whistling Man Schooner Company

Lake Champlain Sailing Cruises Aboard the Classic Sloop "Friend Ship"
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Captains and Crew of the Whistling Man Schooner Company
Captain Glen Findholt

 Captain Glen Findholt has sailed Lake Champlain for over 30 years and holds a USCG 100 Ton Master License.   He has delivered power and sailing vessels along the US East Coast and between the US Coast and islands of the Caribbean.  In addition, he has explored the Richelieu, St. Lawrence, Saguenay Rivers in Quebec as well as the Champlain, Mohawk, Chambly, Oswego and Rideau Canals.  He has always enjoyed "messing about in boats" and introducing people to sailing and to Lake Champlain.

In the winter he  can be found on the slopes of Smugglers' Notch Resort teaching alpine and telemark skiing and gazing out on the Lake in anticipation of sailing season.

First Mate Marie Findholt

  Marie is Capt. Glen's First Mate in life as well as aboard the Friend Ship.  Together they've sailed the crystal waters of the Caribbean as well as here in Lake Champlain.  She brings a "woman's touch" to the Friend Ship, having operated her own interior design business "Country Home Interiors" for over 20 years.                                                 

 
 Mate Steve Norris

 Steve returns to the Friend Ship crew as principal mate for a second year.

Steve brings a wealth of sailing and lake knowledge to the Friend Ship.  He and his wife, Susan Keefer lived aboard their sailboat for several summers while she was the resident naturalist at Burton Island State Park and he ran the island's marina.  Prior to that the couple spent 20+ years operating children's' summer camps here in Vermont and elsewhere in the Northeast.  Steve and Susan have two grown daughters and live in a motor home currently moored in Shelburne, Vermont.  During the winter, the motor home takes them to Mexico where the couple explore, and enjoy the natural surroundings and make fun of the rest of us, stuck in frozen Vermont.

 

 
 Mate Sherm White

  Sherm has spent much of his life around boats and also crews with  Glen on a racing sloop here on Lake Champlain.  In the winter he is a ski school manager at Smugglers' Notch Resort and serves on the Educational Staff of the Eastern Division of the Professional Ski Instructors of America.  Sherm's been part time mate on the Friend Ship for 7 seasons. He lives in Jeffersonville, Vermont with his wife Pat and when not working on the Friend Ship, they cruise the Lake in their own powerboat, Caritas.

 

 

Mate Dick Smyth

 

Having been a naturalist for many years, Dick Smyth is an asset to the crew for being able to point out all of the different types of wildlife viewed on the scenic sails aboard the Friend Ship; and Dick's experience as a glider pilot has given him cloud reading skills no ordinary sailor could possess. Dick has sailed with the Whistling Man Schooner Company since the early days aboard the Northern Spy.  He resides high on a hill in Wolcott, Vermont.
 
   
Ships Mate: Pixel

Pixel is our 14 year old Maltese "boat dog" who enjoys a good day on the water as much as any human we've ever met.  She's logged literally thousands of boat miles including a trip from Vermont to Florida along the Intracoastal Waterway and a whale watching trip to the Saguenay region of Quebec.

  

The Whistling Man

The original Whistling Man is a wind-up toy that actually whistles a tune.   Superstitious sailors of old used to say that whistling brought up the wind. The Whistling Man resides with WMSC founder Mike LaVecchia and his been in his family for many years.

 

 

 

 

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