Mayhem in the Master Mariners Regatta

For the past four days, our inboxes have been deluged with messages regarding the Master Mariners Regatta.

Most of the fleet in the Master Mariners Regatta on May 24 enjoyed a frolicking, rollicking good time. But with winds in the 20s building into the 30s, an ebb current, and wakes from ferries and other large vessels, it was inevitable that there would be some incidents. But Saturday’s incidents were especially newsworthy. You could say that everything did not go swimmingly. Though in this case “swimming” was literal.

Singlehanded Skipper Overboard Survives To Finish Race

Stephen Carlson, singlehanding his 36-ft Angelman Sea Witch ketch Sea Quest, found himself going for an unplanned swim off the Sausalito headlands. Even with no autopilot, Sea Quest kept on sailing, tracking straight and true. No other boats were around except for John Reynolds’ 54-ft Colvin steel Pinky schooner Roxy, a first-timer in this race. Roxy’s crew had missed the second mark on their course, the Hank Easom buoy off Yellow Bluff. They went back to correct their error. That was when John and crew spotted something in the water. They initially thought it was a seal. Then they realized it was a person overboard. They sailed past, and two strong men pulled Stephen aboard. He had not been wearing a PFD.

Now to rescue the unmanned boat! Roxy went and chased down Sea Quest. Although he was hypothermic, the singlehander reboarded his boat and completed the race, which finished east of Treasure Island. He continued on to Alameda, rafting up at Encinal Yacht Club for the regatta party, where, seeming to have recovered from his ordeal, he told fellow sailors of his miraculous rescue.

Stephen has vowed to always wear a PFD in the future.

Sea Scouts Whaleboat Viking Capsizes

“The Sea Scout training vessel Viking was being sailed by adult alumni in the Master Mariners race when the rudder failed and the vessel capsized,” reports Tamara Sokolov, the program director for the San Francisco Sea Scouts. “There were no youth members on board.”

A RIB from St. Francis Yacht Club that was tending to a C420 regatta, USCG, SFPD and SFFD boats responded to the capsize, which occurred about 500 yards off the Marina’s Gashouse Cove. The Coast Guard picks up the tale: “At 1:38 p.m., Coast Guard Sector San Francisco Command Center received a call that the 30-ft sailing vessel Viking was taking on water near Gashouse Cove. Another vessel in the area attempted to tow Viking, though it flipped on its side. The nine persons aboard righted the vessel and climbed back aboard.”

“A Coast Guard Station Golden Gate boat crew arrived on scene and removed eight passengers from the vessel; however, the captain was unwilling to disembark. The Golden Gate boat crew departed temporarily to bring the eight passengers ashore, during which the sailing vessel flipped on its side once more. A TowBoatUS vessel arrived on scene and was able to tow the Viking into Aquatic Park with the captain still on the hull, before righting and mooring it at the pier.”

“The experienced pilot stayed with the vessel to supervise the tow,” commented Sokolov. “No one was injured. Viking is safely back at home in Aquatic Park. Meanwhile, the youth members were all at California Maritime Academy competing in the Ancient Mariner Regatta. This is a competition of 25 maritime skills against Sea Scouts from all over California and Hawaii.”

Woody Skoriak, who sailed aboard the 80-ft schooner Freda B, commented that, “Other than the two incidents, it was about as glorious a race day as I’ve ever seen.” We’ll have much more in the July issue of Latitude 38. For results, see www.sfmastermariners.org/regatta.