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Sailing Science Center News
March 2025
Vol. 8, No. 7
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Welcome to the March issue of the Sailing Science Center News! The theme this month is Direction! It is a timely theme as we introduce our new Executive Director, Pam Schaffer, who is helping set the SSC's direction with an ambitious 2025 Strategic Plan. Learn more about Pam and her incredible history in this month's spotlight.
For other thoughts about direction, and how important it is to be going the right direction, check out this month's Leadership Corner, Where's the Mark?
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Do you like what the Sailing Science Center is doing? We depend on support from people like you to keep it going. If you haven't donated yet, please consider doing so. If you have donated, Thank You, we appreciate your support and hope you will continue partnering with us to make the vision of a larger, permanent museum a reality. | | | | |
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If you really know what you want then point your ship in that direction.
— Dean Graziosi
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SSC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - PAM SCHAFFER | | |
Life holds special challenges for the person who is curious. There are so many options that it can be hard to decide what direction to go; but for the curious person, the world holds uncommon richness. This is the world of Pam Schaffer.
The oldest of four children, most of Pam’s early years were spent on a farm in the Sacramento Valley. Her father was an engineer, her mother a nurse, and her grandfather a mechanic. She liked to check things out, take things apart, and put them back together. She learned about engines from her father; valuable knowledge for her future life...
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The family moved to Washington state when Pam was 13 — just in time for high school. But Pam and high school didn’t get along. She found it boring and felt like the emphasis was more about sitting single file than on learning. At age 16 she jumped through hoops for a GED to attend Western Washington University. She loved college. She started in engineering but discovered interests in human behavior and computer programming, a one-two combo for the growing field of psychometrics. She graduated with degrees in Psychology and Statistics after a transfer to UC Davis and a research project on the hikers of the Appalachian Trail, including hiking the full 2,190 miles of the trail herself. She also did a research project on the conflict in Northern Ireland, going door to door to interview people in Belfast and Dublin. She stayed at Davis for an MFA in Playwriting, while also studying Computer Science. Pam wasn’t your typical student.
| | Pam started sailing while she was in college, helping friends bring a 34-foot yawl with tiller steering and leaky decks from Marina del Rey to San Francisco. It was her first time seeing whales, dolphins, and phosphorescence. She was hooked. She joined the sailing club, and after getting her Master’s, bought a Santana 22 that she kept at the Berkeley Marina. Her boats grew from there. | | Pam Schaffer's catamaran, Some Day Too, in front of a towering dune of bauxite in Yellow Patch, Australia. | | |
Pam with other SSC team members at the 2024 Tinkers & Thinkers Faire.
L to R: Steve Malton, Lars Anderson, Tami-Jo Hodson, Pam Schaffer, Jim Hancock
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Ironically, Pam’s first job out of college was as an engineer, working for HP. She started in hardware, but as she had done in college, moved to software, which she found more interesting and described as the Wild West of computer science. Her 6 years at HP gave her a framework for other things, but she was drawn toward smaller organizations that were more fleet footed. She worked at startups as a VP of Marketing and as a VP of Product Management and Strategy, before taking her chips to the VC world. After four years in that environment, it was time for a break.
Pam had been dreaming of a circumnavigation. It would be a landmark experience that set the direction for her future. We let Pam take the narrative from here. Read more…
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Direction is more important than speed.
— Richard L. Evans
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Coming this month, the Sailing Science Center is treating its volunteers to lunch and admission at the Chabot Space & Science Center.
The SSC is always looking for ways to give back to its volunteers. Email pam.schaffer@sailingscience.org or click the button below if you want to connect with a group of scientifically centered sailors, joining in activities that give back to the community, and events that give back to the volunteers.
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Have you thought about volunteering?
The SSC is always on the lookout for good crew!
Click below to sign up.
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You cannot change your destination overnight,
but what you can change overnight is your direction.
— Jim Rohn
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In a moderate oscillating wind, typical of thermal breezes near coastlines and on inland lakes, wind shifts can easily traverse angles of ±10° (20° in total). Grasping the trigonometric implications of this is crucial to successful sailing performance. Many sailors will endlessly tweak their sail trim to get the next tenth or two tenths of a knot out of their boat speed, when gains of 20 to 40 times that in Velocity Made Good (VMG) can be easily had by simply going the right direction. That is, staying on the favored tack.
In sailing parlance, an upwind shift that forces you to steer in the direction from the favored tack to the unfavored tack is called a header, while the opposite is called a lift. To stay on the favored tack, the rule is to tack on a header when it forces you below the wind's mean heading. This will keep you going the right direction.
Please feel free to share the GIF below with your sailing crew. We recommend against sharing it with your competition.
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SAILING SCIENCE CENTER 2025 GALA | | November 15 is the day! Mark it now on your calendar so you don't miss the Sailing Science Center's 6th Annual Gala. Details to follow. | | The SSC continues to scan the horizon for a workshop to build new exhibits. This could be a dedicated or shared space. Expected use is one to two days per month. Please contact us if you have leads or ideas. | | | | |
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SailGP, the most exciting racing on water, will return to the Bay Area for the San Francisco Sail Grand Prix, March 22-23, 2025. Racing faster than the wind at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour, the sport is powered by nature—wind, sea, and sun—with a top prize of $7 million at stake over the season.
For SSC members, we have acquired a promo code for grandstand seat ticket savings of 10% for 1-day tickets and 20% for 2-day tickets. Use PROMO S5SFO10
Dates: Saturday & Sunday, March 22-23
Website: https://sailgp.com/
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SSC supporter and award-winning producer, Vince Casalaina, will be at the San Francisco Yacht Club with the latest on his documentary video titled, Wind in their Sails: Death and Resurrection. The video celebrates the classic San Francisco Bay yachts that have survived, and the people who have dedicated their lives to maintaining them.
Vince will be speaking about the video and taking questions at the San Francisco Yacht Club on March 26th. In the meantime, please enjoy this video by Vince of Beau Vrolyk and David Crosby's former schooner, Mayan.
Subject: Wind in their Sails; Death and Resurrection
Date: Wednesday, March 26th
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: San Francisco Yacht Club, 99 Beach Rd, Belvedere, CA 94920
| | LATITUDE 38 CREW LIST PARTY | | |
The Latitude 38 Spring Crew List Party is on, with a new location at the Bay View Boat Club. The SSC will be there; you should be too!
Date: Thursday, April 3
Time: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Location: Bay View Boat Club, 489 Terry A Francois Blvd, San Francisco
| | INTERNATIONAL OCEAN FILM FESTIVAL | | |
Since 2004, the International Ocean Film Festival has been recognized as the world's premier ocean-themed film festival for its compelling, inspiring, and thought-provoking independent films. 2025 marks their 22nd year, with the Festival's Executive Director, Ana Blanco, recently being named by SF Travel in its list of The Women Shaping San Francisco Arts and Culture. We highly recommend the festival to anyone interested in the ocean, art, and great film. The SSC will be there this year, tabling on Friday and Saturday of the event. Come see the films! Come see the SSC!
Dates: April 11-13 (the SSC will be tabling April 11 & 12)
Location: Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
| | CALL OF THE SEA TALL SHIP CELEBRATION | | |
April 26th marks the Sailing Science Center's 5th year supporting Call of the Sea's Tall Ship Celebration at the Bay Model in Sausalito. This is where it all began, with our first public event in the spring of 2021. The 2025 event will be one of the few public opportunities this year to see the SSC's full complement of exhibits.
Make waves with our Wave Tank! Sail upwind with our Land Yachts! Design the fastest (or slowest) hydrodynamic shape with our Density Drop! Unmask the mysteries of Coriolis with the SSC Coriolis Globe! Or get a grip on the seafloor with our Anchoring Sandbox! The event is free and open to the public. Come see us and say Hi!
Date: Saturday, April 26
Time: 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Location: Bay Model Visitor Center, Sausalito
Cost: Free, Open to the Public
More: Event Details & Tickets for Sailing Tours
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Bow crew on a fleet of J/105s signal directions to their drivers during a recent race in the RegattaPRO series. Exemplifying the obvious, but oft-missed truism, that all the boat speed in the world won't help you if you're going the wrong direction! | | Photo by Martha Blanchfield / Renegade Sailing | | | | |
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Years ago, I was competing double-handed on a 28-foot boat, with the boat's owner driving. We had a fabulous start during a summer race and were first around the windward mark, tacking directly into one of the thickest fog banks I have seen.
Read more...
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That's all for this month.
Cheers!
Jim Hancock
President and Founder
| | The San Francisco Sailing Science Center is a Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation recognized under IRS Section 501(c)(3), Tax ID 82-3631165. Your donation to the Sailing Science Center is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. | | The Sailing Science Center News is published monthly. It is sent to team members, partners, volunteers, sponsors and supporters of the San Francisco Sailing Science Center. You are receiving this because you are considered to be in one of these groups. If you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please click the Unsubscribe link below. We do not sell, share or otherwise give out our mailing list beyond our organization. | | | | |
