Inland Seas captain enjoys guiding historic vessel in S-B.

REMY CHAMPT, a maritime professional who has sailed around the world many times, is the fulltime skipper of the “schoolship” based in Suttons Bay.

Going sailing practically every day all summer long in Suttons Bay and West Grand Traverse Bay may not sound like a job at all.

But for Capt. Remy Champt, it’s all in a day’s work.

Champt is one of two licensed captains in charge of the 77-foot, two-masted schooner Inland Seas based in Suttons Bay – a centerpiece of the Inland Seas Education Association’s programs to promote Great Lakes stewardship.

The “other” captain of the schoolship – association founder and executive director Tom Kelly – gets most of the credit for being skipper. However, it is Champt who spends far more time than anyone at the helm of the Inland Seas.

“Tom’s really the fulltime director and a part time captain,” Champt explained, “But I’m the full time captain.”

Indeed, Champt works full time for the Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) nearly year-round. From early spring through late fall, he’s directly engaged in managing the ship and its crew on the water. During the winter, he does much of the graphics work for ISEA, including many of the illustrations in the schoolship’s instruction manuals as well as display panels inside the Inland Seas Education Center.

Noted as a talented marine artist, Champt studied art in his native Belgium before pursuing a career on the water. He is a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy in Antwerp, Belgium, and holds Belgian certificates as an Able Seaman and an Assistant Engineer. Since emigrating to the U.S. in 1980, he’s earned licenses in the U.S. Merchant Marine as a ship’s engineer, mate and master (captain) for vessels up to 100 gross tons, with a sail endorsement. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985.

In addition to speaking English with a slight accent, Champt also speaks French and Dutch. Throughout the course of his career as a professional mariner, Champt has sailed around the world several times as an officer on large cargo vessels and cruise ships.

As a young man, though, Champt visited his uncle who had already emigrated from Belgium and settled in the Traverse Bay area.

“I visited here and thought, ‘Oh, boy! This is where I want to be,” Champt said.

Nonetheless, as a sailor, he was spending at least six months of the year at sea and away from his family in Michigan.

He began spending more time at home in 1989 after he landed a job working with the Maritime Heritage Alliance which now operates the historic schooner Madeline out of Grelickvile harbor. He also worked as skipper of the schooner Appledore IV based in Charlevoix.

In 1990, Kelly hired Champt to pick up the just-constructed schooner Inland Seas in Florida and deliver the new ship to Suttons Bay – Champt’s first affiliation with ISEA. Following a few more stints as a merchant mariner – ending with a 1996 term aboard the cruise ship Independence based in Honolulu, Hawaii – Champt returned to Michigan and has remained with ISEA ever since.

THE SCHOONER Inland Seas plies the waters of Suttons Bay with Capt. Remy Champt at the helm.

“This is the best part of the boating world – historic sailing vessels,” Champt said. “It just doesn’t get any better than this for someone in my line of work. Besides, you’re not gone six months at a time. You get to sail, but you also get to go home every night. It’s almost like an office job – only much better.”

At age 57, Champt is now single. His daughter, 34, and son, 17, live in Traverse City.
Asked to comment on the least pleasant part of his job, Champt responded:
“When you’re on the water 12 hours a day, day after day, it can be rough. Even when the weather is beautiful, after a few weeks you’re cooked,” Champt said. “It can be tedious.”

But that’s about it for complaints from Champt.

“It really is a dream job,” he said.