Wo We Are, What We Do and Why,
& How We Do it

We are a 501c3 based in Saus Ca serving over 25,000 military veterans in the surrounding Bay Area.

We provide marine education, exploration, and sail training programs on San Francisco Bay.

Using the magic and beauty of wooden boats, we incorporate a cognitive-based therapeutic approach with measurable outcomes to give veterans the tools for coping with PTSD and moral injury.

Today, the rising rates of veteran suicide and substance abuse

are an enormous challenge, and we ask for your help.

Together we can inspire and motivate veterans to change their world, one person at a time.

Our Story

Today we live amidst a silent crisis: over one million veterans are battling some form of addiction, and each day as many as twenty veterans are taking their own lives. We are part of a grass roots effort to reverse this trend; to raise awareness, provide hope and community, and to make a difference that sends ripples outward to veterans and their families all around us.

You have an opportunity with WBFV to be a part of the great work of supporting those who have served the nation and in do doing, help it to achieve the ideals yet to be fully realized four our country and its posterity.

Terry loved sailing with friends aboard Valiant, his 45' Sparkman Stephens that he restored with his father and son; so he started inviting veterans. It didn't take him long to realize he enjoyed this, and the folks he took were enjoying it too. So in 2014, WBFV was born. Since then over 1,000 veterans and their families have come sailing, in a network of over 10 boats.

Today WBFV is restoring the Sailing Vessel Clover for the purpose of providing veterans a path for restoring overall health and well-being by providing marine education, exploration, and sail training on and around San Francisco Bay. Clover is a 1938 gaff-rigged sailing vessel which was commandeered in 1939 by the Royal Navy six-years of wartime support around the British Isles from Dunkirk to Fastnet Rock. WBFV is restoring the vessel to operate marine education research programs, including programs serving veteran groups in the region. The programming will blend marine science and the VA’s therapeutic activities.

With much of the external restoration nearly complete, the remaining project tasks include installing the sailing rig to completing the original traditional sailing aspects of the boat, including ancillary plumbing and electrical work to mirror the original woodworking techniques of the crew quarters using a combination of White Oak and varnished Mahogany accent trim.

With private funds the WBFV will also build a ramp to the boat and a lifting rail which would allow people who use wheelchairs to access the deck of the boat. Clover is ideally suited with wide decks and hatchways to accommodate wheelchairs.

The vessel will be berthed most of the year at Sugar Dock in Richmond to provide veteran groups from the region with marine education and exploration trips on San Francisco Bay beginning next year. The boat will also visit other communities along the Pacific coast and in Baja California to encourage veterans to embrace regional educational and research programs.