Is you cross the Bay each day on the ferry, or look out onto the Bay while riding public transit, you can’t help but see sailboats. There may not be many on weekdays, but on weekends there can be hundreds.
By Captain Ray
Published: February, 2008
You see sails everywhere, going in all directions. Perhaps you’ve thought, That looks like fun, but I don’t know how to sail. Besides, it must be expensive to own a boat. Anyway, I’m not a kid anyone, so I guess it’s a little late to start. Not true! For my first column in Bay Crossings, let me tell you my story.
I started sailing as an adult. My dad had sailed before he got married and occasionally talked about it, but I was 30 years old before I ever set foot on a sailboat. It was 1975. I had six years of college (and no degree—very much a product of the 60s) and was living on the beach in Hawai’i. At first, I had pitched a tent. Then, I built a shack. It was a nice shack: four rooms, two stories, and cold running water. I had my own private beach about a half-hour walk from the nearest pavement.
Some days, a boat would sail up to my front yard. Eventually, I swam out and met the guys driving the boat. They were running a business called Pacific Sail & Snorkel. They had one boat and offered the proverbial three-hour tour. Later, I saw them in town (Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island) and got to know them. After a few months, they offered me a job on the boat. My response: I don’t know how to sail!
They said they could teach me to sail, but they couldn’t teach me how to be dependable. So here I was living in a shack on the beach, trying to convince a prospective employer that I’m a dependable kind of guy! It worked: I learned to sail, earned my Master’s License, and went on to be an inter-island charter skipper in the Hawaiian Islands for 15 years.
Because my dad needed a hip replacement, I ended up back on the Mainland. I didn’t intend to stay, but I read a help-wanted ad asking for someone who: (1) had a Master’s license; (2) had many years of sailing experience; and (3) could talk! I thought I might never again see a want ad that fit me so well, so I responded. After a trial sail on a boat smaller than any I had ever sailed before, I accepted a job as a sailing instructor at OCSC Sailing in Berkeley.
That was more than 20 years ago. I am now OCSC’s Master Instructor. In addition to teaching students, I also train new instructors, lecture on navigation and weather, and help develop the curriculum.
In 1995, after an exhaustive examination by the national governing body for the sport of sailing, I was appointed a US SAILING Instructor Trainer (I.T.) and asked if I would volunteer to serve on US SAILING’s National Faculty. As an I.T., I get to travel around the country examining people who want to be US SAILING-certified Instructors. I’ve been sent to Santa Barbara, Seattle, Long Island Sound, Florida, even to St. Croix and the British Virgin Islands. National Faculty is a think tank that meets once or twice a year to discuss and (hopefully) resolve issues in sail training.
So, as it turns out, I’ve been sailing four and five days a week for over 30 years, even though I did not grow up in the sport. Now I’ll be taking over this column from Scott. He and I have worked together at OCSC Sailing for many years and collaborated on several curriculum projects, so this shift seems natural to me. Thank you, Scott, for this opportunity. It’s a long way from a shack on the beach! I guess I’m just at the right place at the right time once again…
Ray Wichmann,
