April 17, 2017

Meet Capt. Mike Rutstein of Schooner Fame of Salem

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Capt. Mike Rutstein.

After a decade as the editor and publisher of Boston Baseball — the underground program sold outside Fenway Park beginning back in 1990 — serial entrepreneur Mike Rutstein was looking for new challenges. He had moved from Brookline to Essex, and he and his wife Melissa hit on a way to translate their love of sailing and the outdoors into a new historic and cultural attraction for the North Shore. They decided to build a traditional wooden schooner — a replica of a Salem privateer from the War of 1812 — and take the public sailing on the historic waters of Salem Sound.

National Heritage Fellow Harold Burnham, whose family has been building boats in Essex since the 1640s, constructed the 70-foot schooner over the winter of 2002-2003 with help from Capt. Mike and friends.

Launched in June, 2003, FAME takes the paying public for cruises on Salem Sound, where pirates, privateers, East Indiamen and men of war have been making history for 400 years. FAME also hosts the popular Schooner Camp program and takes all the Salem fifth-graders sailing each spring!

FAME sails up to three times daily from Memorial Day through September, and then weekends only through Halloween from Pickering Wharf Marina in downtown Salem.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The recession came at a terrible time for us — and everyone else, I suppose. The business was just taking off, but since sailing tends to fall into the “disposable income” category, we had a couple of rough years. Corporate charters, which are a big part our revenue stream, really fell off for a few years. We went from four Schooner Camp programs a summer to three, and then two. It was discouraging, but we were able to keep it together, and the business has come back strongly the last several years.

Schooner Fame of Salem – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We have an excellent boat, an excellent program, and an excellent crew. We are at the top of our profession. Yankee Magazine named us the Best Day Sail in the region, and there are a lot of boats out there, from the Cape right up into Maine, so that was a huge honor.

We don’t half-ass anything. FAME and everything related to her is top-notch. We take sailing seriously, and we take history seriously, but we have fun, too!

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
The boat needs to be beautiful and safe, and the cruises need to be informative and fun. We need to maintain the boat at the highest level. If we can accomplish all that and still turn a profit, then that is success.

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