 cruising miles, including more than 25,000 offshore. He has sailed on the Great Lakes, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, and made Atlantic crossings in 2022, 2023 and 2025.

As a Sail Canada Senior Instructor Evaluator and ASA Senior Master Instructor, Rob leads instructor development clinics for both organizations.

Sailing resume · Professional background

Guillaume Girouard

Sail Canada and ASA Instructor

My love of sailing started in 1997 when I took dinghy sailing lessons and crewed on sailboats in club races. Over the years, summer sailing trips around Lake Ontario on my own boat would lead to chartering monohulls and catamarans in Georgian Bay, the BVI’s and the Grenadines. In 2013, I left a corporate finance career and sailed away on a three-year sabbatical to cruise our sailboat from Lake Ontario to the Eastern Caribbean and back. We spent hurricane seasons in Grenada and sailed the windward and leeward islands each year. I returned to the corporate world for a few years before deciding that I wanted to make a career sharing my skills, knowledge and passion for sailing and cruising.

I’m a certified Sail Canada instructor on monohulls and catamarans including Basic Cruising, Intermediate Cruising, Advanced Cruising, and Catamaran endorsement and certified American Sailing Association instructor for 101, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 114.

The Grenadines are one of my favorite cruising grounds. I’ve sailed them many times as a charterer, a fulltime cruiser and now as a sailing instructor. I enjoy sharing the experience of discovering these wonderful islands. It is truly satisfying and a joy to teach someone to sail. My students will tell you that I am a calm and patient instructor.

Donna Acquaro

ASA Instructor

I bought my first boat, a 19‘ O’Day, as a very young and naive teenager. I tried to teach myself to sail on Fisher Island Sound off Connecticut and quickly realized that I needed help. Luckily, New England is filled with excellent sailors willing to share their knowledge. I received my official ASA Certification in 1998 in the BVI where I fell in love with sailing in the Caribbean.

I enjoyed summer sailing trips around Long Island Sound, Block Island Sound and Narragansett Bay on my own cruising boat. I survived the long cold winters of New England by periodically chartering monohulls and catamarans in the BVI as well as St Vincent and the Grenadines. I developed a long term plan to leave my job working behind thick concrete walls with no windows at a commercial nuclear power plant. During this period, I qualified as a USCG Master Mariner and an American Sailing Association instructor. Once my daughter left for college I began working full time as a sailing instructor. I have greatly improved my office view by working in New England, Florida, the BVI, Greece and Mexico prior to arriving in the gorgeous St Vincent and the Grenadines.

I am currently qualified as a USCG Master Mariner (100 Ton) and an American Sailing Association instructor (101, 103, 104, 105, 114 and 116.) I do my best to ensure that every student gets the most out of their time at BOSS. I adapt my teaching methods in order to optimize the learning experience of my students. I also balance school with humor and play because, after all, we all need a recess!

Fintan Hartnett

ASA / Sail Canada Instructor

Fintan ‘Fin’ Hartnett has been a professional sailor and sailing instructor for almost 20 years. He is qualified as an ASA Instructor (BBCI & CCMI), Sail Canada Intermediate Instructor and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Yachtmaster Instructor. He also has qualifications to teach VHF, Radar and powerboat training. Fin has taught in South Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, the USA, the UK and Europe. Fin lives in Kingston, Ontario with his wife and 3 boys and does woodwork in his spare time.

Dave Hill

Sail Canada and ASA Instructor

My ultimate passion is sailing and has been for over 40 years, 15 of which I have been teaching. I enjoy the various aspects of the sport including racing, cruising, chartering in foreign countries and completing long distance yacht deliveries. Teaching allows me to share my knowledge and experience while watching students develop the abilities to sail the world. I do my best to ensure that each student learns in a stress-free and fun environment. In addition to teaching sailing, I am a Yacht Broker and a snowboarding instructor.

Tex Mitchell

ASA Instructor

Tex Mitchell is a US Coast Guard licensed captain, sailing instructor, delivery/charter captain, and an experienced racing crewman, both inland and offshore. Tex holds a USCG Master deck officer license with Sailing endorsement, is an American Sailing Association certified instructor, and is a NauticEd Captain level V qualified instructor.

A volunteer with the Sea Scouts, Scouts BSA, and the Girl Scout Mariners for over a decade, Tex Mitchell has volunteered at the unit, district and council levels while serving in positions including Unit Leader, Unit Commissioner, and Camp Director for the Capitol Area Council. Tex has accrued significant training and experience in directing outdoor programs. Tex is also a founding board member and lead sailing instructor at Enable Adventure, a 501c3 NPO formed to teach sailing to youth in the foster care system and other at-risk youth. Tex is a 2020 recipient of the Whitney M. Young, Jr Award, recognizing outstanding service developing and implementing opportunities for youth. He is a US military veteran and proud father.

Mark Girard

Sail Canada Instructor / IE and ASA Instructor

Years ago after attempting to teach myself to sail (painfully) I eventually learned that Sail Canada already had this figured out…and from that moment on I have been a believer and supporter of the organization! The Sail Canada and ASA programs for adults is by far the best route to learn how to sail or improve your sailing skills. My personal goal as an instructor is to contribute to the sport by helping aspiring sailors get involved or improve their sailing (racing or cruising) skills and pursue their life goals in many cases!

Over the past 15+ years of sailing with my wife Lisa by my side, we have experienced the most amazing adventures both racing the cruising back home in Ontario as well as in the Caribbean. Our home club is the Barrie Yacht Club where we race our Olson25 amongst a competitive one design fleet and similar yachts. Our favourite cruising destination is both the Leeward and Windward Caribbean Islands. For the past 10 years we have been using our vacation time to charter Cats and Monohulls with our sailing friends and explore every passage and anchorage we can while also entering a few regatta’s along the way such as the Heineken in St Marten!

I have a real job back home for a Engineering firm but when I can get time off, I love to continue to teach sailing. I’m pleased to be able to work with Rob and team at BOSS and teach both aspiring new and experienced sailors in the Basic and Intermediate cruising program. I also teach new instructors as an Instructor Evaluator. I’m happy to chat and answer questions anytime and hope to see you on the water!

Gord Ewen

Sail Canada and ASA Instructor

Gordon has a love of sailing that stems from summers spent cottaging in his youth, in the Kawartha Lakes of Ontario Canada. He first went sailing at the age of 4 on a Sunfish, started taking lessons at 6, and his first job was teaching sailing on dinghies at 15. Gordon has held numerous sailing instructor positions including Head Instructor, Exchange Instructor in Majorca Spain and Instructor Evaluator, where he coached new dinghy instructors. He has enjoyed sailing, racing, cruising and teaching sailing in many Ontario lakes, the Pacific Northwest, California, Australia, New Zealand, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Caribbean Sea.

Gordon left his youth employment in sailing, after completing an Economics degree, for a 33 year career in Commercial Banking, during which he maintained active recreational sailing involvement through cottaging, racing and chartering with friends and family. He gained keel boat sailing and instructor certifications. He retired from Commercial Banking to pursue his love of the water and to share the joys it brings with others. He then spent two years as the General Manager of a sailing club in Toronto Ontario and since left that to allow for more time on the water teaching.

Gordon is certified to teach both ASA and Sail Canada standards on monohulls and catamarans up to ASA 106 / Sail Canada Advanced Cruising including the Catamaran Endorsements. He has taught many Basic, Intermediate and Mileage Builders. He also teaches the Canadian Pleasure Craft Operator Card and Maritime Radio Certification. He has spent time volunteering as an Assistant Race Officer at club events and sailing regattas. He is proud to be a member of the BOSS team and to share the joy of the wind in your sails.

Ken Bourne

Sail Canada and ASA instructor

Ken grew up in Atlantic Canada where he developed his passion for the ocean. His first sailing experience was wind surfing about 35 years ago. Having moved to Ottawa he sailed Albacores, Lasers, Sharks and Hobie cats on the Ottawa river. He skippered his first charter in the BVI and fell in love with larger cruising sailboats, and spent many winter vacations chartering and joining flotillas in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

Ken bought a cruising sailboat in 2019 and sailed from Lake Ontario, down the East coast of Canada and the US to the Bahamas, and currently spends winters sailing in the south. He has accumulated thousands of hours sailing in the Great lakes and over 4000 nautical miles coastal cruising. Looking for ways to share my passion for sailing, he became an instructor upon retirement, teaching in Ottawa, Lake Ontario and the Caribbean.

Ken’s certifications include:

Sail Canada Basic Cruising, Intermediate Cruising and Catamaran endorsement.
ASA 101 - Basic Keelboat, 103 – Basic Coastal Cruising, 104 Bareboat Cruising and 114 Cruising Catamaran.

Student reviews

What our clients say about us:

“Vincent was an amazing instructor. Very well prepared, mixed teaching methods, professional, extremely knowledgeable, great personality and very passionate about sailing and teaching”

Todd Rutland · “ON HOLIDAY AGAIN”

“Chris was very knowledgeable, but also able to convey that knowledge to the students. He was also patient, Thanks so much!”

James Garton · “MANGO 2”

“Extremely pleased with the entire experience, we learned a great deal and had a terrific time in the process”

Louis Jensen · “TARSHA”

“Alessandro was awesome. The cruise track was great, the lessons were very useful and the fellow crew/students will be good friends going forward. The layout of the course was perfect – we learned all the skills necessary for our certification with the ever helpful Alessandro and there was enough downtime for us to see the beautiful Grenadine Islands. Cheers!”

Scott Allen · “ANDATO”

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