Festival of the Sea

By San Francisco Limousine Specialist on August 19, 2016

This Saturday, the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park will put on a fun-filled festival in order to applaud the National Historical Park’s centennial as well as the recent restoration of the C.A. Thayer, a Schooner first launched in 1895.  The day kicks off at 9:30am and runs until 5:00pm, and at 11:30am Brianna Thayer Mullins, an ancestor of the individual for whom the ship was named, and several relatives of J.E. Shields, the C.A. Thayer’s last captain, will re-dedicate the vessel during a special ceremony during which the sails will be raised and the ship renamed.

Other than the re-dedication ceremony, the day is full of events that will entertain even the most land-locked of participants. Local musicians will join with internationally famous performers to sing a nearly endless litany of sea chanteys on four different stages along the pier, and there will be rope making courses, exhibitions and demonstrations on the caulking of planks, and even a special opportunity to sail with the renowned San Francisco Sea Scouts.

Guests of the Festival of the Sea include acts such as:

• The Celtic music band Charmas.

• Salty Walt and The Rattlin’ Ratlines, a group specializing in American and British folk music and chanteys.

• Alice Watts, a passionate teacher and well-heeled sea-hand who spent over thirty years sailing aboard Balclutha.

• Traditional Hawaiian sounds provided by Patrick Landeza.

• The Flying Angels Chinese Dance Company, a multi-generational team displaying a dizzying array of Chinese folk dances.

These performers will join in with a bevy of other delights, from delicious food to strange maritime rituals, to compose a vast and briny mosaic of nautical fun.  Have you ever participated in a Dead Horse Ceremony?  Do you know what a dory drill is?  How about what it means to turn the capstan or pump the bilge?  All this and more will be revealed at the Festival of the sea, where young and old gather together to learn and teach, play and work.

The 2016 Festival of the Sea takes place at the historic Hyde Street Pier on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and is, much to our delight, totally free.

Read More:
2016 Festival of the Sea: Live Music, Craft Demo & Family Fun | SF
Free Festival of the Sea Returns to Hyde Street Pier