Aquidneck Islanders and Newport summer visitors alike will be delighted to discover new sailing opportunities out of Newport Harbor. Kate Richardson, a native Rhode Islander and U.S. Navy veteran, is now the proud small business owner of Newport Sailing Lessons. She runs the lessons out of her 1978 Pearson 30 sailboat, Hope, in Newport Harbor.
Sailing has been Richardson’s calling since she was little. Her father was involved with the military, “so I grew up going over to Naval Station Newport, and that’s where I learned how to sail,” she explains. Out of all the military branches, joining the Navy was a no-brainer to be on or by the ocean, and in some ways, the move from the Navy to a sailing business came naturally: “I really did always love being on the water. There had to be avenues to [drive ships and sail] outside of the military,” Richardson says.
In other ways, however, the road to Newport Sailing Lessons was filled with odd twists and turns. Richardson first spent time in Panama working on a charter boat last winter; it was her first time outside of the Navy living and sleeping on a sailboat for an extended period of time. That job motivated her into buying her own sailboat to live aboard the vessel. Sailboats that are smaller in size (under 30 feet) can be fairly inexpensive – under five thousand dollars, depending on the condition of the boat and the needs of the owner, Richardson clarifies. “I was casually cruising Facebook Marketplace […and] I saw one for sale that said Newport mooring paid for 2023. That’s huge. That’s a gamechanger. You could wait your whole life trying to get a mooring in Newport.”
She took the chance, buying the boat and inheriting the coveted Newport Harbor spot in May 2023, intending to fulfill her dreams of a live-aboard experience in the summer. Then, Lyme disease and Bell’s palsy struck right in the middle of Newport’s busy summer tourist season, ruining her plans, and preventing her from going to work on the Schooner Aquidneck in Newport. “Sailing is super unsafe to show up less than 100 percent. You have to be physically capable. You have to be fully present. It’s like driving a car. You don’t want to be distracted or tired.”
Richardson realized she couldn’t work in a physical field that required her to be at “100 percent physical capability” as an employee. She took her disability as a life lesson: “I need to have people working for me.”
Her first thought was using her boat, Hope, as an AirBnb, but county laws about houseboats and prejudices about AirBnb’s, as well as the potentially unsafe environment of combining bars and boats had Richardson pivoting from host to business owner. The boat, she realized, “is perfect to learn how to sail. It’s big enough that it’s not a tiny little dinghy for children – it can fit six adults – but it’s not exactly a luxury charter boat, either: it’s got a tiller, she keels really well, she feels the wind really well.” Then, having the mooring in Newport Harbor just felt “fated.” It was the perfect location to launch her business – literally.
Richardson’s sailing lessons are officially open for the summer season. She has three captains working with her to provide continuous availability for public lessons, private instruction, and even sunset sails. Aboard Hope, sailors can expect 90-minute lessons, and instruction goes over how to raise the mainsail and pull the jib. Then, after sailing out of the harbor, students will learn about wind direction and how to use the wind to maintain a steady course and track plan, the points of sail, the lingo, learn how to tack (bring the bow through the wind) and how to jibe (bring the stern of the vessel through the wind) – two common maneuvers used to sail. It takes practice, timing, and teamwork to sail smoothly, and by the end of the session, student sailors should be working together smoothly and efficiently.
New sailors will also learn the rules of the current (traffic patterns). “Newport Harbor is one of the busiest harbors in the world,” Richardson asserts. “There’s lots of sailing vessels, fishing vessels, so there are some rules the Coast Guard has laid out in order to allow that to be smoother.” Learning to abide by marine traffic rules will only help the team become better, safer sailors.
Experience levels are fluid within the classes. “The lessons are personalized. It’s not going to be the same exact lesson every time; it will be dependent on who’s on board,” so all sailors can expect a tailored experience, to be challenged, and learn something new.
Richardson does recommend that people new to sailing be comfortable in the water. “When you’re on a thirty-foot keelboat, it will heel over. It won’t tip over! It’s not a dinghy, it can’t tip over – not in regular wind/tide situations – but I don’t want to scare anybody.” Heeling is when the boat leans over to one side, tilting down towards the water. A natural phenomenon, it can cause some alarm if a person is not used to sailing or the idea of heeling in a boat.
But for those who aren’t so easily scared away, Richardson assures that nothing can quite capture the feeling of being on the water, sailing. “It can just be so exciting and exhilarating when we have really nice wind, and it can also be really serene and calm. It does take your full presence to be there, out on the water, so it’s a really beautiful hobby and experience. And on top of that, in Newport, we’re so lucky to have the scenery that we have – the Narragansett Bay, the lighthouses, the islands.” That is something on which both native Rhode Islanders and tourists can agree.
