The Resurrection of ‘Rosebud’

Serendipity has many forms: perhaps running into an old college flame right after a breakup, small talk at a bar bringing a job opportunity, or a gap on the starboard layline when you’ve overstood out on the left side. For me, it happened on August 12, 2022, when on the second-to-last night of the 5O5 Worlds Rob Woelfel casually mentioned he had worked as a salvage diver. The next two-plus months would bring a crazy adventure, as four friends and competitors came together to save and rehabilitate a boat that had started another sailor’s racing dynasty.

This is the story of Rosebud, a Santa Cruz 52 commissioned by Roger and Isobel Sturgeon in December 1997. The boat is the 15th in the production run of 27, and a former Big Boat Series champion. It nabbed the cover of the October 1999 Latitude and led to the build of two other great Rosebuds: the famous and successful TP52 and STP65. While the two newer Rosebuds are still sailed in the Northwest and in the Mediterranean under new owners, the first SC52 version had disappeared, long forgotten since the last time it was seen racing on San Francisco Bay in 2005.

I became part of the story of Rosebud in 2016 as the victim of a never-ending conference call on my commute back from Palo Alto to Alameda. It was during that call that I discovered San Leandro Marina, what must have been a formerly big marina now mostly used for watching planes land in Oakland, relaxing after a visit to the dispensary, and cleaning out your Lyft. Much to my surprise, there was a big rig that sure seemed out of place in the marina: a tall, triple-spreader mast that I recognized quickly. It was a Santa Cruz 52. A fuzzy, zoomed-in photo showed the boat’s name was Morgana, and she had fallen into disrepair. I was intrigued.

What must happen to send a boat like an SC52 to be forgotten in a marina?

How does it end up in San Leandro, so far away from the waters where it would sail? A month or so later, I dropped by the harbor office to see if I could find out more. Sure enough, the slip fees were up to date, and while they could not give me the owner’s name, they were happy to let me check out the boat. The boat was on an end-tie, two fingers from the mouth of the marina. The woman who walked me down to the boat said that the marina was going to close, and I’d soon find out why.

To read the full story, go to Latitude38‘s December issue.

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