Meet The Team

Executive Director & Captain of Mystic Whaler

Christine Healy

Christine fell in love with sailing as a teenager, beginning her professional career at the age of 19 in Annapolis, Maryland. The start of her career was spent doing yacht deliveries to the Caribbean, eventually moving toward larger traditional schooners, including the Woodwind and Woodwind 2, Pride of Baltimore 2, and the Amistad. At the age of 23, she sat for her first captain’s license. One of Christine’s big goals in life was to sail to Hawaii. In 2008, she moved to the west coast and fulfilled that goal in 2009 when she competed as an exhibition class in the Transpac race onboard the privateer Lynx. After the Transpac race, she returned to the west coast, where she has had a wide variety of experience operating boats from British Columbia down through Mexico. Christine carries a 200 ton near coastal masters license, is passionate about teaching youth about traditional sailing and marine wildlife (especially whales), and is excited to bring her vast knowledge and experience to CCOAF. Christine loves to read, cuddle with her pug Emma, and take care of her horse Amigo, who loves to roll around in the mud and constantly needs baths.

Deputy Director

Adri Howe

Adri joined the CCOAF team in 2023 and brings with her many years of experience in for-profit and non-profit management, fundraising, and outreach. Adri avidly supports humane education, which seeks to draw connections between human rights, animal protection, and environmental sustainability. Adri holds a B.A. in Communication from the UC San Diego – Thurgood Marshall College. Adri serves as President of California Coastal Horse Rescue, is a Board Officer for the Channel Islands Harbor Foundation, and is a Board Trustee for the Channel Islands Maritime Museum. She is also an avid nature and animal photographer whose images have been featured in a variety of publications. Adri thinks a description of her dream life can be found in Lyle Lovett’s song “If I Had A Boat.” (Check it out!)

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Operations and HR Coordinator

Ian FitzGerald

Ian developed a passion for sailing when he joined The Santa Barbara Sailing Center in 1994.  He initially started in the office and docks and then began teaching kids camps and crewing on various yachts in The Santa Barbara Harbor.  He then obtained his ASA Instructor credential in 1996 and began teaching the level 1 (ASA 101) certification course aboard Victory 21’s and J-24’s.  Soon after, he became Assistant Sailing School Director, helping to grow the sailing school and fine-tune the curriculum.  This transitioned into becoming the Sailing School Director and serving on the board for ASA, representing the concerns of all the West Coast Sailing Schools.  In 2003 Ian was promoted to General Manager, where he was able to help the company evolve for the next 20 years.  Ian is a proud family man with a lovely wife and two teenage daughters.  He loves to fish, play bass guitar, disc golf, ski, travel and see live music as often as possible.  

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Education Manager/Crew Member

Brienne Ashley

Born and raised in San Diego, Brienne grew up around boats. Her family lived on a boat when she was born, and her most treasured family memories have taken place on boats. Right out of high school, she started working for the Maritime Museum of San Diego for about 13 years. She was occasionally part of their volunteer sail crew, and in 2008 she had the opportunity to sail to all eight Channel Islands aboard the tall ship Californian. Brienne has also been fortunate to sail aboard the Star of India, the world’s oldest active sailing ship. Attending Southwestern Community College and then UC Santa Cruz, Brienne holds a BA in Literature. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, reading, quilting, and cuddling with her partner’s dog, Diva.

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Development Associate/Crew Member

Corah Walker

Corah knew she wanted to be a sailor since she was 7 years old, living in Stone Ridge, New York. She told her grandfather that she wanted to live on a sailboat, despite never having seen a sailboat before. Flash forward to her mid-twenties; while living in Michigan, she had the opportunity to learn to sail and took to it like a fish to water. She became an instructor in less than a year and now owns a 1982 Newport 30 that she’s fixing up and plans to live on with her 10-year-old cocker spaniel golden retriever, Littlefoot. Corah has a BA and MA in Political Science and is working on getting her Ph.D. in Comparative Environmental Politics from UC Santa Barbara! She’s also in the process of testing for her 100-ton near coastal Master Captain’s License and 50-ton Master’s with sailing endorsement. Corah enjoys exploring new places with Littlefoot, cooking, and baking!

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2nd Mate

Jack Cairncross

Jack was born and raised in San Diego, California. His passion for sailing came from, in his words, the best reason to make a life-altering decision: his friend talked him into it! During his free time, Jack likes to write, draw, tend a garden, and tell himself he’s going to learn how to play the harmonica one of these days. Fun fact about Jack: he’s only been hit by a car a few times, and one was on purpose! His sense of humor always gives the crew a chuckle.

Bosun

Toby White

When asked how he got into sailing, Toby will tell you that he was tricked into it by dolphins! Originally from Idaho, he joined the San Diego Maritime Museum’s team, and one day while out on a sail, Toby got to experience a pod of dolphins playing in the bow wake right under him. From then on, he was sold! When not working, Toby enjoys playing board games and reading. His favorite color is blue, and he was once saved by a fish. No joke!