May 15, 2017

Meet Marc Knittle of SailonPatriot.com in North Shore

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Knittle.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I learned to sail in Pennsylvania at the age of twelve. My best friend’s family had a lake house and we spent hours on the water on their fourteen foot Sunfish. We actually had more fun tipping it over to cool off on a hot summer day than we did sailing.

College brought me to Boston where I took advantage of easy access to the water by sailing in a Mercury fleet on the Charles River. My girlfriend (now my first mate) had a friend with a thirty two foot sailboat in Salem Harbor. My love of ocean sailing had begun!

Eventually, my first mate became my wife, we moved to Marblehead and purchased our first boat, a Rhodes 19. We spent several years racing the Rhodes out of the Corinthian Yacht Club. We grew from couple to a family of five and decided that we needed a boat that would allow us to get to a beach for the day and home by evening. We traded the Rhodes 19 for a 26 foot cabin cruiser and spent a number of years zipping up and down the Boston coastline.

When the kids reached high school age they were off on their own social agenda and we were excited to get back to sailing. We purchased Patriot, a classic, navy hull 1977 Gulfstar Custom 40 foot sailboat. We sail almost every weekend and were asked if we would be interested in donating a Sail on Patriot for a charity event. We have done a number of day-on-the-water donations and discovered how much we enjoyed meeting new people and introducing them to big boat ocean sailing. This concept developed into our idea for a seasonal charter business. I researched the requirements needed to take paying passengers for a sail. I wrote a business plan outlining all of the legal requirements and the costs, along with an approximate timeframe to achieve each step in the outline.

Since we already had most of the gear onboard, provisioning Patriot with all of the required safety gear was the easiest task on the list. Over the next year, I took classes to become certified in CPR and First Aid and ultimately, passed the Master’s Captain’s Exam to be eligible to become a fully licensed Captain by the United States Coast Guard.

With a Captains License in hand, I secured a domain name and immediately began designing a website for SailonPatriot.com. My wife, and first mate Mimi, is a graphic designer. She designed a beautiful and informative flyer that we distributed to several area hotels, B & B’s and the Chamber of Commerce. It didn’t take long before the first requests for a paid charter came in by phone and email.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The actual sailing part has always been the easiest part of the business. My background is in architecture and real estate development and learning how to program my website with the proper Meta tags and SEO’s so that search engines would find and prioritize SailonPatriot.com was a challenge. I could have paid a consultant or spent money on any variety of third parties to promote my website, but I really wanted to save the money and learn this important part of promoting my business on my own.

The next biggest challenge is to find a few local qualified Captains so that I can increase charter availability. It’s a seasonal business and the time and effort associated with becoming a licensed captain are considerable. There are very few qualified candidates available with the necessary sailing experience.

SailonPatriot.com – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
“Your Sailing Adventure Begins Here.” Our goal is to provide a fun, memorable and safe day on the water aboard our classic 40 foot yacht along Boston’s North Shore. We specialize in providing a first class sailing experience and welcoming service to all of our customers. We offer discounts to couples who charter and discounts for active military and veterans.

SailonPatriot.com offers a variety of options for your adventure from a spectacular Three Hour Sunset Sail to Half Day or Full Day Charters. We can provide suggestions for destinations or just go where the wind will take us. One of our favorite destinations has been Whale Watching at Stellwagen Bank, a protected marine sanctuary located just two hours east of Marblehead Harbor.

At SailonPatriot.com, we pride ourselves on being creative and flexible when it comes to your planning your sailing adventure. If you are getting married at an ocean front location, we can deliver the bride and/or groom by sailboat. We can take up to six bridesmaids and groomsmen for an afternoon sail. Wedding anniversaries and birthdays are a favorite.

Many customers want to get out on the water and watch the sailboat races off Marblehead and Gloucester. They can enjoy the view of the stunning coastline dotted with spectacular oceanfront homes while they are steering a 40 foot yacht. Others prefer to sail to the Boston Harbor Islands and/or stop for lunch at a harbor front restaurant.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I would have to say the proudest moment of my career was passing the rigorous nautical exam and ultimately receiving my merchant mariner credential issued by the United States Coast Guard, otherwise known as a Master’s Captain’s License.

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