Scott Bonder | Modern Sailing

Scott Bonder

Instructor

As a youngster, Scott was dragged kicking and screaming to his dad’s boat in New York. Despite his initial resistance, Scott was quickly hooked. Within a few years, he found himself a 14-year-old salty dog teaching boating safety courses to adults and performing emergency tows on the Long Island Sound. Even after his move to the land-locked city of Atlanta, Scott traveled yearly to the Virgin Islands to island-hop with his wife and also, eventually, with his kids.

Scott's passion for sailing kicked into high gear in 2016 when they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. After joining Modern Sailing in 2017, he quickly obtained a boatload of new ASA certifications. In 2020, he earned his USCG captain’s license and ASA instructor qualifications through classes at MSC.

Since then, Scott and his wife shopped for and purchased a new construction catamaran.  Once construction was complete, Scott flew to Cape Town, South Africa, and sailed the boat back to the Caribbean, a trip of almost 6000 nautical miles (roughly 6900 land-based miles).  Scott’s crew for the passage consisted of local sailing friends, some of which he met at Modern Sailing.  Scott continued his blue water adventures with a relatively modest hop from Grenada to St. Thomas, a trip of about 400 nautical miles.   Scott’s extensive preparation for the trip and much of the trip itself is chronicled on his blog: www.wildrumpussailing.blog.

Sailing students enjoy his step-by-step instruction method and, for the most part, suffer through his awful sense of humor.

 

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  • David Dolenc, Member

    I love sailing in the San Francisco Bay and greatly appreciate everything that MSC has to offer, the classes, clinics, club sails, racing and charters. I enjoy our supportive sailing community and use every opportunity to spend time on the water. After obtaining the certifications from MSC I did my first charter in Croatia in 2022 with my family. It was amazing and we’re looking forward to returning soon!

  • John Boynton

    The class was terrific. I know you must get many compliments about your sailing instructors...But I must tell you that Robert is outstanding. Having taught SCUBA, I really appreciate the way he is so sensitive to all on board, dealing with each so well, knowing quickly their strengths and weaknesses making each feel special and cared for.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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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Modern Sailing School & Club

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

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

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