According to the web site, http://www.nwschooner.org/zodiac/default.htm, this 136 foot long vessel is the largest working vessel on the United State's west coast and highlights the best features of the American fishing schooner.
The Zodiac was designed by William H. Hand Jr., and built for the heirs to Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid fortune. In 1928, the Zodiac participated in the Transatlantic Race; however uncharacteristically light winds caused her "wallow into late finishes".
During the Depression, the Zodiac was sold to the San Francisco Bar
Pilots and renamed California. For forty years she worked the
rugged waters outside of the Golden Gate, and before retiring in 1972, she
was known as the last working pilot schooner in the United States.
