06/17/2026
Aventura Sailing's very own Academy Director, Ric Dahlin, has been awarded AGAIN! Congratulations to Ric!
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE
Outstanding Instructors of the Year – 2025
American Sailing is proud to announce the Outstanding Instructors of the Year for 2025.
This prestigious award recognizes the very best instructors in our network based on student feedback and performance metrics.
This award honors the top 1% of active-status instructors, as determined by student surveys administered after classes are completed. In 2025, of the 2446 active American Sailing instructors, 850 were eligible for this award based upon the selection criteria for courses taught. The top 30 Instructors are listed below. They represent 27 cities and towns, across 14 states, provinces, or territories, and 2 countries.
These instructors represent the top 1.2% of all American Sailing instructors and exemplify the highest standards of professionalism, safety, knowledge, and student experience.
2025 Outstanding Instructors
Doug Acker — Sacramento, CA
Scott Anderson* — Marina del Rey, CA
John Aros* — Palmdale, CA
Trevon Baker — Somers, MT
Russell Beyer* — Miami, FL
Daniel Britt — Holland, NY
Menette Burns* — Covington, LA
Thomas Burns — Covington, LA
Michael Clidas — Olympia, WA
Wayne Cook* — St. Petersburg, FL
𝐑𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐚𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧 — 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤, 𝐂𝐀
Christopher DeHart — St. Augustine, FL
John Ensley — Shelton, WA
Nicola Giovannoni* — St. George's, Grenada
Brian Gwinnup — Niceville, FL
Jeff Howard* — Las Vegas, NV
Jalil Jacallen — St. Thomas, USVI
Timothy Jenne — Sequim, WA
Edd Jennings — St. Petersburg, FL
Peter Kapur* — Moncks Corner, SC
Joe Laughlin — Kemah, TX
Joseph Mastrangelo — Key Largo, FL
Lindsay Moore — Tampa, FL
John Quinn* — Woodstock, GA
John Rider* — Green Cove Springs, FL
Harold Trimble* — St. Petersburg, FL
Richard Van Loon — Shrewsbury, NJ
Brian Van Wieren — Munising, MI
Pierre Wallinder* — Buffalo, NY
Robert Wiedenhaefer* — Melbourne, FL
ASA Sailors Page - SoCal
Aventura Sailing
