Colorado Sailing Lessons

Our instructors were carefully chosen for their sailing skills and knowledge and also for their  interpersonal and teaching skills. We are serious about safety but like to have a good time on the water. We never take things too seriously and never pressure students to exceed their comfort level.  You'll never experience "information overload" as we have designed our classes to teach you fundamentals first and then build onto your knowledge as you're ready.

Tobin Hamer, Owner & Head Instructor

Toby grew up on Lake Tippecanoe in northern Indiana - exploring its tributaries, fishing, water skiing, but mostly sailing his family's Hobie 16 and Super Porpoise.  He taught many of his friends to sail and quickly realized that introducing people to sailing was as fun as heading out on his own. Sailing had become his passion at a young age and remains so today.

After graduating from Indiana University with a bachelors in psychology, Hamer moved to Chicago to pursue a career in manufacturing and business development.  While he was at it, he became very active in the Chicago sailing scene. He bought his first sailboat and spent countless hours refurbishing and cruising her on Lake Michigan with a lifelong friend and co-owner.  When that boat was sold, he pursued and earned American Sailing Association (ASA) Keelboat, Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Certifications under the tutelage of multi-award-winning sailing school owner/instructor Captain Ben Sells of Fairwind Sail Charters.  Hamer spent a full summer sailing a Beneteau 337and a Hunter Legend 35.  While not entirely satisfied with cruising alone, he turned to racing. He earned a crew spot aboard an S2 9.1, and ran the bow and the other positions full-time for two summers of weekend buoy races, major regattas, and port-to-port races. He has also crewed in the Chicago to Mackinac, Key West Race Week and several NOOD Regattas nationwide aboard various racing boats.   2005 was Hamer's last summer in Chicago, during which he acquired and rehabbed an S2 7.9. He raced it in the local PHRF fleet as well as a 100nm double-handed port-to-port race.  Having completed multiple deliveries, he is also experienced in bluewater sailing.

After a job transfer brought Toby to Denver in the fall of 2005, he crewed aboard several different boats and now races his own J/22 with the Colorado Sail & Yacht Club.  

After a half-dozen years of 'thinking about it' and spending a summer teaching formal sailing classes at another school, Hamer finally organized and opened his own.  He has earned Level I and Basic Keelboat Instructor Certifications from US SAILING.

A self-proclaimed "sailing evangelist", Hamer created Rocky Mountain Sailing  to provide the highest quality of sailing instruction available with the end goal of increasing the number of sailors that enjoy spending quality time on the water with their friends and families.

Roy Burley, Instructor

Roy is a Colorado native that has been racing sailboats in Colorado for nearly 15 years, and has owned nine different boats ranging from a Catalina 14.2 to a Pearson 27.  His latest is a Capri 22, with which he has won multiple race series in the S.A.I.L. Tour and the Colorado Sail & Yacht Club.    In addition to racing his own boats, Roy has crewed extensively in several national and world championship regattas aboard J/22s, Ultimate 20s and the rocket ship Corsair F-28r trimaran.    

Burley knows how to slow it down, however.  He vacations in the BVIs regularly and has also chartered in the Grenadines, the Florida Keys, and the San Juan Islands.  In addition to the extensive charter history, Roy has also worked as delivery crew.  

Roy has been racing with Colorado Sail & Yacht Club since 1995 and has served as Secretary, Race Director and is currently the group's Safety Director.  

Burley spent his professional career as an educator and a school principal so naturally, he is very comfortable leading and instructing students.  He has a calm and direct style, and specializes in teaching our Keelboat Cruising course.

Todd Durrum, Instructor

Also a Colorado native, Todd grew up sailing a Laser and spent many summers sailing his dad’s MacGregor at Chatfield Reservoir.  He also became a proficient windsurfer at Cherry Creek during his teenage years. 

When he turned 18, Durrum left home and sailed from Annapolis, Maryland to Bermuda aboard the 131-foot schooner, Harvey Gamage.  It was on that ship that Todd acquired a Celestial Navigation Certificate.  Later that same year, he took a crew job on the Gamage teaching inner city kids how to sail.  He specialized in working aloft in the high rigging while cruising the BVI's.  In the spring of 1989, he made a passage back to the Gamage’s home port of Gloucester Mass.  Since then, Todd has earned ASA 101, 103, 104, 105 and 106 certifications (through Advanced Coastal Cruising and Navigation) and passed the Coast Guard Auxiliary Advanced Coastal Navigation class.   Durrum and his wife Sherry have chartered big boats in the Channel Islands, southern California and the BVIs.  They have also sailed for a week along the Gulf coast of Florida on a 33-footer and worked as delivery crew. 

Todd started racing last year with the Colorado Sail & Yacht Club on J/22s and a prototype race boat. He also spent the summer working as a sailing instructor. His plans for 2009 include more bareboating, racing, and teaching . 

Formerly an EMT and alpine rescue specialist, Durrum now works for the railroad. When he’s not on the water, Todd, Sherry and their eleven-year-old son enjoy tele skiing, technical climbing and canyoneering.

Laura Morris, Instructor

Laura Morris began sailing in the Chesapeake Bay in 2000.  After an eventful afternoon sailing backwards and in circles on a friend’s dilapidated sailboat in the Severn River, she was hooked!  A college friend recommended Spin Sheet magazine’s crew listings, and there she listed herself as “interested in learning to sail”.  Spin Sheet asked her to rank her skills and the best she could list was “can smile a lot and run from side to side.”  Amazingly enough that afforded her an opportunity to crew aboard RSVP, a Pearson 39.

After an evening sail on the Chesapeake with the light going low and the water shimmering in silver, she was hooked.   Morris began taking every opportunity available to get out on the water.  As her network of sailing friends grew, so did her opportunities.  She began crewing for Wednesday night racing series in various rivers off of the Chesapeake Bay and regularly raced in the many weekend regattas held over the summers. 

In 2003, Laura signed on as the least experienced crew member for a delivery from Bermuda to Annapolis.   The delivery turned out to be the best single educational sailing experience of her life as well as the most challenging. During the trip, they spent 24 hours battling a tropical storm with sustained winds of 50 knots and gusts that registered up to 62 knots.  “I can honestly say it was the only time I seriously believed I might not live to see another sunrise,” said Morris.  During the trip, she took on the primary responsibility of reading the radar to identify storm cells that were moving toward there boat. “It was an amazing experience, but one I would prefer never to see again”.

Morris has crewed on nearly a dozen different sailboats of all sizes, and is enjoying her most recent experiences on smaller boats in the lakes of Colorado.   

As a corporate trainer, her profession is teaching others.  What better way to spend one’s free time than sharing the love of your greatest passion in life?