Chicago Yacht Club Safety at Sea seminar
Speaker Biographies 2014
Brian Adams - Moderator
An experienced Great Lakes sailor with a US Coast Guard Captain’s License, was
navigator and radio operator in the Sociable in the 2011 Chicago-Mackinac Race when
the boat rescued six people from WingNuts in a night storm and served as primary onsite radio contact and search coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard, other boats, and the
race committee. Sailing has been a large part of Brian’s life and has been a great
influence. Sailing has taught him how to safely deal with a constantly changing
environment and how to achieve the best from the experiences and individuals involved.
Racing experience includes 19 Queens Cup races, 9 Chicago-Mac races,
Hundreds of races around The Great Lakes in summer and Florida in the winter. He
has extensive cruising miles on the The Great Lakes, East Coast, Florida and
Caribbean including deliveries around The Great Lakes and East Coast.
Accomplishments:
US Sailing, Safety at Sea Moderator
Cruising Club of America, Rod Stephens Trophy 2011 (Sociable crew)
US Sailing, Hanson Rescue Award 2011 (Sociable crew) recipient
US Coast Guard, Captain David P. Dobbins Award 2011 recipient
US Coast Guard Captains License ,Masters ,Certified Instructor
Boat manager for highly competitive racing program on the Great Lakes. Boat and crew
training.
Board member, Junior sailing at South Shore Yacht Club
Sailing instructor Nearshore to Offshore.
Brian-k-adams@att.net
Dr. Mark Courtney
I grew up sailing in a variety of locations including scows in the midwest on lakes, then
J-boats and bigger boats in San Diego. My dad claims that he built the first wooden
Trimaran on lake Michigan in the 1960s -who knows. That was a long time ago. - he
taught me how to sail though. I did the mac 3 times on Painkiller4, and many years of
bouy racing with them
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Description of Interests I am interested most in the optimal acute diagnosis and
therapy of venous thromboembolic disease.Bioinformatics; Blood/Bleeding Disorders
(anemia, clotting, etc.); Cardiovascular Diseases; Emergency Medicine; Pulmonary
Thromboembolism; Resuscitation Affiliated Centers Center for Healthcare Studies Institute for Public Health and Medicine
http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/emergencymed/faculty/Courtney.html
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Jay Muller is the CYC Race to Mackinac Committee Administration Vice-Chair. He
has been sailing since 1997 and sail racing since 1998. He campaigns on Das Boot, a
Beneteau 40.7 along with his wife and daughter (who got the family into sailing).
2014 will be his 16th Mac race. Other racing includes the NOOD’s, Verve
Cups, Queens Cup, Bi-State and buoy racing. When not sailing, Jay has been a
practicing architect in Chicago since 1984.
Tom Pease is based in Milwaukee, WI and partners with Perry Lewis at North Sails
Midwest in Chicago. Tom has been with North Sails for nearly 30 years and has been
involved in all aspects of making sails; in production working on the floor, repairing and
reshaping as service Sail Care manager, designer new racing and cruising sails and
currently as a sales consultant. Tom has the opportunity of working with numerous
clients, helping determine the best solution to address each unique set of criteria and
requirements. Pease’s philosophy “As a boat owner myself I try to provide the
information I’d want if I was on the other end of the phone”
MARK THORNTON began sailing on Lake Erie in 1994 and he currently own Osprey, a
1985 C&C 35. His interest in weather forecasting grew from his experiences cruising
and racing on the Lake. Mark is a 2006 graduate of the Penn State University Certificate
of Achievement in Weather Forecasting, a two-year program that develops skills in
general, tropical and severe weather forecasting. He maintains a website
(www.lakeeriewx.com) devoted to marine weather education and forecasting resources
and is the past president of the local chapter of the American Meteorological Society.
Mark is employed as the Vice-President of Administration for the law firm of Wegman,
Hessler & Vanderburg and as a Teaching Assistant in the Certificate of Achievement in
Weather Forecasting Program at Penn State University.
Email: LakeErieWX@gmail.com
Website: www.LakeErieWX.com
Phone: (440) 250-9179
BM3 VELARDE Is with United States Coast Guard sector Lake Michigan
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