Laura Parent | Modern Sailing

Laura Parent

Instructor, Race Coach

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Laura was influenced at an early age by the ocean, boats and waterways of her hometown as well by as her father’s career as a Port Everglades Pilot.

After earning her degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University, Laura followed her dream and the call of the sea. Achieving her 100-ton USCG master's license at age 23, she logged 20,000 nautical miles over 9 years working as crew, watch officer, or captain on a variety of vessels: traditional sailing schooners, tourism boats, racing yachts, megayachts, and expedition ships. Laura has lived in Boston, MA and Newport, RI where she began racing on J24s, worked on 12-meter sloops, and spent a season racing throughout the Caribbean.

During the last three years of that time, Laura landed a position as Third Mate then became Second Mate for Lindblad Expeditions in Southeast Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and Baja’s Sea of Cortez standing watch and driving zodiacs on National Geographic small-ship expeditions. Deciding to take a break from the merchant mariner’s life, she dropped anchor in the SF Bay Area to begin working in the travel industry in which she became an expert in Latin America adventure travel and Polar expeditions.

Laura has been teaching clients and friends about sailing for many years informally, but since the pandemic, she began her instructor certification process with the American Sailing Association. She loves teaching new sailors, especially women, and instilling in them the confidence to be the captain of their own ship!

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  • John Kratochvil, Oregon

    I would like to compliment Stan Lander for his coaching, counseling and teaching Heavy Weather Offshore Sailing. Stan was very accommodating to all of the student's interests and shared his many years of insight on handling the boat in heavy seas. I would certainly recommend Stan and this course to sheltered waters sailors. My confidence in handling a boat of this size was certainly enhanced by the experience.

  • Alisa Driscoll, Dual Site Member

    Here are some snaps of Our Saturday, August 20, 2022 Modern Sailing Expedition with Captain Robert Bivin, who was outstanding. Please convey photos and thanks to him. He is an outstanding individual, leader and sailing instructor. His knowledge and experience made us all feel safe and our Farallones Day Trip educational and just amazing. 

  • John Kipping

    The meeting room was quite adequate and the location most convenient, but the course outline and instruction were outstanding. Modern Sailing is fortunate to have such a well organized instructor in Mr. Stan Lander who teaches very well from a rich professional background. Mr. Lander was generous with his time and patiently in helping students who needed more attention or time in understanding various aspects of the curriculum.

  • Mike, Santa Rosa, California

    All of the courses and my instructors (JT and Stan) were extremely professional and full of knowledge and experience. I found I was able to learn from their experiences beyond the scope of the courses, and look forward to future opportunities to do so. I would highly recommend Modern Sailing to anyone.

  • Steve Hood, Basic Coastal Cruising

    I would definitely recommend Modern Sailing to anyone who is interested in learning to sail the right way.

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Modern Sailing School & Club

Sausalito Location
2310 Marinship Way, Sausalito
(415) 331-8250
(800) 995-1668

Berkeley Location
1 Spinnaker Way, Berkeley
(415) 331-8250
(800) 995-1668

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