Coaches

	Tom Kelly – CoachResiding happily in Tiburon, Tom is a rowing fanatic and avid outdoorsman. In the 1970’s he was a world-ranked competitive swimmer and has been in or on the water ever since. Although he recently competed in his first flat-water marathon on the Petaluma River (26 blistering miles!), Tom prefers the wilder open expanses of San Francisco Bay, with a special fondness for Angel Island and Point Bonita. During the 2010 Open Ocean Regatta, he was pleasantly accosted by both a grey whale and a school of harbor porpoises, and can’t think of a nicer place in the world to be out on the water. He loves taking newer rowers out on guided tours around Richardson Bay.
	Ellen Braithwaite – CoachSculling captivated Ellen in 1994 when she was working in the office of a sculling center in Vermont. She discovered OWRC when she was looking for a place to row during visits to California, began working here in the fall of 1999 as weekend dock manager and ended up as the general manager. A frequent competitor in both flat water and open water events, Ellen’s latest accomplishments include a successful completion of the Catalina Crossing in a new Maas double with OWRC’s Jon Farmer. After several tours of duty as manager she is trying to get back to doing some real rowing herself.
	Morgan Fenner – Coach Morgan began her rowing career as a high school rower for Capital Crew in Sacramento, CA. She then rowed for the University of California, Berkeley for one year. Since then she has been involved with coaching the Berkeley High Crew novice men’s team, at Marin Rowing, and coaching sculling at OWRC.
	Stefan Benton – CoachStefan rowed for two years at St. Ignatious in San Francisco and then on Varsity Lightweight crew at UC Santa Barbara for 4 years. During that time the UC lightweight crew competed twice in lightweight national championships. He attended national lightweight development camp in 1989 and won a gold that year in the lightweight double in the Olympic Festival. Stefan started coaching at OWRC in 1986 and managed the operation from 1994 through 1996. He has competed in and frequently won many open water races since 1995, including four Catalina races and has won the men’s double division of Catalina twice. He now coaches part-time at OWRC while working as a counselor and, as of last year, starting his own counseling practice.
	Chris Dadd – Coach Chris rowed in the men’s lightweight boat at Humbolt from 1978 to 1983. After taking a break, he started again at Lake Merritt Rowing Club in Oakland. He began sculling nine years ago and a couple of years after that, entered his first open water race in a double. He now competes on open water in doubles or singles, and on flat water in anything he can get into.He coaches part time at OWRC and recently completed his masters degree in Human Physiology at Cal State Hayward. In his spare time he has enjoyed turning rowers into lab rats in support of his thesis at Hayward. Chris is also the Head Program and Men’s coach for the Berkeley High School Crew.
	Rachel Jackson – Coach Rachel learned to row many years ago as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. Back then the women’s crew was a small one, in number and in weight, but with a coach who believed that fine rowing technique mattered more than brawn. Rachel competed in sweep boats (eights, fours, and the pair) and rowed at Nationals in 1977 and 1978. After a long hiatus, she returned to rowing here at OWRC in 2000, learning to row a single scull on the often rough waters of San Francisco Bay.She has especially enjoyed the challenge and the fun of planning and completing long rows here on the Bay (up to 22 nautical miles!) with a trusted rowing partner. She rowed the Catalina Crossing in 2003 and 2006, and the around Catalina Row in 2004, all in her Mass 24. Rachel loves the opportunity we have here at OWRC to combine the discipline of learning to be better and better rowers with the challenge of such an interesting territory, the powerful and ever-changing waters of San Francisco Bay.

Morgan Fenner – Coach