Smooth Sailing

SPOTLIGHT

Smooth Sailing

St. Augustine Sailing, which offers private luxury charters and sailing lessons, has not just one, two or three family members involved in the business. There are seven of them working together.

Co-owners/spouses Rose Ann and Chuck Points have had a longtime connection to sailing. Rose Ann began spending time on boats in Washington state in her mid-20s and then purchased a double-masted sailboat and lived on it with her children for 13 years. She later met Chuck when he was working with St. Augustine Sailing.

St. Augustine Sailing was founded in 1985, but the couple bought it five years ago. Three adult children have jobs that include booking reservations, serving as a photographer/videographer and managing a fleet of sailing yachts. In addition, there are some spouses involved in the business and grandchildren who come to visit regularly.

In addition to five full-time employees, the company also has 21 contract workers.

“We have had a 25% growth since we purchased the business,” Rose Ann says, “Since COVID — depending on the quarters — we have dropped 16% to 37% from the previous years.” However, she says, it’s still greater than their pre-purchase revenue. “We are hoping this year we will be back to pre-COVID numbers.”

HEALTH CARE

• Flagler Health+ and UF Health plan to complete a merger later this year. Flagler Health+ began a search for a merger partner last August.
• Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville is adding a 210-acre north campus, growing its footprint to 602 acres. The Davis family, which founded Winn-Dixie Stores, conveyed the land to Mayo Clinic late last year. Plans for the additional area include technology hubs and experimental learning spaces.
• HCA Florida Memorial Hospital CEO Bradley S. Talbert has left to become CEO of Memorial Health in Savannah, which is also part of HCA.
• UF Health will launch a series of mobile stroke units that will include a diagnostic CT scanner, medication to dissolve blood clots and lower blood pressure and telemedicine equipment. The ambulances will include a stroke-trained health provider and other staff trained to handle strokes. The measures will help provide treatment until a patient can get to a stroke center. The first ambulance will be in Gainesville, followed by additional ones in Jacksonville and other areas around Florida.

MANUFACTURING

• Food and beverage company Danone North America will invest up to $65 million into a bottle production line in Jacksonville over two years and will add 40 jobs to the 110 currently at its plant. The investment will help expand bottle production and production of Danone’s coffee and creamer brands in the U.S.

FINANCE

• OneDigital Investment Advisors of Atlanta has acquired Florida Pension Group of St. Johns, a retirement planning and wealth management-focused company. Florida Pension has more than $500 million assets under management.

HIGHER EDUCATION

• The University of Florida is collaborating with the city of Jacksonville to explore opening a campus in the downtown area. The Health and Financial Technology Graduate Education Center would include classroom spaces and residences. The budget to open the center is about $200 million, including public and private funding. The University of Florida already has a College of Medicine location in Jacksonville.
• Saint Leo University is closing its education centers in Jacksonville, Lake City, Mayport and Ocala, among other locations throughout the South. Students at those locations will transition over the next six months to online work. The school says the closings and other recent changes will help it focus on areas and opportunities in high demand.
• Florida State College at Jacksonville and Mayo Clinic have started a dedicated unit to train students earning an associate’s degree in nursing from FSCJ. Six registered nurses will be clinical nurse teachers and work with students. Sixteen students are part of the inaugural spring cohort and are working in the medical/surgical unit at Mayo Clinic as part of the dedicated educational unit.
• The University of North Florida has hired Herbert Kotzab to lead its Crowley Center for Transportation and Logistics, which offers logistics and supply chain management education. Kotzab has more than 25 years of experience and was most recently chair and professor of logistics management at the University of Bremen in Germany.