a community of female boaters aimed to build confidence & get more out of boating
Good Morning Sunshine
Get your sea legs
Good Morning Sunshine is a woman-founded boating community aimed to help female boaters gain knowledge, confidence, and connections in a male-dominated community. Through our community and education, we help boaters from a wide range of experience gain confidence and freedom on the water by addressing fears head on and helping set expectations for what to expect in real boating situations. Our courses are focused on getting boaters experienced and educated to help them find peace, calm and connection on the water, and the confidence to adjust to new, unexpected, and difficult situations. With a proven process that we will demonstrate, the more you gain proficiency, the more confident you are, the more you will believe in yourself.
What do you hope to accomplish? You can do this!
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Boating Basics
At Good Morning Sunshine we teach beginners how to anticipate captain’s orders and become a contributing mate while aboard any boat. Learn boating basics ranging from terminology and etiquette to safety standards and mariner customs. You will gain the skills to be comfortable knowing what to ask and when to act.
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Practice With Captain Connie
Want to know everything about how to drive a boat or just trying to feel more at ease at sea? We will spend time creating the plan for you to gain just as much knowledge as you want to have. Fill out our inlet form and we will create a course to meet your needs.
Our Community
The Good Morning Sunshine Community offers a safe space for female boaters to learn, grow and connect with like minded women who love to be on the water! We provide resources in an open, non-judgemental forum for you to gain the necessary boating skills and build confidence on the water.
For New boaters
We teach the basics and provide hands-on experience.
For experienced boaters
Find resources to sharpen your skills and share your knowledge!
All are welcome, there is a place for you here!
Our Founder
Connie Stancill Rhodes
Captain Connie’s goal is simple; teach women (and their partners) to be comfortable and gain confidence while boating and experience the joys of being in control and eliminating fear.
Captain Connie's passion for the water began at a very young age. Her love of the outdoors, adventure, and exploration started with swimming along the Harford and Baltimore County shorelines and going to Ocean City, Md., every summer. She learned to boat alongside her family and friends and got “hooked” as a child on fishing, boating, and all things water-related.
Captain Connie is experienced with boats of many different sizes. She has owned or operated more than 25 different boats including a 45-foot Power Cat “Lucy,” a 40-foot Riviera “Gia,” various Sea Rays, Tiaras, and Center Consoles ranging in size from 18-40 feet. Her current teaching vessel is a 29-foot Sea Ray.
Captain Connie has been a captain and/or first mate in many bodies of water, including the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, waterways from Maryland to Massachusetts, and down the Intercoastal from Maryland to the Florida Keys as well as excursions that included crossing the state of Florida via the Okeechobee waterway to Fort Myers, and Cape Coral, She has travelled the Intercoastal as far north as Sarasota, Stopping at many points along the way. She has “bare boat” chartered boats on four different occasions in the U.S. Virgin Islands and in the international waters of the British Virgin Islands.
Along with boating, kayaking, paddle boarding, and fishing are a few of Captain Connie's favorite outdoor water activities. Some of her most memorable fishing expeditions include flats fishing around the Florida Keys, tarpon fishing in Boca Grande, and shark, tarpon, bone, permit, and barracuda fishing in the British Virgin Islands and Marlin fishing out of Oregon Inlet in North Carolina. Her next adventure is to continue her passion for fishing including Marlin, Wahoo, Snapper, Barracudas thoughout the East Coast, Florida and Mexico.
A veteran in the commercial real estate industry, Captain Connie has worked in all facets of the business, involving development, leasing, property management, project management, marketing, interior design and repositions, acquisitions, and dispositions. She has worked around the country and mentored many future leaders of the industry.
“Live your life by a compass, not a clock!”