Lending Club 2 Bounces TISC Kids Around SF Bay

Posted on June 23, 2015 by skippersgift

Seeing smiles of excitement on TISC kids faces hurtling across SF Bay on a trampoline skimming over the waves at 30 knots – no surprise. Driving 105’ world-class trimaran speedster Lending Club 2 – an even bigger thrill for them.

Our June 12th Friday fun adventure at Treasure Island Sailing Center came courtesy of the Len ding Club2 sailing team. Their launch docked at 12:45 and a dozen Opti and FJ sailors were off on their afternoon adventure. The transit from Clipper Cove to Pier 27 was the fastest these TISC campers ever experience – by far. The adventure was repeated for a second group later in the afternoon.

What they thought was a cool ride (“I’ve never been on a boat this fast”) was just a warm-up. After transferring to LC2 and listening to the safety talk the fun really began.

First thrill – seeing water just a few feet below going by very, very fast.

Once our young sailors figured out port & starboard netting was like a trampoline, smiles emerged and energy burn commenced. Non-stop running, bouncing and jumping between mid-boom and foredeck soon became comfortable and energizing.

Even the Golden Gate Bridge got into the trampoline action.

There’s more! Once Captain Ryan offered up the helm to all interested, attention immediately shifted to the dual wheels as the kids lined up for their chance to steer. The thrills just kept building (along with respect for Mother Nature’s cool windy breath and the many wonders offered up by San Francisco Bay).

By the way, that’s not a tide-line in the background. It’s 30 knots of wake being left behind faster than you can imagine.Playful, bouncing giggling kids suddenly became thoughtful watchful kids. With smiles.

Fun Friday often features sails around Treasure Island, perhaps to Angel Island. On this Friday, landscapes seen in the distance zoomed closer and closer – in no time at all. Incredible how fast you can cross SF Bay cranking at 30+ knots.

Alcatraz. Golden Gate Bridge. Belvedere. St. Francis and Golden Gate Yacht Clubs. Oh so close.

TISC’s mission is to create opportunities for the Bay Area community to learn and grow through sailing. We use sailing as a platform to teach life lessons to underserved youth with a focus on self-esteem and respect for the Bay.

Aboard Lending Club 2 our kids saw these life lessons for real. They saw the LC2 team communicating, working together. Goal setting and leadership all had their obvious place on the boat.

Self-esteem? I think mentioning that you just finished driving a 105’ trimaran on SF Bay qualifies. Overheard as the kids departed: “Wow I never expected to be jumping on a trampoline in the middle of San Francisco Bay”. For sure LC2 crew can add a check-mark next to “help create respect and love for Mother Nature.”

Many thanks to the Lending Club team for reaching out to TISC and to the Crew of Lending Club 2 for a not-to-be forgotten adventure.

Regards from Aboard Lending Club 2, just around the corner from Clipper Cove,

Dave G

In the wake:

Twenty five smiling kids (plus 3 fortunate chaperones), SF Bay, Mother Nature and the star of the day – Lending Club 2 – served up many more photos than can be included in a blog.

You can see additional TISC Week 2 Fun Friday photos from LC2 on our Facebook page HERE or download hi-res versions here: bit.ly/LC2-TISC

Opening Day: Sails, Paddles and Smiles On Clipper Cove

Posted on April 30, 2014 by skippersgift

Saturday’s Opening Day Featured blue skies, steady winds, eight sails, a bunch of kayaks & paddleboards, and hundreds of smiles. Our supportive volunteer force worked Wednesday through Saturday. Kudos to our TISC team for a job well done!

Opening day was combined with Safe Boating Day this year. The rain on Friday was unusual however the Cal Sailing Team showed up to finish the set up anyway, then returned first thing Saturday to make sure all was ready and greet visitors. No way this event happens without their dedicated support.

Parents and students also turned out in force to help set up and manage beach logistics. It was great to see them having fun while giving back. Thanks also to the Life Learning Academy volunteers.

There are many, many, many moving parts to opening day. Some happen in real time, some must be ready days, weeks or months in advance. Madison Gattis, our Director of Operations, has been on this since the beginning of the year.

Once the day started Chris Childers, our Programs Director, oversaw the boats, dock workers and hundreds of guests on Clipper Cove. New this year was the use of the west beach for the water toys with launches transporting guests to/from the docks to the beach.

Annie Butts, our Head Instructor, had her hands full with driving, coordinating crash boats and answering lots of volunteer questions. Thanks also for her many hours of boat prep prior to the event.

Staging the paddleboards and kayaks at the beach and using launches to ferry people to and from was a great idea. This plan provided a completely separate venue and afforded a different view and experience for non-sailors. Not everyone came to sail, yet everyone enjoyed being on Clipper Cove. Here again, volunteers were in place to help ensure safety.

The old Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge is being deconstructed. You can see the initial gap which will continue to widen over time.

The highlights of the day were the huge smiles, compliments, high-fives and sincere thanks from the many guests (we stopped counting sometime after 500) who attended Opening Day 2014. Some were repeats from last year; many were new to Clipper Cove and wanted to bring their families out for awesome time on the water courtesy of Treasure Island Sailing Center.

Four sail boats departed the docks every fifteen minutes from 11:30 until 3pm. Do the math; that’s over 300 opening day sailboat rides. Our volunteers registered all these people, gave them a safety briefing, fitted life jackets and escorted them to and from the docks for embarking and disembarking the five J24s and three RS Ventures. Many thanks to the TI Vanguard and Laser fleets, Cal Sailing, TISC tenants, and Bay Area Association of Disable Sailors for keeping managing the constant flow on the ramps and docks. Special thanks to the V15 and Laser sailers for setting up the tent (and taking it down tomorrow).

Mother Nature favored us with a gorgeous day. Rather windy toward the afternoon, which put an even higher premium on the efforts from Cal Sailing team who helped with dock logistics the entire day. Here are three smiling faces who greeted just about all my guests; this was taken after my last trip – they’re still smiling!

Regards, from On The Cove,

Dave G

In the wake:

Many of the great pictures above, including the first which captured the variety of the day framed by the new Bay Bridge Eastern Section, were courtesy of Valerie Santorini from Golden Gate Yacht Club. She and other GGYC volunteers spent the entire day On Clipper Cove ferrying guests from the dock to the beach while taking great pictures. Thank You Val !!

Six Teams Learn, Race, Network at BTR

Posted on October 1, 2013 by skippersgift

Mother Nature delivered near-perfect weather for TISC’s Big Team Regatta on Friday. PG&E set the pace while Goldman Sachs set a great example. Bishop Ranch, Hanson Bridgett and Recommind teams rounded out the generous teams who raised $30,000 for our youth programs.

BTR is the major Treasure Island Sailing Center fundraiser each year. It’s made possible by the generous donation of facilities, boats and coaches from OCSC and the hard work of our TISC team plus many volunteers from Cal Sailing Team.

This regatta was the brainchild of Jay Palace at Group Experiential Learning. It provides an opportunity for companies to give back to the sailing community by sponsoring four participants who expand their sailing skills and have fun while learning to work efficiently as a team on and off the water. And meet other like-minded sailing enthusiasts and youth sailing supporters!

PG&E entered two teams this year and lead both on the water, placing one – two, and off with a total donation of $10,000. Goldman Sachs sponsored four junior sailors who represented TISC and accepted the donation made possible by all BTR participants.

Some of these junior sailors are new to TISC, some have been sailing with us over five years. They include junior instructors, office interns and an inventor creating a foiling Moth. They sail Optis and FJ’s. All great kids learning life lessons while developing self-confidence in themselves as they help others

OCSC’s Club Manager Tim Han was the regatta PRO who delivered pre-race briefings, kept everyone on schedule and ran 5 exciting races with help from Christina Ha and Tracy Rogers. BTR sailors were on high learning curves thanks to their OCSC coaches Ashley, Bruce, David, Eric, Jim and Larry.

Racing was very clost at this year’s BTR. The first race saw four boats cross the finishe line within seconds of each other.

Carisa Harris-Adamson, co-chairman of the TISC Foundation, reminded participants about the effectiveness of hands-on learning and highlighted our new Set Sail Learn program launched in partnership with ONESF: Celebrate the Cup.

Norbert Bajurin, commodore of Golden Gate Yacht Club and fresh from a dramatic ending to the 34th America’s Cup races, provided a timely and topical keynote. He spoke about the importance of junior sailing to our youth here in the Bay Area and worldwide, and the focus of GGYC and TISC programs high school and youth sailing programs.

A huge THANK YOU to this year’s participating companies for making Big Team Regatta 2013 a huge success. As with all such great events we have many sponsors and volunteers to thank, and we’ll do so in a future blog.

Thanks, from On the Cove,

Dave G

In the wake:

I was fortunate to have Isabelle and Jorge, youth sailors from our FJ and Opti racing teams, helping out on the photo boat. They helped track the competitors and took some of the pictures available HERE.

A few additional pictures of the six racing team are below.

Jimmy to Kids: “Never Give Up”

Posted on September 26, 2013 by skippersgift

On Clipper Cove is usually about kids’ smiles and volunteers’ hours. This one is different. Today’s message is for our kids, not about them: “Never give up and always support your team”.

We watched 19 America’s Cup races on our iPad, from the spit in front of Marina Green or from The Bay. Our entire family was aboard Skipper’s Gift as we watched fateful race 8 from the windward mark when the Kiwis nearly tipped over. Yesterday we were fortunate to watch from the deck on Golden Gate Yacht Club.

The media briefings following each day’s racing were as educational, insightful and motivational as the races were exciting. Jimmy Spithill and Dean Barker both remained poised under the relentless barrage of questions from the media.

Jimmy was positive and “single-messaged” at all times. As the score started to heavily favor New Zealand and even when Oracle Team USA was down 1-8 his message remained the same: “Our design team, shore team and sailing team are all working together to make the boat faster and we will never give up”.

Building self-confidence can often be harder than teaching communications, goal setting and team work to young sailors. In fact, self confidence can only be gained, it can’t be taught. Dedicated instructors and coaches, adults who really care, and role models like ALL the AC teams make a big difference in motivate kids to work toward self-confidence.

We have always taught our teams to play their best and have fun. At the end of the day, winning is always more fun than loosing.

Here again, Jimmy’s final message was positive and encouraging. He acknowledged the boat performance and boat handling leadership New Zealand provided to everyone. When he said this was a tough fought match and unfortunate someone had to loose, it was clear he meant it. Same with everyone from OTUSA I saw interviewed.

Were you able to fight back that small tear in your eye when the TV cameras showed the young kiwi on his father’s shoulders with the New Zealand flag in the background during the presentation of the Americas Cup ? I was not.

Sailing programs around the world will benefit from the excitement generated by the 34th America’s Cup. The 19 races over 19 days on these amazing foiling 72′ cats delivered a historical event which has changed how people view sailing forever.

The material legacy from this event can already be seen around SF Bay with new docks and refurbished piers. The Cup’s impact on fourth graders in the San Francisco Unified School District will start next week when students show up at TISC to attend the first “Set Sail Learn” classes we created in partnership with the San Francisco America’s Cup Organizing Committee and ONESF: Celebrate the Cup.

Regards from On The Cove, Dave G

In the wake:

All the races and press briefings are located here: America’s Cup on Youtube

Jimmy’s “imagine what an upset this would be if we won out from here” is at the very end (21:05) of the September 14th media briefing . The snippet where Jimmy talks about that possibility is here: Imagine . . .

Links to the Redbull/Oracle “No Second Place” videos about the AC 72’s and SF bay.

Episode 1 – About the race

Episode 2 – Training

Episode 3 – AC72 Technology

Episode 4 – Foiling

Episode 5 – Sailing the Bay

Episode 6 – Defending the Cup

A few pictures from the final race:

Jimmy talked about “the old girl” and the increase in upwind speed obtained over the last two weeks. It was this upwind performance that turned the tide in favor of AC17.

OTUSA AC17 and Aotearoa foil downwind during the last race. AC17 Foiling Downwind

Crowds from all over the bay watch as Oracle Team USA head for the finish line after 19 hard-fought races.

As the crowds dissipated junior sailors from St. Francis Yacht Club head out for practice on what just hours ago was the greatest racetrack in America’s Cup History.

OnClipperCove

Launching Point for New Horizons

Tag Archives: Golden Gate Yacht Club

Lending Club 2 Bounces TISC Kids Around SF Bay

Opening Day: Sails, Paddles and Smiles On Clipper Cove

Jimmy to Kids: “Never Give Up”