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

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.

 

 

Historic Sunsail Afternoon with Mission Beacon Center Kids

Friday was literally a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Sharing five Sunsail First 40’s with 25 Mission Beacon Center kids: awesomeWatching the space shuttle Endeavour fly over Angel Island and Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Mason hill: historic.

 

Treasure Island Sailing Center works in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families to provide on-the-water options for learning life’s lessons on Clipper Cove.  Sunsail’s San Francisco operations in Sausalito provided both programs with a sunny, breezy two-hour sail on San Francisco bay in brand new First 40’s, made possible by five professional sailors who donated their afternoon.

Mission Beacon Center, part of the San Francisco Beacon Initiative and one of many SFDCYF programs, uses the Everrett Middle School as a center of activity for surrounding neighborhoods. TISC supports thier programs with sailing lessons and after school activities.

 

My job Friday afternoon, along with four volunteers from the Cal Sailing Team, was to work as an on-the-water host and crew aboard the Sunsail First 40’s (OK, not really a job; more like a super opportunity to sail cool new boats, teach kids about sailing and water safety, and hang out on SF Bay !).  Of course the bonus was the one-day delay in Endeavour’s visit to the Bay Area announced on Wednesday; I simply took the 7:45 bullet train from San Jose and hung out at Fort Mason for the fly-over, then pedaled over to Pier 40 for our 2pm sail.

These 25 kids and 5 chaperones would not have had this opportunity without the gracious support from Sunsail’s Sausalito General Manager Travis Lund who along with fellow sailors Charlie Bogue, George Fay, Jim Hancock and Ted Thornton donated their Friday afternoon and the Cal Sailing volunteers Katelynn Wiley, Martin Gibson,  Michael Lebow, and Saul Rosen.

From On The Cove (on this voyage from Pier 40), Dave G

In the wake: Here’s a few more pictures from our awesome, historic day on the bay.

Endeavour Over North Tower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our captain Ted Thornton arrives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety briefing before loading

 

 

 

 

 

 

Side by side heading toward Angel Island

 

 

 

 

 

AC 45 Prada up close

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7+ knots VMG heading toward Angel Island

 

 

 

 

Everyone got to drive a Sunsail First 40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture Perfect Monday

Monday’s plan was simple: check email, drive to TI, apply penetrating oil to the electric hoist cover bolts, lead a noon conference call, loosen up the pesky bolts, fix a balky trailer hitch and head home before the 5pm traffic.

Skipper’s Gift made a great work platform, however if you’re a sailor, you won’t be surprised to hear that stubborn bolts don’t always free up as easily as hoped, so “beating rush hour traffic” was not in the cards.

My delayed departure provided an opportunity to wave to Oracle 5 team on their way “home from the office”, connect with a few members of the California Golden Bears Sailing Team and take a couple hundred pictures of FJ’s in Clipper Cove with Bay Bridge and Oakland as a backdrop. 

The collegiate season has started, and the Cal team practices here M/W/F (next year I promise to visit “Team Racing Tuesday” so I’ve covered all the daily race events). 

On Monday I was able to combine both “f8 and be there” with “f28 and hold it steady” using the awesome camera I received from the PrimeTime team when I retired from Synopsys.  Here are 58 pictures of Cal Sailing Team On Clipper Cove.  NOTE: password to view these pictures is “GoBears”.

The Cal students are great team players on and off the water. Their volunteer work at Treasure Island Sailing Center is greatly appreciated –

Thanks for all you do for TISC and the Sailing Community!

 

 

 

From On The Cove, Dave G

In the wake:

Many folks have asked about the huge floating dry dock around the corner from TISC.  Here are two links with additional information:

Declassified $170million Cold War Stealth boat called the Sea Shadow is snapped  up for $2.5million… but you can’t take it for a spin round the bay
Read more

Well That’s It: The Bay Area’s Formerly-Secret U.S. Navy “Sea Shadow” Stealth Ship Auctioned for Scrap Today