Looking back on 2024, I am excited about the story we’re crafting about these classic boats. With over 40 interviews and four major shooting days, the documentary is taking shape—I can see where this is going. Visit the documentary’s Facebook page to learn more and share it with your friends who love these classic sailboats.
ACT I
With the Right Care, These Boats Can Have a Future
We know the commitment of time, energy and yes money it takes to keep these boats looking good and sailing fast. Their owners maintain them not just for themselves, but for what these boats bring to others.
Lindsey Klaus loves sharing Brigadoon with people:
“It’s my absolute favorite thing to do in the world because she just has a way of making people smile. You know, there’s something charming about her and I love being able to share that. I also have this fear that if we were to sell Brigadoon, she would go into the hands of a very wealthy person who would keep her stuffed away in their private collection and she wouldn’t be shared with people.”
—Lindsey Klaus
Brigadoon on the San Francisco Bay. (Photo by Chris Ray.)
The Klaus family invested significantly in Brigadoon’s prior restorations and hope that her current condition will be maintained by future generations of caretakers.
I urge you to put June 15th on your calendars for the Master Mariners Benevolent Association’s Wooden Boat Show, hosted by the Corinthian Yacht in Tiburon. Be sure to climb aboard Brigadoon—and chat with Lindsey.
The Wooden Bat Show features model boat building for children, live music, refreshments on the deck, and all sorts of informal tours of unique and beautiful boats, by their proud owners. All proceeds go to the Master Mariners Benevolent Fund which in turn funds sailor training scholarships and traditional craft restoration skills.
ACT II
What Are the Challenges?
Every year, we lose some of these classic boats.
You’ll find seemingly abandoned vessels, like the one below, just off Road. 3 in Marin Ship.
Below, you can see all that remains of the brigantine Galilee’s hull. She was left to die on Sausalito’s mud flats. A bit of her history:
“She was the fastest and finest west coast brigantine of the late 1800s. She was built locally in Benicia in 1891 by innovative ship builder Matthew Turner (the Galilee was the inspiration for Call of the Sea’s tall ship Mathew Turner). The beautiful wooden ship fulfilled her destiny as the “Queen of the Pacific” for almost forty years.”
—Margaret Badger and Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
Galilee (photo by Vince Casalaina).
Wind in Their Sails: Death and Resurrection
A documentary by Vincent Casalaina
Hello Vince Casalaina,
Looking back on 2024, I am excited about the story we’re crafting about these classic boats. With over 40 interviews and four major shooting days, the documentary is taking shape—I can see where this is going. Visit the documentary’s Facebook page to learn more and share it with your friends who love these classic sailboats.
ACT I
With the Right Care, These Boats Can Have a Future
We know the commitment of time, energy and yes money it takes to keep these boats looking good and sailing fast. Their owners maintain them not just for themselves, but for what these boats bring to others.
Lindsey Klaus loves sharing Brigadoon with people:
“It’s my absolute favorite thing to do in the world because she just has a way of making people smile. You know, there’s something charming about her and I love being able to share that. I also have this fear that if we were to sell Brigadoon, she would go into the hands of a very wealthy person who would keep her stuffed away in their private collection and she wouldn’t be shared with people.”
—Lindsey Klaus
Brigadoon on the San Francisco Bay. (Photo by Chris Ray.)
The Klaus family invested significantly in Brigadoon’s prior restorations and hope that her current condition will be maintained by future generations of caretakers.
I urge you to put June 15th on your calendars for the Master Mainers Benevolent Association’s Wooden Boat Show, hosted by the Corinthian Yacht in Tiburon. Be sure to climb aboard Brigadoon—and chat with Lindsey.
The Wooden Bat Show features model boat building for children, live music, refreshments on the deck, and all sorts of informal tours of unique and beautiful boats, by their proud owners. All proceeds go to the Master Mariners Benevolent Fund which in turn funds sailor training scholarships and traditional craft restoration skills.
ACT II
What Are the Challenges?
Every year, we lose some of these classic boats.
You’ll find seemingly abandoned vessels, like the one below, just off Road. 3 in Marin Ship.
Below, you can see all that remains of the brigantine Galilee’s hull. She was left to die on Sausalito’s mud flats. A bit of her history:
“She was the fastest and finest west coast brigantine of the late 1800s. She was built locally in Benicia in 1891 by innovative ship builder Matthew Turner (the Galilee was the inspiration for Call of the Sea’s tall ship Mathew Turner). The beautiful wooden ship fulfilled her destiny as the “Queen of the Pacific” for almost forty years.”
—Margaret Badger and Larry Clinton, Sausalito Historical Society
Galilee (photo by Vince Casalaina).
ACT III
These Boats Can Be Saved—with Dedication
There are a lucky few boats that fall on hard times and come back to life.
Freda, build in 1895, is one of a few lucky boats that found a way to come back to life. Her story is central to the documentary: She has died twice and both times found people who dedicated time and money to bring her back to life. The second resurrection took 15 years with her christening in 2014.
How did Bob Darr get the job to oversee Freda‘s second resurrection? In his own words:
“At the age of 18, I confessed that I really would love to do wooden boat building. I was trained by people like John Linderman and Halden Chase. Because of that, I was able to start the Arques School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Sausalito. The minute I got the job people said that I could restore the Freda. Nothing is more important on San Francisco Bay historically than the Freda.”
—Bob Darr
Arques School. (Photo courtesy of Arques School.)
Matt Zarem, General Manager at Spaulding Marine Center, was also involved—he adds:
“I’d always been dabbling in wooden boat building on the side. I started volunteering here at Spalding and helping with Freda and helping coordinate volunteering around Freda. I built a program around Freda for about everything from fundraising to volunteering. I’m really enjoying being a part of the continuation of the Spalding story and energy and mission.”
—Matt Zarem
Freda docked at the Spaulding Marine Center (Photo courtesy of Spaulding Marine Center.)
Mayan was David Crosby’s beloved boat. She was, in his words, “my rock.”
And how could David not fall in love? David and Mayan sailed the Caribbean, Hawaii, and the South Pacific together. David hosted many spirited songwriting sessions on the deck of the Mayan during West Coast cruises. In later years, even in the face of financial pressures, when family urged him to sell her—he refused. His memories were just too good to sell.
Watch the Mayan effortlessly cut through the SF Bay in winds over 25 knots during the Group San Francisco Schooner Race, in the video below:
Mayan on the SF Bay for the Great San Francisco Schooner Race. (Video courtesy of the Maritime Preservation Trust.)
How did Beau Vrolyk become Mayan‘s new caretaker? Wayne Heddle, an expert in classic wooden sailboats, suggested that Beau write Crosby a letter of interest—taking care to mention that he knows what a golly wobbler is.
Finding the right person is the goal of every owner but that is not always in the cards, yet two days after receiving Beau’s letter about the Mayan, Crosby picked up the phone to invite Beau him down to Santa Barbara, saying, “Come on down to Santa Barbara— we’ll look at the boat and have some tacos.”
The rest, they say is history—as Beau went down Santa Barbara just a man, shook hands on the deal, and returned home as Mayan’s next caretaker.
Next Steps
Before spring, I’ll finish up editing additional video footage from the 2024 Rolex Big Boat Series, where I was aboard both Mayan and Hurrica. I’ll also have some footage from the 2023 Rolex Big Boat Series when I was on Ocean Queen V.
The Wind in Their Sails story is told directly by owners, sailors, and boat restorers—people who have dedicated their lives to preserving these beautiful boats with deep roots on the Bay. Their passion shows when they speak of these boats and describe the painstaking care they bestow upon them.
Live Presentations
I hope you’ll come to one of my presentations that are coming up over the next few months all around the Bay Area. Here’s what I have confirmed:
Wednesday, February 19th, 2025 at 12 Noon – St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. I can put you on the guest list if this is one you want to attend.
Saturday, March 8th, 2025 at 4 PM – Half Moon Bay Yacht Club
Friday, March 14th, 2025 at 8:30 PM – South Beach Yacht Club
Wednesday, March 26th, 2025 at 6 PM – San Francisco Yacht Club