Voices of the Bay: Bristol’s George Yioulos

Zim Sailing in Bristol’s Industrial Park is the largest manufacturer and distributor of small sailboats in North America and is the designated builder of sailboats for college and high school sailing teams across the country. CEO George Yioulos, who purchased the company in late 2021, often reminds his 35 employees that while it is his company, it’s their business. The California native graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree in business and was a member of the sailing team, serving as captain for three years, a role he credits with giving him more experience in leadership, crunching budget numbers, and problem-solving than his coursework. The summer before his senior year, Yioulos worked for a boat dealer and had the opportunity to buy the company, taking ownership the day after commencement and renaming it West Coast Sailing. When he purchased Zim Sailing, the original plan had not included a move from the Northwest. These days, he and his wife Daria have acclimated to the East Coast way of life and call Bristol home.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT: At age 9, I wanted to own a business. I had cards printed up. My philosophy when I started West Coast Sailing was that the worst thing that could happen was that I’d go broke and learn a lot!

EAST VS. WEST: The first thing I learned on day one living here is that people tell me what they think. I’m not used to it. I’m used to the soft approach of the West Coast. I’ve always interpreted direct feedback as kind of negative feedback, but people don’t usually mean it that way. It’s taken me a couple of years to adjust to it.

DO YOU KNOW: Everyone jokes that Rhode Island is small, and everyone does kind of know everyone else. I was used to being fairly anonymous, and I still am. My wife Daria and I came here with no background, no community, no connection. For a long time, I was kind of not into it, but now it’s comfortable, it feels peaceful. I like it here, and I get it. Bristol has a very small-town American feel.

MAKE IT 20: We have a good boat that’s reliable, lasts a long time, and we deliver [boats] on time. Quality is the thing that matters. Of the top 20 schools that competed at college nationals, 17 bought their boats from us. We want to make it 20.

SAILING FOR ALL: Sailing has this stigma that it’s always super expensive. Community sailing is one of the most important ways you build the ground floor of the sport and improve access to it. Newport is probably the best example of a community sailing center. Here in Bristol, the East Bay Sailing Foundation has the infrastructure and resources. Youth sailing is really important to the foundation of our sport.

COMPANY CULTURE: We want people who want to stay and build careers. We have a mother- daughter, father-son, cousins, uncles; we’ve had up to four brothers working here. They know we’re going to take care of them, try to offer good benefits, good pay, all that stuff. I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and have people who’ve been with me for 19 years.

RI MADE: Last December, I was at the International Sunfish Class Association Sunfish World Championships in Ecuador, where we had shipped four 40-foot containers of our boats that were built in Bristol. All these people from all over the world came. There are 25 nations represented by 100 sailors – Dutch, Italians, French, Colombians. It was so gratifying to see all these people using our product, built by hand in Bristol by people from Rhode Island.