Sampson Boat Covideo
Sailing Tally Ho from Canada to San Francisco!
6 September 2025 · 20 min · 312K views
What this video covers
Leo Goolden and his crew sail the 50-foot gaff-rigged cutter Tally Ho approximately 800 nautical miles from Canada to Drake’s Bay, California, over five days.▶ 19:00 The crew manages the large gaff mainsail by reefing early in anticipation of forecasted heavy weather, though they later motor for two days to navigate light winds and avoid an unfavorable system.▶ 19:03 During the passage, the team uses TimeZero software on a Windows computer for route planning and weather forecasting.▶ 7:54 Mechanical issues arise when a reefing line chafes through and the gaff saddle begins wearing into the spruce mast’s varnish.▶ 8:52 To mitigate mast damage, the crew drops the mainsail and proceeds under headsails alone for the final leg.▶ 13:55 They anchor in Drake’s Bay, 25 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge, to rest before completing the final approach to San Francisco.▶ 18:50 Managing sail changes on a large, traditional rig requires balancing crew energy levels against the efficiency of the sail plan.
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