Go Sail Charters<\/a>, and I am Arizona’s ambassador for the ASA’s GoSailing App.<\/p>\nXa Johnson<\/h2>\n
![\"Xa](\"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/xa-johnson-300x300.jpg\")
My name is Xa (pronounced X) Johnson. Sailing has been my passion for almost 60 years. I grew up in Toledo, Ohio at the western end of Lake Erie. My family always enjoyed boating and when I was in my mid-teens, my parents bought me and my siblings a 19\u2019 centerboard one-design sloop. We were soon active in racing and several years later when one of my competitors decided to move into larger keel boats, he asked me and my brother to be part of his regular crew. I raced actively on Lake Erie, Lake St. Clare and Lake Huron for about 20 years. In the summers, my wife and I now spend time at our family home in Northern Michigan where I continue to sail that same 19\u2019 sloop that has been a big part of my life and has brought me countless days of pleasure.<\/p>\n
I thoroughly love sailboats and enjoy being with others who also appreciate setting sail and experiencing the challenges and the pleasures that we find on open water.<\/p>\n
After retiring from my business career, I decided that it would be fulfilling to share what I have learned about sailing with others and hopefully introduce the art of sailing to future generations. I am now a Certified Sailing Instructor at Go Sail Arizona where we are an American Sailing Association Sailing School on Lake Pleasant in Peoria, Arizona.<\/p>\n
Some of the various vessels I have sailed include the following:
\n10\u2019 Sailing Dingy, 8.5\u2019 Phil Rhodes Designed Sailing Dingy, Flying Scott, 16 Hobie Cat, Nipper, 18 Interlake, Venture 22, McGregor 26, Holder 14\u2019, Capri 14.2, Capri 16.5, Capri 22, Capri 26, Thistle, Cal 25, Catalina 27, Morgan 33, Seidleman 29.5, Columbia 36, Newport 41, Nacra 5.8, Ta Shing Panda 40, Beneteau 393<\/p>\n
Trey Hanson<\/h2>\n
![\"Trey](\"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/trey-hanson-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
My first time on sailboat was for an ASA Basic Keel Boat Class in 1984. I followed up with Coastal Cruising. We sailed the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. In 1985, I was paid crew on a 68\u2019cutter rigged ketch from England to Fort Lauderdale via Guernsey, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, Cape Verde, Antigua, BVIs, and the Bahamas. We had a sextant, a hand bearing compass, a compass on the binnacle and a knotmeter. In 1986, I took a sailboat from England to Nice with stops in the Balearics. I also spent 4 weeks in the BVIs. I returned to school in 1987 and started teaching sailing and doing boat maintenance fulltime in San Diego. I have passed college level classes in meteorology and navigation. I have taught ASA Basic Sailing, Coastal Cruising, Bareboat Charter and Navigation. I have also led non-ASA classes or seminars on diesel engines, celestial navigation, foul weather sailing, offshore sailing, and spinnakers. I became an instructor evaluator for ASA in 1988. This past year I have sailed out of San Diego 3 different times and I spent 13 days in the USVIs on a 44\u2019 catamaran. We have a 45\u2019 catamaran reserved next year in the BVIs. <\/p>\n
Jeff Pickens<\/h2>\n
![\"Instructor](\"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/jeff-pickens-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I\u2019m Jeff Pickens, and I began my sailing career at age 10, spending summers with my father in our family\u2019s San Juan 21 sloop, around lakes in central Texas. Soon thereafter I received a Christmas gift of a little styrofoam dinghy called a \u201cSunflower\u201d where I honed skills and made many of the early mistakes destined for a new sailor, all the while on a forgiving boat in warm waters.<\/p>\n
Through the years sailing opportunities were few and far between, but after retiring from a career in healthcare, my wife and I moved to Flagstaff where the dream of sailing came alive again with the discovery of the ASA sailing school (GoSail Arizona) at Lake Pleasant. In 2020 I began the series of courses offered through the school and expanded my skill set and experiences, and with the isolation and general awfulness of the pandemic decided to ask my wife permission to purchase a small boat to have the adventure of coastal sailing. She granted permission (!), and soon thereafter the process of searching for and purchasing a boat consumed a nearly 1.5-year span, with the outcome of a new-ish Com-Pac 23 Pilothouse that would become home. I coastal sailed around Clearwater and surrounding areas of Florida for the winter\/spring of 2022. It was a seriously fun endeavor and one that was full of sailing (and life) lessons.<\/p>\n
On return from that trip, I maintained friendship with the staff of GoSail and was delighted to have the opportunity to help the school with teaching beginning (ASA 101) classes. ASA offers an instructor qualifying exam, and with that completed I am honored to be a part of the school. This opportunity is such a thrill for me to give back to a sport\/hobby\/lifestyle that has given me such a sense of wonder and escape in a life otherwise filled with haste and deadlines. I hope all who experience the joys of sailing can find their way to that magic as often as possible, and I humbly submit to sharing what I\u2019ve learned along the way. Fair winds to all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Captain Clint Sutter U.S.C.G. Licensed 100 Ton Master American Sailing Association Certified Sailing Instructor Certified to instruct levels: 101, 103, 104, 105, and 114. Awarded 2017 Outstanding Instructor of the Year! Hello! My name is Clint Sutter, owner of Go Sail Arizona. I am a USCG licensed captain and American Sailing Association sailing instructor since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2447,"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions\/2447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Captain](\"https:\/\/gosailaz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/captain-clint-300x300.jpg\")
U.S.C.G. Licensed<\/strong> 100 Ton Master<\/p>\n