Vintage wooden sailing craft are a rarity these days, but Sausalito's Spaulding Wooden Boat Center has kept the maritime art and tradition alive. For the past eight years, the historic sloop Freda has been painstakingly restored and re-fitted at the Spaulding Center. Built in Belvedere and first launched in 1885, she is the last remaining example of America's earliest style of recreational sailboats.
Also known as the “Matriarch of San Francisco Bay”, the 32-ft. gaff sloop is the oldest active sailing yacht on the West Coast and is not only a tribute to the Bay Area wooden boat building industry, but also a valuable resource for future generations to appreciate and understand traditional boat-building.
The much-anticipated re-launch of the Freda is this Saturday, May 31, at Spaulding dock (the end of Gate Five Road). The dock opens at 11 a.m. and splash down is at 12:30 p.m. The Freda shall sail the Bay again.
There will be a barbecue, live music, and undoubtedly, a nautical crowd of Bay Area wooden boat aficionados. Fair winds to all.