Sailing captivated Marianne when she came to California some years back. Growing up in the Bavarian Alps, she had never given boats much thought before. But, from the moment she saw the blue Bay speckled with white sails, she couldn't forget about them.

Soon, she sailed the Bay, much of the West Coast and around the Hawaiian Islands. After helping deliver a MacGregor 65 across the Atlantic to the Med, she found herself being blown across the oceans aboard a Cal 40 on a whirlwind circumnavigation. Small wonder the salt wouldn’t shake off after that and she became a Tradewinds instructor in 2002. 

Since then, she has enjoyed lots of day sails on San Francisco Bay with her students and made many friends on charters to Mexico, enchanting Tahiti, the Caribbean, the Greek Islands and Turkey’s beautiful Turquoise Coast. In cooler regions, she has sailed the rugged North West and crunched ice in Alaska, negotiating calving glaciers and floating icebergs. She crews on ocean races with members on the 65ft ULDB Barking Spider 3 and has participated in Transpac, Los Angeles to Honolulu, and Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta races. 

Marianne has her Coast Guard license and ASA instructor qualifications including Bare Boat Charter and Coastal Navigation. She invites you to join her at Tradewinds and looks forward to helping you reach your own sailing goals. Marianne is also an accomplished Tahitian dancer.