ABOUT US
A lifetime on the water. A career built on getting things right.
Offshore Captain Services was founded on a simple belief: every boater deserves to feel confident at the helm of their own vessel.
ABOUT
About the Captain
Captain Tom Ketelhut was raised on the water. Six years working in a marina as a young man taught him how boats actually live — how they're cleaned, fueled, repaired, launched, hauled, and looked after season to season. That early hands-on apprenticeship became the foundation for everything that followed.
After earning his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Tom spent thirty-six years in the automotive, commercial truck, and marine supply industries — a career that rewarded the same instincts he'd developed on the dock: preparation, attention to detail, and a refusal to let problems become emergencies. He retired from that work to pursue the calling that had been running alongside it the whole time.
In 2009, Tom earned his United States Coast Guard Master License — 100 Gross Tons for the Great Lakes and Inland Waters, and 50 Gross Tons Near Coastal, both with Commercial Towing endorsements. He's served as Commodore of the Ford Yacht Club, sat on its Board of Directors, and currently serves as President of the Ford Yacht Club Past Commodores. He has operated power vessels from 20-foot pontoons to 65-foot sportfish across the Great Lakes and beyond.
His home port is Grosse Ile, Michigan. His vessel is The Stuntman. His territory runs from Lake Erie to Lake Huron — and wherever else the work takes him.
Tom doesn't run The Stuntman alone. His wife Denene is his First Mate aboard — and a big part of the reason the First Mate Coaching Package exists at all. When Tom talks about what a confident, prepared First Mate brings to a vessel, he's talking from experience.
ABOUT
The Philosophy
You've seen it happen. The captain losing his cool with his First Mate at the dock. The boater who drops anchor and drifts into someone else's hull an hour later. The owner who bought the boat of his dreams and quietly stopped using it because every outing felt like a test he hadn't studied for.
Boating is supposed to be enjoyable. When it isn't, the cause is almost always the same: the work that should have happened before the lines came off didn't happen.
Offshore Captain Services is built around three words — preparation, planning, practice — because those are the three things that separate a good day on the water from a stressful one. We don't teach by intimidation. We don't make captains feel small for not knowing something. We work alongside owners and their First Mates until the maneuvers feel natural, the systems feel familiar, and the next docking is one they're looking forward to instead of dreading.
The First Mate matters as much as the Captain. It's the part of boating most programs ignore, and it's the part that makes the difference between a smooth arrival and a shouting match. A confident, knowledgeable First Mate makes the captain look good, keeps the crew safe, and — in an emergency — can bring the vessel home. Coaching the First Mate isn't an add-on at OCS. It's a headline service.
WHERE WE OPERATE
Territory & Vessel
Offshore Captain Services is based in Grosse Ile, Michigan, with primary operating waters spanning Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Huron. Captain Tom's vessel, The Stuntman, is a familiar sight from the Detroit River north to the Mackinac Bridge.
Deliveries and coaching engagements regularly extend beyond Southeast Michigan — wherever the boat is, that's where we go.
