R2R People

2003 J24 Fleet Champions - SF Bay

THE CREW Rich Jepsen, helm and CEO of OCSC of San Francisco Bay, has skippered the Rail to Rail team since its inception in 1994. He is a seasoned J24 sailor, whose leadership has guided the crew in their quest to improve their skills and engage in high performance teaming. Known as “Stickman” to his mates, Rich’s boat handling skills give the crew the confidence to sail fast and aggressively in the big winds, steep chop, and strong currents of San Francisco Bay. Larry Ledgerwood, trimmer and an OCSC instructor, has been sailing since the late 1980s, when he learned to sail keelboats at OCSC. A native of San Diego, "Double L" quickly got involved in racing, crewing on a variety of boats, including Etchell 22s, before joining Rail to Rail. Larry is a professional Sales and Communications Coach, with over two decades of experience teaching and coaching productive communications techniques. He has been teaching these concepts to corporate clients in OCSC’s Teambuilding Regatta product. Rail to Rail has adopted and practices many of these team concepts to improve its performance as well as the fun quotient. Thom Henneberger, tactician, relishes the challenge of putting Rail to Rail in the right position to win. An intense competitor from his days on the national tennis circuit, Thom learned to sail at OCSC in the early 1990’s. He is prescient at anticipating the moves of other boats. Thom's tactical philosophy seeks to leverage many small gains throughout a race to score well and achieve big overall wins. Trena Depel, mast, learned to sail at OCSC. Her can-do attitude allowed Trena to quickly climb up a steep learning curve to become a solid contributor to Rail to Rail’s success. Whether calling wind and waves, pulling strings at the mast, substituting for the spinnaker pole in windward douses, she is a fearless competitor out on the water and Rail to Rail’s chief cheerleader. Lou Anna Koehler, foredeck, an engineer for Sun Microsystems, comes with a long sailing and racing resume from her days in the Pacific Northwest. In addition, she spent several years in OCSC's race training program. Lou Anna has spent time on Etchell 22s, Olson 25s and a whole variety of racers. She fits the profile of foredecks for J24s: light, agile, strong, and assertive, with great anticipation skills. TEAM SUPPORT Simon Carey, OCSC’s Fleet Manager, is a master craftsman who plays a major role in optimizing Rail to Rail’s performance. His keel shaping and bottom preparation skills allows our wet sailed boat to out perform many of the Bay's dry sailed J24s. As a Royal Yachting Association Master, who has logged over 60,000 blue water miles, Simon manages over 40 yachts for OCSC ensuring superior member satisfaction with the fleet’s appearance, availability and reliability. Dave Cranston, OCSC Fleet Service, maintains Rail to Rail in pristine racing condition. He ensures the boat’s systems - mast, standing and running rigging, blocks and fittings - are in kept in top condition taking equipment failure out of Rail to Rail’s racing equation, As native to the San Francisco Bay area, who manages yachts in the OCSC fleet as well as his own racing schedule, Dave brings yachting skill, knowledge and a lifetime of boating experience to the Rail to Rail team. Cree Partridge, Owner, Berkeley Marine Center, provides the working ground for Rail to Rail’s out-of-water servicing at his full service boat yard located at the Berkeley marina. Always flexible in scheduling a haul out, he provides the team the flexibility they need to ensure Rail to Rail’s bottom is polished to go fast condition before each regatta. Cree is recognized for his excellent fiberglass and bottom application skills, who brings a lifetime of yachting knowledge and success to the Rail to Rail campaign.