Capt. Linda Lewis holds a USCG 100-Ton Masters License and has 45 years of hands-on experience (sail and power) cruising the Inside Passage (including nine trips to SE Alaska). A retired Emeritus Associate Professor from the U of WA, she brings her professional educator background to presentations on all things boating at many venues, including the Seattle Boat Show and Trawlerfest. She has taught hundreds of couples on-the-water through her business -- Private Boating Instruction LLC. She provides customized on-the-water instruction, on-your-powerboat (www.privateboatinginstruction.com).

Captain Margaret Pommert is a popular Pacific Northwest boating instructor, teaching on both sail and power boats. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Sailing Foundation, which developed the Lifesling, and organizes their annual US Sailing International Offshore Safety at Sea with Hands-on Training in Seattle and Portland areas. Margaret chairs the US Sailing Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal Selection and Awards Committee, a national award which recognizes a significant accomplishment in seamanship which has saved a life, and collects case studies in rescues for analysis by the US Sailing Safety-at-Sea Committee. She's an appointed member of WA State Boating Program Advisory Council, providing recommendations to the program on ways to enhance boating safety statewide for all types of recreational boating. When not working as a skipper/instructor, she's active in the local boating community, racing, cruising, and promoting Safety at Sea and Northwest Women in Boating.