Click on the image below to be taken to a virtual tour of the 127′ long schooner Zodiac.
The schooner Zodiac was built in 1924 for the heirs to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune. After a successful career as a private yacht, winning many races and passing through several owners, the Zodiac was purchased by the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association in 1931. Renamed California, she operated as a pilot schooner on San Francisco Bay until 1972, the last sailing pilot vessel in the United States.
She was purchased and restored by a community of shipwrights, sailors, and historians who formed the Vessel Zodiac Corporation and operate her as a charter vessel from her homeport in Bellingham, WA. The Zodiac was added to the National Register of Historic Places by act of Congress in 1982.
It’s a small world.
A few years ago my brother and I were anchored in Echo Bay at the Sucia island group, situated pretty far out in the anchorage where it’s quieter (this was summer). We’d set the hook sucked up to the N of North Finger Island, appropriate for the predicted overnight SE wind which in any case was supposed to be nothing special.
Zodiac pulled in after us, dropping her anchor directly east and a bit further out, still sheltered against SE winds.
At about 2:30a I woke up to a lot of boat motion, lovely aeolian singing in the rigging etc. The wind was hitting 20-25 knots, straight easterly. Despite what looked like us having a firm grip in the ground based on GPS, I popped my head out of the hatch to take a look around.
Lo, we’re still parked solidly but Zodiac is getting closer, fast! With 250′ out we’ll need to slip the chain– no way is the anchor going to come up fast enough. I banged on my brother’s cabin door, threw on a PFD, ran to start the engine, grabbed a fender to buoy the rode and as my brother emerged thought I was just about to do in reality what I’d only read about.
I’m delighted to say that at this point Zodiac’s deck lights came, crew emerged like ants from a nest poked with a stick and within a couple of minutes they had the situation squared away.
I’m guessing that Zodiac’s regular visits to this anchorage with its excellent holding and generally benign conditions in summer caused “scope creep” to happen. Why use 4:1 when 3:1 seems perfectly good? 🙂
Great story, Doug. Thanks.