Sailing Lessons on Demand

To accommodate the varied schedules of our members and provide additional times for sailing instruction, the Club offers a program which allows members to schedule a sailing lesson directly with an instructor at a time outside of the Club’s usual scheduled lessons. There are several Junior and Senior rated members who are willing to teach sailing skills to individuals or groups at a prearranged time. This is a supplemental program to our normal Sailing Instruction.

Here’s how it works

There's a list of instructors on the website. For each instructor, there's a sailing bio to help familiarize prospective students with their background. The instructor also indicates the type of boat (dinghy or keelboat), the level of student they are willing to teach (unrated, Novice, Junior, etc.), what skills they are williing to teach, their availability for lesons and their email address. For example, a given instructor might be willing to teach one afternoon a week on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, but not both or their availability may change from week to week due to travel, work, etc. Prospective students will contact the instructor directly via email to request a lesson. The skill level, lesson contents, and any pre-requisites can all be discussed between instructor and student when arranging the lesson. (It is ok to request a lesson for more than one student). The instructor is also free to decline a lesson request since their participation in this program is on a voluntary basis. Lessons On Demand will not be offered during regularly scheduled Club lesson times, Club races, Fast Track events, Open Houses or any other Club sponsored event involving the use of the club boats. Instructors earn volunteer hours for these lessons similar to hours earned during the Club’s normally posted lesson times.

Instructors

If you wish to sign up as an instructor, please email Rear Commodore a listing of the days and times you are available to teach. (This can be changed as needed). Please also send a brief bio outlining your sailing experience, indicate what level of student you wish to teach, what, if any, specific skills you’d like to teach and whether you are willing/able to teach on dinghies, keelboats or both.

After each lesson, please record the lesson in the log book in the ClubHouse, and remember to record your volunteer hours via the online site.

Students

To arrange a Lesson On Demand, look at the instructor bios below where you will find a brief sailing bio and info on their availability. You can then directly contact the instructor via email to arrange a lesson. Please understand that instructor availability is subject to change and that the listings do not represent a commitment to teach on the part of the instructor. NOTE: It is possible to arrange a group lesson, (more than one student). Please ask the instructor when arranging the lesson.

Let Us Know How It's Working. Send us an email. We want this to be a benefit for both students and instructors.

Instructors

John Bongiovanni 

Cruising Skipper, Dinghy and Keelboat, Club member since November 2013, dinghy sailor since the mid-1980s, and Club Rear Commodore (sailing instruction). Willing to teach rated members working on the next rating (Novice to Junior, Junior to Senior), and to test for Novice and Junior ratings. Availability for lessons: Many weekday afternoons, Contact John

Gene Golfus

Member of CSC getting Junior in the second Fast Track in 2018. Love teaching and teach a lot. I have Empathy and understanding , that for me, learning to windsurf and sail little boats has been harder and scarier than it is for some and i like to help people go from looking at the water to being able to enjoy sailing and windsurfing.

Elyakim Rinat

Cruising Skipper, Club member since 2010. Willing to teach rated Juniors working on Senior dinghy skills. Available to have practice sessions with Juniors who are close to their Senior Keelboat test. Mostly available Monday through Thursday but other days could work. Contact Elyakim

Mike Sherrell

Senior Dinghy sailor. Club member for five years. Willing to teach Junior rated sailors on trapping out and/or gennaker sailing on Bahia's, Quests, or the RS500's. Also teach single-handing on the trapeze. Requires winds of at least 10 knots. Usually available on Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun.Contact Mike

Zac Weiner

Junior Dinghy sailor. CSC member for 15 years. Will teach anyone working towards their Novice or Junior ratings on any of the required skills. Available Monday through Thursday at 2:30pm, Friday at noon. Contact Zac (email or join CSC Slack and send a direct message)

Yiheng Xie

I joined CSC in June 2022, and I'm currently a junior working towards senior. I have taught around 100 hours of dinghy lessons at CSC, and helped a handful of students on their way to Junior. I am happy to teach anything from rigging up to Junior test skills, and I try my best to make my lessons encouraging, inclusive, and in which fun comes first! I can make time Tuesday - Friday afternoons, and most weekends. I prefer contact via the Cal Sailing Slack Workspace, but email also works.Contact Yiheng

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