Spectacular Kaiwo Maru Visits the Bay

When is a sailing vessel considered to be a tall ship? The unscientific answer to that question is, "You’ll know one when you see it." That’s certainly true of the 361-ft (LOA), four-masted barque Kaiwo Maru, which entered San Francisco Bay yesterday afternoon after completing her gale-strewn 5,400-mile crossing from Japan. 

Currently anchored in Anchorage 8 (just south of the Bay Bridge), she will pull alongside Pier 30/32 tomorrow morning, but sadly, she cannot offer public tours as she did during past visits, due to anticipated ballpark-related congestion on the Embarcadero throughout her stay. She will exit the pier at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, and depart the Bay for Hawaii. If you’re out on the water then, you’ll probably see dozens of cadets standing atop yardarms in the traditional ‘harbor salute’.

A Class A tall ship, Kaiwo Maru is one of the largest and most impressive traditionally rigged sailing vessels in the world — one of fewer than 10 four-masters that are still operational. Commissioned in 1989, and operated by Japan’s National Institute for Sea Training, she travels the world instilling the time-honored techniques of marlinspike seamanship into her crew of merchant marine cadets.

With all her canvas flying she carries 36 sails, including 18 square sails that must be hand-furled from her yardarms. If you’re walking the streets of the Embarcadero or North Beach this weekend you may run across some of Kaiwo Maru‘s 101 cadets. If so, ship’s agent Catharine Hooper suggests you give them a heartfelt San Francisco welcome and "Buy them a Coke."