Spring Boating Symposium Faculty
Click on the name below to jump to that presenter's bio.
Beth Leonard
Beth Leonard and her husband, Evans Starzinger, have completed two circumnavigations and logged more than 110,000 nautical miles. They have recently completed a ten-year circumnavigation by way of all of the Great Capes that took them as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Cape Horn. Beth is the author of three books: The Voyager's Handbook, Following Seas and the award-winning Blue Horizons.
Friday night: 7:30 pm Glacier Island: The beauty of South Georgia
Don and Sharry Stabbert
Don has spent the majority of his life on boats. From age 3 to 19 years old he lived on a converted 136ft WWII Minesweeper; a Missionary-Hospital ship that traveled to Native villages on the BC Coast and throughout SE Alaska. Sharry had never been on a boat bigger than a rowboat until she met and married Don. She learned to sail when they raced a 17ft Thistle for 10 years, then moved up to race and cruise a Cal 40 for 11 more years, before they went over to the "dark side" and bought a powerboat. Prior to 2000 they had cruised to SE Alaska for more than 10 seasons.
In 2000 they purchased Starr, a 75ft Northern Marine. They have cruised Starr (without crew, but with great sailing friends joining them for the long ocean passages) twice through the South Pacific to New Zealand, as well as across the Atlantic for two years of cruising in Europe. In 2009 they departed Seattle, cruised to Japan via Hawaii, the Marshal Islands, Micronesia, and the Marianas, arriving in Ashiya, Japan (between Kobe and Osaka) where they spent a full year cruising and exploring. They departed Ashiya this past April to return to Hawaii, a 4000nm, 24-day nonstop ocean passage. After more than 50,000 miles of cruising the various oceans of the world, they are convinced that there is no better cruising than the coast of BC and Alaska, with a little warmth from the South Pacific thrown in. Fortunately, Hawaii is a relatively easy run to the South Pacific as well as to Seattle or Alaska.
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Being Prepared for the Unexpected
Sunday 9:00 to 10:15 Living the Dream One Step at a Time
Pam was introduced to boating/sailing on Maui in 1980 and worked as captain, crew and naturalist for 20 years. She was employed at the Hyatt Regency Maui, sailing on Kiele V, opened the Maui Ocean Center in the curatorial department, and researched Humpbacks with Ocean Project. She is passionate about being in, on and around the water. She moved to Whidbey Island in 2006 where she earned her Associates Degree in Marine Technologies. She's restored a 1959 Red Fish and enjoys teaching and sharing her boat knowledge with a hands-on class which is directed towards women who are interested in understanding Basic Boat Systems.
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Basic Systems Clinic for women
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Basic Systems Clinic for women:pt 2
Pam is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest and teaches women's sailing from her homeport of Port Townsend. Pam owns & lives on a Tripp 40, a performance racing boat with amenities for comfortable cruising. She has a USCG masters license, is a former Hobie 16 National Champion, former 48' North winning boat of the year, is a NWMC sailing instructor, & is enjoying a lifetime of living & sailing in these local waters.
Saturday: 3:15 to 4:30 Beyond the Bay for Women
Jordan Pollack
A fire service instructor since 1983, he instructs structural and wildland firefighting, emergency medical technician training, as well as numerous other emergency skills courses. Mr. Pollack has worked in both the wildland and structural fire service since 1978, having served as training officer and fire chief since 1998. He has worked for both the US Forest Service and National Park Service as a firefighter, engine captain, and helicopter rapeller during the summer fire seasons since 1988. He serves as Fire Chief of the Breitenbush Fire Department in central Oregon and continues to work for the US Forest Service as a Strike Team/Task Force Leader during the busy summer fire seasons.
Saturday 8:30 to 9:45 Boater First Aid Checklist
Sunday 9:00 to 10:15 Boater Fire Safety
Matt Thompson
Matt served 8 years in the U.S. Navy, and was honorably discharged in 1997 as an Aerographers Mate. Two weeks after being discharged, he went to McMurdo Station, Antarctica and worked as a Meteorological Technician/Forecaster on a seasonal basis (working several winters and summers) over the next 7 years. In 2001, he took a break from the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) and attended The Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design in Kennebunk, ME, earning his American Boat and Yacht Council Mechanic Certificates. After leaving the USAP in 2005, he returned to college for a short time to finish some courses, and upon completion, was hired by the NWS in Alaska. He moved to Cold Bay, AK to fulfill duties as a Met Tech/Forecaster, and later transferred to a Mobile Emergency Unit Member Met Tech/Forecaster based out of the Regional office in Anchorage. In December of 2010, Matt became the NOAA/ National Weather Service/ Port Meteorological Officer for Seattle. Matt is an avid sailor, and is also the Marine Safety Officer for USCG AUX Flotilla 21 (North Seattle).
Saturday 10:00 to 11:15 Marine Weather Observations
Chris Brignoli
Chris Brignoli is co-owner of Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop. With over twenty years in the marine trades, Chris specializes in ABYC marine electrical and mechanical systems. Also an experienced mariner, he has accumulated more than 65,000 ocean cruising miles while surviving three hurricanes at sea.
Saturday 10:00 to 11:15 Innovative Marine Heat systems
Steve D'Antonio
In 1992, Steve published his first technical article in Cruising World magazine on the subject of marine electrical systems. Since then he's written over 300 articles and columns on a variety of marine technical subjects for over a dozen marine publications.
His ability to explain highly technical information on a wide array of boating topics in a clear, easy to read and easy to use manner has made him one of the most widely read boating writers and lecturers today. He is the Technical Editor of PassageMaker Magazine, a contributing editor for Professional Boat Builder and Ocean Navigator magazines and a regular contributor/columnist for Cruising World among others. He lectures regularly for PassageMaker Magazine's TrawlerFest events as well as for owner's groups, cruising associations and yacht clubs.
Steve's commitment is improving the safety and reliability of boating products to increase the confidence and enjoyment of the industry's most valuable asset, boat owners. In short, Steve strives to help bring the fun back to searching for, building, maintaining, repairing and owning a boat.
Based on his 23 years of experience in the marine trades as a marine mechanic, electrician, manager and partner of a custom boat building shop and two boatyards, technical journalist, as well as through Steve D'Antonio Marine Consulting, Inc, Steve provides personalized and hands-on service to boat buyers, boat owners, boat builders and equipment manufacturers, as well as others in the marine industry around the world.
Saturday 8:30-10:00 Improving Reliability with Enhanced Attention to Detail
Sunday 9:00-10:15 Achieving Electrical Independence
Sunday 10:30-12:00 Panel: Jury Rigging
Carol Hasse
Carol Hasse has been a sailmaker and owner of Hasse & Company Port Townsend Sails since 1978. The sails made by her loft are world renowned. For two decades, the Seven Seas Cruising Association's membership surveys have acknowledged Port Townsend Sails for building the best offshore cruising sails available anywhere.
Hasse came to sailmaking from her love of cruising. She has logged over 45,000 offshore miles in northern and southern latitudes on wood, fiberglass, ferro-cement, and steel boats ranging in size from 25-100 feet.
Hasse is a founding board member of the Wooden Boat Foundation, and the Wooden Boat Festival, and is active in the Northwest Maritime Center. She is passionate about growing and enhancing maritime programs for people of all ages.
Hasse regularly teaches about sail making, sail design and repair, sail inventory, sail handling, and safety at sea nationwide. She has been a judge for Cruising World's "Boat of the Year" competitions and judges annually at the Victoria Classic Boat Show since 1999. Hasse sails her own Nordic Folk Boat locally, and has been active in youth and women's sail training in the NW and South Pacific for over 30 years.
Saturday 8:30 to 9:45 Sailing Upwind: Hands on Clinic
Saturday 10:00 to 11:45 Downwind Leg: Hands on Clinic
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Bring Them Back Alive!
Chuck Hawley
Chuck is VP for Product Information at West Marine. A life-long sailor, having grown up on the California Coast, Chuck has sailed over 40,000 miles on vessels ranging from ultralight "sleds" to single-handed sailboats to the maxi-catamaran PlayStation, with the late Steve Fossett. While enjoying fast passages, he understands the importance of having functional, easily-repaired electrical, water, engine, and fuel systems so that each voyage can be completed successfully without outside help.
Chuck is a nationally known speaker on marine safety, and for the past 18 years has been one of five moderators of the US Sailing Safety at Sea Seminars. He has done extensive research into crew overboard recovery, life raft design, anchor testing, and storm tactics, and has moderated seminars at the Newport-Bermuda, Transpac, and Pacific Cup Races.
Chuck has been with West Marine for 25 years, and is the former author of the West Advisor articles that appear in West Marine's catalogs and Internet site. He lives in Santa Cruz with his wife Susan and five daughters, and currently owns a Zodiac 21' RIB and a 14' MegaByte.
Saturday 10:00 to11:15 Equipping for Offshore Sailing
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Offshore Communications
Sunday 10:15 to 12:00 Panel - Jury Rigging: If Its Broke You Can Fix It!
Barbara Marrett
Barbara is a Contributing Editor for Cruising World magazine, an author, and 100-ton licensed captain. She is skipper of White Raven a 45' Cavalier sail training and charter vessel owned by Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship, home-ported in Friday Harbor. An entertaining lecturer and seminar leader, Barbara has been a featured speaker at boat shows, in-store-seminars, and for the last two decades helped organize the "Take the Helm" women's seminars throughout the U.S. Since 1986 she has sailed over 60,000 miles as captain or mate on long ocean passages, near coastal, and inland waters in the North and South Pacific, Caribbean, North Sea, and Mediterranean in boats ranging from 31 to 65 feet. Barbara is on the advisory committee for the National Women's Sailing Association and is a Friday Harbor Port Commissioner.
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Adventures in Provisioning
Jeff Sanders
Captain Jeffrey Sanders founded United States Maritime Academy in 1987 and has since trained thousands of students for their Coast Guard Master Captain's License. Capt. Sanders was among the first instructors to become certified to teach Coast Guard Approved License classes, offering training in lieu of CG examinations. U.S. Maritime now has branches throughout the country which uses texts and exams written by Capt. Sanders and approved by the U.S. Coast Guard. He is the author of numerous navigation manuals, the latest being a The Celestial Navigation Recipe Book which offers a unique step by step menu for using the sextant. Capt. Sanders resides on Marrowstone Island with his dog Newbe and his vessel Orpheus beckoning him from his beachfront.
Saturday 10:00 to 11:15 am Introduction to Celestial Navigation
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Offshore Communications
Carolyn Spragg
Carolyn "Ace" Spragg grew up sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and spent 20 years as a summer camp Waterfront Director, teaching sailing on small boats. She moved to the Puget Sound in 2000, and has since become a liveaboard, sailing instructor, and skipper of a successful offshore voyage to Hawaii and back with all-women crews. She recently got her dream job as the Waterfront Programs Manager for the Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation. She holds a USCG 50 ton Near Coastal Captain's License, and ISPA, US Sailing and US Maritime Academy Instructor certifications.
Saturday 8:30-9:45 Principles of docking: an intense look at docking
Sunday 9:00 to 10:15 Tides and Currents of the Salish Sea
Brion Toss
Writer-rigger Brion Toss became obsessed with knots in the late 1960s, a preoccupation that led him to a stint as PBS Mr. KNOT in Maine, to work on the Texas tall ship Elissa and to the second Wooden Boat Festival in 1978. That clinched it. Port Townsend became his homeport and base for writing and rigging everything from tiny daysailers to huge square-riggers here and throughout the world. Equally at home with modern or traditional rigging, Toss continues to pursue challenges in rigging design and function, writing books about rigging, developing new rigging tools and of course, knots.
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Rigging: The Forces of Nature
Sunday 10:30 to12:00 Panel: Jury Rigging: If Its Broke You Can Fix It!
Lisa Vizzini
Lisa and rigger/shipwright husband, Dan Kulin are partner/owners of Port Townsend Rigging where they specialize in helping sailors realize their dreams.
Lisa began sailing as a teen on Stars and Solings in Marina Del Rey, CA. In 1978 she moved to Port Townsend to learn sail making skills at Port Townsend Sails. Fishing for salmon, operating a troll buying station for twelve years in Elfin Cove, Alaska, sailing up and down the coast, one-design dingy racing with her son, and day sailing on all types of boats in the Northwest, have all nurtured her sense of adventure as well as polished her mechanical, boating, and sailing skills.
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Sailors' Splicing Clinic
Anders Kulin
Anders Kulin is a crew member with Port Townsend Rigging. He is a talented and competent mast builder, rigger & machinist. Anders enjoys outdoor physical activities including sailing, running, biking, hunting and skiing. His is currently triathlon training.
Sat: 3:15 to 4:30 Winch Cleaning and Maintenance
Dan Newland
Daniel Newland is an aerospace engineer, boat designer and builder. He started sailing on Galveston Bay at thirteen and built his first boat at 12 years old.
In 1982, 1986 and 1992 he won the Singlehanded Transpac from SF to Kauai on corrected time and was first to finish all three years in three different boats - a modified Wylie 34 which he built, an Olson 30 and a Newland 368 which he designed and built. Dan also designed the carbon fiber fabric which went into the hull and designed and built the sail inventory for Pegasus XIV. He has designed sail fabric for the America's Cup challenge boat, America^3, and won the LA Transpac Navigator's Award for navigating Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory to a first place finish in 1993. Locally he has successfully campaigned his several boats to local championships in the IOR, Mora and PHRF divisions.
He now resides in Port Townsend, WA where he continues to race Pegasus XIV and owns his own company Pegasus Aeromarine Inc. that manufactures carbon fiber and advanced composite parts, built parts for America's Cup boats, and also does boat repair. He also consults in the aerospace industry, sells insulation for light aircraft and consults on and builds boats.
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Advanced Composites
Nancy Erley
Nancy Erley led two voyages from Seattle around the world aboard her Orca 38 sailboat Tethys.
"As the skipper of an all-woman crew, Nancy fashioned a circumnavigation that should go down in the record books as one of the soundest, most seamanlike journeys in the modern cruising era. Like all competent voyages, Tethys' circumnavigation was notable for its lack of disasters." -George Day, publisher Blue Water Sailing magazine.
In 2006 Nancy was presented with the Leadership in Women's Sailing Award sponsored by BoatUS and the National Women's Sailing Association. The award honors a male or female who has built a record of achievement in inspiring, educating and enriching the lives of women through sailing.
Nancy holds her USCG 50-ton Master of Oceans and 100-ton Master Near Coastal licenses, is an Instructor Evaluator-Ocean for the International Sail and Power Association, a HAM radio operator, KI7DP, and an advanced scuba diver and delivery skipper.
A life-long boater and instructor, Nancy brings a profound wealth of knowledge to the Bay Area and as a new member of the Farallone Yacht Sales team.
Saturday 8:30 to 9:45 Night Navigation
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Advanced Anchoring
Sunday 9:00 to 10:15 A Captain's Toolkit
Robert Perry
In 1974 after spending several years in apprenticeship and design positions in other design offices Robert Perry opened his own yacht design office on Shilshole Bay in Seattle. The body of work produced since then has established the Perry office as one of the leaders in performance oriented cruising yachts. In fact Bob is generally credited with starting the "performance cruising" movement that introduced the concept of sailing speed to offshore cruising yachts.
In 1995 The Perry designed VALIANT 40, named to the American Boatbuilders Hall of Fame during SAIL EXPO at Atlantic City. The Valiant 40/4 2 has been in continuous production longer than any other series built cruising boat in the US.
For the past 22 years Bob has been the technical editor of the internationally distributed SAILING magazine published in Port Washington, WI.
Perry designs account for approximately 5,000 boats on the water and are recognized as the epitome of offshore cruising yachts. There are more Tayana 37's cruising offshore than an other single design according to George Day, the Editor of BLUE WATER CRUISING.
Saturday: 10:00 to 11:15 Evolution of Cruising Boat
Saturday 1:45 to 3:00 Open Discussion on Yacht Design
Joe Trailer
Captain Joe Trailer has been cruising the inside passage between the Puget Sound and Southeast Alaska for over twenty-five years. His experience includes sailing and motor driven vessels. He is presently the captain of the 50 meter Westport Motor Yacht EVVIVA, built in Port Angeles, WA.
Sat. 8:30 to 9:45 Inside Passage Trip Planning
Capt. Roger Slade
Capt. Roger Slade began his maritime career in 1967. A former Coast Guardsman, he now serves on the Board of Directors for C-PORT, the Towers Advisory Council for BoatUS/Vessel Assist, and is the Northwest Regional Liaison to the USCG for the Commercial Assistance Industry. In 2010 Slade and his daughter Andrenika received the first-time-ever AFRAS (Association for Rescues at Sea) Award for Valor in cooperation with C-PORT.
Captain Slade owns and operates Marine Assist of Port Hadlock, is active with Washington State's Derelict Vessel Removal Program, serves with the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC), and operates the passenger vessel Lady Alderbrook out of Union, WA. Currently, he is developing new curriculum standards for the National Maritime Center (NMC) for Assistance Towing in cooperation with the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators' (NASBLA) national training program for law enforcement, fire, search and rescue, and commercial assistance operators.
His career has allowed him to serve on the Pacific, the Arctic, and the Atlantic Oceans including experiences in the Caribbean, Sea of Cortez, and the Bering Sea. "Risk Assessment and Safety Management are continuous processes in my business. I don't want anybody to get hurt!"
Saturday 3:15 to 4:45 Offshore Communications
Capt'n Fatty Goodlander
Capt'n Fatty Goodlander is an original sea gypsy. The 59-year-old sailor has lived aboard boats for 52 years sailing the world's seas and circumnavigating the globe. Goodlander and his wife, Carolyn, have sailed more than 100,000 miles on their 38-foot cutter, Wild Card, raised a family and scraped together a modest living from their floating home. Goodlander, a journalist for 30 years, admits that living full-time aboard a small boat isn't the most lucrative job in the world, but he finds joy in touching others through his articles in Cruising World and through books he's written. The sailing life is something Goodlander says he'll never get out of his system.
Saturday 3:15 to 4:30 Ocean Cruising for Pennies Per Mile
Saturday 7:30 Chasing the Horizon: The Life and Times of a Modern Sea Gypsy
Inger Rankins
Walking around the docks in the Boat Haven, Inger’s work is on display in numerous boats. Inger has been making canvas covers and cushions for boats here in Port Townsend since 1990. She came for a visit in the summer of 1989 and never left. She honed her skills while working with Ellen Black of the Artful Dodger, and in 1999 started her own company. Growing up in Norway, Inger’s passion for sewing began in childhood with her first sewing machine.
Saturday 8:30 to 9:45 Care for Your Canvas
Mark Bunzel
Mark is the Editor and Publisher of the Waggoner Cruising Guide. He is also the the Publisher at Fine Edge with responsibility for all publishing, business affairs, and marketing as well as the co-author of Cruising the Virgin Islands. Following a career as a business strategy and marketing consultant for companies such as IBM, Apple, Intel, and many of the major media companies in the world, Mark elected to make a career and life-style change with a move from working in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley to the Pacific Northwest and Anacortes, Washington. He purchased nautical publisher Fine Edge, combining his business experience with his interest in boating. As publisher of the Waggoner Cruising Guide, Mark will now be spending each summer visiting over 175 marinas, coastal towns, and anchorages to obtain the most current information for northwest yachts and cruisers. He is expanding the Waggoner Guide to Ketchikan, Alaska and adding new apps on the Apple iPad and Android systems.
Sunday 9:00 to 10:15 Using New Technology for Navigation and Cruising
