American Sailing Purchases Racing Educator North U

World’s Largest Sailing Education Organization Adds Elite Racing Training To Curriculum

Los Angeles, CA: American Sailing (ASA), a sailing education organization with more than 400 locations worldwide, has acquired North U, a performance sail racing education company that teaches sailors sail trim, tactics, and strategy to win races. American Sailing affiliate schools will soon have the opportunity to teach North U courses to their students, expanding the target audience from recreational cruising sailors to also include racers.

“We are excited to add North U courses to the American Sailing curriculum,” says Jonathan Payne, Executive Director of ASA. “North U has a long history of excellence and teaching high-performance sailing to those that want to win regattas and races. We have tested the waters for the last 24 months by holding online North U classes for ASA students and members and have had a great turnout. We have seen sailing get younger recently and are eager to provide exciting courses for those sailors that are looking for a bit more of an adrenaline rush.”

The acquisition brings along Bill Gladstone, Director of North U, to join the team at American Sailing. Gladstone, who has been sailing for over 40 years and raced collegiately for Yale, will continue to develop certifications, textbooks, and curriculum for racing students at ASA schools. “I’m excited to join forces with the ASA to bring performance sailing and racing programs to a broader audience,” says Gladstone. “After my experience with ASA over the last two years I look forward to working with their development team to create and refine Intro to Racing, Racing Tactics, Racing Trim, and Performance Sailing programs using the full array of modern training methods.”

North U currently has a winter/spring series of classroom seminars and on-the-water clinics in locations all across the U.S. including St. Thomas. American Sailing affiliate schools will begin offering North U classes taught by ASA instructors in 2023.

About American Sailing: American Sailing was founded in 1983 with a mission to teach people to sail safely and confidently. To achieve that goal, the ASA set out to establish standards against which to measure a sailor’s level of knowledge and skill, the first such unified standards in the U.S. to apply to sailors in keelboats.

About North U: North U started in 1980 as the training division of North Sails and currently offers seminars and classes teaching sailors how to sail fast.