Sailing into SF city to fix TALLY HO’s damaged mast

Name: Sailing into SF city to fix TALLY HO’s damaged mast
Uploaded: 2025-09-20T16:29:41.000Z
Duration: 15 min 31 s
Description: Brass strips fastened into G10 fiberglass plugs protect a gaff-rigged spruce mast from saddle chafe.

September 20, 2025 · 15 min · 306K views · Richmond Yacht Club, San Francisco Bay

Crew secures rigging on TALLY HO near SF marina

What this video covers

Tally Ho, a gaff-rigged wooden vessel, completes an 800-mile offshore passage from British Columbia and anchors at Drake's Bay before transiting under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay.0:07 The immediate purpose of the stop is repairing chafe damage to the spruce mast caused by the leather gaff saddle — a known problem in gaff rigs where rigging geometry drives the saddle against the mast regardless of lubrication.5:23 Leo Goolden and crew moor at Spaulding Marine Centre in Sausalito, a non-profit boatyard with a 1930s stiff-leg derrick rated at 14 tons, where they machine brass half-oval strips to length and countersink them for fasteners.4:28 To prevent water intrusion, they drill G10 fiberglass rod plugs into the mast, glue them in place, then tap machine-screw threads into the plugs before fastening the brass strips — avoiding direct wood-screw penetration that could allow rot.10:06 Chafe protection is installed only at the full-hoist and first-reef gaff positions; lower reef positions showed no chafing with lubrication alone.12:53 The boat later moves to Richmond Yacht Club on the east side of the bay while work continues.9:29 Tapping holes aloft in 40-knot wind introduces alignment errors, but the repair is completed before departure south toward Southern California.11:32 Fiberglass rod plugs tapped for machine screws offer a more rot-resistant fastening method than direct wood screws for hardware on a varnished wooden mast.9:53

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