Chad is one of our regular, weekly sailing volunteers, devoting weekends and many midweek days to sailing alongside the full time live aboard crew. Chad has developed skills in tall ship crewing and teaching our Educational stations to students of all ages. Thank you Chad!
Where do you come from, and were you involved with boats there?
My family had a small cabin cruiser when I was a very small child, but I have no memory of it and spent most of my childhood living in Salt Lake City Utah and having nothing to do with boats at all. I moved to the Bay Area in 2014 after leaving my PhD but I did not start sailing until 2017 when I decided to take some ASA classes to see if it would be something I enjoyed — It was.
How did you hear about Call of the Sea, educational tall ship Matthew Turner and schooner Seaward?
I somehow never found out about Matthew Turner during construction and am somewhat late to the party. In July 2021 some friends who had recently started sailing invited me to come sailing with them out of South Beach, on the way back from Angel Island we got to watch Turner approach and wear ship not even a mile behind us. That lead quickly to going on a community sail, doing an Aloft program, and then volunteering for as many sails as I could.
How long have you been volunteering here at COTS?
I’ve been volunteering since last August, mostly on weekend and Friday night sails. Starting July this year I have been taking some personal leave from my day job and have spent as much of this summer as possible sailing and helping out onboard with anything I can.
What is your favorite task to do here at COTS?
As far as sailing goes if I had to choose one thing I love being out in the head rig and furling sails underway, but I find working the ship to be a lot more fun than on small keelboats — it is much more hands on than grinding away at winches and I find it never gets old. Beyond sailing I’ve enjoyed teaching kids navigation skills and showing practical applications of the math they learn. More than anything though I love being on the ship with the culture and vibe onboard, being with people I really enjoy being around makes almost all tasks fun.
Is there anything specific you have learned while volunteering here?
The two main things I’ve picked up on Matthew Turner have been a lot of marlinespike seamanship and a lot more kinesthetic confidence in general. I spent most my life working with abstract things and computers and wasn’t always the most spatially aware person, volunteering on a tall ship has changed that for me quite a bit.