 On Board Since September 1994 OCSC: Why do you sail? SM: 1) Being independant, relying on no one but myself; 2) Getting away fron the crowds, i.e., stop and go traffic, sirens; 3) Developing and maintaining the discipline and skill sets required to be on the Bay and the wide open ocean; 4) For the sheer beauty of being out on the open water in the middle of the night and for seeing the world from a different perspective. OCSC: What do you enjoy about working at OCSC? SM: The thing I enjoy the most is being able to teach and develop the skills necessary to share a complex skill with the wide variety of students that pass through here. I also like having the privelege of working shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the finest sailors and sailing instructors in the country. And it's the opportunity to live my dream. OCSC: What's your sailing background? SM: "Back In Vermont when I was 14 I sailed six or seven times on a Thistle and fell in love with the idea of being able to control a boat with the wind and the sails. Didn't sail again until I was in my early 40's and lived here in the Bay Area. I took Basic Keelboat sailing lessons from a sailing school in Sausalito, bought a boat and was on my way to finally fulfilling a lifelong dream. I have since sailed extensively in the Carribbean, both coasts os Florida, Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, the entire coast of West America, the San Juans and as far north as Desolation Sound on the coast of British Colunbia. I have taken boats back and forth between Hawaii and Sa Francisco four times. I hitched rides on some deliveries, entered my boat in the Sausalito Friday night Beer Can races, sailed up in the Delta and then in 1993 answered an ad in Latitude 38 for sailing instructors at OCSC, the rest as they say, is history. Since working at OCSC, I have earned the various US Sailing instructor certifications through Coastal Passagemaking and will be applying for the Ocean Passagemaking ticket. I am a US Sailing Instructor Trainer through Coastal Passagemaking and am honored to have been invited to be a member of the US Sailing National Faculty on the Keelboat committee for the past three years. OCSC: When you're not sailing, what can we find you doing? SM: Painting and selling water colors, hiking and sketching the local wild flowers, gardening, cooking (and cleaning).
OCSC: What are your top five sailing books of all time? SM: 1) The Patrick O'Brian series 1-20 (novels); 2) The Passage to Jeaneau (non-fiction) 3) Woman in the Wheelhouse (non-fiction); 4) Hen Frigate (non-fiction) 5) Storm Tactics (educational) 6) Do I have to stop here? There ar so many others!
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