John Connolly

John taught advanced sailing courses on San Francisco Bay and along the California Coast since 1993. As a former owner of Modern Sailing, his incredible experience and high-energy creativity helped to shape the school and club.

In addition to teaching local courses, John was most known for teaching advanced ASA courses in overseas locations including the South Pacific, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Seychelles Islands, Africa, and Alaska.

The John Connolly Memorial Sailing Team Scholarship was established in August of 2014 in memory of John by his family and friends. John Connolly graduated from the University of Maryland in 1971. He was a leader on campus and an active member of the University of Maryland Sailing Team. He spent much of his life teaching advanced sailing courses around the world and fostered a love of sailing in many of those who learned from him. This Scholarship will support students who are active on the University of Maryland Sailing Team and demonstrate academic merit and financial need.

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John Clark

Every aspect of Modern Sailing - training, syllabus, course materials, quality of the boats, quality of the instructors, and the very friendly and helpful staff - exceeded my expectations. Modern Sailing has a first class sailing program in an environment with challenging winds and currents. I look forward to coming back to charter a boat and certainly plan to continue my sailing training.
John Kratochvil, Oregon

I would like to compliment Stan Lander for his coaching, counseling and teaching Heavy Weather Offshore Sailing. Stan was very accommodating to all of the student's interests and shared his many years of insight on handling the boat in heavy seas. I would certainly recommend Stan and this course to sheltered waters sailors. My confidence in handling a boat of this size was certainly enhanced by the experience.
John Kipping

The meeting room was quite adequate and the location most convenient, but the course outline and instruction were outstanding. Modern Sailing is fortunate to have such a well organized instructor in Mr. Stan Lander who teaches very well from a rich professional background. Mr. Lander was generous with his time and patiently in helping students who needed more attention or time in understanding various aspects of the curriculum.
Lisa Butzer Wilde

Thumbs up to (Club Skipper) Geoff (Love) and his wife Laura. I went on my first Club Sail on Sunday, January 18, 2026. They were terrific!
Warren Leiden, Member

I try to get out on the water every week: out the Gate, around Angel, up Raccoon - I love it all. After 18 years as a member of OCSC in Berkeley, I learned to sail the bigger boats at Modern by taking ASA 103 and 104. My ASA 104 instructor Dave Russell was terrific. Also, Captain Bill Moreland has been very generous in giving informal advice whenever I’ve asked him. Thanks to Bill, I no longer have any anxiety about docking!

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