The Colgate Offshore Sailing School was founded in 1964 by Steve Colgate, a sailor with great experience in world-class competitions. He has sailed in two America's Cups Trials, over 14 Bermuda Races, 8 Fastnets, several Transatlantic Races, and even the Olympic Games. Today, he runs the world-class sailing school with his wife, who is the president of Offshore. Doris Colgate has herself competed in almost every major ocean race, and has received prestigious awards for her achievements and advocacy efforts in women's sailing. Currently, she is president of the National Women's Sailing Association.

All programs that Steve and Doris run are headed by expert instructors, who are all US SAILING certified, and are recognized as the finest in the industry. Offshore has trained over 80,000 sailors, many of whom have gone on to own boats and sail in major races all over the world after graduating from the School. However, the school is by no means limited to sailors who wish to undertake such serious endeavors. Steve and Doris are very clear about this when they describe their mission: "Sailing is fun. It should be fun to learn too. That is the promise and guarantee of the Offshore Sailing School, to make your experience with Offshore completely enjoyable, and leave you a significantly better sailor than you were before."

During the last 35 years, the Colgate Offshore Sailing School has grown significantly to meet the needs of its growing number of clients. The School runs several locations in Florida, including St. Petersburg and South Seas Plantations on Captiva Island (shown at left). Clients in the New York Metropolitan area may wish to visit the School at its more local sites of Newport, RI, Barnegat Bay, Jersey City, NJ, and Stamford, CT. For the more adventuresome sailors, there are the locations in Tortola, BVI, the Mediterranean, and the South Pacific.