Instructor
Dan’s first experience sailing was on a Lido 14 with his grandfather in Oregon. On those lazy summer days, he developed a love for sailing, but never really thought about it as a full-time hobby, let alone a career.
Fast-forward to 2013, when a co-worker asked Dan to crew on a 36' X-Yacht for springtime beer-can races. Through weekly practice sessions and race events, Dan was hooked. He enrolled in classes at OCSC Sailing and worked his way through Basic Keelboat, Basic Cruising, Bareboat Cruising, and Coastal Passage-Making. Along the way, he honed his skills on various boats and charters on the San Francisco Bay.
In 2015, Dan resigned from his career in corporate finance to pursue a life of sailing, volunteering, and traveling. By 2017, he had lived and volunteered in Chile and Thailand, he had completed his first ocean crossing between New Zealand to Fiji, and he landed a part-time job back at OCSC as a Sailing Instructor.
With the closure of OCSC, Dan had a brief stint teaching at another sailing school in the area before returning to the Berkeley Marina to help start up and teach at Modern's Berkeley location. In early 2023, he added to his instructor credentials by becoming an American Sailing Association certified instructor. Dan is also a Cruising Powerboat Instructor with the US Powerboating affiliate of US Sailing.
Dan holds a USCG 50-ton Master License and has sailed over 10,000 ocean miles, including 7 ocean crossings in the South Pacific. He is also the owner of a J/24 in our Berkeley sportboat fleet named Midnight Run.
You can read about his sailing, volunteering, and traveling adventures at www.dannyboytravels.com. You can also view his sailing and travel videos on his Youtube channel.
