Century-Old Crab Vessel Reborn as Swift Sailboat

When the good ship Adelaide was born 100 years ago, it was a modest crab boat working out of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.

Now, reborn as a swift sailboat, it owes its new life to Rick Cogswell, who took on the task of recreating the aging vessel at the tender age of 14.

Cogswell says a crusty boatwright pointed out the half-sunken hulk and told Cogswell to fix it up as a summer project.

“There was this completely gone hulk that wasn’t really a boat anymore,” Cogswell recalls. Still, he recruited some friends and dragged the crippled wreck from the mud.

“Some friends gave me a can of rusty house nails, and I nailed the mushy planks to the ribs,” he said.

‘Towed It Underwater’

“Four or five of us threw it into the water--of course, it sank--so we towed it (to his home) underwater.”

It took 12 hours to drag the boat up the bank to his back yard--and 12 years to rebuild it.

Now, other sailors point out the Adelaide, and many find it one of the prettiest boats in the area.

“It’s not the kind of compliment that inflates my ego,” Cogswell said. “It’s a vicarious pleasure because it’s really the boat that’s getting the admiration. I own the boat, but it’s not like she’s my boat--she’s her own person.”

The Adelaide is not all looks--it’s also a speedster. In one race, after a string of successes, it was given a 45-minute handicap--and still finished second.

“If I actually placed first every time, it would take all the fun out of it for everyone,” he said. “If I win too much, it ceases to mean so much to me. Nowadays, I get just as much of a kick out of seeing somebody win that hasn’t before.”