Sailing in the desert: utah couple teaches locals art of seafaring.

• Author: Madison, Rachel
• Position: Around Utah

To Todd Frye, there's nothing more peaceful than the silence he experiences while gliding down the center of Utah Lake in his sailboat on a warm spring day. Frye, along with his wife, Louise, owns and operates the Utah County-based BONNEVILLE SCHOOL OF SAILING & SEAMANSHIP, one of the state's only sailing schools.

Todd got his start in sailing in the early 1970s in Hawaii and was immediately hooked. After retiring from his job as an art gallery director at Brigham Young University in 2007, he and Louise decided to start a sailing school.

"It's been a lifelong dream for Todd," Louise says. He retired as quick as he could and we were trying to figure out what to do, and this is what he liked, so I said 'go for it.' We didn't really know what we were doing when we started. but it's worked out really well for us.

The Fryes offer several different types of sailing classes, from a two-hour discovery sail for people who want to see if they like sailing, to basic, intermediate and advanced lessons for those who are serious about sailing. The school also offers sunset cruises, celestial navigation courses, boat restoration classes and corporate team-building events.

"Sailing is the perfect natural team-building activity," Louise says. "If there are two boats on the lake, everyone wants to race and they automatically start doing things you need to do to team build, like communicating and working together."

During their first sailing season in 2007, the Fryes only taught eight sailing lessons. In 2013, they took more than 350 people sailing. "Every single year we almost double the amount we've taken out," says Louise.

Todd says it's been interesting to see the types of people who come to the school. Those with high-stress jobs, specifically lawyers, professors and accountants, are the most common people he works with, he says. The Fryes have also had people come from as far as South Korea to participate in team-building events on Utah Lake, like a group of engineers from Hyundai who were in town for business.

"Some people can't imagine sailing here, but...