About Your Instructor
Capt. Gary Herald

A three year apprenticeship was served aboard commercial passenger tour boats while in the employ of Seattle Harbor Tours and Grayline Tours. I attended the Kildahl Nautical School prior to obtaining my USCG license in 1970. Subsequently holding the position of tour boat captain for Seattle Harbor Tours for the next 7 years. During this period I personally carried over 3/4 of a million passengers throughout the Pacific Northwest. The tour boats ranged in size from 65' to 85' with a capacity between 150 and 500 passengers.

A couple of years were spent as the skipper of a private 65' yacht cruising between Seattle and the Canadian inside passage. For the adventure I spent one summer as the second mate aboard a 125' tugboat that traveled 1000 miles down the remote Yukon River to the mouth supplying the isolated villages as we went. My duties includes supervising a 12 man crew as well as piloting the pusher tugboat.

Delivering yachts both power and sail has occupied most of my time through the years. This includes between New York and Fort Lauderdale utilizing the Intercoastal Waterway. I made numerous trips up and down the West Coast reaching from the tip of Baha to Alaska including the Columbia River. Since about 1994 (when I started keeping better records because of computers) I have logged over 125 coastal deliveries. I'm not sure of the number of trips prior to then but it's easily over 200 as my first was in the early 1970s.I average over a dozen ocean deliveries a year with my specialty being the West Coast including California, Columbia River, Pacific NW, British Columbia, the Inside Passage, and the Gulf of Alaska.

Lived onboard my own sailboat for a period of 9 years in the Northwest.

A variety of skippering duties through the years has included operating passengers ferries for two local islands, dive boats charters in the San Juans, fishing boat charters in Puget Sound, and skippering a survey vessel mapping the San Juan Islandsl. I am presently approved as skipper for a Seattle based 99' Azimut and vessels of various size utilized by Voyages Northwest's corporate and private charter.

When not delivering boats I teach boating both on the water and classroom privately and for insurance, yacht charter, and lease companies. I instructed for Pacific Yacht Charters in Anacortes for six years. This company had a fleet of over 50 charter boats, both power and sail of every size and layout, providing experience and proficiency regardless of boat type and power and handling configuration. I provide full skippering services to the public such as delivery, charter skipper, designated driver for parties, trip planning, and consultation. I scuba dive and am a licensed private pilot. My present C.G. license is 100 ton, Master Passenger/Tow. In my 39 years as a licensed skipper I have never had an accident or injury.

I bring with me the experience of thousands of hours handling hundreds of different boats of every type and it will be my pleasure to share this with you.