Walter E Kaelin: (ex)skipper/(ex)owner/Chief Communications Officer(HF).

Sailing Resume:

A friend took me sailing a few times on his 25 foot sailboat in San Francisco Bay in 1967.  I got hooked and looked around for a sailboat of my own.   Before too long, I had a 25 foot sailboat as well at Jack London Square in Oakland.   We enjoyed it for many years.   In 1982, we moved the boat to Ballena Bay, Alameda and joined the Ballena Bay Yacht club.   Soon thereafter a move to an Ericson 30+ was in the works.   The Ballena Bay YC started the Pacific Cup race to Nawiliwili bay on Kauai and I helped organizing the HF communications, combining two of my hobbies, sailing and ham radio.   The Ericson 30+ was a great sailboat, however in 1997, I purchased a half interest in Flying High, a beautiful C & C 39 aft cabin sloop, which regretfully was sold when I moved to Portland, OR.  I joined the Oakland YC in 2002 and am now a long distance member and between boats.

With friends and family, I chartered as skipper a 39 foot sailboat in the BVI, in 1980, 1984 and 1990 and chartered once more from Sunsail in the Gulf of Phuket in 1999.   I crewed on the San Francisco to Catalina race twice.   The Baja haha 13 on Ketch 22 from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas was next and in December of 2008 I joined Tom in sailing Ketch 22 from El Salvador to Golfito, Costa Rica, a very memorable cruise.