In 1980, Rich Jepsen joined Anthony in running OCSC, and the two knew that the business needed to move beyond the calm waters of the estuary. One look at a chart of the Bay, and the world’s best place for a sailing school was immediately apparent: Berkeley Marina, which was at the time a garbage dump – a garbage dump a two-minute outboard putter from some of the best sailing in the world, that is.
When Anthony stepped into the shack at the end of the point – now the post-renovation home to our Fleet Service department – he fell through the floor and into the Bay. “Fortunately, it was high tide, otherwise I would have been on the rocks. I said, ‘I’ll take it,’” he remembers.
It took three years of sweat equity to build what is now OCSC – three years of old fashioned sweat equity. During construction, Anthony, Rich, and the other OCSC barn-raisers were cheered on by a crotchety one-legged boxer who lived in the dump. When moving day finally came, members sailed OCSC’s bigger boats from Alameda to Berkeley, and Rich and Anthony towed the Capri 14’s behind the chase boat, duckling-style, to their new home.
That was 1982, and OCSC has been teaching, sailing, growing, and having fun ever since. And we’re very much a “we” – a welcoming culture where everyone knows your name and sailing isn’t just a sport, it’s a philosophy of respect and joy.