San Francisco Bay Resources
- OCSC Sailing School and Club, Berkeley, CA
- Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine
- Jason Winkel of Argo Yacht Rigging
- List Marine, Sausalito
- Waypoints Nautical Books and Charts, Alameda
- Jeff Reid, Shipwright
- Tom Krase of "Cover Craft" Designs in Point Richmond, CA
- Liz of North Beach Canvas, San Francisco
- Michele Dulac "Varnishing Queen"
We joined OCSC a few years ago, not only for the excellent instruction and learning, but also because we felt that the community they create is easy going, supportive, and warm. All of the instructors were fantastic and the networking they provide is beyond one's expectations!
THE best sailing magazine of the U.S. Excellent stories, photos, and alwasys interesting opinionated letters.
Already have a boat but need some help getting outfitted?? In our opinion, these folks are the best in the San Francisco Bay!!
Jason, an all-around aquaman, not only helped re-rig and step our mast, but fabricated us a "stout" whisker pole (it's probably stronger then our mast :)), installed sleek new lifelines, moved our radar up on the mast, and even taught us how to splice all types of lines and how to service our own winches (which Nicole has become most proficient at)! If you are in the Bay area, or not, and in need of an extremely competent and helpful rigger for any sized sailing vessel, Jason is your man! Thanks for all your energy Jason, your help has truly been invaluable!!!!
Owner, Tom List, his son, Hans, and daughter, Jessica, run a first class operation in Sausalito. The crew there is honest, dependable, and have been extemely helpful in answering questions and locating parts for us while we have been cruising. Top notch people and service!!
Marilee, the owner of Waypoints, is super helpful and a great source to figure out all your electronic and paper chart needs for cruising. She has been a great resource and support network for us as we continue to travel around the world.
Jeff, a young, honest, ambitious hard-working local Sausalito shipwright, is also not only a friend, but helped do some beautiful craftsman details inside Dreamkeeper. His teak rails he designed and installed in both of our berths, has allowed us to even store more "stuff" onboard then we ever thought was possible! :) On top of this larger project, he also designed and built us a going-away present of a custom teak spice rack and spice jars to go with it! Thanks so much Jeff, we really appeciate your friendship and your energy!!! If you are looking for Jeff, he can be found down in the Arques Yard in Sausalito.
Tom came into the picture this past spring when we were researching a design for a new dodger, as the one that was on the boat when we bought it was falling apart. After looking at other work Tom had done around the harbors, we knew immediately that he was a true craftsman, and his work was top-quality! Months and months later, Tom not only designed and installed a new fiberglass hard-top dodger for us, he also ended up re-designing our bimini, making us a new sailcover, a cover for our liferaft, outboard, pedestal, lee cloths, and some nice shade cloth panels to drop down off the bimini when it starts getting hot. We highly, highly recommend Tom!!! Thanks so much Tom, have we told you how much we love our dodger??? :)
Liz, an extremely creative and skilled designer and upholsterer, truly helped make our boat home. She added the cozy touches of new upholstery, cockpit cusions, and "the cutest" mackarel fish pillows you'll ever see!! Check out her website and you'll probably see pics of our boat. Thank you so much Liz!!
Michele came to our rescue when we were getting ready to re-varnish all the teak on the topsides of our boat. Our intention was to do all the work ourselves, on top of the hundred other things on our lists we were ambitiously attempting to check-off that month.
We met Michele while she and her assistant, Ariel, were varnishing another boat in Pelican harbor. The varnish work was the nicest we have seen on any boat around! Michele told us she would teach us how to varnish, and look over our shoulder from time to time as we did our own work. By the time we were ready to get to work on the wood, it was only a month away from us trying to move onto our boat full-time and we were feeling pretty stressed out and overwhelmed with all the "need to make happen" projects still pending. Alas, we decided to "let go" and ask for help, which is especially not easy for me to do if i am capable of doing something myself! With the four of us working on all the brightwork, it still took us three solid weeks to get the teak looking sweet! We not only had to strip off all the old synthetic "seatol" varnish, we then had to build up the coats evenly with at least 7 coats of varnish, sanding between coats, to get a real nice protective base on for our big journey. Long days in the sun, putting almost all other projects on hold, paid off with Dreamkeeper looking extremely sexy and shiny with her teak sparkling in the sun!! The true test will now be getting us to keep adding coats along the way to keep it looking so nice!
Michele can be found pretty easily if you were to walk the docks in the Sausalito Yacht Harbor or Pelican Yacht Harbor and asking around. The most beautiful varnished boats will most likely be her handiwork, and you will recognize her by her sparkling eyes and warm smile. Thank you so much Michele!! You have been an amazing teacher and friend! We will think of you as we sit out in our cockpit with our oil lamp glowing underneath the star-filled sky!!