New Board Member: Sandee Swanson
Ahoy! S/V Black Witch here!
I’m a 32-foot gaff-rigged sloop, designed by Ralph E. Winslow in 1931. I was built and launched by Wilmington Boat Works in Southern California in 1949. I’m also known as a Modified Friendship Sloop—one of those beautiful designs from Maine. I’ve been involved with the San Francisco Bay Master Mariners since the mid-1960s and have had six stewards over the years. My current steward, Sandee Swanson, is taking on a new role with the San Francisco Bay Master Mariners. I get her into all sorts of sailing and wooden-boat magical adventures!
Sandee has been sailing San Francisco Bay for three decades. She and her partner, Captain Stan, owned the lovely catamaran Apparition—also a magical boat—on which they took folks sailing for 25 years, running charters out of Sausalito. During that time, Sandee became acquainted with the SF Bay Master Mariners. One of her boat neighbors was Gas Light, built by Billy Martinelli. Sandee was lucky enough to sail aboard the scow schooner and served as a docent and naturalist for a couple of trips. She delights in teaching about the marine environment, having been an instructor and volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for a decade. She’s a self-proclaimed “pinniped head”—a lover of seals and sea lions, as well as whales and dolphins.
Sandee on the Witch
Sandee and Captain Stan at the Wooden Boat Show.
Guests aboard Apparition would charter to go out and watch the annual Master Mariners Regatta. It was always great fun and festive! First mate Sandee loved classic yachts—so beautiful! She dreamed of having a little Herreshoff design one day, but never a wooden boat… too much work!
As the story goes, once the charter business closed and Apparition sailed away from the Bay, Sandee fell into deep grief. All that magic, community, and sailing had become a waypoint in the past. Then one day, while looking through the Classy Classifieds in Latitude 38, she came across a boat in Berkeley that looked interesting. That led her to me—Black Witch. I had been donated to Pegasus Voyages. Well… once Sandee stepped aboard my fine teak decks, there was great emotion and wonder. Would the sailing magic return for this lost sailor? Then below decks she saw my pillows embroidered with “Witches” and “Apparitions.” Suddenly, all things became possible.
Now we’ve been sailing together for four years. Those Marconi sailors are starting to get a good handle on my traditional gaff rig! We’ve even given some of the other Gaff II class boats a run for their money in the annual regatta—came in second once! And at the annual boat show at the Corinthian Yacht Club, we’ve shined. This past show, we received an honorable mention for maintenance—as Sandee varnished, painted, and scrubbed me within an inch of my long life! (Ha! Hear the classic Witch cackle!) Yes, Sandee talks to me all the time and listens as I tell her what’s on her to-do list next.
Now she has the great honor of serving on the San Francisco Bay Master Mariners board and will be the keeper of the trophies for a year. I’m sure she’ll keep them as shiny and in good order as she keeps me. Sandee is dedicated to keeping the magic of classic yachts alive on San Francisco Bay.
Fair winds—see you on the Bay!
P.S. My next MMBA event will be the New Year’s Day Regatta and chili potluck at the Point San Pablo Yacht Club. I love starting the year under sail with the grand community I’ve been part of for 70 years!