Sponsor Sail Shop Chicago
We make Chicago’s waters more accessible: maritime scholarships, captain training, and community sailing programs for underserved youth. Here’s where your support goes.
Our mission
Democratizing sailing in Chicago.
Sail Shop Chicago is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit making Chicago’s natural resources more accessible while fostering entrepreneurial growth through sailing and skill development. We provide maritime scholarships and community sailing programs to underserved youth in the Chicago area, and we train the next generation of licensed captains.
We work hand in hand with Chicago Captain, the charter platform at chicagocaptain.org. Revenue from every charter helps fund our programs.
Where your support goes
Every donation and sponsorship funds these programs.
Scholarships & the Captain Candidate Class
Hands-on training at Crowley's Yacht Yard (engine maintenance, sail rigging, light carpentry) and the full USCG captain's license path.
Learn more →
Captain development
Support on the path to a Merchant Mariner Credential: OUPV (Six-Pack), 100-Ton Master, sailboat endorsement, and mentorship from licensed captains.
Learn more →
Sailing instruction
ASA 101 Basic Keelboat through ASA 104 Bareboat Chartering, taught on Lake Michigan.
Learn more →
Youth & community on the water
Programs like Youth & Blue United's Waves of Change aboard SeaQuest II, and scientific dive charters with Indiana University.
Learn more →
A working classroom
The restoration of Sea Myth, a 1977 Pearson 323 home-ported in Chicago: engine, rigging, deck hardware and systems, logged as the work happens.
Learn more →
Down the rivers to New Orleans
This fall, Sea Myth, the 1977 Pearson 323 from our restoration program, leaves Chicago for New Orleans: down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to Cairo, then the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile and along the Gulf Coast. We’re filming the trip as an educational series on how to set up a sailboat to make it down the river.
Sponsors help fund the voyage and the film.
Ways to give
Donate
Give any amount. Sail Shop Chicago is a 501(c)(3), EIN 99-3727232, and donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Make a donationSponsor
Businesses can sponsor a program, a community event, or the river passage and film. Sponsors are named and linked on this page.
Become a sponsorGive gear
Sailing gear, tools, safety equipment and boat parts are put to work in our training and restoration programs.
Offer equipmentNeed our IRS determination letter for your records? Email info@chicagocaptain.org and we’ll send it.
Thank you to our sponsors
These companies support Sail Shop Chicago and the river passage.
Class locations and mentorship
Restorations and project management
Anchoring system
AIS transceiver
VHF antennas and connectors
Chicago-to-Mobile cruising guide
Who runs Sail Shop Chicago
The board of directors that governs Sail Shop Chicago.
Runs Chicago Captain and has been a licensed 100-ton captain for 20 years. Also an AI automation engineer building lead intelligence and workflow systems, with Chicago Boat Company in the Greater Chicago Area; studied at the University of Chicago.
Faculty at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. A strategic leader in product marketing, innovation, and go-to-market, working in media innovation, media management, and product strategy. Studied at Bentley University's McCallum Graduate School of Business.
Tony Shelton
VP of EducationChicago attorney with Shelton Law Office and owner of Sailing Resurrection. Has made the river run from Chicago to New Orleans four times, and runs the YouTube channel Sailing Saga.
Electrical foreman at Global Experience Specialists (GES).
Support Sail Shop Chicago
Email info@chicagocaptain.org or call (773) 910-2088. Sail Shop Chicago is governed by its own board of directors.