Tom Schock

Tom Schock was born in Pomona, California. While in the valley his father dedicated himself to the air force through World War II. Tom traveled as a baby and after the war his family moved to a beach house in Newport Beach California. After this move his father built an International 14 in the garage while looking for jobs. He built his first boat in a garage in LA at 12 years old and sailed it out of the bay in 1945. Tom has always been near the water and Tom's grandparents have always had beach houses in southern California.

 Tom learned to sail out of the beach house at 10 years old and won his first championships at 15 years old. He then began sailing in the snowbird class around 16. After some time in boats Tom then developed skills in the International 14, Snipe, Star, and Thistle classes. He was a west coast champion of the Thistle class and the International 14 class. Tom went to the Thistle nationals at 15 in Detroit and could not even drive a car there. He ended up in the top 10 with one DSQ and did not even have a driver’s license! Tom won the Santana 20 national championships in 1997 and got a bullet the Santana 22 Championships in San Francisco bay in 2003. 

Tom has also sailed on big boats such as in the America's cup trials in 1967. In college Tom competed in the Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan long distance offshore yacht races. He has also competed in 2 Bermuda races, 2 Chicago Mackinaw races, 2 Transpac’s, and 5 Swiftshures!  

Tom managed a retail office for a few years in the boating industry and then he began full time boat building at age 22. Tom has been boat building for at least 36 years and he is a grandfather of 2. His previous positions also include president of the SCMA and commodore of the Newport Harbour Yacht Club in 1991.