Bill Crane, the former chairman of the LaserPerformance Group, has announced the launch of Storm Marine Group, an organization that wants to change how institutional sailboats are built and sold in the United States. The company is currently based in Weston, Connecticut.
Crane, who grew up sailing and racing institutional boats, and his business partners see an opportunity to improve the small sailing crafts they love. “Whether it be Ideal 18s, the Sonar 23 one design keelboat or various other classes, most of our time on the water has been sailing in club-owned fleets,” said Crane. “We have a passion for these boats and want to build something that elevates the sport through new institutional boats that are affordable, durable, and easy to maintain.”
According to Crane, many public and private sailing centers, clubs and schools offer boats that are often no longer built, hard to replace or find parts for, or are simply too expensive for most programs. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Crane and his two partners—Karl Ziegler and Chris Daley— have noticed an uptick in learn-to-sail programs.
“COVID brought sailing back to Marblehead (Massachusetts) in a big way,” says regional sailing legend Robbie Doyle. “I told Bill (Crane) about all the calls we were getting from people either interested in learning to sail or getting back into the sport, and they seemed more interested in joining clubs and using boats from house fleets rather than buying their own boat.”
Crane and his team recognize that most institutional sailboats do not accommodate some women and physically challenged sailors. The team plans to address these needs, as well as making dinghy sailing more accessible overall. The company will share plans for its first major project in early December.
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