Whether you are just starting out or are looking to advance your skills, our expert guidance will have you sailing with confidence. At Pensacola Sailing Academy you will enjoy the best sailing on the Emerald Coast! Our award-winning instructors have been teaching people to sail in Pensacola since 2001. We take your education seriously, but we understand it’s all about having fun!
Stop by our sailing school and see our fleet. Right away you’ll notice that our sailboats are kept in excellent condition. Our friendly staff is here to answer all your questions. Pensacola Sailing Academy is a sailing place you can call home.
Our school has been teaching people to sail for over 20 years
American Sailing Association certifications are recognized world-wide
Our Instructors have won the ASA’s “Outstanding Instructor of the Year” award NINE times.
We offer lessons for any schedule. You can sign up for our regularly scheduled classes or customize dates to fit your schedule for an additional fee.
We offer classes for a variety of skill levels. Our experienced instructors can take you from Basic Keelboat (ASA101), to Basic Coastal & Bareboat Cruising (ASA103 & 104), to Coastal Navigation (ASA 105) to Advanced Coastal Cruising (ASA 106).
Our classes give enough time to fully cover all the information and skills in each level. We want you to retain the information and have time to practice the skills. We have also developed our own handouts to give you a valuable reference after your class.
All of our ASA Instructors are U.S. Coast Guard certified captains.
We are conveniently located in downtown Pensacola with easy access to the Bay.
John and Kathy Struchen (ASA certified Sailing Instructors qualified to teach ASA 101 through 106) have been sailing for a combined total of over 50 years. Since 2001, they have spent a lot of their time sailing in the Florida Panhandle as owners and operators of Pensacola Sailing Academy (formerly Lanier Sailing Academy) on Pensacola Bay. As American Sailing Instructors they have won the Outstanding Instructor of the Year Award a total of seven times! Together they have sailed in Mexico, Belize, Turks & Caicos, Miami, the Florida Keys, Lake Michigan, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands. They have explored the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Fort Myers. They also lived aboard their Beneteau 393, “ Splendid Adventure” for several months, crossing the Gulf of Mexico and cruising up and down Florida’s west coast.
In addition to teaching, the Struchens have also done their share of interesting captained charters. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, John and Kathy were hired by National Public Radio to sail a reporter team from Pensacola to New Orleans. Each day, stories were recorded, edited and broadcast from the boat as NPR talked about the effect of Katrina on people living on the coast. The couple also got to sail with Adam Cort, the Senior Editor of Sail magazine. At the invitation of John and Kathy, Adam came to the Pensacola area and experienced first-hand the natural beauty and great sailing waters of the Gulf Coast (see the May 2011 Sail magazine article). They also had the pleasure of having the Cruising World Editor, John Burnham visit for a sail in March 2007 (see February 2008 article in Cruising World).
Not only do they love to sail. The couple also enjoys scuba diving, gourmet cooking, and eclectic music. Their idea of a "perfect day" ends anchored along an unspoiled beach... tunes playing on the stereo... a glass of wine in the cockpit... and a content sigh as the sun sets on another beautiful day.