I must say, the folks at the San Francisco Yacht Club are very hospitable. We sailed over to the club on Thursday morning so that we would be able to meet with Jim, the son of Mahdee’s former owner, a day before the schooner event at the club. Because of expectations of several of the 17 schooners arriving on Thursday, the SFYC had several folks ready to handle lines and assist us in docking. So nice. As we were coming into the channel to the SFYC, my cel phone rang with a call from Jim. I said “hi, Jim, bye, Jim, talk to you later I’m docking” and promised myself to stop answering my cel phone at times like this! Later I learned that Jim had planned on giving directions into the particular courtesy dock if needed. Bless him. When we arrived, we briefly met Jim and his uncle Howie (brother of the former owner of Mahdee) as well as several kind folks who were instrumental in making the Great San Francisco Schooner Event (um…Race) a big success and lots of fun. Another couple we met in the Delta, Bob and Jane aboard Misty, stopped by to say hi as well. We immediately felt right at home–and perhaps that is because Mahdee felt right at home since she did spend a good part of a decade sailing in and out of the SFYC!
Later in the day, we walked over to Jim’s office near the SFYC and saw several lovely photographs of Mahdee (as Privateer) under sail. We are hoping to arrange to obtain copies of a few of these pictures as they were shot by a professional photographer and really were dynamic. He also had a very nice model of Mahdee (as Privateer) which we looked over with lots of interest since it showed her deck layout and rigging plan which we’re always interested in. It does seem that it might have been Jim’s father, Dave, who put all the bronze traveler tracks on and removed the horses from fore- and staysail. We did learn that Dave put a new boom on her–and the old on is being used as a flagpole. We also learned that their family had made two spinnaker poles that the boat no longer has. We’ll have to get with the owners who had Mahdee in the 70’s and the fellow we purchased Mahdee from to find out the story of where they may have gone. We’ve found that most stories of “change” aboard the boat are quite interesting.
Jim told us a few stories about the 1967 Transpac race (he was 20 at the time) and his wonderful times with the boat while he was in his collage days. Both being the oldest child of the family, I think Jim has more than a few things in common with David. It seems that Jim had the same sort of good trust relationship with his father as David has with my father-in-law, Bob. I’ve never understood how fathers can simple let their sons take charge of boats and cars and such and not worry–but indeed that is what Jim’s father did by letting Jim use Mahdee/Privateer whenever Jim wished to use the boat. Alone with his college friends he’d sail the SF Bay. Once he climbed the foremast (up the mast hoops) while under sail so he could watch the happenings from aloft (I think) and then realized, as they went by the Golden Gate Bridge, that he was the only one aboard who actually knew how to sail–and perhaps he’d best get back down on deck! Unlike David, who has shared with me several costly “incidents” when entrusted with his father’s car (including driving it into Lake Monroe…), Jim didn’t reveal any really major “oops” moments during those excursions alone with the (much more valuable than a car!) sailboat–only one ramming the dock incident which really didn’t sound that bad! I suppose oldest sons just have a special spot in the hearts of their fathers.
As it turned out, no other schooners came to the SFYC until Friday, so we had a day of the spacious courtesy docks to ourselves. Mahdee was front-and-center and lucky girl, all cleaned up and spiffy, she had loads of pictures take of her by the SFYC member, John Swain, who organized this year’s Schooner Event.
We had continued fun at the Club through the weekend, meeting several other schooner sailors and quite a few CCA members, too. Friday there was a nice reception for the skippers. My brother, Brad, and sister-in-law, Alina, were vacationing in the SF Bay area so they drove in Friday evening and spent the night aboard Mahdee with us. The plan had been for them to be aboard during the parade of schooners and race, but Alina had a very bad cold and was feeling horrible so they decided to jump ship Saturday morning before the boat left the dock. Bob (from Misty) and his 14 year old granddaughter Lacey joined us for the race and Jim brought along his friend and sailing partner, Sal, for the day. This turned out to be a very nice thing as the winds were quite high and we needed the extra help that Sal could provide. The race course was set up such that each rounding except the last one was a gibe! This was brutal given the high winds. With 5 crew on deck and Lacey keeping a lookout from the chart house, we were very shorthanded for this particular race course. At each rounding, it took Sal, Bob, and Jim–all three–hauling in the main sheet to get us positioned for the gibe. After the line was payed out, Sal would join me at headsail sheet winches to crank in on the jib and then a few seconds later Jim would arrive to assist Sal and I. The two of them worked very well together and it was a blessing to have them aboard. We began the day with me admonishing Sal not to run the lines across my cockpit varnished combing as he hauled in the jib sheet (he was used to self tailing winches on his boat…) and worrying that Sal wouldn’t be injured while helping us with the race and ended the day with Sal sharing my sailing gloves and feeling like I had a new sailing buddy. I smile to think that we had such a nice trio of “older men” as Bob, Jim, and Sal–Jim and Sal (in their 60’s?) are clearly active and strong, Bob at 79 is really quite amazing. We can only hope to be as fit and agile as these three when we’re older. From the start of the “event” with all the high winds, I was set to go behind Angel Island and have a nice lunch while watching the others “event”, but sadly, the 4 men in the cockpit were all looking for a little race action. So, sigh, we did race. I know it was a bit disappointing for Jim as I forced us to be quite reefed down and to sail in a less heeled incline than they would have if I’d not been aboard! As it was, we were sailing at 15 degrees and over–most time at or above 20 degrees. I learned that the cockpit inclinometer stops at 20 (useless!) and of course the inside one stops at 10 degrees. I will have to purchase another one that goes to higher angles to keep David “honest” in the future!
I’m sure David will make a post about the race (ahem…event!) shortly, so I’ll leave that to him. After the race, we met many more of Jim’s family members including some darling little toddlers and there was a great BBQ at the SFYC. On Sunday many boats stuck around to enjoy the club. We’d planned to leave this morning but the race organizer said we’d have no problems staying on the dock a few more days, so we’re still here at the SFYC, soaking in the sun, looking across the Bay at downtown fog and planning an afternoon trip aboard Steve and Ginger’s boat Sea Jay. They are SFYC members who don’t have a slip here yet so they’ve come from their marina to the courtesy dock for a few days.
More later…
