Ship’s company.
A 120-year-old schooner is not restored by money alone — she is restored by hands. Yankee is signing on volunteer crew: for work parties at the yard, for skilled trades, for the shore work that keeps a campaign moving, and for sailing when she sails again. No experience needed. Every hand welcome.
Sign on.
The muster list is the whole system: work-party dates, what to bring, and first word when sailing berths open. Separate from the weekly Logbook letter: crew mail only, and you can step off at any time.
The muster list opens shortly; this form lights up the moment it does. Until then, write to us directly and we’ll add you by hand.
Want to say more than an address? Tell us about yourself →
Four watches, every hand useful.
The professional restoration, the frames and planking and structure, belongs to the boatwrights. Everything around it belongs to the crew. Pick a watch; switch whenever you like.
Work parties
The heart of it: scheduled days at the Sausalito yard, cleaning and beautification under the yard’s direction: sanding, scraping, paint and varnish, brass polishing, sorting a century of hardware. Tools and materials provided; bring work clothes and closed-toe shoes. First timers always paired with old hands.
Skilled hands
Carpenters, riggers, machinists, mechanics, sailmakers, finishers: if you have a trade, the work list has your name on it. Skilled volunteer work is scoped and supervised by the yard so it counts toward the survey’s standard, never against it.
Shore crew
A restoration runs on more than sandpaper: photography and video, the archive and the history, events, writing, welcoming visitors on open days. If you’d rather hold a camera than a heat gun, you’re still crew.
Sailing crew — in time
She has always been sailed by friends. No winches means many hands on every line. When she’s back under sail, day sails and the classic regattas will need crew, and the people who helped bring her back will be first asked. That’s a promise worth sanding for.
Muster by email, work by daylight.
Join the muster list above — that’s the whole enlistment. When a work party is called, the list gets the date, the scope of the day, and what to bring. You reply if you can make it; you owe nothing if you can’t. There are no dues, no minimum hours, and no accounts or passwords. Just an email when there’s work worth showing up for.
Work parties begin in earnest once she’s hauled out and the survey has set the work list; the muster list will hear before anyone else, including the Logbook. Days at the yard run under the yard’s direction and its safety rules; you’ll sign the standard waiver on your first day, and anyone under eighteen crews with a parent aboard.
She has always been sailed by friends. That part doesn’t change.
As the company grows we may open a crew forum for coordinating between work parties. The muster list will hear first.
The sailing part.
Every hour at the yard points at the same afternoon: Yankee heeled to a westerly inside the Gate, ten hands on deck because that’s what it takes. She carries no winches, never has, so she is physically incapable of being sailed alone. A crew isn’t a nicety aboard this boat; it’s the design requirement.
When she’s back under sail, the sailing program grows out of the work-party roster: day sails on the Bay, the Master Mariners Regatta and the classic circuit, and the slow apprenticeship of gaff rig: pin rails, peak and throat, wooden blocks, taught the way it has always been taught, by the person standing next to you.
There is no fixed price of admission and no ticket to buy. Show up for the boat, and the boat will show up for you.