About Us

Our Mission

The mission of Sail Ventures is to engage high school and college students at the intersection of faith, intellect and the adventurous life in order to develop confident believers who are informed Christian thinkers.

Our Vision

Be creators of life-giving experiences who come alongside students and student ministries to foster Christian thought, dialogue, adventure, refreshment, and growth in order to cultivate confident believers who are informed Christian thinkers and gospel driven actors.

History and Development

The idea of Sail Ventures began in the summer of 1999 on a late-night drive from New York to Washington, DC. It was the summer after my junior year in college and a buddy of mine and I were returning to DC (where we had our summer internships) after visiting some friends up in New York. I was lost in thought, about what I cannot remember. I was certainly not thinking about what I was going to do with my life vocationally. In a moment, that all changed. I heard through absolute silence a clear call to “work with students who struggle intellectually with faith in an adventure setting.” That was it. Those exact words. I continued on driving back to DC, knowing that my vocational trajectory would look extremely different than I had imagined.  

When I returned to school that fall, I finished out my Public Policy major (dad never would have let me change majors my senior year!), but, upon graduating, I took an entry level job as “assistant yacht inspector” (a glorified term for “boat-cleaner”) at Annapolis Yacht Sales charter division. It was my first experience with big boat sailing. I worked in the sailing industry full time for three years before returning to grad school. During that time, I progressed from “glorified boat cleaner” to a sailing instructor and spent many, many days on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.  

When it was time to return to school, I decided to attend Yale Divinity School and, subsequently, Emory University, because I wanted to put myself in the same academic setting as the students who are the focus of our ministry. I wanted to be posed the same questions and face the same challenges as students who take biblical studies courses in public and mainstream private institutions.

Twelve years and a number of sails in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and on the eastern seaboard later, the exact words from the summer of 1999 still remain clear. We remain committed to the intersection of Christian thought, scholarly study, and the adventurous life.  

Now, do us a favor. Whether or not you are interested in going on a trip, go to the “About You” page and tell us a bit about you. Feel free to ask us any of those “difficult questions” about faith that we all have from time to time. We can’t promise we’ll be able to answer them all, but we’re happy to think about them with you.