Instructor
Captain Mindy's sailing story starts with “how a nice Jewish girl from Miami Beach ended up in the middle of the Cuban (Marielito) boat lift in 1979.” Mindy graduated college essentially homeless, except for her brother’s couch, and had this great idea to go to the Miami River, bilge out a half-sunken 32 ft. sailboat, and get towed to a very funky Watson Island Marina right across from the Port of Miami.
Luckily the Siddhartha in Search of Nirvana had no sails, no engine, and never left the dock during all the boat lift excitement. Mindy spent the summer re-ribbing, fiber glassing, itching, and loving every minute of it. Her mom would come to the docks with her lounge chair and tell everyone passing by “this is my daughters’ yacht!” After the boat lift, Watson Island became a very dangerous place. Mindy gave Siddhartha away to a refugee family and moved back to her college town, Tallahassee.
Mindy's first job was as a vocational counselor at a Goodwill where someone donated a Sunfish. She sailed the Little Mama all over the Keys, Florida Panhandle and eventually in various lakes in and around Richmond Virginia. When she moved to San Francisco in the 90’s Mindy inherited a friend’s Ranger 23’ and began to earn certifications at OCSC (now Modern Sailing Berkeley). After several years of sailing the LisaLisaLisa, her partner came home one day and said, “I’m going to law school,” to which Mindy replied, “I’m getting a bigger boat.”
In 2004, Mindy fell in love with Tanagra, a 37’ Furia (built in Barcelona). She kept her in Miami for a couple of years before bringing her home to the SF Bay, conveniently before Hurricane Wilma.
In 2007, Mindy earned her USCG Captain’s License at Modern Sailing and and worked as a Basic Keelboat instructor and charter boat captain for a couple of years. Since 2022, she is back at Modern Sailing sharing her love of the water, boats, sailing, and our beautiful San Francisco Bay.
