Keynote Speakers

2006 National Sailing Programs Symposium Keynote Speakers This agenda is still under development and is subject to change Captain Jim Gladson Michael Leneman Tim Herzog Nevin Sayre Steve Prime Tom Leweck Dawn Riley Jim Perry
Captain Jim Gladson Captain Jim Gladson is a retired science teacher and the President/Founder of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute and TopSail Youth Program. The Institute, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, with a current full-time staff of only four, utilizes the skills and enthusiasm of several hundred volunteers to sail, maintain and support the ships and the programs, producing almost $4 worth of program for every donated dollar spent. During the 2001-2002 school year, the TopSail Youth Program provided over 5000 youth sailing days to 67 different schools and youth organizations. Their educational venue is the ocean on board classic-rigged sailing vessels. The 70' topsail schooner Swift of Ipswich, the 94' gaff-topsail schooner Bill of Rights, and the Twin Brigantines Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson make a unique and challenging environment that nurtures the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are both necessary for the education of today's youth, and difficult to teach in the traditional classroom. Youth are encouraged to explore and respond to the world around them. Science, mathematics, physics, biology, geography, world trade, economics, history, literature, and even poetry suddenly come to life in this real world classroom. The ultimate destination is individual responsibility, competency and leadership.
Michael Leneman Michael Leneman holds a Master’s Degree in Marine Geology and teaches at several universities in the Los Angeles area. He is the founder of Marine Tech and Multi Marine, and has designed and built a half dozen kayaks and multihulls ranging from a 23’ folding trimaran to a 40’ race/cruise catamaran. He is currently the winningest offshore multihull skipper in southern California for the last 30 years. Michael will be speaking on “Weather and Waves” (how the two are interconnected and what they can tell you about each other) and “Simple Boat Building” (how to use the latest high-tech developments to improve, lighten or build a boat inexpensively).
Tim Herzog, M.S., Ed M. Tim Herzog is currently a 4^th year doctoral student in clinical psychology at Loyola College in Maryland. He counsels and does sport psychology work with midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, as well as with students at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD. Also at HCC, Herzog teaches an undergraduate class in sport and exercise psychology. He started sailing as a youngster in Cohasset, Massachusetts and his passion for the sport kept him actively involved with junior sailing and college sailing for several years. Herzog sailed for Tabor Academy and Saint Mary’s College, was assistant coach at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and then head coach at Boston College. A highlight of his coaching career was leading the BC team to 5^th place at the 2002 North Americans in Hawaii, where the group received 4 All-American honors (a 1^st in BC history). Herzog also enjoys reaching youngsters. He instructed and coached at yacht clubs around the country beginning at age 17, and later served as the junior sailing program director at Larchmont Yacht Club in New York. Herzog is a Level 3 certified US SAILING Coach and has taught the Level 1 and Level 2 courses for several years. He has a range of applied psychology experience from counseling trauma survivors, to conducting psycho-educational assessments, to performing mental skills work at venues such as IMG Academies (a sports training camp in Bradenton, FL). Herzog holds a Masters in Counseling and Sport Psychology from Boston University, a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Loyola College, and is eagerly anticipating defending his dissertation: “Video-Imagery: The Empirical Study of an Integrated Performance Enhancing Technique Applied to Competitive Sailing”. Herzog is currently applying for internship (much like a “medical residency”) at college counseling centers around the country. NSPS Keynote Address: Getting Kids Locked into Sailing for Life: A Viewpoint on Optimal Push and an Introduction to Mental Skills to use once they’re “Locked In.” Herzog will review findings of his Master Thesis, more recent research on optimal push, and his approach to mental skills training which will be discussed in greater detail in the Advanced Coaches Symposium Level 3 Module. Advanced Coaching Symposium Level 3 Module: The Sailing Psychology Tool Kit: Theoretical Rationale and Applied Sport Psychology Techniques for Sailing Coaches. Herzog will present a summary of sport psychology research, how theory and technique can be applied to sailing, and will give coaches resources and referral sources that they can use upon returning to their programs.
Nevin Sayre Nevin Sayre is world-known for his accomplishments in windsurfing. His experience spans from the early days of the Windsurfer One Design class to the high-performance Professional Windsurfers Association World Tour, accumulating more than 20 national and international titles along the way. He was ranked as high as #2 on the annual PWA World Rankings, and #1 on the U.S. Pro Tour five years. Nevin was the founding chairman of the Professional Windsurfer’s Association which substantially expanded the world tour and raised the purse to over $3M. He was a co-founder of Fiberspar, Inc. which produced the first carbon fiber masts and booms and revolutionized windsurfing equipment, and the ease of learning. More recently, Nevin has been very active in getting kids into windsurfing. He started free camps for kids which have introduced more than 800 kids to sailing.
Steve Prime Steve Prime, of Gowrie, Barden & Brett's "Burgee Insurance Plan” is a life long sailor starting in a youth program and moved on to campaign a Finn dinghy for seven years before joining North Sails. After a two year campaign in 470's, Steve moved into bigger boats including a few J24 campaigns. Steve has sailed on nearly every offshore race from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico including five Bermuda Races, two Fastnet Races, eight SORCs and many other offshore races.
Dawn Riley Proficient big boat and match racing sailor. Skipper of Heineken, the all-women's team in the 1993-94 Whitbread Round the World race, and watch captain and engineer on Maiden, the all women's team in the 1989-90 Whitbread. Pitman on America3 for the Defender trials for the 1992 America's Cup. Riley has focused on match racing since the '92 Cup, competing in the Knickerbocker Cup, Columbus cup, Omega Gold Cup and Bitter End/Yachting Invitational. Sailing accomplishments include: First place in both the 1992 Santa Maria Cup in Baltimore, Maryland, and the 1992 Women's Cup in Portofino, Italy. A graduate of Michigan State University, where she served as captain of the sailing team and division "A" skipper.(1/1/95)
Tom Leweck Tom Leweck is probably best known as the creator and the editor of Scuttlebutt, a racing newsletter that's distributed by e-mail to more than 20,000 people each day. However, he's been one of Southern California's most visible sailing personalities for the nearly four decades. He's won six National Championships in both keelboat and dinghy one-design classes, as well as the North American MORC championship. In recent years he has teamed with Ed Baird to win the Bitter End Yacht Club's Pro Am Regatta on two occasions. He's equally well known for his offshore accomplishments. A veteran of and seven Transpac races and 58 long-distance races to Mexico, Leweck has spend more than a year of his life racing down Mexico's Baja Peninsula. In the process, he's picked up a Navigator's Trophy on five occasions when the boat he was navigating won First in Fleet. A former Commodore of the California Yacht Club, Leweck has been the President of PHRF of Southern California, the Executive Director of the ULDB 70 Association, President of the Cal 20 Class Association and the Executive Director of the Transpac 52 Class Association. He's a US SAILING Senior Judge, and was recently elected to US SAILING's Sailor Athlete Council. A public relations executive for more than three decades, he retired from GTE California in 1988 as State Director of Public Affairs. Subsequently he spent five years as the West Coast editor of Sailing World magazine and was the Press Officer for Team Dennis Conner's 2000 America's Cup campaign.
Jim Perry Jim Perry began his career in teaching, coaching, and athletic administration at the high school and college levels in 1975 after playing basketball and earning his degree at the University of Southern California in the spring of 1974. Since then, he has served as Chairman of the National Coaches Council and President of the National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors. Jim has also served as a member of the Building Character Through Sports Task Force for the White House and Congressional Conferences. He currently serves on the C.I.F. Southern Section Ethics in Sports Committee, the Athletic Directors Advisory Committee, and the Basketball Advisory Committee. In 1997, Coach Perry was inducted into the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association’s “Hall of Fame.” In 2003, the Boys and Men’s Athletics Division of the California Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance named Jim their “Secondary School Educator of the Year.” The Southwest District of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance has elected Jim, President for 2006. Jim has been the Director of Athletics, Basketball Coach, and Teacher at La Quinta High School in Westminster, California since 1982.
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