S.F. Sea Scout’s ‘Viking’ Rudder Returns to Base

In Wednesday’s story about the mayhem in last weekend’s Master Mariners Regatta, we included the incident in which the San Francisco Sea Scout vessel Viking capsized and was subsequently towed back to her dock. Viking was being crewed by nine Sea Scout alumni. After she’d flipped, a nearby boat tried to tow her, on her side. The crew righted the vessel and climbed back aboard. They were then approached by the Coast Guard and eight of the crew transferred to the Coast Guard boat. Viking’s captain elected to stay with the boat. The Coast Guard departed temporarily to bring the eight passengers ashore. In their absence, the Viking flipped onto her side once more. A TowBoatUS vessel then arrived and was able to tow Viking into Aquatic Park, with the captain still on the hull, before righting and mooring it at the pier.

Viking had lost her rudder. S.F. Sea Scout Program Director Tamara Sokolov told us, “No one was injured, and the boat was never in danger of sinking due to its being a wooden lifeboat. Viking is safely back at home in Aquatic Park.”

Later in the week, the rudder was found! We heard the news from various sources, including local sailing photographer Chris Ray, who wrote, “Looks suspiciously like the Viking’s rudder assembly is noticeably absent from the rest of Viking. Someone please alert the Sea Scouts that we have something of theirs!”

Tamara Sokolov confirms that the rudder is the missing piece of Viking. “So thankful it was found; that will be very valuable for the hardware and templating. StFYC has already returned it to us.”

UPDATE:
The Sea Scouts will build a new rudder creating a template from the old one, and use the old rudder’s hardware Sokolov later commented. “… because Mike [skipper] stayed with the boat and was able to keep it on its side and not fully capsized, the rig stayed intact and sails were taken down and not damaged. Thank goodness, those were relatively new for us. The only damage was the broken rudder, and about a 2’ strip of cracked rail where the coast guard came alongside, and we lost some gear like an anchor, charts, radio, etc. all things considered, very minimal damage to the boat, and zero injury. We’re glad the training we do for these events paid off.”

Read the full story “Mayhem in the Master Mariners Regatta” here.