Sailing Education Adventures

Frank and Cathy met each other in the late 1980's when they both joined the Oceanic Society and took sailing lessons through the "original" SEA (and Crew Group). They both learned to sail centerboard dinghies and taught classes out of Clipper #2 in Sausalito for years. Frank bought his Santana 22, Tackful, in 1986 or 1987 and they started racing together over in the Berkeley Circle....where they say they were TERRIBLE then! But they stuck it out (the racing and the relationship!) and they consider themselves now as the "oldest salts" in SEA!  Frank says that they simply are two "mature" sailors who like being around the young and enthusiastic SEA sailors.

Cathy moved to Bay Area in 1983...knew no one, knew nothing about Bay Area other than that she heard it was a great place to go sailing. She decided to learn to sail as a way to meet people and get to know the area. Took her first lesson at Cal Sailing in 15-ft dinghies, and then advanced to keel boat sailing via SEA (formerly part of the Oceanic Society). As for Frank, he said that his passion for sailing started when his knees went bad and he could no longer ride his bike. They have been sailing then since 1983, about 25 years now.

What Cathy enjoys the most about sailing is being outside and part of the environment. She also loves the technical challenge of racing. For Frank, it is being out on the water, understanding and being in tune with the boat and of course, racing.

 Their favourite places to sail? It’s anywhere in the North Bay, especially Sausalito/San Francisco area and since they mostly enjoy racing; they never get tired of racing around the "Knox" course (in front of Angel Island).

Back in 1983, via the Volunteer Center of San Francisco, Cathy learned that the Oceanic Society gave reasonably priced sailing lessons. Jane Piereth, the sailing guru of the Oceanic Society, had created the original SEA. Cathy got hooked in with her group, met lots of other sailors, took all kinds of lessons, and eventually taught in the dinghies and on Tackful. This is what brought Cathy to SEA. For Frank, it was also the former Oceanic Society.

What they enjoy most about SEA is seeing people getting out on the water, the enthusiastic people, and especially Maia and Kai! This all is because of the efforts of Mark and Barbara who have re-energized the group for us, says Frank.

Besides sailing, the other ways that have been involved with SEA were though teaching dinghy and keelboat classes, Cathy also served on the Board, was interim executive director in 1996, prepared annual income tax returns and payroll reports for many years. Now she just helps out here and there where she can. Frank gets involved with occasional maintenance, teaching racing class and these days a beer or two on Dezi.

For Cathy, her favorite sailing or SEA experience is teaching sailing lessons on Tackful. For Frank it was Racing 101 on the water Start Clinic.