The Qualified Captain
Captain Aaron Stasiak’s boating-fails Instagram page has evolved into a full-time job, an apparel brand and an important educational tool for boaters.
In 2016 local Captain Aaron Stasiak started an Instagram page highlighting the comical and oftentimes dangerous mistakes he witnessed boaters making while out along the coast. He had no idea at the time, however, that what started out as little more than a joke would soon become both a successful apparel brand and the #1 social media influencer in the boating industry. As the CEO and founder of The Qualified Captain, Stasiak is dedicated to helping educate his nearly 1.5 million followers about boating safety, all in a humorous and entertaining way.
Growing up in Southern New Jersey, Stasiak’s love for the water began at a young age through frequent visits to Long Beach Island with his family. After graduating from high school in 2012 without a clear vision of what he wanted to do next, a friend suggested Cape Fear Community College’s Marine Technology program.
“It caught my eye right away because I saw the big research vessel they have,” Stasiak says. “I thought, if I can go to a community college and be out at sea for a week every semester, then let’s go!”
Stasiak began working part time at Bradley Creek Marina while pursuing his associate’s degree in marine technology, switching to full time upon graduation. Soon after, he earned his captain’s license and took a secondary part-time job with Sea Tow of Wrightsville Beach.
“Every day I just kept seeing all this crazy stuff happening out on the waters, especially at the marina with new boat owners,” Stasiak says. “A lot of them would take our advice and want our help, but some would get really defensive and say they were fine, even though realistically they weren’t.”
As Stasiak and his co-workers kept witnessing inexperienced boaters committing dangerous acts, they began catching some of these incidents on camera.
Stasiak decided to create an Instagram page called “The Qualified Captain,” where he posted the videos online to share with others. Gradually, the page’s social media following grew. Content started pouring in from across the country, showing the foolish things other people were also seeing.
“The next thing you know, we started getting 10,000, then 100,000, then 500,000 followers, and now we’re at 1.4 million, which is crazy,” Stasiak says.
With so much demand for his content, Stasiak noticed a demand for The Qualified Captain merchandise. He began selling clothing, hats and other accessories, both online and in retail outlets across the country.
Now that Qualified Caption is a full-time job, Stasiak left his position at the marina and hired his mother and sister to help with the now-family business. It was at about this time that Stasiak began feeling the pull to do something more than just post funny content.
“During COVID, so many people bought themselves boats, and we were getting stories sent to us about all these crazy and sometimes really sad boating accidents happening on the water,” Stasiak says. “I realized that maybe we could raise some awareness, because if we have this platform and this huge following, we can say, ‘Hey guys, this is what not to do. Educate yourself before you buy a big boat.”
Since then, Stasiak has partnered with organizations focused on increasing boater safety and education, including the Coast Guard, the National Boating Safety Council, online education provider Mariner’s Learning System, Wells Marine Insurance and Sea Tow International. Another partner is At The Helm Training, which offers hands-on safety training throughout the East Coast, something Stasiak believes is critical given the low criteria currently required for operating a boat.
“In the boating world, you don’t need to do any kind of hands-on test before you go and turn the key,” Stasiak says. “All you’ve got to do is pass an online course, and in some states, you don’t even need to do that.”
Stasiak’s hope is that as The Qualified Captain expands its content to target all aspects of life on the water, he’ll continue to reach a wider audience within the boating community, including owners, dealers, sailors, fisherman, travelers, influencers and merchant mariners. He recently started a bi-weekly podcast highlighting remarkable stories from industry experts, captains and other people who’ve experienced traumatic events and life-lesson moments at sea.
Although Stasiak’s audience is mainly made up of boaters, it also includes many followers who don’t live near water or have a passion for boating. For them, his page is all about entertainment, something Stasiak plans to continue providing in an effort to further his mission of helping all watermen stay safe.
“We want to raise awareness and educate people with our videos, but we want to keep them entertained too, because the second we lose the entertainment, we’re going to lose the following and the engagement,” Stasiak says. “If we can combine both of these together, I think we’ll see a safer boating community, because at the end of the day, nobody wants to end up on The Qualified Captain.”
Follow along:
The Qualified Captain™ – website
THEQUALIFIEDCAPTAIN (@thequalifiedcaptain) • Instagram photos and videos
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