260 NE Tomahawk Island Drive
Portland Oregon, 97217
Info@Passion-Yachts.com
503.289.6306 office
Mon-Sat 11am-5pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
Welcome to the Passion Yachts Sailing School!
Passion Yachts, formerly known as The Sailing Life, has provided ASA sailing classes on the Columbia River since 2006. Our location has been know as the “The sailors destination for over 24 years”.
For the second year in a row, the American Sailing Association (ASA) has recognized the ASA sailing school at Passion Yachts on Hayden Island (Portland, OR) “ASA School of the Year for 2009.” Also for the second year in a row, Captain Brigg Franklin, lead instructor, was awarded “ASA Instructor of the Year 2009.”
Passion Yachts offers five levels of progressive sailing classes: Introduction to Sailing, Basic Keel Boat, Basic Coastal Cruising, Coastal Navigation, and Bare Boat Charter. This last class, unique in the Northwest, offers students the choice of crossing the Columbia River Bar or traversing the Bonneville Dam locks during a three-day cruise/class. As of 2010 we added a Spinnaker Handling Course.
Contact Us: lessons@passion-yachts.com or phone: 503-289-6306, School Calendar
Our Team of Instructors
Captain Brigg Franklin
I began sailing at age five with my father on Storm Lake, Iowa in a Gull class dingy. Since then I have owned several racing and cruising class sailboats. I have sailed and chartered in the San Juan Islands, Canada’s Gulf Islands, the Gulf of Mexico, The Virgin Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. I deliver sail and power boats up and down the Canada, U.S. and Mexico Pacific Coast and have a Coast Guard 50 ton Master’s License. For thirty years I worked for the US Government as an Employee Development Specialist training managers and supervisors in leadership skills. After being transferred to the Pacific NW in 1984, I qualified as an ASA certified Instructor and started teaching ASA classes. I began teaching at The Sailing Life/Passion Yachts in 2005 and volunteer as an instructor for the US Power Squadron.
Dee Turner 
I’ve been sailing since the early 1980’s when I started sailing on the Willamette River!! I purchased my first boat, a Hobbie16, sailed her for a year and then went onto the first of my love’s for Hunter sailboats a Hunter 23, then a Hunter 28! Since I started sailing later as an adult I decided to learn to race and to charter and sail in the sunny waters of the Caribbean and Windward Islands. Yes, sailing became a love affair for me and shortly before my retirement in 2000 I became a certified US Sailing basic keelboat and basic cruising instructor.
My husband Walt and I left to cruise in 2000 on our Hunter 37.5 Essence! We participated in the 2 week annual “Baja Ha Ha” in 1997, 1999 and again in 2000. With our sea legs under us we took off for cruising ! We sailed from Oregon and along the Pacific coast of Mexico until 2004. With more than 8000 nautical miles under our belt, We decided it was time to come home for a summer. I then started working for “The Sailing Life” in sales, warranty and sailing instruction.
I teach on a seasonal basis since I live in Mexico six months a year returning to Passion Yachts in the summer months. If you are out on the docks, please take a moment to look me up, stop in and say hello! I look forward to meeting you and helping you find the life you only dream about!
Captain Bob Baldwin
A classmate of mine at the university suggested that I crew with him on something he called a "THISTLE". Not having any idea what a thistle was and being game for almost any adventure, I accepted. That was in 1950. I have been hooked on sailing ever since. I have sailed in many bodies of water all over the world and have never been bored. I have sailed the Atlantic from the Canaries to Martinique, the South China Sea, the Mediterranean, and have delivered boats up and down the Atlantic coast. I've sailed in boats as small as eight feet and as large as 200 feet, both as crew and captain. I've been teaching sailing since around 1988. When I had a real career, I taught every off moment. Most of the students I have taught are still sailing. Many own their own boats and some have even moved aboard and are sailing worldwide as a lifestyle. I am proud of my students and often hear from them wherever they are in the world. I am ASA Rated to teach through Bare Boat Charter and hold a USCG Sailing Masters License. My fellow instructors and I here at Passion Yachts look forward to showing all of you the magic of sailing just as I was shown, on a Thistle, racing on a river in Ohio many years ago.
Captain John Holden
My first experience with the sea was when I was three years old. My father took me to sea on a Norwegian freighter. By four I was a shell back and knew all the verses to “What shall we do with the drunken sailor” but it was a Norwegian ship after all. Later, my family settled down in San Francisco. There I frequently accompanied my father in pilot boats, meeting ships at sea and scampering up Jacob’s ladders (without life jackets) while the ships continued their journey into San Francisco. During the summers I would beg, borrow or rent power boats for use in the surrounding bay or on lakes in an around California. At the same time I built an 8’ dinghy and sold it for a profit.
My sailing experience includes the Pacific Ocean, South China Sea, the West Coast of the United States, Australia and the waters of the San Juan Islands.
I hold a Coast Guard Master License, am a Certified ASA Sailing Instructor. I have a 100 ton master certificate from the Clatsop Maritime Science Dept. I am a certified scuba diver, and have various other certificates from the USCGA and the US Power Squadron.