Captain Phyllis A Woolwine was featured in the June 2022 issue of Fidalgo Living. Article Written by John Brierley.
“Phyllis Woolwine’s life has been defined by two abiding passions: her love of the sea and her love of teaching. She came by the first from the age of five when her father, Phil Woolwine, a fan of classic racing schooners and ketches, began taking her family sailing on San Francisco Bay. By the time she was ten, the family was spending a couple of weeks every year cruising in the San Juans and Canadian Islands. From these early experiences, sailing became the young Phyllis’s life passion. Her childhood ambition (yet to be realized) was to sail around the world.
Phyllis’s love of teaching had its genesis during her time as a student. At The Evergreen State College, she became inspired and fascinated by the integrated model of learning which did not divide knowledge into discrete subjects but recognized that every subject is part of a whole. Phyllis noticed that seeing the bigger picture and recognizing the connections between things enhanced her ability to learn. By contrast, when she moved on to study Botany at the University of Washington, where subjects were each taught discretely, she found that many students struggled to learn and often turned to her for help. She became a Teaching Associate at UW and discovered a passion for fostering real understanding.
Upon graduation, Phyllis moved to Alaska, where she spent the next 18 years piloting vessels of every size, from kayaks to 68-foot tenders. It was based on this extensive maritime experience all over SE Alaska that Phyllis eventually earned her Master Near Coastal license from the US Coast Guard, permitting her to captain vessels up to 50 gross tons, within 200 miles from shore. Since then, she has also become a Certified Instructor with US Sailing, US Powerboating and the American Canoe Association.
During her first five years in Alaska, in the 1980s, Phyllis was co-operating an historical 52-foot wooden boat, initially as transport and base camp for foresters, scientists and engineers working in remote wilderness areas. As that work dried up, she was instrumental in transitioning this work toward natural history charters. “It was through these trips,” she told me, “that I developed my first brainchild. Why not help people learn about Nature, in Nature!” The result of this insight was a school she founded in the 1990’s, which she named Raven’s Backyard. Based in Ketchikan, Phyllis taught hands-on classes in wildflower identification, wild edibles and medicinals, and nature drawing — all while she and her students were immersed in the Alaskan wilderness. Because Phyllis was also teaching as an adjunct instructor for the University of Alaska in the 1990s, her Raven’s Backyard classes offered university credit to students, many of whom themselves were teachers.
But the greatest event for Phyllis in the 1990’s was the birth of her son, Peregrine. By 2001, the need to raise him closer to family, along with the many more educational resources available in Washington, drew her back to the Puget Sound region. In order to become more deeply and professionally committed to education, Phyllis took the opportunity to earn her Secondary Science Teacher’s Certification, and Master of Arts in Education, at Antioch University in Seattle. She became a science teacher at Cascade High School in Everett, where for 14 years she taught Biology, Earth Sciences and Chemistry. Clearly, she was a very effective teacher, finding creative…
ways for students of all abilities to master the material. Recognizing her enthusiasm for best practices in education, the Everett School District enlisted her in providing professional development for teachers throughout the state.
When Phyllis’s son left for college, Phyllis decided it was time to embark on the next stage of her life’s journey. In 2015, she opened Shearwater University here in Anacortes. “All my previous paths led me to this moment,” Phyllis told me. She saw the school as an opportunity to apply to maritime education the kind of professional standards she had learned as a National Board-Certified teacher.
Shearwater University comprises four separate but integrated schools for Sailing, Powerboating, Kayaking and Navigation. “The bottom line is that we teach boaters what they need to know to feel confident and safe on the Salish Sea,” Phyllis explains. “The Salish Sea is one of the most challenging cruising grounds in the world,” she added, “so it’s vital that we bring high-end educational principles to the process of teaching boating.”
When I asked Phyllis to outline what these principles might be she exclaimed, without hesitation, “Mission-driven, student-centered, needs-based.” In terms of the mission, Phyllis has a clear concern that traditional boating skills like docking and chart-based navigation have been going out of style. It’s just too easy for a neophyte to buy a boat and head out on the water without really knowing what they are doing. Phyllis wants to ensure that each of her students becomes fully competent in every aspect of boating.
The “student-centered” principle means that each boater’s education is tailored to their specific situation, so a complete beginner may need to start from square one, whereas an experienced boater needs to advance their skills in specific areas. If a student already owns their own boat, then their schooling will take place on board and be personalized for that vessel.
“Needs-based” includes both the community and the individual. What does the community need in terms of maritime education andaccess to the water? What individual skills does each student need? I was impressed by the professionalism of the information Phyllis provides. Each student receives a KeyCard Skills Booklet which outlines the required steps for skills like preparing for cast off, raising the main sail, docking etc. The cards reminded me of the preflight checklists that pilots use.
It’s not uncommon for educators to lose their enthusiasm for teaching over time, so I asked Phyllis point blank, “Are you still passionate about teaching boating?” Her body language was the only answer I needed. Her back straightened up and the gleam in her eye intensified as she outlined all the new initiatives she is embarking on. “I am passionate about community sailing and cruising programs,” she told me. To that end, Shearwater University provides two cruising sailboats, which graduates may rent: the Ardenna, a Sabre 402, and the Nancy Lee, a Pearson 323. Phyllis is also working on new ways for more community members to gain access to the water.
Boating tends to be domain of affluent white people. These are my words, not Phyllis’s. The way she more tactfully expressed it was “I would like to provide more opportunities and remove barriers for the underrepresented in boating.” For example, for the full 2017-18 school year, she collaborated with the Salish Sea Deaf School and the Old Anacortes Rowing Society to develop and deliver a..
maritime-themed STEM curriculum for secondary deaf students —which included on-water experiences learning sailing and rowing — and integrated state science and math standards into learning the physics of buoyancy, sailing, and boat engineering. This June, Phyllis is providing a sea kayaking class in partnership with The Bronze Chapter, a local non-profit offering outdoor opportunities and education for people of color who have been historically excluded from many outdoor experiences. This 2-day class of on-water learning and camping fun in Anacortes will provide a foundation of knowledge and skills for kayaking in nearshore waters in the lakes and bays of Washington. Phyllis is also working to provide an online school and growing the faculty to serve more boaters in more places.
From my own experience as both a student and an educator, I can attest that there are at least three essential qualities that produce an outstanding teacher: a total command of the material, a deep enthusiasm for the subject matter, and the charisma to transmit that enthusiasm to students. It was clear to me when I interviewed her that Captain Phyllis Woolwine possesses all three of these qualities in plenty. Phyllis’s total dedication to providing the highest quality maritime education is probably best summed up in her motto, “No mariner left behind.” “