Mindy Oppenheim | Modern Sailing

Mindy Oppenheim

Instructor

Captain Mindy's sailing story starts with “how a nice Jewish girl from Miami Beach ended up in the middle of the Cuban (Marielito) boat lift in 1979.”  Mindy graduated college essentially homeless, except for her brother’s couch, and had this great idea to go to the Miami River, bilge out a half-sunken 32 ft. sailboat, and get towed to a very funky Watson Island Marina right across from the Port of Miami. 

Luckily the Siddhartha in Search of Nirvana had no sails, no engine, and never left the dock during all the boat lift excitement. Mindy spent the summer re-ribbing, fiber glassing, itching, and loving every minute of it. Her mom would come to the docks with her lounge chair and tell everyone passing by “this is my daughters’ yacht!” After the boat lift, Watson Island became a very dangerous place. Mindy gave Siddhartha away to a refugee family and moved back to her college town, Tallahassee.

Mindy's first job was as a vocational counselor at a Goodwill where someone donated a Sunfish. She sailed the Little Mama all over the Keys, Florida Panhandle and eventually in various lakes in and around Richmond Virginia. When she moved to San Francisco in the 90’s Mindy inherited a friend’s Ranger 23’ and began to earn certifications at OCSC (now Modern Sailing Berkeley).  After several years of sailing the LisaLisaLisa, her partner came home one day and said, “I’m going to law school,” to which Mindy replied, “I’m getting a bigger boat.”

In 2004, Mindy fell in love with Tanagra, a 37’ Furia (built in Barcelona). She kept her in Miami for a couple of years before bringing her home to the SF Bay, conveniently before Hurricane Wilma.

In 2007, Mindy earned her USCG Captain’s License at Modern Sailing and and worked as a Basic Keelboat instructor and charter boat captain for a couple of years. Since 2022, she is back at Modern Sailing sharing her love of the water, boats, sailing, and our beautiful San Francisco Bay.

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Testimonials

  • Trudy Flores

    Captain Jeff Cathers is really cool. I had such a great time on the Farallones Day Trip. It was actually my very best day of 2020. Thank you so much for coordinating the trip.

    Farallones trip
  • Sara Jane G.

    I've taken two classes at MSS&C and was very happy with the program. This is also a great club with lots of opportunities for camaraderie and practice on the water. The boats in the fleet are fantastic and kept in tip-top shape. I highly recommend for all sailors and would-be sailors!

  • 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.

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Modern Sailing School & Club

Sausalito Location
2310 Marinship Way, Sausalito, CA 94965
(415) 331-8250
(800) 995-1668

Berkeley Location
1 Spinnaker Way, Berkeley, CA 94710
(415) 331-8250
(800) 995-1668

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