Brian Bartel
Brian Bartel has 19 years of boating experience in both sail and power vessels, and holds a U.S. Coast Guard Master 100 Ton license for Great Lakes and Near Coastal waters. He has 5 years of sailing instruction experience at the UW Madison Hoofer Sailing Club and 7 years of competitive yacht racing experience out of Port Washington, WI. Throughout the past 11 years he owned a 35' Chris-Craft powerboat, a 30' Freedom sailboat, and most recently a 46' Jeanneau Sun Odyssey sailboat. He has sailing charter experience in the Great Lakes, Florida Keys, the Caribbean, Mediterranean France, the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga, Croatia, and Belize.In 1998 he worked as professional crew and relief captain aboard the Betty Lou, a 51' motor yacht offering dinner and cocktail cruises on Lake Mendota in Madison. That same year he worked as a deckhand aboard the "HMS" Rose, the largest active wooden sailing ship in the world. The Rose is a replica of an 18th century British frigate, and it is noteable that she was used in the recent movie, "Master and Commander." Brian founded Weather Gauge in the Spring of 2004 as a vehicle for bringing a suite of services to boat owners and enriching the experience of owning a yacht.
On land, Brian received his degree in Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics from UW-Madison in 1992. He worked at two high-tech startup firms before being hired as Chief Mechanical Engineer for Palmer Johnson Yachts in 2000. In 2003 he returned to school and received his MBA from UW-Oshkosh in December, 2007.
Brian lives in Green Bay with his wife and sailing partner, Kim. An additional crewmember, Finley Cabot Bartel, was born January 17, 2007.
