In Hot Pursuit

Just about everywhere you look around San Francisco Bay, there are treasures of our rich maritime heritage. Some, though, are less obvious to the untrained eye than others.

Take, for example, Ron MacAnnan’s classic woodie Pursuit, which lies quietly in her berth at Sausalito Yacht Harbor year in and year out. Unless you read the small plaque on a handrail nearby, you might never know she is one of a proud fleet of 82-ft M-Class sloops that had a colorful racing history here on the West Coast during the ’40s and ’50s. In fact, she is one of the last — if not the last — of her breed that’s still seaworthy.

Why do we mention this now? Because Ron and a crew of ol’ salts plan to take her out of mothballs tomorrow morning for a rare spin around the Bay. How rare? If our memories serve us correctly, the last time she graced Bay waters was during the Sail San Francisco procession in 2005. And the time before that was 1978!

"It’s going to be a bit of a Chinese fire drill for sure," says Ron with a laugh, because none of his thrown-together crew has sailed her before. But we expect they’ll get it together. So if you’re out on the Bay tomorrow and see a tall, sexy classic blasting in under the Gate under a massive chute, take a good hard look, because you’ll be witnessing a rare gem from the Bay’s nautical treasure trove. And if you get some decent photos of her, we’d love to see them.