Islands
of the Bay Slide Show February 15 (6:30
- 9:30pm)
Corinthian Yacht Club
Did you know that there are 48 Islands in
San Francisco Bay? Each one has a distinct flavor complete with unique
wildlife and views. Join us for this visually stunning slide show by photographer
James Martin. FREE!
Member
Appreciation Day February 20 -
ALL DAY!
To show our members how much we love and appreciate them, we are hosting
an appreciation day, complete with breakfast fodder and incredible charter
specials! Charter on President's Day and pay the mid-week rate! See you
on the water.
John has been teaching advanced sailing
courses on San Francisco Bay and along the California
Coast for the past 20 years. In November of last year,
he completed his 104th advanced ASA class, spending
7 days with his students outside the Gate sailing
to Monterey and back. These conditions are among the
most difficult in the country, commonly with 30 knot
winds, 15-20 foot seas, thick fog, strong currents
and regular shipping.
John
has also taught 147 advanced ASA classes overseas in
many locations including the South Pacific, Mediterranean,
Caribbean, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Seychelles
Islands, Africa, and Alaska. What makes him unique among
other instructors is that his overseas classes have
an 80% repeat rate with old students going again and
again.
He has a 100 Ton USCG Master license
and is and ASA Ocean Passagemaking Instructor. He
is also one of the only RYA Ocean Yachtmaster Instructors
in the United States.
He is also the inventor of the LifeScoop,
a crew overboard recovery system.
JT Meade
ASA Outstanding Instructor 2009 and 2010
JT Meade's sailing career started
soon after he visited Newport, Rhode Island to witness
the 1980 Americas Cup. He found a crew position on
a 63ft Scottish yawl and delivered her through North
Atlantic storms to Bermuda. From there, he "hitchhiked"
to Puerto Rico, and ultimately found a position as
cook aboard the 85ft Schooner "Appledore".
During the '80s, JT received his
Ocean Operators License in the Virgin Islands and
worked winters delivering yachts to the Caribbean,
principally aboard "Appledore." His summers
were spent in Colorado as a professional white water
river guide throughout the rivers of the Rocky Mountains.
Both careers climaxed in 1985 with a Trans-Atlantic
delivery aboard a 50ft Bristol sloop into the Mediterranean
and the south of France; returning to the states to
row his own river boat the entire length of the Grand
Canyon for 21 days.
JT joined Modern Sailing in 1993,
received his ASA Instructors Certifications, and has
conducted ASA courses in San Francisco Bay, Coastal
California, French West Indies, and Tahiti. JT received
the "Outstanding Instructor of the Year"
in both 1995 and 1996 from the ASA. In 2002, JT, with
his wife Sue, and his 4 year old son Dylan, sailed
their 48ft ketch "Fiddlers Green" along
the California coast to Baja and mainland Mexico for
five months. In March 2003 they sailed 3,600 miles
across the Pacific to Hawaii, cruising all of the
islands for five months and returning to SF Bay and
his Instructors position with Modern Sailing. Again,
in 2009, his students and the ASA awarded him, for
the third time, with "Outstanding Instructor
of the Year".
Stan Lander
ASA Outstanding Instructor 2009 and 2010
Stan started sailing at age 15 on
Clearlake (Lake County, California) in Flying Juniors.
During high school and college, he sailed and raced
on trailer able catamarans (mostly Hobie 16s). After
graduating from San Jose State University, Stan entered
the United States Coast Guard and earned a reserve
officer's commission in Yorktown Virginia. During
his 20 year career, he served in the Coast Guard Cutter
Morganthau as a Deck Watch Officer and in Coast Guard
Cutter Northland as the Operations Officer. He is
a veteran of three drug war campaigns; two Haitian
and one Cuban Mass Migrations, with over 10 years
of ship sea service.
During his off duty time, Stan owned
and operated several different kinds of sloop rigged
keelboat and cruised with his family. Noteworthy during
these years, he and his crew Gordon Thomas captured
the Overall SE Multihull Region Championship in 1981
on a Hobie 18 sailing out of the Fairhope Yacht Club,
Alabama. After retiring from the Coast Guard, Stan
and his family settle in the San Francisco Bay Area
where he still resides with his wife Sher. After obtaining
his 200 Ton Master License in 1998, Stan quickly took
to the SF Bay water front as a Charter Boat Captain
and Sailing Instructor. He earned his ASA Sailing
Instructor Certificates in the summer of 2000. He
later earned his Instructor Evaluator Certificate
in 2006.
Currently as an active MSC staff
member, Stan teaches up to Advanced Coastal Cruising
and OUPV / 100 Ton Master Licensing classes. Additional,
he conducts Modern Sailing's Instructor Qualification
Clinic every spring just before the SF Bay sailing
season starts. Most recently based on student reviews,
he was awarded a Certificate of Achievement as an
ASA Outstanding Instructor of 2009. He is looking
forwarded to 2010 Sailing Season around the bay and
Central California Coast.
Robert McCreary
Robert learned to sail on Lake Merritt
in 1974 and brings more than 25 years of professional
sailing experience to Modern Sailing. He is a published
sailing educator and has instructed small- and big-boat
sailing and navigation at all levels along the West
Coast. Robert also served as the American Sailing
Association's National Education Coordinator, administering
educational standards and instructor training to more
than 300 sailing schools and 3500 instructors worldwide.
He has also created and advised sailing schools and
designed and implemented specialty learn-to-sail programs.
Robert pilots commercial dining
cruise vessels on SF Bay, instructs USCG captain's
licensing courses, skippers coastal and offshore deliveries
of new yachts for yacht dealers, serves as a yacht
racing tactician and coach, presents boat show seminars,
and is a private & charter yacht purchase consultant.
Heather
Richard Women's Sailing Instructor
Heather started sailing at age five in a little wooden
sunfish. Over the years, she became an accomplished
dinghy racer. While earning her Masters of Fine Arts
in sculpture, with a studio teaching credential, Heather
sailed for the Champion Boston University Varsity Sailing
Team. She has directed community boating programs in
Boston and for the US Navy in Japan, and taught teenagers
at Sail Caribbean Voyages. She moved to San Francisco
Bay to coach the youth team at the St. Francis Yacht
Club. She has been living aboard boats all of her adult
life and is currently raising her two kids aboard their
wooden ketch. She also maintains an 80 year old commercial
salmon trawler as her art studio. Heather earned her
captain's license through Modern Sailing in 2010 and
began teaching their Women's Sailing Courses. She
has worked with troubled youth, blind, abled and disabled
sailors of all ages and enjoys teaching all kinds of
students.
Ed Guinaugh
Ed Guinaugh first came to Modern
Sailing in 2000 as a student. With years of racing
in the foothill lake circuit, he was looking forward
to entering the world of bluewater cruising. After
completing some advanced classes, he landed an opportunity
to help deliver a 39' sloop from Alameda to Puerto
Vallarta. Eager for more sea time and experience,
his schedule soon became busy with boat deliveries,
both power and sail. At first the deliveries were
the usual bash up from Mexico, but eventually they
extended from the Caribbean through the Panama Canal,
up the Pacific Coast into British Columbia, and as
far west as Lahiana. Ed has experience on a wide variety
of boats, ranging from a 36 foot Rudy Choy designed
catamaran (once owned and sailed to first place in
the Pacific Cup by actor Buddy Ebsen) to a 115 foot,
344 passenger ferry, with a weekend passage from SF
Bay to Bainbridge Island, WA.
These experiences were a great foundation
for Ed to select and outfit a cruising boat. For two
years he cruised the waters from British Columbia
to Zihuatanejo before settling in Sausalito where
he began his teaching career. After acquiring a coastal
USCG Master's License with a sail endorsement and
America Sailing Association certifications for upper
level instructions, he started teaching at Modern
Sailing in 2009. Ed delights in helping others safely
enjoy the beauty of sailing, and moving them forward
to realize their boating goals. He recently took a
short break from instructing to captain several boats
in the bayous of Louisiana during the recent oil spill.
Michael Severson
Michael grew up on the water.
He began canoeing and kayaking rivers and lakes in
his teen years, and as a young adult learned navigation
skills while serving in the U. S. Navy as an Operation
Specialist throughout the Pacific, China Sea and Indian
Ocean.
He returned to California where he continued to enjoy
white water rafting, canoeing, and kayaking. In the
late 80's he acquired a 21 foot Santana and began
his sailing odyssey. He recreationally sailed on lakes
throughout Northern California for the next 15 years;
then in 2003 he ventured on to bigger sail boats and
fell in love with sailing on the ocean. He began chartering
in exotic places and crewing on racing teams. He has
sailed in the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica
and Panama.
In 2006 he joined Modern Sailing as a member to refine
and improve his skills. In 2010 he completed his certification
for his 50 ton Captain's license and ASA instructor's
training. He is currently coaching the race team.
When not sailing he teaches team building and Communication
classes at Sacramento City College. He combines over
25 years of teaching experience with his love of sailing
and looks forward to passing the joy of sailing on
to others.
Operations
Glen "Jack" Majszak Managing Partner
Jack has been part of the Modern
Sailing team since 1997. He's sailed the California
Coast, South Pacific, Caribbean and Mediterranean.
He is a US Coast Guard Licensed 50 Ton Captain.
Mollie Hagar School Director
Mollie was fortunate enough to grow
up in a sailing family. From a very young age she
was captaining Sabots and Capri 14s, learning how
to harness the wind. Because she grew up sailing in
Dana Point Harbor (Southern California) there wasn't
that much wind to harness, but she eventually graduated
to J24's, racing and winning local beer can regattas.
Before joining the Modern Sailing
Team in 2006, Mollie was the Program Director of a
junior sailing school in Dana Point Harbor. She has
extensive teaching experience and over the years has
developed a creative approach to sailing education.
Courtney Varner Membership Coordinator
Courtney grew up on the Gulf Coast
of Alabama on Mobile Bay. Coastal and outdoor activities
have been passions of Courtney's all her life, especially
camping, hiking and kayaking. Living near the water
in Alabama, Courtney has always had a love for boats.
Courtney's love for travel and new experiences led
her to Northern California about a year ago. Before
joining the crew at Modern Sailing, Courtney worked
for a ski tour company in Sonoma County. So, working
in a sailing environment on San Francisco Bay felt
like a natural progression, as is Courtney's desire
for more advanced sailing knowledge. Courtney loves
her office view of Richardson Bay and living in Marin
County.