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MASTER MARINERS REGATTA —

regatta: “It showed that there is still life in the old boats and the crews that race them. Even though the boats are classics and their crews are somewhat similar — and, of course gentlemanly — when Bright Star, Elizabeth Muir and Pursuit rounded the Southampton mark, the competitive surge was still on display as the distance between them was not more than 4 feet. The yells and calls for room were all in good spirits. It was a day of

great fun, particularly in watching the magnificent Pursuit race again and out-point the fleet.” Peter competed in Master Mariners during the ‘80s on his gaff schooner Taurua. Back in the early ‘60s he knew Babe Lamerdin, who built Elizabeth Muir

Light, Alma and others turned out this year, all in fine form. The mix of yachts entering the re-gatta changes a little each year, often

depending on whether boatyard projects are completed in time. After years spent on a res-toration, being able to compete in the regatta is a sweet payoff for an owner’s countless hours of labor. Sometimes the more competitive crews get a surprise. I overheard one second-place winner say he was astonished he hadn’t placed first because he hadn't real-ized how far ahead one of his competitors had

stayed the entire race. C’est la vie.

Within the fleet’s largest class, Marconi 1 (nine boats), Tim Murison’s Island Clipper Bolero took top honors. Tim’s been racing in the Master Mari-ners since 1984, apart from taking some breaks when he spent time in the South-ern California classic yacht circuit. Tim enjoys the fact that Master Mariners is a group of “like-minded people that take pride in their boats.” For him this race illustrates that “you don’t have to have an overpriced racing machine to have fun sailing on the Bay.” At times there was more wind than his boat generally likes, but it made up for the parts when the wind was light. Pursuit, the striking M-class sloop that had the final start at 1:05, won the Dead-Eye perpetual trophy for best elapsed time of a Marconi over 30-ft LOD. Ron MacAnnan has owned this 82-ft thoroughbred for more than 50 years, living on her for the first 30 until he retired and moved ashore. At 86 years

young, Ron says he’s still a slave to his boat, working on it six and a half days a week. In fact, he was recaulking Pursuit’s deck when I caught up with him several days after the race. Sadly, the big sloop’s 10’5” draft prevented Ron from bringing her to the awards party raft-up at Encinal YC. Peter Haywood of the 48-ft McInnis schooner Elizabeth Muir summed up this year’s

Memorial Day weekend is always a special time of remembrance and family get-togethers, and, for the members of the Master Mariners Benevolent Associa-tion, a much-anticipated opportunity to strut their stuff across San Francisco

Bay. After this year’s regatta, on May 26, all the skippers I spoke with were happy just to have been racing their boats on that gorgeous day regardless of the out-come — even those who had equipment failures and other glitches. The revival of the Master Mariners Regatta in the mid-1960s was intended to create a eye-popping parade of beautiful classics, and it remains so to this day. Conditions were near-perfect for these heavily built beauties, with 20-25 knots of breeze on much of the course — enough power to move many boats at hull speed with all their canvas flying. Of the 52 starters, 50 finished. Seeing the region’s wide variety of graceful schooners is always a highlight of the event — Elizabeth Muir, Brigadoon, Freda B, Santana, Bluenose, Yankee, Gas

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STRUTTIN' THEIR STUFF

along with John Linderman. He crewed with Lamerdin on the Olin Stephens-designed 55-ft yawl Santana during the time she was owned by Wally Nichols. In contrast to the large M-1 class, Marconi 2 ended up being the smallest class (two starters) because several boats didn’t make it to the starting line, and another had to drop out. Bob Rogers’ 35-ft sloop Sunda sailed a good race regard-less, winning first place and the Aloha perpetual. At the awards party Bob was tickled to tell me that the R-Class sloop Aloha — the trophy’s namesake — has

been successfully restored up north. He’d gone to see her. She was built in 1923 for the commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club, George Gay, who was Rogers’ great-grandfather.

The Bird boats and Bear boats keep going strong, with Curlew tak-ing first place among the Birds and Chance taking first among the Bears. These designs both date back to the early 20th century, and both were created specifically for San Fran-

cisco Bay condi-tions. (Birds will celebrate their 90th birthday later this summer and Bears will celebrate their 80th.) For Glenn Tres-er, who’s owned and raced his Bear Chance cont inu-ously for 40 years, the Master Mariners Regatta is one of the highlights of the fleet’s racing calen-

dar each year, and has a great course. Asked about Chance’s win this year, Glenn said his tight crew gave him an advantage with quick spinnaker sets and take-downs. That was a far cry from Chance’s past, when she endured life as a mastless ferry boat on Lake Tahoe with a four-cylinder engine installed. Her darkest hour was when she sank as the result of an engine fire. But Jens Hansen bought her from the insurance company for $25 and did a major restoration in Redwood City before Glenn bought her. He’d crewed on Magic previously. The smaller boat Marconi classes, 3 and 4, both had good turnouts and some fine sailing. The San Francisco Sea Scouts’ 30-ft whaleboat Viking won M-3, with Linda and Steve Kibler’s 31-ft yawl Vixen taking the Homeward Bound perpetual. Steve said he got a wonderful lift around the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and was able to lay the line from Little Harding to Blackaller, where there was “big wind.” They'd never had their 108-year-old beauty going so fast before. “The run down the Cityfront with the tides was spectacular. It was exciting to see that many boats out, but I wish there’d been more.” In M-4, Ted Hoppe’s 28-ft Nichols Buccaneer Black Jack won first place, with Keith Dunlop and Steven Mavromi-halis’ Feather Class sloop Eos taking the Lyle Galloway perpetual. But probably no one in M-4 was happier to be out racing than Victor Early. He’d spent four years restoring his bright-hulled, 25-ft Pacific Clipper Olive, and this was his first MMR. “I had a great crew and we kept her going fast,” he said. “It’s good that the regatta is just once a year, as it puts a lot of stress on the boat, but it’s

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MASTER MARINERS REGATTA —

racing her in the regatta was nice and “old fashioned, like a train on railroad tracks.”

There were three Gaff classes. Terry Klaus’ 88-year-old L. Francis Herreshoff schooner Brigadoon won Gaff 1 as well as the Billiken perpetual. Remarkably, it was Terry’s 35th consecutive MMBA regatta. “It was a good sail, with good weather. We hit 10.7 knots off Alcatraz!” The crew of Brigadoon has been together for a long time — some for 35 years, some for 20 — and they are now blending in

really fun going through the Slot!” Victor is the current commodore of the Encinal YC, which has generously hosted the awards party for years. In the Ocean class, the regatta saw the return of the 33-ft Sparkman & Ste-phens speedster Spirit. George Kiskad-don’s family had owned Spirit until his father sold it forty years ago to Pete Sutter. Since then, Spirit has had several changes of ownership, and was sailed far and wide — in the Caribbean, on the East Coast, and elsewhere. Knowing how little headroom Spirit has, I asked about the comfort factor: “There’s full standing headroom out the hatch. At sea you don’t stand up,” George explained, adding that

some younger crew. “There were great boats out there and it was good to have Bluenose in the race,” Terry added. The 40-ft Chappelle-designed gaff schooner Bluenose was brought back to the Bay Area last year by Dennis Peitso. He and several other MMBA members were dock neighbors in the Berkeley Marina a couple of decades ago. Many members also spent time in the Sea Scouts when they were young. Terry Klaus is one of that group, as is Mike Proudfoot. According to Mike those long-term friendships have been based on keeping up maritime traditions. He

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STRUTTIN' THEIR STUFF

startled the latter’s crew by shouting out something in perfect Mandarin. At the party we got the translation: “What

the (bleep) is that junk doing sailing so fast?” Dennis says sailing classic boats is the best form of entertainment, and

and his wife Sue have been together since high school, and have been active in Master Mariners for more than 40 years, first on Paddy West, and now with Farida. Sue explained that the boats are the members in Master Mariners, and because of this you end up with a real cross section of society. During the race the Proudfoots crewed on Bluenose, as Farida is currently in Panama, their most recent stop during their ongoing nine years of cruising. A memorable moment during the race was near the finish when Bluenose was close to the junk Grace Quan. Dennis

racing them is great. “There’s nothing like Master Mariners. It’s as good as it gets. Where else can you hang out with people like this?” In Gaff 2, the 40-ft Angelman ketch Makani Kai took top honors, winning first place and the Kermit Parker per-petual. At the party I noticed some good-natured kidding between her owners, the Inouyes and the Lists, who raced the second-place finisher Sequestor, a 36-ft Tahiti ketch built in 1940. Ken Inouye, who has been participating since ‘85, said this year’s regatta was like three different races. There was a parking lot at Little Harding, giving the group an “up close and personal” view of the USS

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Iowa as she was escorted out the Golden Gate. After the Yellow Bluff rounding, the breeze picked up, and then increased even more down the Cityfront. another parking lot at Southampton, each com-petitor used a different strategy to try to stay out in front to the finish line. “It was a fun regatta because we stayed in sight of our competition all day,” said Ken.

Patty Henderson, who owns the 55-ft schooner Aïda with her husband Skip, is the current commodore of Master Mari-ners. She says the regatta is “an excel-lent excuse for getting your boat ready for the sailing season. There are very nice people involved in our organization and it’s an honor to be around a group of people that are keeping these boats in fine sailing form, and don’t find each other crazy for doing so.” So if you see a fine traditional sailboat in your marina, please encourage them to join MMBA if they haven’t already. Within the Bay’s vast community of sailors, this contingent is truly unique.

— ariane paul

Ed. note — The MMBA thanks the

many people who support this annual spectacle, including Jeff Zarwell and Sausalito YC for their fine race committee work. Encinal YC officers and staff did a great job hosting the post-race party, and St. Francis YC put on a fine pre-race Sponsors/Skippers luncheon. You’ll find a list of the many generous local companies that sponsor this event at www.master-mariners.org.

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San Rafael Yacht Harbor

We wish to congratulate the Bird Boat Class

for 90 years on San Francisco Bay!

First Pat Kirrane, then Bill Garvie, and now Matt Butler – the

San Rafael Yacht Harbor has been the perfect "nest" for the

Bird Boat Fleet for over 50 years. San Rafael Yacht Harbor

has welcomed Polly, Skylark, Oriole, Curlew, Meadowlark,

Hummingbird, Cuckoo and Teal. We are now the official

home of Robin, Bird Boat #18!

SAN FRANCISCO PERPETUAL CHALLENGE TROPHY

The second largest continuously raced competition in the U.S. is now in its 102nd year.

This year, honoring the 90th year of the Bird Boat Class, the race will be sailed in Bird Boats.

THE CHALLENGER:

POLLY

Owned by Bill Stucky,

of the Corinthian Yacht Club

THE DEFENDER:

ROBIN

Owned by the Kirrane family and Walter

Crump, of the San Francisco Yacht Club.

DATE OF RACE:

September 15,

2012