Cullen Teel began his tenure as the UC Santa Cruz Boating Director in January of 2025. Teel graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2002 with a degree in Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences. As a student at UCSC, he taught with the boating and sailing program during the school year and with the public summer courses. He has taught at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center in San Diego with UCSD and SDSU. He left Santa Cruz to pursue sailing and boating as a career and spent a few years doing boat and yacht deliveries across the Pacific Ocean, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Canada, the West Coast, and Mexico.
Teel went on to earn his USCG 100 ton Master's License and began teaching sailing and mountaineering courses with Outward Bound in Washington State, Oregon, California, Maine, and Florida. Teel spent most of his time in the state of Maine raising two amazing children where he worked with a number of non-profit organizations leading waterfront programs and providing opportunities for on the water experiences. He served as the Sailing Master at Maine Maritime Academy, working with the student population teaching seamanship skills and boat handling, as well as working with the sailing team on dinghies, keel boats, and their offshore programs. While at the Academy, he also taught small craft construction and became a US Sailing certified instructor. Teel is also a US Powerboating Instructor Trainer.
Teel has worked with high end wooden boat builders and by default picked up many skills relating to the construction, repair, and maintenance of a wide variety of vessels and their systems. He most recently managed a boatyard on the coast of Maine before coming full circle back to Santa Cruz to share his love of the ocean and his passion for teaching.
