Emeryville Yacht Club At the Helm...
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Michelle Stephens, Commodore
Michelle Stephens joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2018 with her husband, Myron Stephens. She served as the 2023 Commodore and previously served as Rear Commodore. Michelle grew up on lake boats with her dad and spent many summers waterskiing on Folsom Lake, in the Sacramento area. Then Myron introduced her to sailboats and sailing when they met in 2007, and she's been sailing ever since. Michelle and Myron sailed on his parents Alberg 30 for several years before buying their Tartan 3700, Savvy, in 2016. They reside in the Sacramento area, but spend as much time as possible on the Bay with their Frenchie, Bailey, sailing, visiting new harbors, or simply enjoying being on the boat that they consider their second home. Michelle comes from a family of educators. She taught TK, kindergarten, and second grade, and retired along with Myron in June. Her passion was working with little learners, fostering a love of learning and helping to build the foundation for their educational careers. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys working on the Emeryville Yacht Club website, crafting, watching movies, and simply hanging out with family and friends.
Max Perez, Vice Commodore
Max joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2022. He served as Director on the board in 2023. Max's sailing experience started at UCSC in the early 90s, and resumed at Club Nautique around twelve years ago, where he chartered boats locally and took classes, including US Sailing Coastal Passage Making. He has done a little chartering outside the bay to Catalina Island, which inspires Max to charter father away, with BVI in his plans for 2023. Max tries to sail at least twice a month year round, which is easier in the summer, of course. Max is married to Julia and has a thirteen year old son. Julia likes to sail in warmer, more tropical climates, but his son is happy to tear across the slot with him and kayak at whatever anchorage they end up in. Professionally, Max works as a software engineer programming mostly in Python in the heathcare data field. Other than Sailing, Max likes to play guitar, motorcycling, and travel. Among his favorite destinations are Mexico, Thailand, and nearby Calistoga.
Eli Korcz, Rear Commodore
Eli joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2021. He served as Director on the board in 2023. Eli's dad purchased a 14' fiberglass power boat when he was about 8 years old. His dad always let him drive the boat and back it down the boat ramp. Over the years he upgraded to a 16' then a 19' cabin cruiser which he still has. It had an old Mercury 65 out board and he told Eli that when he was big and strong enough to pull start it, he could take it by himself. Eli purchased his 30' Ericson in 2020 and has mostly been solo sailing around the bay. Once he gets in a better situation and better equipped SV, Eli plans on taking some more ambitious trips to far off lands. Eli's family lives in Sacramento, and aunts and uncles are spread all over the United States, but occasionally they come and visit and Eli always try to take them sailing. Eli has been in construction since 2007, and most of his projects are in the bay area. His job is becoming more and more working from a computer and phone, so less time on job sites means more time on the bay ()-: Eli used to manage 2 rental houses and a 4 plex downtown and is moving towards managing his own properties one day. Eli likes to fish and tried to do it off his sail boat once, which was a disaster, so he decided to stick to charters and his dad's power boat. In his spare time, Eli likes to tinker with electronics and belongs to a boxing gym. He also skis and snowboards, but since he got the sail bug he hasn't been back to that in 2 seasons.
Bob Bigsby, Treasurer
Bob joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2020. He served as Treasurer on the board in 2023. Bob is a life-long boater, originally in small runabouts designed for dragging children behind. He moved to power cruisers in 2003 and cruised the Great Lakes in 2003-18. First Mate, Lenore, and Bob did the Great Loop in their 1966 41' Hatteras Twin Cabin (2015-16). The trip started at the bottom of Lake Michigan and took 1 full year to complete. Bob says that it was the time of their lives. Their Loop consisted of the river system down to Mobile, along Florida's Panhandle via Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW), crossing the Gulf of Mexico at night in the fog, rain, and waves (21 hours), spending the winter in Clearwater, St Pete's, and Fort Meyers; after crossing Florida via L Okeechobee they went up the East Coast ICW and out onto the Atlantic to New York Harbor, then up the Hudson R, Erie Canal, across L Ontario, into Canada via the Trent Severn canal system which put them onto Georgian Bay (cruiser's paradise) and finally back down L Michigan. In total it was 5600 miles, 110 locks and a few adventures (disasters averted). Other than the stays on Florida's west coast, Bob and Lenore spent much of the time anchored out in secluded coves. They met lots of people along the way and developed lasting relationhips with some. In 2018 Bob and Lenore took a final 3 month cruise around L Michigan (about 900 miles) at the end of which they decided to sell their beautiful Miss Hattie and buy a boat in CA, where their only grandchildren (and their parents) live. Currently, Bob and Lenore spend about equal time on their boat in Emeryville and their house in Valparaiso, IN. Now that the pandemic is subsiding, Bob and Lenore are thoroughly enjoying meeting and cruising with members of the Emeryville YC. Lenore and Bob have two adult (fully emancipated) daughters. Rachel (47) lives in Chicago with their son-in-mortgage and Gretchen (44) who lives in Berkeley with their son-in-law and two grandchildren, ages 10 and 7. Bob is a retired Professor, Indiana University School of Medicine. He did biomedical research and taught for 25 years. Bob enjoys taking care of / remodeling their boat and house; woodcrafts / making wooden furniture; skiing (skiing "is not a sport, it is a way of life"); and of course, cruising with his Emeryville YC friends.
Sally Mueller, Secretary
Sally joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2019 with her husband, Tim Mueller. She served as Secretary in 2023. After having lived on their Hunter 466 at Marina Village in Alameda and then Emeryville since 2016, they now split their time between Emeryville on their newly purchased Jeanneau 52.2 in Emery Cove Yacht Harbor and their home in Vancouver, Washington. Sally’s first sailing experience was a four day sail out from Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Numerous San Juan Island and Columbia River sails followed along with a recent seven day cruise from Ensenada Mexico to Emeryville. Having completed Basic Keelboat and Basic Cruising, she is currently working on attaining her US Sailing Bareboat Certification through Club Nautique. Sally and Tim are avid skiers and enjoy frequent trips to Utah, Colorado and Northern California ski areas. They also enjoy hiking, biking, tennis and pickleball. They share three sons in Oregon, Washington and California and three grandchildren in nearby Portland and enjoy watching their soccer games, attending their school events or just hanging out with them whenever possible. Sally is a CERTIFIIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and prior to her retirement, worked with clients to help them achieve their short and long term financial goals.
Tim Mueller, Port Captain
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Tim joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2019. He is new to the Board in 2024. Having fallen in love with the idea of sailing during his youth in Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz, Tim pursued and received his ASA Bareboat Certification (2000) and US Sailing Bareboat Certification (2018) . He is currently pursuing his Coastal Passage Making Certification through Club Nautique. During his 20+ years of sailing, he has spent extensive time sailing Washington’s Puget Sound, Oregon’s Columbia River, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Coastal waters between San Francisco and Cabo San Lucas, MX. Tim currently splits his time between his primary home in Vancouver, WA, his Jeanneau 52.2 sailboat at Emery Cove Yacht Harbor, and his various travel destinations of interest.
Alek Shestakov, Director
Alek joined the Emeryville Yacht Club in 2023 and is new to the Board in 2024. Alek has sailed since 1984, primarily bareboat chartered in the San Francisco Bay, throughout West Indies: Bahamas, BVI, Leeward and Winward islands as far South as Grenada. His extensive experience includes chartering in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Adriatic seas, as well as circumnavigating Majorca. Alek has also bareboated in San Juan islands (NW Washington State) and in Monterey Bay, in addition to having sailed a friend’s boat: Alameda <-> Drakes’s Bay and Alameda -> Sta. Cruz, always as skipper. His expierence also includes sailing dinghy Pico 12, that have sailed on Donner Lake and San Pablo Dam reservoir. In Dec. 2022, Alek made his first large boat purchase: a Sabre 34 MK II, sloop and is finishing preparations for trips out the gate down the coast to Monterey. Alek is a retired computational physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, after 45 years. When not on the water, Alek enjoys reading and swimming for execrise. He also plays classical piano 1-2 hrs/day, skis in the winter, and enjoys bike riding.
Doug Ledeboer, Director
Doug joined the Emeryville Yacht Club with his wife Linda in 2019 and is new to the Board in 2024. Doug was introduced to boating when his parents purchased a cabin cruiser back in the early 70’s and enjoyed many weekends exploring the Delta with friends and family. Doug’s love for being on the water led to several boat purchases, from a small runabout to tow the kids, to his first purchase of a trawler in 2002. Doug and Linda upgraded to a 46-foot Grand Banks in 2019 and thoroughly enjoy cruising around the bay and coastline when time permits. Doug and Linda reside in Murphys, California and have a blended family of six “children” and seven grandchildren. Doug has spent over 30-years in the residential development business and owns a small family-owned company that primarily develops property in the Central Valley. Doug is looking forward to winding down a bit and spending more time on the water in 2024. When not on the water, Doug also enjoys golfing, hiking, traveling and time with family.
Britta Fjelstrom, Staff Commodore
Britta joined the yacht club in 2016 and has been a board member since 2019. Although a Bay Area native, she didn’t start sailing until after college. Her first sailing experience was a sunset sail in Santa Cruz, CA. She was hooked and immediately signed up for sailing lessons. Within a year she bought a boat to sail and live on. In 2005 she sailed her first boat, an Elite 29, to Puerto Vallarta and then up the Sea of Cortez. Britta has competed in numerous Bay and ocean races and worked for J World as a sailing instructor and charter captain for team-building events. She is a certified Sailing Instructor and Coast Guard Captain. Britta has worked in education for over 20 years. She recently acquired her Yacht Salesperson License and now also works part-time selling boats. After a summer spent cruising the South Pacific, she decided to upgrade to an ocean-going boat and bought a Nantucket Island 38. She lives aboard her boat in Emeryville. When not doing boat projects, Britta enjoys taking the scenic route/getting lost, reading, micro-brew tasting, and playing one of the many instruments she has on board which includes a ukulele and an accordion.