Colin Campbell's boat is his classroom, the ocean his school. Campbell, the owner of Vancouver-based Bewley Sailing Company, is one of many British Columbians who teach on - and under - water rather than standing in front of desks.

The BC Sailing Association, which is part of the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA), the sport's governing body, lists 35 member schools (including all of the ones named in this article) on its website.

In addition to passing CYA certification, operators pay a $150 annual registration fee.

But many others likely operate under the radar, observers say.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Instructor Colin Campbell of Bewley Sailing Company has his teaching tools at the ready as he plans for his next voyage.

The satisfaction, say Campbell and others, comes from teaching others, doing something they love and running a successful business according to their terms - and lifestyle.

"It's quite an intense experience," says Campbell of a typical learning session, which lasts five days. "It's a bit like living in a space capsule."

Bewley offers beginner, intermediate and advanced courses that grant students CYA certification - which is recognized worldwide under the auspices of the International Sailing Federation (ISF) - to operate boats. Most sailboat rental outlets require sailors to have some level of certification.

"You can teach some of the theory of boating in a classroom, but you have to teach the practical side of it in a boat - there's no substitute for that at all," says Campbell, sipping a cola on his 38-ft. sloop Agua Verde while moored on the Vancouver Rowing Club docks near the entrance to Stanley Park.

"We roll everything into one. It becomes not only the theory, but the practical, and it's an adventure vacation for them all rolled into one. It works really well. They sleep onboard, they eat their meals onboard and they get to eat, sleep and breathe sailing and cruising."

Campbell, a CYA-certified instructor who has been sailing for more than three decades, honed his skills on the lake by the same name in his hometown of Loch Ness, Scotland. He decided to make his hobby his business after his giftware company was keeping him busy in fall and winter, but leaving him idle in summer.

He previously worked as a management accountant (his original profession) and computer systems sales rep, but he grew disenchanted with corporate life.

"I've always been a really keen sailor, and did a lot of long-distance cruising, and I decided to do something initially time-wise, activity-wise, that would accommodate the giftware business, so I started teaching about six years ago during the summer and went from there," says Campbell. "The last three years, probably, it's been a full-time summer occupation and avocation."

Teaching was also part of his previous careers. But the results are quite different.

"The big difference (between teaching on water and in a room) is that you get instant feedback regarding whether or not a student has understood what you say, because you've got to ask him to do it," he says.

"Over five or seven days ... they're actually doing everything and they're taking command ... So it's not like they're sitting there and dozing off in a classroom."

Bewley (Campbell's play on the French term "beau lieu" which means "beautiful place") is a one-boat business. When demand is high, he engages the services of his friend Jim Lavers, who operates his own sloop moored near Campbell's vessel.

"(Students) are obviously looking for a little bit of adventure," says Campbell. "A lot of the people who come out have had no sailboating experience at all. They just feel that it's something that would appeal to them and they want to have a try at it.

"It's a big commitment. The average trip that we do is five days. We get a lot of references, people who are referred to us and so on, but a lot of the time it's just people taking a leap in the dark."

Campbell's business is also advancing.

He's thinking about offering team-building programs to companies and he may also conduct schools in winter in the Caribbean or other southern locales in accordance with ISF rules.

Business has reached the point where, around this time next year, he figures, he'll have to decide whether to expand, possibly utilizing a second boat on a permanent basis.

But he's in no rush to grow. If he feels like it, and he just might, he'll stay small.

Marco Coda, owner of Land's End Sailing School based on Bowen Island, just off West Vancouver, is also happy to be running his business his way.

Coda, 43, a CYA-certified instructor and evaluator, teaches sailing to people who just want to become skippers and instructors.

He has been teaching sailing for nine years and operating his own school for the last seven.

He worked for two years with a Vancouver-based school and charter outfit.

"It's just too difficult trying to make a living working for a company - they pay practically minimum wage," says Coda.

But he hasn't quit his day job yet. He serves as a paramedic on Bowen Island, working eight to 12 shifts per month in the ambulance and makes two sailing trips per month between May and October.

"I've come over the hump," says Coda, who grew up in South Africa. "I'm successful and I'm doing the amount of work I want to do ... I'm where I want to be."

But there's no shortage of competition. Land's End competes for students with Campbell and other small firms, as well as big players such as Cooper Boating and Sidney, B.C.-based Island Cruising Yacht Charters and Sailing School and Bosuns Charters Ltd.

Campbell and Coda say several other people who are approaching retirement, have boats and are looking for more income also enter the game temporarily.

"They last a couple of years and they go off, but they do take market share," says Coda.

Charging an average of $200 per day per person, with a maximum of four students, he markets his courses through a website and the Yellow Pages.

Now that he has been in business for a while, people who come back for more courses account for 50 per cent of his revenues, while the Internet and phone directories lure the rest.

"It seems to change every year," says Coda, asked where his clients come from. "I'm getting fewer Americans. I used to get (mostly) Americans from the Pacific Northwest. Lately, it's Alberta (and) B.C."

If they aren't learning to sail, they might be learning to scuba dive.

An exhaustive survey led by the Dive Industry of British Columbia, released last year based on 2003 findings, says two-thirds of B.C.'s scuba-diving company operators offer beginner and advanced instruction.

Diving schools accounted for 16 per cent of non-manufacturing operators' $12-13 million in revenues.

Diving schools averaged 133 students, while teaching 6,300 beginner and 3,300 advanced divers.

Equipment manufacturers have been in business for an average of 24 years while non-manufacturers, including schools, have been operating for an average of 11 years.

Most diving company clients (65 per cent) came from B.C., while customers from the U.S. Pacific Northwest (13 per cent) and Alberta (11 per cent) accounted for the second- and third-highest totals.

Most operators say demand won't get as high as it was in the 1990s, but 38 per cent still increased revenues over the past decade.

Coda, who has worked in various ocean-related jobs most of his life, predicts demand for diving instruction will remain strong because regulations require divers to receive instruction before they even rent equipment.

The survey, also funded by Tourism BC, Simon Fraser University, the Underwater Council of British Columbia and Scuba Schools International Canada, calls for more study on diving instruction because it will better determine diving's economic impact.

Many dive-school operators also offer instruction in kayaking and canoeing.

In other words, there is no shortage of students in the school of the ocean.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)