Our Staff

Tradewinds Sailing School and Club was founded in 1962 and has been continuously serving Folsom Lake and the San Francisco Bay.

We would like you to meet our staff that keeps the Sailing School and Sailing Club running seven days a week.

As a young man, Butch was standing at the sea, when he fell in love with what he saw, the wind pushing beautiful sailing vessels across the waters so effortlessly. It wasn't long before he was crewing for many racing skippers around the club’s courses, and he soon learned that some skippers were Captain Blighs and others were Captain Rons.

Regardless, his soul really fell for the peace and the contentment of ocean crossings, that he still enjoys now and then. As father time marched on, he became less content with his land career, so a few years ago he left it for a life on the Bay.

In Butch's own words, "You come from all walks of life carrying your hopes, dreams, and life-vests in a desire to enrich your lives. I have noticed as we navigate through classes together, my life gets better each and every day, and I thank you for that. Now I sit back at the helm and think how rich a man I am today, for there goes I, as you sail past me on the bay. Bon voyage. Smooth sailing. Exquisite sunsets."

Brandy Kepner
Manager/First Mate

As the daughter of Butch, Brandy was around sailing from a young age. She really didn't like it at first due to her sea-sickness and the racing atmosphere.

Then she grew up and married Matt, who was a Navy sailor. They moved to San Francisco Bay when his shop was stationed in Alameda. While Matt was out to sea she worked for a Payroll Company for 3 years doing billing, accounting, customer service, and branch administration. When Matt’s time was up in the Navy, they decided to stay in the bay area.

Brandy decided to move into the customer service area for a direct marketing company and stayed there for about three years. She soon set her goal to become a manager. She left that company and moved to an international mailing company as an Office Manager and Operations Manager.

During this time, Butch had been working with Tradewinds Sailing and she became interested in the sport once more. Brandy and Matt started enjoying sailing together and loved it a lot. When the opportunity to come work for Tradewinds arose, it was an easy choice. She loves the company and the members and enjoys doing what she is doing.

Matt Kepner
Operations/IT

Fresh out of High School, Matt joined the Navy. After Basic Training he attended Electrician’s Mate “A” School and Naval Nuclear Power School. After training he was stationed on the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN-70). In the Navy, Matt learned that he had a knack for troubleshooting and for making things work. “I love fixing things – if it used to work, I can figure it out and make it work again. If it’s currently working I can find a way to make it work better.” Matt has a broad range of experience in “making things work,” including Mechanical, Fluid, Electrical, Electronic and computer/PLC systems.

After his first West-Pac cruise on the Carl Vinson, Matt also realized he had an addiction to the sea and a love of travel. “I love boats and I love going new places and seeing new things. I can’t live more than 20 minutes drive from salt-water. After visiting places like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia aboard the carrier, I knew I’d spend a good portion of the rest of my life either traveling to new places or wanting to. Tradewinds is definitely my idea of the perfect place to work!”