Saturday’s Master Mariners Regatta started in front of St. Francis YC in patchy drizzle, which gave way to patchy sun in the afternoon. The wind was a bit patchy too, going light on the run from Blackaller to Blossom Rock. “You shoulda been here yesterday,” would be the wistful comment of sailors on heavy wooden boats that prefer a stiffer breeze. (Friday’s practice saw wind speeds in the upper-20s.)

“It was our conditions I think,” said Rudy Salazar of his ride on Black Witch. “We had a good time. We had a good skipper, knows how to sail well. You don’t really need crew to tack. Just throw it over. A club jib, no runners, no back-stay. It’s really easy. An old man’s boat really, built in 1949 in Southern California.”

The owner of Black Witch, Rick Hastie, isn’t an old man though, and completely rebuilt the boat, from frames and planks to interior and plumbing to engine and electrics to rigging and sails. He had restored the Nunes Bros. 50-ft ketch Martin Eden and sold it. “I lasted about one month, and I said I have to get another boat. But I want a smaller boat, and I want a gaff-rigger, and I want a gaff-rigger that goes to weather. I just looked at Black Witch. I never sailed on it, I just looked at it and said, ‘This boat goes’.”

Rob Hutchinson sailed on Leda II, David James’s Lapworth 36, the first boat to finish. “We got the gun.” They didn’t find the holes that some of the rest of us did. “The Birds started in front of us. We beat all the Birds too.”

Adagio was taking on water. In the slip some flotsam had cracked the hull. “Whenever we were on port tack - (insert sucking noises here).” The bilge pumps were working the whole time. Like some other boats, they felt that they needed more wind to do really well.

One of the marks for some of the divisions, including Big Schooners was Yellow Bluff (a yellow inflatable mark replaced the old buoy). “Shoulda thrown the potato,” was an overheard comment. If you can hit the mark with a potato, you don’t have to weather it. Sacks of potatoes are handed out at the pre-regatta luncheon.

Margie Segal from Huck Finn said they had a good race, although they came last in the Bears. “We got the spinnaker up, we jibed the spinnaker, we made no major mistakes. You cannot make up time against well-sailed Bears. This is the third time I’ve done Master Mariners as skipper of my boat. A very long time ago, me and my significant other decided we needed a boat. We saw a Bear sailing on the Estuary. It was what we wanted in terms of size and sailing ability.” Tim Maloney’s Magic won the Bear division.

Check out our Master Mariners photo gallery and video. Also see www.mastermariners.org for results and more.