Tour Company Provides Accessible Adventures with Advanced Hearing System

Hearing tour guides while out sailing in a busy maritime area can be challenging, but nothing a two-way communications system can’t solve!

The Gundalow Company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the maritime heritage and environment of the Piscataqua region through education and action.

The company offers sailing tours of the Piscataqua region on a historic gundalow sailing barge. When a Gundalow Company donor expressed that he had difficulty hearing the guide during the sailing tour, he offered to fund a tour audio system for them.

Rich Clyborne, the executive director of the Gundalow Company, set out to find the perfect communication system so that guests can better access, enjoy, and learn about the Piscataqua region’s heritage and ecology on Gundalow’s sailing tours.

Uniquely Challenging Sound Environment

Gundalow Company’s sailing tours take place on the Piscataqua River, where things can get pretty noisy between the water, the wind, and other boats tooling around on the river. Additionally, the boat is not conveniently built for an audience; it’s built for sailing. There are not areas for guests to sit strategically placed to hear the tour guide.

“We had a donor who experienced difficulty hearing the education portion of our sailing tour,” explains Rich. “He suggested that if we could find the right system, he would fund the system for us.”

So Rich began researching tour audio systems that would work for their unique tour environment.

Tour guides are on a boat, sailing on the water for the majority of the day. They don’t have the means to charge audio devices at their convenience. So Rich was looking for devices with a long lifespan that could be conveniently carried and stored on the vessel.

“We did pretty extensive research on different systems that we wanted to try and Tripp Communication’s system worked the best,” states Rich.

An Elevated Experience for Diverse Groups of Guests

The gundalow can hold up to 40 guests for public sails and the tours last up to two hours long. There is not much time in between tours, so it was crucial for the Gundalow Company that the headsets could last for multiple tours.

Rich says, “I really like the docking case they come in that can be plugged in then carried on the vessel, keeping everything charged.”

The Gundalow Company hosts two to three public sails per day during the summertime. They also offer private charters (for weddings, celebrations, and business events) and education sails (for school children, scouts, and adults). In the summer months, they also host a summer speaker series where guests can enjoy a sunset sail and hear about local topics including lighthouses, submarines, and more.

Rich explains, “We do a number of sails with organizations such as retirement communities or assisted living. We also do some veteran sails and things like that where the guests’ hearing is not the greatest.”

Rich recalls on one particular sail, they had a guest who used hearing aids but didn’t want to take them out to use the headset. The tour guide was able to help the guest successfully use the audio system even with hearing aids.

“Having the headsets has allowed folks to be able to clearly hear what tour guides are saying without straining to hear or moving to try to get closer,” says Rich.

Since using the tour audio system, the Gundalow Company has been able to provide a more personal, educational, and genuine experience for a diverse range of guests.

Easy-to-Use Tour Audio System

Response to the newly implemented communication system has been positive. Rich says that tour guides have seen the advantages and guests have commented that they are able to very clearly hear what the tour guide is saying.

One of Rich’s favorite aspects of the system is how easy it is to use. He says, “It is an easy system to operate, and it is easy to take care of the equipment.” The ease of use has made the process of implementing the system fairly smooth.

When it came to working with Ted Tripp to find the perfect audio system for their tours, Rich says, “Ted was wonderful in communicating with us. We had a lot of questions regarding the equipment, life cycle, and warranties. He was very responsive and got back to us quickly.”

After requesting a demo kit, Gundalow tour guides were able to test the system and try out different headsets to determine which set-up was easiest to use.

“The system works great!” shares Rich, allowing the Gundalow Company to provide a truly unique and enjoyable educational experience for tour guests.