The oldest continuous thread in Bay yachting, and the reason this atlas exists: its member fleet is a working index of a century and a half of design and construction.
It began as a workboat race. On the Fourth of July 1867 the Boatmen's Protective Association of San Francisco organised a race between coastal schooners and sailing scows — real cargo craft, crewed by the men who worked them, running from Goat Island toward Hunter's Point and Oakland Creek and finishing near Telegraph Hill, where thousands watched. The winners got a silk banner with a gamecock on it.
It was repeated in 1868 and 1869, and the organising body was reorganised under the name Master Mariners Benevolent Association. The regatta ceased in 1878, came back sporadically through the 1880s and 90s, and faded as engines replaced sail in the working fleet.
It was revived in 1965 to mark National Maritime Day, and has run every year since — but with a changed cast. The scows and coasting schooners were gone; what turned out instead were traditional and classic pleasure yachts. That is the fleet the Association carries today: eighty to a hundred boats on Memorial Day weekend, across a dozen or more classes.
- Origin
- The Boatmen's Protective Association of San Francisco, Fourth of July 1867
- Original course
- Goat Island toward Hunter's Point and Oakland Creek, finishing near Telegraph Hill
- Lapse
- Regatta ceased 1878; sporadic through the 1880s–90s
- Revival
- 1965, for National Maritime Day; annual since
- Modern events
- Master Mariners Regatta each Memorial Day weekend; post-race gathering at Encinal Yacht Club; an annual Wooden Boat Show at Corinthian Yacht Club, Tiburon
- Membership
- Boat-owner members and Friends of the Master Mariners
- No source gives an exact year for the renaming from Boatmen's Protective Association to Master Mariners Benevolent Association beyond 'after 1869'.
Wooden Boat Atlas v3.0 · built 30 July 2026 · a project of the Golden Gate Wooden Boat Foundation · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · open data · corrections