Sailing Story: Matt Pruemer
Some sailing stories follow a straight line. One moment sparking the next in a neat, predictable arc. Matt’s story doesn’t quite work that way. Ask him how he got his start, and he’ll tell you, “there’s kind of two answers to that.”
The first began in college, when he joined his school’s sailing club. Something clicked almost immediately.
“It felt right, somehow,” he explained. “I was just very comfortable and it seemed to come natural to me and it was just very relaxing turning the motor off and hearing the wind, the rigging and the sound of the water on the hull.”
Even then, sailing planted a seed. But like many good stories, it took time before it truly took hold.
Years later, that second beginning arrived. This time alongside his wife, in San Diego, during their first ASA course.
“I grew up in the midwest without a coast,” he said. “When I moved to a coast I was really able to get involved.”
What followed was a steady deepening of both skill and passion. After ASA 101, Matt and his wife began renting boats and exploring the bay on their own—building confidence, making mistakes, and learning together. ASA 103 came next, and then ASA 104 after a move to Seattle, each step bringing them closer to a life shaped by the water.
But for Matt, sailing wasn’t just something to do, it was something to share.
“The next step” didn’t feel like a leap so much as a natural progression: becoming an instructor.
“I like talking about sailing so I think teaching is a great way to talk about it,” he said. “I love the idea of helping people get their start in sailing.”
That instinct to teach is grounded in real experience. Matt isn’t new to life on the water. Just a different scale of it. After graduating from the Seattle Maritime Academy, he worked with NOAA aboard research vessels in Alaska and Hawaii, part of 40+ member crews.
And while those ships may seem worlds apart from the small monohulls he’ll be teaching on at Flathead Lake, Matt sees the connection clearly.
“Handling the mooring lines and ropes is similar,” he said. “And they both have a similar nautical culture.”
It’s that blend of technical experience and genuine enthusiasm that he brings with him to Montana. It’s a place that, for Matt, represents yet another beginning.
Working here will be something entirely new. A different landscape, a different kind of sailing, and a new community to be part of.
“I’m excited to see the state, for one,” Matt said about coming to work for Go Sail Flathead Lake. While he has never been to Montana, his wife went to graduate school in Missoula. “My wife has told me how amazing it is.”
And if Matt’s story tells us anything, it’s that sometimes the best journeys don’t start just once. They start again, and again, each time with a little more purpose behind the wind.