Sailing Science Center News

October 2019

Vol. 3, No. 2

Welcome to the October issue of the Sailing Science Center News! Our theme this month is community, as we appreciate all the members in our community and notice how community is created through our common goals and values.

This was brought to mind by the Latitude 38 event at the Bay Model in September where so many members of our community came together to share an evening of introductions and connect with one another. Our hats are off to John Arndt and the whole Latitude 38 crew for organizing this.

Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.

– Helen Keller

Volunteer Spotlight - Mike Beller

Our spotlight this month highlights Mike Beller, one of our most active and selfless volunteers. We met Mike last fall through the Social Sailing League at the Treasure Island Sailing Center, where, besides being older than most of the other folks, Mike had entered with substantial prior sailing experience. Mike was born in Miami, where he lived until he was 7, and at age 10 moved with his family to Maryland and then to Connecticut at age 13. You’d think his dad was in the military with all that moving, but he was actually in Sales and Marketing for IBM. Something about that connection with computers must have rubbed off on Mike, because computers and optimization, especially as they relate to software, are things that Mike loves to this day.

Mike says his first sailing experience was before he started walking (as it should be) on a 22-foot sailboat in Miami, but he didn’t get formal training until he went to Camp Seagull in North Carolina at ages 11 and 12. At age 13 his family bought a 16-foot Hobie Cat and by the time he was 15 he was teaching sailing at the Longshore Sailing School in Westport, CT. When asked about his most memorable sailing experiences, Mike says the pinnacle was coming in 3rd in the Long Island Sound Hobie Championships against about 100 other boats! Other memorable sailing experiences included 20 years of racing various boats on Long Island Sound, returning a classic Alden 44 yacht from Bermuda to Westport, CT (with four senior executives from his firm where he was the most junior employee but perhaps the most capable sailor), and a frightening dinghy capsize with his family that Mike characterized as a “close call” while bareboating off St. Maarten.

Mike studied at Cornell where he earned a BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering. Out of school he went into management consulting for Arthur Andersen, which later became Accenture. He had a mentor who he followed to other firms and eventually was in a position to raise venture capital for Diamond Technology Partners and take it public. In mid-career, as a management consultant, Mike had the opportunity to meet John Scully (former Apple CEO), and others, and was brought in by outside investors as a senior executive to help run their portfolio companies. In 2013, Mike, together with 3 other partners, founded CoVenture, a venture capital firm that they grew to include VC funds, cryptocurrency funds, and credit opportunity funds. He now works day-to-day as an advisor to early stage startups and is a mentor in the UC Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator. In 2018 Mike moved with his wife to California to be closer to his children, a 26-year old daughter and son-in-law along with his 22-year old son. Both children are, of course, sailors (and he’s working on his son-in-law!).

What draws Mike to the SSC is a continued desire to get involved with the SF community in general, and as a pathway and opportunity to connect with the sailing community. Mike is fearless with computers and can navigate software and spreadsheets with equal ease. He has become the head of our IT efforts, helping us with everything from setting up our email system, to researching CRM (Contact Relationship Management) systems, to writing spreadsheet macros. But what Mike is most noted for on our team has been dubbed the Mike Beller Smile. It’s rare to see Mike when he’s not smiling, a true brightener and an asset to our organization. It’s great to have you aboard Mike!

September Volunteer Event - Latitude 38 Crew Party

Photo courtesy Latitude 38 Media

L to R: Carson Conner-Collado, Carolyn Davidson, Mike Beller, Christine Cid, Jim Hancock

Our September Volunteer Event was Latitude 38 's Fall Crew Party in Sausalito. This is an annual event that allows participants to mingle and for boat owners to find crew or sailors to find boats to crew on.

SSC had a featured booth at the event where our volunteers spread awareness of the organization. Thank you to all of you who helped make our night at the Latitude 38 Party a huge success. We collected many new signups for the newsletter, recruited new volunteers, and gathered several signatures on our endorsement letter from industry leaders.

Click on the link below to learn more about volunteering with the SSC!

SSC Volunteers

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

– African Proverb

In the News

Q. What does this bird's eye view of San Francisco's General Anchorage 9 have to do with sailing science?

A1. If you look at the ships they will show you which direction the tidal current is flowing.

A2. Something very special that we can't tell you until January.

First Exhibits

The SSC has been getting quotes for building our first exhibits. We're simply bursting to tell you about this, but it's too soon to say much other than to mention that we expect our first exhibits to be ready before year-end. Once ready, we will be displaying them at the Treasure Island Sailing Center and elsewhere as we ramp up our exhibit-creating process. We will share more with you soon!

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

– Henry Ford

Social Media Corner

Sourcing Premium Content for Social Media/Blog

We need our community's help to churn out a steady supply of high-quality posts for our social media feeds. In addition to weekly posts containing links, videos, and images from sailing sites around the web, we are beginning to craft more in-depth, original content in line with our brand and vision for the Sailing Science Center.

Call to Action :

1) Write for Us - We love featuring posts from our community.

Prepare a concise article centered on a Sailing Science Center theme

Airflow, Sails, Sailing
Waves, Hull Resistance, Hydrostatics
Mechanical Advantage, Human Factors
Navigation, Astronomy
Weather, Oceanography
Anchoring, Knots
Materials, Structures

Article should be approximately 350-500 words
Include 2-3 web-sized companion photos, graphics and/or video
Include your name, a 2-3 sentence bio, your email and/or URL (if you wish)

*No advertising or blatant product endorsements

2) Send us Links to Great Content - Share suggestions for websites, articles and/or social accounts that we should track. We're always on the hunt for things to show on SF SSC social channels.

Forward articles and ideas to social.media@sailingscience.org .

For inspiration, see this example post by Charlie Deist, SSC Social Media Manager.

Small Stuff

Endorsement Letter

In September we began circulating an Endorsement Letter to gather sig-natures from leaders in local businesses and nonprofits who support the Sailing Science Center. We got off to a booming start but have a long way to go.

We invite your organization to officially support the SSC's plans to create a new science museum on Treasure Island. Click here to see the letter.

Move the Needle!

These are things YOU can do to move the SSC vision forward:

Volunteer
Donate
Share the SSC Newsletter with your friends
Sign our Endorsement Letter
"Like" us on your favorite social media platform

Make a difference. Move the needle!

Leadership Corner - Community

When we create community it is always done on common ground. The very word community derives from the old French comunité, meaning commonness. We may bring together people with big differences, but when differences exist, community can still be created on common ground.