Generous boat donation provides game-changing resources to Cal Maritime sailing

Navy, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, Michigan, Maryland, Rhode Island, Hawai'i: Upon first glance, it is easy for sailing fans to think of Cal Maritime as an underdog, especially when it competes in regattas that include the most respected, and recognized universities in the nation.

Even against its Power Five brethren, the Keelhaulers deserve their spot in their sport's biggest competitions, as evident from the success Cal Maritime earned throughout the 2021-22 season — the latest chapter of the program's storied history.

Last year alone, Cal Maritime won its fourth Kennedy Cup — and the right to represent the United States at the Student Yachting World Cup in France — the program's eighth Harbor Cup in the 14-race history of the event, added another pair of championships to the team's trophy case by winning the Cal Team Race and Rainier Cup, and enjoyed 11 top-three finishes within the 18 events that included the Keelhaulers.

Our cadet-athletes enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in program history because they won numerous titles against the top programs in the nation, with an operation budget and number of resources that are nowhere near what is provided to their peers.

Until now.



Last March, the sailing program celebrated a game-changing opportunity when it sailed a TP-52 around the San Francisco Bay and enjoyed one-of-a kind views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The trip itself commenced after this beautiful vessel was renamed Heather, in honor of Cal Maritime President Thomas A. Cropper's wife and the First Lady of Cal Maritime from 2012 until her passing in 2019.

While at Cal Maritime, Heather Cropper dedicated her time, passion and energy towards the well-being and care of the Cal Maritime community, an Academy she truly loved. Her lasting impact was celebrated in 2012 when she received the Navy Meritorious Public Service Award; known for her devotion to supporting other military families and displaying an uncommon understanding for the unique situation they faced, her kindness, grace, sincerity and love she provided others shaped a legacy that continues today.

To name the sailing program's new keelboat after Heather is a fitting tribute because, like Heather herself, this act of kindness will enhance and improve the quality of life enjoyed by others for future generations.

The Keelhaulers' renaming ceremony continued a celebration that began in the summer of 2022, before the start of the academic year, when a generous donor (who requested to remain anonymous) began a string of conversations with individuals who possessed connections to Cal Maritime.

The ability to fund the TP-52 sailing campaign came, in large part to the donations of  a very generous anonymous donor.  "The connection to this anonymous donor, was an individual named Doug Holm, Lockton Insurance Brokers Senior Vice President'," said Senior Development Director and Campaign Manager Charles Hart, a member of Cal Maritime's University Advancement. "He is a broker who carried the insurance for this individual's boats; when he decided to change direction, Doug talked to him about donating two of his yachts to Cal Maritime."

As a member of Cal Maritime's Foundation board for the last eight years, Holm was familiar with the university's sailing program, its storied history and a need for a training boat — a resource available to sailing student-athletes at other institutions. Through his network of industry  connections, which included Hart, a dream started to become reality.

"We have a vessel donation program … which is responsible for two-thirds of money raised at Cal Maritime over the last few years," said Hart.

Once Director of Athletics Karen Lee Yoder and her colleague, Associate Director of Athletics Steve Doten were pulled into this process after receiving strong interest from this anonymous donor, the next set of conversations involved Bo Smith, a member of a third-party brokerage firm called Civic Seas.

"(Bo) looks for boats and helps move them through the donation process," Hart explained. "People who are interested in donating their boat will contact one, or both of us, since every donation made to the university must go through the Cal Maritime Foundation since it is a separate non-profit entity."

Hart added, "having been a past commodore at the St. Francis Yacht Club (San Francisco) I have been heavily involved in big regattas and big boats. After talking to Bo, I told him how our sailing program does not have a big boat to train on during the school year and thought it would be a smart idea to secure a training boat to help this team. I told Bo we were looking for the best training boat, either a Santa Cruz 52 or a Transpacific 52, since they are the same length.

"However, a SC-52 is a cruising boat that is luxurious with a galley and bunks whereas a TP-52 is built for racing."

Once Smith connected with the TP-52 donor, the next part of the process involved a surveyor whose sole job is focused on inspecting the boat from top to bottom, like a home inspection, so Cal Maritime fully understands its condition, the amount of repairs needed and its estimated cost.

Since this boat was once a training vessel at the Naval Academy for 10 years, maintenance and repairs were minimal, and the boat exceeded Cal Maritime's expectations.

"Knowing we need a training boat, and through conversations with Karen, I passed Bo's information regarding this TP-52 to her for consideration by her committee. I recommended this boat highly and she agreed to move forward with this process. Once Bo gave clearance that the boat was ready to head north, the next challenge involved finding an appropriate location to dock it.

"This boat draws 10 feet, for this kind of boat is deep yet not unusual (most boats draw 6-7 feet). I was hoping we could keel this boat on campus down by the marina, but it is too shallow along the waterfront. I started looking around and contacted Paul Kaplan, who is the owner of KKMI Shipyard in Richmond, since his specialty involves working with boats with a big draw. Since he knew of a slip in Marina Bay that would work, he made some calls, contacted me, then I reached out to Karen who took it from there."

Just a few months after discussions began, Cal Maritime's sailing program was on the verge of experiencing something special, thanks to the hard work and dedication of multiple individuals.

Said Hart succinctly, "we all worked together, everyone added their experience to this situation to make this process work."

Even though the donor asked to remain anonymous and receive minimal, if any publicity — a common request made by a vast majority of donors — there was one request: Cal Maritime could not race this boat out of Marina del Rey, the restriction involved participating in any regatta that is based there.

That extremely reasonable ask was one Yoder quickly agreed to due to the impact this donation would make to the program and its cadet-athletes.

With a location to dock this boat in Richmond secured, that provided the green light for this TP-52 to sail up the California coast in late January. Once a final round of inspections took place after it reached Northern California, the final part of this process involved a once-in a lifetime celebration, which took place once the TP-Heather was christened with university VIPs, sailing cadet-athletes and coaches on board.

Said Hart, whose viewpoint is one shared by countless cadet-athletes, industry peers, university and sailing alums alike, "I think everyone is happy since a TP-52 is the cream of the crop for a sailing program like ours. I received numerous calls, including one from (cadet-athlete) Max Roth's dad in Honolulu, who was just as excited as the cadets."

He added, "I saw the team when it competed at the Harbor Cup, everyone appreciated the steps the university took to support the program. Karen jumped on board with this boat donation quickly because she saw the value in supporting the team to this degree.

"Just this past year, Cal Maritime won three prestigious races — the Kennedy Cup, Harbor Cup and Rainier Cup — that is unheard of, especially for a school of our size that did not previously have a TP-52 to train on.

"I think sailing is Cal Maritime's strongest sport, especially with its connection to the industry. This program shaped numerous strong sailors, and I feel that will continue at another level with the addition of this TP-52 because there is nowhere to go but up."