It Takes a Family — ‘Gold Star’ Sails in the Great Schooner Race
Bay Area film producer Vince Casalaina is working on his film Wind in Their Sails: Death and Resurrection — the story of San Francisco’s beautiful and historic sailboats, celebrating the classic yachts that have survived and the people who have dedicated their lives to maintaining them. Vince was invited to sail and film aboard Jim Cullen’s Gold Star in this year’s Great Schooner Race. He sent us a sample of his work.
Wind in Their Sails: Death and Resurrection is a story in three parts — those boats that have been in families for a long time and are passed down to the next generation; those that for one reason or another are not taken care of and die; those lucky few boats that die and are brought back to life.
When I first was looking for good prospects for boats that have been in the family, I ran into Jim Cullen at the Point San Pablo Yacht Club. His dad did a lot of work to translate Gold Star into a family-friendly boat. When the ownership passed to Jim he kept that spirit alive. Today Jim’s nephew Michael did the driving and Jim was the crew boss. He knows every piece of rigging on the boat. There’s no yelling onboard, and everyone gets a job to do so they come away with a sense of being part of a team.
Gold Star is exactly the kind of boat that fits into the first category, a boat that is passed down from generation to generation. I got a chance to film them at work — or should I say play? — in the SFYC’s Great Schooner Race. They don’t push the envelope, knowing that these boats don’t tack or jibe on a dime, and that staying clear of other boats keeps everyone safe. They know it’s fun to win, but having a good time on the water is most important.
The race started in sunny and warm conditions with very light air and a building flood in the vicinity of Knox. It took many of the schooners more than one pass at the start line to get across. Once we were out in the main Bay, the wind picked up and the fog blew in. After rounding Blossom, the boat was sailing just off the wind in building chop. I struggled to keep the camera dry enough to keep shooting. When the wind picks up the rail goes down in chop; it’s a wet ride.
Rounding Little Harding for the reach to the finish, it was sunny and warm again. It let us dry out a little, and we started talking about how much fun we’d had. Gold Star finished mid-fleet but we didn’t break anything and no one got hurt. That counts as a very good day on one of these big wooden sailboats.
They invited me back for a fun sail to watch the Rolex Big Boat Series this past Sunday. It’s been a long time since I just came out for a fun sail; I’m almost always either racing or shooting racing. My thanks to Jim, Michael and all the sailors I met on Gold Star.
I’ll be filming the Jessica Cup. Still working on my ride for that. Then I’m taking a couple of weeks off to decompress and get down to some serious editing. I plan to get my primary interviews done this year and get a very rough cut out sometime in the spring. Hopefully my last shoot will be the 2026 Master Mariners Race. If all goes well, I’ll have the project wrapped by fall 2026 and get it on the festival circuit, and find a streaming service that wants a heartwarming story that brings these classic sailboats to a much wider audience.
To learn more about the documentary, go to https://windintheirsailsdoc.com/ and sign up for the bimonthly newsletter. The next issue is scheduled for next week.