master mariners regatta

The 2021 Master Mariners Regatta on Saturday, May 29, may have been the most-photographed event on San Francisco Bay in the past year and a half. Heck, there were probably more photographers out there than boats racing!

Like so much else in 2020, this regatta took a break for COVID last year. The return to the race course felt like a combination reunion/classic boat parade — with plenty of fierce competition to spice it up, and even some chances to practice emergency procedures.

The race starts on the San Francisco Cityfront between Golden Gate Yacht Club's X buoy and St. Francis YC's A buoy, with Sausalito YC doing the race committee work on the water. Like gentlemen, many of these boats don't sail to weather, so it's a reaching start. There are five different courses, but the basic route goes out to Little Harding and back to Crissy Field and the Blackaller Buoy, where the real parade starts. The boats sail down the San Francisco shore to Blossom Rock before reaching off to Southampton Shoal, then south to a finish east of Treasure Island. Those able and so inclined then proceed south past the Port of Oakland, into the Estuary, and down to a raft-up and party at Encinal YC. Others return to their own slips.

The Cityfront offered 20+ knots of wind with occasional big puffs. Over by Harding Rock, the breeze moderated to 10 knots. The fog pulled back in the morning, but rolled in as far as EYC in normally sunny Alameda during late afternoon, when it got downright chilly. Boats trickled in slowly after 4 p.m. while a jazz band played on the upper deck.

"We were in a dead heat for the tail-feather award."

Among the unplanned emergency drills, the Farallone Clipper Mistress II's deck leaked, their bilge pumps failed, and the crew had to resort to a bucket brigade. They had water up to their knees. One of the crew keeps a boat at Pier 39, and he called the harbormaster there. Mistress II dropped out of the race and put in at Pier 39. It took 20 minutes

JERRY FIDDLER

LATITUDE / JOHN

This page, top: Aloft on Call of the Sea's brigantine 'Matthew Turner'. Bottom: Richard and Gayle eland's -ft yawl ' airwyn' in plenty of bree e that ruffed up whitecaps.

to pump all the water out. But at least they made it to EYC.

Another boat bailed with buckets was Gloriana. Her deadlights, set in rows along the hull, leaked, so when she heeled over in the big breeze, water poured in. She also leaks between the bulkhead and cockpit floor. After Blackaller and sailing along the Cityfront, crewmembers were down below bailing, with water in the cabin up to mid-shins on a 6-ft tall man.

Gloriana is a 42-ft Herreshoff schooner. World War II interrupted her build. She was finished after the war ended. It had been 40 years since her owner, Philip Roggeveen, had sailed in this race. "We were in a dead heat for the tail-feather award," he told us. (And yet they placed second out of four starters in the Marconi 2 Division.) Philip was a passenger on his own boat; Jim Mason served as her skipper. The schooner sails out of Berkeley Marina. The previous Friday night's practice was the first time on the boat for much of the crew. Young gun and bailer-in-chief Baylis Weaver, 30, had last raced in Master Mariners at age 11 on the San Diego-based schooner Dauntless in 2002.

Ian Powell, a full-time Coastie, sailed on the 1939 30-ft John Hanna-designed Tahiti ketch Briar Rose. Briar Rose is another name for Sleeping Beauty (a princess in hiding). "We set out to win and were glad to finish," he told us. "When the wind picked up, we were happy. She's a heavy boat." Ian wants

Clockwise from top left: The schooner 'Mayan'; the 12:20 start; the schooner 'Brigadoon' fve arallone lippers entered, four started and three fnished — this one is 'Mistress II', skippered by Richard von hrenkrook.

to buy the boat.

Tim Murison sailed his beautiful Island Clipper Bolero with a Richmond YC crew of Kim and Anna Desenberg, Michele Logan, and Cal 40 sailors Robb Walker and Rowena Carlson of Nozomi and Fred Cook of Sequoia. Tim and Kim have sailed together since they were both kids in the RYC junior program. Tim reported lumpy water and breeze in the mid-20s. "The wind was kicking."

Bolero's competition was Beau and Stacey Vrolyk's schooner Mayan, which Tim said is very fast, with 15 to 20 people aboard. "We were well outside our wind range. We had really good people aboard but were still overpowered. It's a light-air boat, the smallest boat in our fleet. But everyone got off the boat smiling."

Thirty-eight boats (some of which should properly be called ships) sailed; 33 finished. Though not exactly a pursuit race, divisions start in reverse handicap order, the slowest boats first. A smallerthan-usual one-design class of two Bears started at high noon; the two were also first to finish at 2:46 p.m. — just 6 seconds apart!

Usually starting with the Bears and a fixture in this race and at the EYC raft-up, the National Park Service's 1891 scow schooner Alma didn't make it this year — her rigging wasn't done in time.

Sailing in her maiden race, the newest and biggest vessel was Call of the Sea's 21st century tall ship, the brigantine Matthew Turner, launched in 2017 in Sausalito.

Adrian McCullough skippered her with Alan Olson at the helm. Matthew Turner was last to start, at 12:45, with only Freda B for competition in the Big Schooners division. As the 'sweeper' boat, Matthew Turner's goal was a

from-behind finish, but Freda B bested her by more than two minutes.

Latitude 38's publisher, John Arndt, was fortunate to be among the crew — er, photographers — aboard Matthew Turner. As John reported in June 2's 'Lectronic Latitude, "The flood made the reach to Little Harding a tight one. Matthew Turner worked hard to stay above Harding Rock. The engine allowance gives a square-rigged brigantine a fighting chance, given the challenges of getting downwind topsails upwind from Little Harding to Yellow Bluff against a full-bore flood."

Last to finish, at 4:51 p.m., was Mike and Sue Proudfoot's globe-trotting Ingrid ketch Farida.

Encinal YC has done a bang-up job of welcoming guests back to their club as the state opens up post-lockdown. The club's guest docks, big lawn, swimming pool, deck and tiki bar are well set up to keep the activities outdoors. However, the post-race raft-up showed signs of the lingering pandemic, with the guest docks less packed with classic craft than usual. The biggest vessel to make the scene was the Klaus family's lovely schooner Brigadoon.

Next up for the Master Mariners Benevolent Association would have been the Wooden Boat Show, which had been scheduled for June 20. That gathering on the docks at Corinthian YC in Tiburon has been postponed until a fall date to be determined (we'll keep you posted). Sailing events continue, however. See www.sfmastermariners.org for more info about the organization and full results from the regatta.

atching up with old friends and making new ones at , clockwise from top left MMBA staff commodore Craig Swayne (center, former owner of 'Rowena' and 'Black Witch') with Bill and Grace Bodle of the -ft schooner ' ros' and former owners of Richmond's ugar ock and iselle, the Bodles' moyen poodle; 'Briar Rose', the sleeping beauty; the crew of Jennifer Hinkel's Farallone Clipper 'Ouessant' enjoys post-race snacks; 'Gloriana' backs up to the guest dock.

— latitude/chris

MMBA MASTER MARINERS REGATTA, 5/29

BIG SCHOONERS — 1) Freda B, Lynx Perpetual Trophy, 1991 80-ft LOA gaff-rigged topsail schooner, Paul Dines & Marina O'Neil; 2) Matthew Turner, 2017 132-ft LOA brigantine, Call of the Sea. (2 boats)

GAFF 1 — 1) Brigadoon, Billiken Perpetual Trophy, 1924 65-ft LOA Herreshoff schooner, Terry Klaus; 2) Makora, 1943 47-ft cutter, Jesse