July 2019

The 2019 Master Mariners Regatta experienced a reassuring surge with nearly every large sailing charter vessel on the Bay, plus the locally designed Birds and Bears.

The West Coast's most famous offshore sailing regatta is back for its 50th edition in 2019. By all early indicators, this year's 2,225-mile race from Los Angeles to Honolulu will be the biggest and possibly most exciting one since the race's inception in 1906.

It was a tough few days in mid-June for those who appreciate old ships, maritime history, and, in particular, Wander Bird, the historic 85-ft LOD German pilot schooner that spent more than half a century moored in Sausalito.

Webb Chiles completed his sixth circumnavigation, singlehanded, aboard the Moore 24 Gannet, an ultralight racing sloop, on April 29 in San Diego.

Sure, Sir Francis Chichester was the first brave person to sail singlehanded around the world via the west-to-east Clipper Route, via the Great Capes. But was he foolhardy enough to try to navigate his boat under four bridges, three of which had less clearance than his mast?

But Lee Helm, cast in the role of a USS Reach Instructor as part of the training exercise, must have been channeling Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.