Darrell Wooten

Qualifications

  • ASA Certified Instructor in Basic Keelboat Sailing, Basic Coastal Cruising, Bareboat Cruising, Coastal Navigation, and Docking
  • Private Pilot
  • Advanced Open Water SCUBA Diver

Darrell has been sailing and teaching at Spinnaker Sailing since 1992. Born and raised in San Francisco, he is a California native. His first boating experience was at the age of four when he almost ran his baby sitter’s mahogany Chris Craft into a delta levee. At ten he helped a neighbor build a wood cabin cruiser since he could fit between the garage ceiling and the inverted hull to screw down the plywood bottom. And he got his first sailing experience at 17 by trading engine work on a gorgeous Hong Kong ketch for sailing on San Francisco Bay. After graduating from San Jose State University with an engineering degree, and crewing aboard NASA’s DC-8 Airborne Laboratory for many years, spying great sailing locations the world over from the air, Darrell came to Spinnaker Sailing for formal instruction. His other adventures include organizing bareboat charters with friends, flying, skiing, SCUBA diving, motocross, car and home restoration, home built aircraft construction, photography, writing, etc. If you don’t see him around the club, he’s probably tearing up corduroy at Heavenly in the winter, or on his boat in the delta during summer.