Tag Archives: Hanson Bridgett

Hanson Bridgett, PG&E Teamwork Benefits TISC Youth Programs

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IMG_3452_resizeMother Nature delivered breezy blue skies. Hanson Bridgett and PG&E delivered agile crew. Youth and adaptive sailors who call Clipper Cove home port were the real winners in TISC’s Big Team Regatta thanks to OCSC’s fast boats and excellent coaches.

IMG_3175Friday was all about teamwork. Following a safety briefing from our regatta PRO Tim Han crews from Hanson Bridgett and PG&E boarded sleek OCSC J/105’s then headed out to Berkeley Circle to battle the clock as they learned all about apparent wind, tacking angles, winch handles and the physics of sailing.

The objective: sail a triangular shaped slalom course faster than the other team.IMG_3195

Conclusions: practices pays off, working as a team is key and boats sail faster as the wind builds. Oh – and sailing J/105’s on San Francisco Bay is wicked awesome fun ! Especially when you have expert OCSC coaches trained in teambuilding on your boat to guide you around the course.

Peet’s Coffee in Berkeley once again contributed the morning Java for BTR.  Thanks to 49 Square Catering the contestants were well fed prior to Tim Han’s pre-race briefing.IMG_3169

The Hanson Bridgett team after the safety briefing. You can read more about Hanson Bridgett and their community involvement HERE.IMG_3209The PG&E team gets psyched for the day of racing.  The PG&E Community Service page is HERE.IMG_3218

The early morning breezes provided a good warm up to the boats and provided the crews time to work out optimum positions and responsibilities.  Once on the water the OCSC instructors took charge of converting the newbie crews into racing teams.  Ashley Tobin and Jim Watters coached the Hanson Bridget team; Rich Jepsen and Trevor Steel teamed up to train the team from PG&E.

Early sailing was framed by light breezes and fluffy blue clouds.

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Around noon the westerly filled in and continued to build into a 10-15knot breeze by 2pm.The two crews were soon actively engaged in all aspects of boat handling from grinding genoas to trimming the mains to holding a proper course while beating upwind and reaching off the wind.IMG_3450_resize IMG_3418_resize

As the racing progressed the J/105’s really came to life, especially on the upwind legs. Teamwork was the only way to complete the tacking needed to navigate the windward slalom course.  Off the wind sail trim and straight courses were the way to beat the clock.IMG_3501_resize IMG_3473 IMG_3469

The races were held on the Berkeley Circle. Backdrops were provided by the Golden Gate Bridge and the loading cranes on The Alameda just south of the Bay Bridge. IMG_3420

IMG_3409The old eastern section of the Bay Bridge is still be dismantled. In less than two years the bike path – now open from Oakland to the Bay Bridge Summit – will lead to a drop-down path to Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island.

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By the last time trial both teams had dropped their times from 12+ minutes to just over 9 minutes. While the fastest time was turned in by PG&E the records will show the margin of victory was around 3% and the Hanson Bridgett team left the course believing they would have knocked another 15 seconds off their time had they been able to run one more trial in the ever-building wind.

After the racing the team from 49 Square Catering served up a hearty lunch with massive sandwiches, salads and more fresh fruit. BIG THANKS to Bay Ship and Yacht for sponsoring the lunch for crew, race committee and coaches. Your support of our programs is greatly appreciated.

Lots of behind-the-scene planning went into Friday’s event – our Tenth Annual BTR – which was led by our shore team: Annie Butts, Chris Childers, Travis Lund and Luxine Smith.

Huge thanks go out to Tim Han for taking charge of the planning at OCSC. He was ably assisted by John Mellen as they kept track of two sets of times as both racing teams were on the course nearly non-stop for two hours.IMG_3326

Our special guests for the day were a number of kids from Envision Academy who joined us for the awards ceremony and presentation of the check from Hanson Bridgett and PG&E to Treasure Island Sailing Center.

The $12,000 raised goes directly to the youth and adaptive programs at TISC. Many Envision youth attended summer sailing camps and orientation. IMG_3517_resize

They have formed a racing team – EAST for Envision Academy Sailing Team – and are developing their skills in sailing, communications, teamwork and racing techniques. You may have read our previous blog on teamwork – one of the many life lessons taught by TISC using sailing as a fun classroom.IMG_3527_resize

Thanks again to Hanson Bridget and PG&E for their donations support of this 10th annual Big Team Regatta. These two companies have been on the BTR circuit supporting TISC since the regatta’s inception in 2005. And without the support of OCSC, the excitement, teamwork, camaraderie and benefits to Bay Area Youths would simply not be possible.

If your company is interested in participating in the TISC 2015 Big Team Regatta, here are a few slides in PDF format with additional information on the September 25, 2015 Event: TISC-BTR-2015 Overview.   And here is the TISC 2015 BTR Team Entry Form.

Regards from OCSC – on the Berkeley Circle, Dave G

In the wake:

Hope you enjoyed the pictures above. These are a subset of the pictures taken during the event.  If you were on one of the boats, own one of the boats orare involved with our sponsors and would like to see the entire album send an email to daveg @ onclippercove . com.

Six Teams Learn, Race, Network at BTR

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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.

OCSC J24 FleetBTR 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!

Ellio Destiny Haris Isaiah Accept BTR DonationPG&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

Tim Han Explains RacesOCSC’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.Race Committee

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

Carisa Confirms Hands-on ApproachCarisa 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.Norbert Talks Youth Sailing

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:

Isabelle and Jorge aboard DauntlessI 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.Recommind PGE Blue PGE Power People Hanson BridgetBishop Ranch Goldman Sachs

PG&E Lead TISC Big Team Regatta On and Off the Water

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Getting Roy Miller in position to take winning photographs on Friday was easy. Writing this blog – not so easy because many people and organizations were key to the success of TISC’s 2012 Big Team Regatta.

BTR was the 2005 brainchild of Jay Palace, CEO of Group Experiential Learning Corporation and enabled by OCSC’s CEO Rich Jepsen and his team.  Without sponsorship by both companies the $35,000  we raised Friday would not have happened.

 

PG&E lead this year’s BTR in many ways.  Their Gold-Level sponsorship lead the fund raising and their “Team Two” sailors repeated as overall champions.

 

First place in the Corinthian division went to Recommind.

 

Goldman Sachs sponsorchip enabled four students from Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island to race in the regatta.  Teams from four other companies  learned about racing J/24’s in SF Bay while supporting a great cause.

 

The other 2012 BTR winners: Bishop Ranch, Hanson Bridgett,

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics Bank /Synergy and PGE “Team 1”.

 

 

 

 

 

Event set up for this day-long event included breakfast, lunch and dinner for racers, coaches, volunteers as well as registration plus set up and tear down.  As they have done so often in the past the Cal Sailing Team was there to support TISC from early morning to late evening.

A special thanks to Adam Van de Water  for providing the participants with an update on the America’s Cup plans so much in the front of everyone’s mind these days.  He is the Assistant Project Director for the 34th America’s Cup working in San Francisco Mayer Ed Lee’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development.

And finally hats off to the entire TISC Team who organized the event, solicited participants, and are continually driving our programs to ensure the success of our students.  Kevin, Madison and Michelle – great job !

The list of gifts-in-kind for this event is way too long to cover in this blog, however STAY TUNED!  We have many, many thanks due to local merchants who played a pivotal part in the success of TISC 2012 BTR.  They deserve a separate blog, and you will hear more about our huge “on-shore crew” in a blog to come.

From On The Cove (at OCSC Sailing School in Berkely), Dave G

In the wake: Thanks to St. Francis Yacht Club we had use of a 19′ Ribby for the day. Roy Miller took many great shots from this great photo boat.  You can see them HERE.