Michael OConnor:  

I have called Dana Point home for the past 30 years, but my love for sailing began on the Atlantic Ocean. I was raised in Massachusetts. When I was twelve I built my first sailboat with my dad - a Sailfish, right out of the pages of Popular Mechanics. Built of plywood and covered in fiberglass it was very heavy and slow, but I was proud of it. After a few years of trying to get it to sail I moved up to small sailing dinghies and discovered sailing had to do with wind and not as much with bailing and swimming. Since those days in the early 60's of sailing small keel boats from Nova Scotia to my home waters of Cape Cod and the islands I have traveled the world chartering on anything I could get my hands on. I have navigated waters in Australia, Guam, British Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Greece, Spain, and England. I have also chartered in most of the Atlantic States and in and around the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 70's my focus turned to more performance sailing participating in both PHRF and One Design racing. I gained great respect for the intricacies of each position and nuances of what it takes to win. There is where I learned true meaning of the word teamwork. Whether it is was a Lido or the Schooner Kelpie focus was the rule. My Professional Mar...Expand for more