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BETWEEN THE SHEETS
We’d better be careful what we write. We just read a National Geographic article about some ancient scrolls found under ash from when Mt. Vesuvius blew its top and buried Pompeii 79 A.D. Now, through some kind of techno-magic, they’re reading the frail 2,000-year-old scrolls while they’re still rolled up! They contain lots of cooking recipes, without tomatoes since they hadn’t been brought over from the Americas yet. We don’t know if English will still be a language 2,000 years from now, but we expect they’ll figure it out.
This month we’re again letting Andy Schwenk spill some ink about the Pacific Cup and how things never turn out as planned. He raced across with Kimo Winterbottom on his zippy Andrews 56 Halawa and took first in class. Unfortunately, the fast starters had more slow breeze.
In Sightings, we sadly revisit the tragic sinking of the trawler Volare which brought tears to everyone’s eyes. There’s more to be learned over time. Critical to the emergency response was the Gashouse Cove fuel dock. We write more about why the city shouldn’t eliminate this important public access point.
We also share updates about our September Crew Party, the Sausalito Boat Show, and hear the tale of a honeymoon at sea. Dustin Reynolds describes his meaningful second passage from Hawaii to Palmyra on his old boat, with a new owner, and we say farewell to Jack van Ommen.
We had forgotten they were ‘scrolling’ in Pompeii and Alexandria long before we all started scrolling on our devices today. But if you keep flipping and scrolling through the pages of this August issue you’ll find many great stories that will keep you up reading all night in the forward cabin.
Latitude
we go where the wind blows
Publisher/Editor John Arndt john@latitude38.com ext. 108
Racing Editor Fritz Baldauf fritz@latitude38.com ext. 107
Distribution: Sue Weaver, Bob Bodnar, Jon Borges, Jeremy Haydock
Founded 1976. Published from 1977-2016 by Richard Spindler.
www.latitude38.com • (415) 383-8200
New mailing address: 2100 4th Street #338 San Rafael, CA 94901
44’
$74,900
$99,000
RUBICON YACHTS
Thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished inside and out, the Aqua Lodge features fiberglass pontoons, a wood-beamed lofted ceiling, a fully appointed galley, and a full bath with residential-sized fixtures. The main salon is open and bright, while the master stateroom features a panoramic water view and a private deck. With the cost of building on the waterfront ever increasing, the Aqua Lodge is an affordable alternative. We currently have three (3) identical Floating Cottages available at $115,000. each. These are new houseboats that have never been used. With the acquisition of all three one could start a unique Air B&B type business in a nice location.
34’ JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 349, 2021 $180,000 San Rafael (415) 453-4770
RUBICON YACHTS
34’ FARR 34, 1986
$59,000 Emery Cove (510) 601-5010
NOTE: There is no propulsion included. An outboard engine could be installed on the bracket but, these boats are not equipped with any propulsion. They would need to be towed or trucked to their destination.
$239,000
40’ LAGOON CATAMARAN, 2020
$489,000 Emery Cove (510) 601-5010
$34,000
RUBICON YACHTS
$380,000
$279,000
$159,900
Cove (510) 601-5010
$29,000
Thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished inside and out, the Aqua Lodge features fiberglass pontoons, a wood-beamed lofted ceiling, a fully appointed galley, and a full bath with residential-sized fixtures. The main salon is open and bright, while the master stateroom features a panoramic water view and a private deck. With the cost of building on the waterfront ever increasing, the Aqua Lodge is an affordable alternative. We currently have three (3) identical Floating Cottages available at $115,000. each. These are new houseboats that have never been used. With the acquisition of all three one could start a unique Air B&B type business in a nice location.
NOTE: There is no propulsion included. An outboard engine could be installed on the bracket but, these boats are not equipped with any propulsion. They would need to be towed or trucked to their destination.
Thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished inside and out, the Aqua Lodge features fiberglass pontoons, a wood-beamed lofted ceiling, a fully
galley, and a full bath with residential-sized fixtures. The main salon is open and bright, while the master stateroom features a panoramic water view and a private deck. With the cost of building on the waterfront ever increasing, the Aqua Lodge is an affordable alternative. We currently have three (3) identical Floating Cottages available at $115,000. each. These are new houseboats that have never been used. With the acquisition of all three one could start a unique Air B&B type business in a nice location.
NOTE: There is no propulsion included. An outboard engine could be installed on the bracket but, these boats are not equipped with any propulsion. They would need to be towed or trucked to their destination.
Thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished inside and out, the Aqua Lodge features fiberglass pontoons, a wood-beamed lofted ceiling, a fully appointed galley, and a full bath with residential-sized fixtures. The main salon is open and bright, while the master stateroom features a panoramic water view and a private deck. With the cost of building on the waterfront ever increasing, the Aqua Lodge is an affordable alternative. We currently have three (3) identical Floating Cottages available at $115,000. each. These are new houseboats that have never been used. With the acquisition of all three one could start a unique Air B&B type business in a nice location.
RACER 1980 44' CUSTOM DAVIDSON 44 $74,900
NOTE: There is no propulsion included. An outboard engine could be installed on the bracket but, these boats are not equipped with any propulsion. They would need to be towed or trucked to their destination.
FEATURED CLASSIC YACHTS
Thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished inside and out, the Aqua Lodge features fiberglass pontoons, a wood-beamed lofted ceiling, a fully appointed galley, and a full bath with residential-sized fixtures. The main salon is open and bright, while the master stateroom features a panoramic water view and a private deck. With the cost of building on the waterfront ever increasing, the Aqua Lodge is an affordable alternative. We currently have three (3) identical Floating Cottages available at $115,000. each. These are new houseboats that have never been used. With the acquisition of all three one could start a unique Air B&B type business in a nice location.
RUBICON YACHTS
NOTE: There is no propulsion included. An outboard engine could be installed on the bracket but, these boats are not equipped with any propulsion. They would need to be towed or trucked to their destination.
WHALE POINT
CALENDAR
Non-Race
Aug. 1 — Maritime Day, Galilee Harbor, Sausalito, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Boat rides, open boats, live music, art, food for sale. Free. Info, www.galileeharbor.org.
Aug. 1-29 — Small Boat Sailing, South Beach Harbor, San Francisco, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, weather permitting. Free, but preregister. BAADS, www.baads.org/sailing.
Aug. 2, 30 — Open House/Free Sail, Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina, 1-3 p.m. CSC, www.cal-sailing.org.
Aug. 2-30 — Keelboat Sailing, South Beach Harbor, San Francisco, noon-5 p.m. Sundays, weather permitting. Free, but preregister. BAADS, www.baads.org/sailing
Aug. 4-25 — Thunderbird Tuesdays, Gig Harbor, WA, 5:30 p.m. Free, but preregister. Gig Harbor BoatShop, www. gigharborboatshop.org/community-sailing-program.
Aug. 7-8 — Lake Tahoe Concours d'Elegance, Obexer's Marina, Homewood. Info, https://laketahoeconcours.com.
Aug. 8 — Launch Day on the Bay, Rocking the Boat, India Basin Waterfront Park, S.F., 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Student-built boat launch. Free food, drinks, entertainment, boat rides. Info, https://rockingtheboat.org/sf
Aug. 8 — Delta Chambers' Taste of the Delta, Delta Diamond Farm, Isleton, 1-4 p.m. Food, wine, beer, music, auction, car show. $45-$50. Info, www.tasteofthedelta.com.
Aug. 8 — Hot Summer Nights, Stockton Sailing Club, 4 p.m. Car show. Info, https://stocktonsc.org.
Aug. 10-12 — Olympic Pathways Camp, San Pedro. US Sailing, www.ussailing.org.
Aug. 13 — Single Sailors Association Mixer, Encinal YC, Alameda, 5-9 p.m. Info, www.singlesailors.org
Aug. 22-23 — Beneteau Owner's Rendez-Vous, Petaluma YC. Naos Yachts, (510) 778-8818 or info@naosyachts.com
Aug. 25 — Rolex Big Boat Series Race Prep, via Zoom, 6 p.m. Weather & currents with experts from North Sails. Info, https://northsails.zoom.us.
Aug. 27 — Full Sturgeon Moon on a Thursday.
Sept. 4-6 — Western Weekend, Half Moon Bay YC. Music, dancing, food. RSVP, www.hmbyc.org.
Sept. 10 — Mexico Cruising Seminar, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, 4-5:30 p.m. $10; free for paid 2026 Baja Ha-Ha skippers & first mates. Info, www.baja-haha.com or www.latitude38.com/crew-party
Sept. 10 — Latitude 38 Fall Crew List Party & Baja HaHa Reunion, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, 6-9 p.m. No-host wine & beer bar, door prizes, free snacks, food truck. Mexico cruising experts will be on hand. $10; free for paid 2026 Baja Ha-Ha skippers & first mates. Info, www. latitude38.com/crew-party
Sept. 10, 11 — Boat Maintenance Workshops with Nigel Calder, Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, WA. $65 each. Info, https://woodenboat.org/workshops.
Aug. 9-14 — International 110 Nationals. InvYC, www. invernessyachtclub.com
Aug. 15 — YRA Summer Bay Regatta. YRA, www.yra.org.
Aug. 15 — Round the Rock. BVBC, www.bvbc.org.
Aug. 15 — Fall Saturday Series. EYC, www.encinal.org.
Aug. 15 — Three Beach Fiasco on Tomales Bay. InvYC, www.invernessyachtclub.com.
Aug. 15 — Summer Series #5/Hannig Cup charity regatta. SeqYC, https://hannigcupglobal.org/regatta.html or www. sequoiayc.org.
Aug. 15, Sept. 12 — Fall One Design. SCYC, www.scyc. org.
Aug. 16, 30, Sept. 13 — Fall Series on Shoreline Lake. FSC, www.fremontsailingclub.org.
Aug. 16, Sept. 13 — One Design Fall for Shields and Santana 22s. MPYC, www.mpyc.org.
Aug. 21-23 — Day Sailer PCCs on Tomales Bay. InvYC, www.invernessyachtclub.com.
Aug. 22 — Ronstan
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CALENDAR
parawingfoilers and windsurfers race from the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge. StFYC, www.stfyc.com.
Great San Francisco Schooner Race & Belvedere www.sfyc.org.
Treasure Island Race, Brisbane to TI and rewww.sierrapointyc.org.
— Rock the Boat/Women's Championship Series www.sequoiayc.org.
— Doublehanded Long Distance #2. SSC, www.
— Vice Commodore Regatta. HMBYC, www.
— MBYRA Double Angle Race, Monterey or Santa Cruz to Moss Landing. ElkYC, www.elkhornyachtclub.org.
Aug. 22, Sept. 12 — One Design Championship Series. www.lwsailing.org.
— Drake's Bay Race. YRA/SSS, www.yra.org, www.sfbaysss.org or www.jibeset.net.
— Doublehanded Sunday Series #4/Bonita Blitz. www.yra.org.
— Baxter-Judson Series Race #5. PresYC, www. presidioyachtclub.org.
Aug. 23, Sept. 13 — Fall SCORE. SCYC, www.scyc.org.
— Women Skippers Regatta for mixed and allfemale crews. SYC, www.sausalitoyachtclub.org.
— Moonlight Marathon. SeqYC, www.sequoiayc.org.
— Bender Series on Tomales Bay. InvYC, www. invernessyachtclub.com.
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Aug. 29 — Potter Yachter Monterey Challenge. MPYC, www.mpyc.org.
Aug. 29-30 — Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta. StFYC, www.stfyc.com.
Aug. 29-30 — C420 PCCs. SFYC, www.sfyc.org.
Aug. 29-30 — Mercury Labor Day Regatta in Pebble Beach. Stillwater YC, https://sycpb.org.
Aug. 29-30 — Perpetual. SLTWYC, https://sltwyc.com.
Aug. 29-30 — Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in Seattle, WA. Seattle YC, www.seattleyachtclub.org.
g. 30, Sept. 13 — Singlehanded/Doublehanded Series. www.sequoiayc.org.
Sept. 5 — Jazz Cup to Benicia. SBYC/BenYC, www. southbeachyachtclub.org.
Sept. 5 — Fall Race #1. SSC, www.stocktonsc.org.
5-6 — Millimeter Nationals. EYC, www.encinal.org.
Sept. 5-6 — Kay & Dave Few. CPYC, www.cpyc.com
ept. 5-6 — South Bay Championship. SeqYC, www. sequoiayc.org.
Sept. 5-7 — RS Fest. RYC, www.richmondyc.org.
5-7 — Redwood Regatta, Big Lagoon. Humboldt YC, www.humboldtyachtclub.org.
Sept. 6 — Hog Island Race on Tomales Bay. InvYC, www. invernessyachtclub.com.
ept. 12 — Big Windward Leeward/YRA In the Bay Series. www.berkeleyyc.org.
Sept. 12-13 — Star Pitcher Regatta & Finn PCCs in San
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CALENDAR
Diego. SDYC, www.sdyc.org.
Sept. 17-20 — Rolex Big Boat Series. StFYC, www.stfyc.com. Oct. 2 — Little Ensenada International Yacht Race, San Diego to Ensenada. SWYC, www.southwesternyc.org. Nov. 2-14 — Baja Ha-Ha XXXII, San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Info, www.baja-haha.com.
Beer Can Series
BAY VIEW BC — Fall Monday Night Madness: 8/10, 8/24, 9/7, 9/21 (make-up 10/5). Nick, (510) 459-1337 or www. bvbc.org.
BENICIA YC — Thursdays through 9/17. Noble, (707) 315-0484 or www.beniciayachtclub.org/racing.
BERKELEY YC — Fridays through 9/25. Info, beercan@berkeleyyc.org or www.berkeleyyc.org.
CAL SAILING CLUB — Year-round Sunday morning dinghy races, intraclub only. Info, www.cal-sailing.org.
CORINTHIAN YC — Fridays through 9/4. Marcus, (415) 606-4110 or www.cyc.org.
COYOTE POINT YC — Sunset Sail: Wednesdays through 10/7. John, (650) 703-5621 or www.cpyc.com
RICHMOND YC — Wednesdays through 9/30. Thursday RC racing through 9/24. Fun Friday Dinghy Series through 9/25. Rolf, (510) 300-7462 or www.richmondyc.org
ST. FRANCIS YC — Wednesday Evening Series, 8/5, 8/19, 8/26. Thursday Foil, 8/6, 8/13, 8/20. Friday Foil, 8/21. Caleigh, (415) 655-7756, racing@stfyc.com or www.stfyc.com.
SANTA CRUZ YC — Tuesdays & Wednesdays through 10/28. Friday Dinghy races, 8/21. Info, www.scyc.org.
SEQUOIA YC — Sunset Series: Wednesdays through 9/16. Stephen, (775) 230-5979 or www.sequoiayc.org.
SIERRA POINT YC — Tuesdays though 8/25. Dylan, (805) 451-7591 or racing@sierrapointyc.org
SOUTH BEACH YC — Summer Series: Fridays, 7/31, 8/7, 8/21. Dave, (650) 823-1124 or www.southbeachyachtclub.org
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE WINDJAMMERS YC — Wednesdays through 9/23. Eric, (224) 717-6376 or www.sltwyc.com
STOCKTON SC — Wednesdays through 8/26. Andy, (209) 483-3677 or www.stocktonsc.org
CALENDAR
Forward is a custom 42’ motor catamaran designed by Roger Hill and built in 2002 by Davie Norris Boat Builders, New Zealand. A rare offering, she combines performance, e ciency, and long-range cruising comfort in a thoughtfully engineered platform. Lovingly maintained by her original owner and stored in climate-controlled dry storage, Fast Forward presents in exceptional condition. With only light seasonal use (approximately 3 – 4 weeks annually) and extensive service records, she o ers a true turnkey opportunity with the feel of a much newer vessel. Fast Forward is a rare, expertly built performance catamaran o ering speed, e ciency, and true cruising capability. With her recent mechanical updates, comprehensive equipment, and exceptional level of care, she is ready to embark immediately on coastal or extended adventures. – VELINA BARNES, SWIFTSURE YACHTS
TAHOE YC — Laser Series: Mondays through 8/24. Beer Can Series: Wednesdays through 8/26 (make-up 8/27). Mike, (925) 708-3374 or www.tahoeyc.com
TIBURON YC — Fridays through 8/28. Rob, (415) 5777199 or www.tyc.org
VALLEJO YC — Wednesdays through 9/30. Mark, (916) 835-2613, www.vyc.org or www.jibeset.net
Please send your calendar items by the 10th of the month to calendar@latitude38.com. Please, no phone-ins! Calendar listings are for marine-related events that are free or don't cost much to attend. The Calendar is not meant to support commercial enterprises. date/day
August Weekend Tides
Predictions for Station 9414290, San Francisco (Golden Gate)
August Weekend Currents
NOAA Predictions for .88 NM NE of the Golden Gate Bridge
After reading Latitude 38 for years and dreaming about sailing south and doing the Baja Ha-Ha, I finally got the encouragement I needed from my kids and my wife. I did the 2025 Ha-Ha with my son and his friend.
It was fantastic, exciting and unnerving, with a dose of science nonfiction. We had great sailing with moderate winds, sailing wing on wing, though the symmetrical spinnaker was our go-to sail, or just the main only with 30-mph tailwinds behind Cedros. (The ASO was up a couple times, too.) We hit 10 mph on the old Cal 34 and towed the dinghy the whole way. The stops in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria were just as they've been described in all those letters I've read over the years. It was lots of fun — great people and an amazing adventure.
Once in Cabo, my son and his friend had to leave, and I was on my own without a real plan other than I was going to La Paz. A one-day run to Frailes was followed by another day to Muertos. One more day, and I was anchored off the Magote in La Paz. I rowed my dinghy in at slack tide and then waited for slack tide to row back out. It wasn't very convenient, so I thought I would go to Puerto Escondido, leave the boat there, and come back later and take her back to San Pedro.
Well, Thanksgiving rolled around and I made the decision to go home. A day to Muertos and another to Frailes, then finally Cabo. I left Cabo November 30 at about daybreak and only got a few miles before I tucked in a double reef and rolled the headsail up to a sliver. I had this crazy idea I would sail all the way to San Pedro since I didn't have enough fuel. After sailing south of due west for 40 miles, I tacked back toward shore. At least now I was making northerly progress. The wind subsided, the engine came on, and I was being lifted toward Mag Bay. The timer was set, and 30-minute sleep cycles were all I got. After about 40 hours, I was pretty delirious and slowing the boat down to time entering Mag Bay with the sunrise.
This is the science nonfiction part.
First, I have to say on the way down in Turtle Bay, while shopping in a tienda, a fellow sailor asked if we had seen the stars that "moved." I asked if he had been drinking. He said no, and that was that — I didn't question him on it. I wasn't going to bring it up, but with all the talk in the news about
While sailing north from Baja, Jack Edgerton noticed stars that "would move in random directions: up, down, sideways." What might these unidentified flying objects have been?
LETTERS
UFOs, why not?
It was about 4 a.m. on December 2, and the night sky was truly amazing. The stars were bright with only occasional wispy clouds, and as I looked up, I saw stars that moved. Several stars moved, but I only noticed one at a time, perhaps because my focus was on just one at a time. They would move in random directions: up, down, sideways. After each move they would stop and were motionless. Sometimes they would appear to fade away and then come back, but they would stop and blend into the rest of the night sky.
Did anybody else see these "stars"?
OK, that's it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
How was the rest of my trip? I had a perfect weather window, powered 98% of the way, with the wind above 15 on the nose for maybe six hours. I got to San Diego on December 13 after stops at Mag Bay, San Juanico, Hipolito, Asuncion, Turtle Bay, San Quintin and Colnett.
The trip up was as good as the trip down. Jack Edgerton Maybe Tuesday
⇑⇓ TALKING ABOUT THE HA-HA? LET'S TALK TIPS, TOO
We were not able to do the Baja Ha-Ha last year because of a TIP issue. I bought a boat in May just to do the rally. We checked and double-checked, and the boat was supposed to be in the clear. I did the application on September 3, 60 days prior, per the instructions. We found out three weeks later that there was an uncanceled TIP. We finally tracked down the previous owner (it was a one-owner boat) and he was unaware of a TIP. A couple more weeks went by with no clue where the TIP originated.
Tur ns out his son did the Newport to Ensenada race in 2022. The race organizers took care of all the paperwork. We had to work with the folks who filed for the TIP in Ensenada to get it canceled. Once it was done, it was November 4.
Nelson Yaple Nelson's Folly, Catalina 42 MK2m Avalon
⇑⇓ BUREAUCRACY,
It turns out that Banjercito, at the Belize border (we are in Quintana Roo), would be willing to issue a new TIP (the
PHOTO BY: ARIANNA CUNHA
LETTERS
"renewal" one allowed) and cancel the old one, but because we had to replace the engine, the engine serial number doesn't match the one on the original TIP.
We did not know that in order to renew or cancel, the engine serial number must match the one on the TIP.
So, there is no way to cancel the old one, which means they can't give us the renewal. Instead, we are pursuing importación definitiva (permanent importation) because aduana doesn't care if the TIP is canceled or not.
For those who might need to change an engine sometime: Be aware that you can do this and have a TIP you can cancel or renew, but you must document the destruction of the engine that was replaced. Literally: They want video of it being destroyed in which one can see the engine serial number. Plus a legal document reflecting same.
For those worried about not canceling a TIP on a boat: All it means is that the person whose name is on the TIP cannot import a boat again. So, in our case, I cannot do so.
But my husband could.
Lise Lingo
⇑⇓ A 1983 CLASSIFIED AD FORGES A CAPE HORN ADVENTURE AND A LIFELONG BOND
Franz McVay, owner of Cygnus, took possession of the boat in Finland, at the factory. He subsequently sailed the Med, Caribbean, etc. before bringing Cygnus back to California. He was an extremely capable captain/owner and probably the most influential person in my life.
At some point on the South Pacific voyage, less than a year after leaving California, they made the decision to ship Cygnus back via container ship to Long Beach from Singapore. I believe this was due to crew-related issues.
Prior to Cygnus leaving for the South Pacific, I assisted Franz on trips to Mexico and Southern California for the Rolex Cup, etc. What a privilege and joy it was to crew on the Cygnus!
Kevin Kiesselbach
Kevin was commenting on the July 8 'Lectronic Latitude with the same name as this letter. Sailor Rob Andrews answered a Latitude 38 Crew List ad in 1983 and joined the Swan 65 Cygnus for a South Pacific voyage under owner and Silicon Valley pioneer Franz McVay. In New Zealand, Andrews left Cygnus to join sailor Max Fletcher aboard the Westsail 32 Christopher Robin for an epic voyage around Cape Horn, while McVay continued Cygnus' voyage.
on February 25, 1985.
⇑⇓ GENERATIONS OF DIAMONDS
Growing up in Newport Beach in the 1960s, I recall Sea Diamond, and her sister, Sea Star, in the slip. She was
Rob Andrews, left, and Max Fletcher aboard 'Christopher Robin' as they rounded Cape Horn
LETTERS
The magnificent 'Sea Diamond' on the hook off Punta Mita, Mexico, (sometime around 2011) is all old-school class. We should all look so good at 55 years of age.
magnificent then, and is now, in 2026.
When I was 10 years of age, in 1964, I promised myself: "When I get a sailboat, she will be named Sea Diamond." My first boat was a Catalina 34, the second a Catalina 385, and my current Sea Diamond is a 2024 Beneteau Oceanis 51.1.
The 1956 Abeking & Rasmussen Sea Diamond is, in my mind, the perfect sailing yacht. If it ever comes up for new ownership, I would like to be informed.
Douglas Williams SoCal
Douglas was commenting on the January 2011 'Lectronic: Cita and Sea Diamond, by Richard Spindler.
⇑⇓ OLSON 30S ARE STILL FAST, FUN AND AVAILABLE
I bought my Olson 30 prior to the Singlehanded T ranspacific Race in 1982 from George Olson and Lyn Neale. They knew what I was going to do with it, so they took extra care to go over the boat and make sure it was in tip-top shape.
Prior to my owning the boat, Collage, it was the "shop boat," and like many factory-owned boats, it had asymmetrical hardware on it: Lewmar on one side, and Harken on the other, for example. (Just prior to taking delivery, George made sure the port and starboard hardware was all the same brand.) The name, Collage, was a play on words due to the collection of gear that was on the boat when George owned it.
She was hull #26, but my S.F. Bay YRA number was 8383, which I thought was pretty cool. And not too far away from 8647, but that's a different story.
Richard Spindler bought Collage from me in the fall of 1982, after I had completed the Singlehanded Transpacific Race. I lost to Dan Newland by a few hours, but we pretty much dominated that year by sailing over the Pacific High, when it looked as if you'd have to sail to the equator to sail under it. Still, it was a long race — like, 16 days. I've been pleased to stay in touch with Dan since that time.
GLEN GARFEIN
Adrian Johnson won the 2010 Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race on his Olson 30 'Idefix'.
LETTERS
Anyway, Collage became Little O, since there was a Big O in Richard's life, the Ocean 71. Great boats, great memories. Chuck Hawley Santa Cruz
Chuck was commenting on the June 12 'Lectronic Latitude with the same name as this letter.
⇑⇓ NO ONE KNEW WHAT IT WAS AND DOUBTED IT
I delivered an Olson 30 back from Hawaii with my best friend, Karen Selbach, in 1982.
It was a fun ride, mostly, until sur fing big waves coming into the coast. We became totally focused on hand-steering. Otherwise, the windvane did better than we did at the helm. (The boat did not like being over-canvassed.)
I remember seeing George Olson's prototype named Pacific High tied up at the Monterey Bay Peninsula YC after an Año Nuevo Race in the late '70s. It had teak decks. Not exactly like the production Olson 30, but close. No one knew what it was and doubted it would hold together in heavy seas. The joke was on all of us.
Linda Newland
your O30 to Duluth and join the party!"
There are six Olson 30s racing out of the Nawiliwili Yacht Club in Kauai!
Dick Olsen
We've got 11 Olsons sailing out of Duluth, Minnesota! Jon
There are a few competing in the Race To Alaska.
⇑⇓ THE LOSS OF THE SCHOONER RAINDANCER
LETTERS
Matt
I was on Raindancer with the youth group called the New Beginning back in 1988. We left from Hamilton [Ontario, we presume] to Toronto and spent a month's time on the ship. I really got to enjoy navigating. My bunch was in the fo'c'sle area. We did four hours on, four hours off. I was extremely sad when I heard about the boat sinking. That was a unique experience that helped with my addictions.
Yvon Duval
Yvon was commenting on the March 2013 'LL with the same name as this letter.
Labor Day Weekend 2024 saw Duluth, Minnesota, host the O30 Nationals. "We had light wind, heavy wind and everything in between. I believe we have 10 O30s racing in Duluth," read an Olson group Facebook post. "Bring
LETTERS
⇑⇓
WHEN THE FUN SEEMED TO END AT WEST MARINE
Such a shame to hear about West Marine's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I started with West when they purchased Cal Marine, a northwest chain in Seattle. There were two locations in Portland where I was the store manager. At the time, West Marine had 13 West Coast locations.
I worked for them for 26-and-a-half years in what I consider the marine industry's most exciting time. I sailed the Pacific Cup with Tony Gasparich, the sail hardware buyer at the time, and did the Baja Ha-Ha with Pepe Parsons, a phone sales tech at West — all on the Santa Cruz 40 Promotion. I was a boat show manager and new-store build project leader for 61 stores.
I left in 2006 when the fun had seemed to end.
West is closing the only two stores they have in Oregon very soon. It's a shame they couldn't have regrouped and built a smaller store and not left Portland in a lurch.
Jef frey E Sleight
⇑⇓
FOUR BOATS SAIL THE SINGLEHANDED SAILING SOCIETY'S 2026 LONGPAC
The Singlehanded Sailing Society's biennial LongPac Race once again tested solo sailors over a 400-mile offshore loop that serves as a qualifier for the Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race. Two boats prudently retired after encountering equipment or weather concerns, while the other two boats, Rainbow and Galaxsea, carried on. Readers are commenting on the June 26 'Lectronic with the same name as this letter.
Way to go Cliff Shaw on Rainbow. Good job. We were your boat neighbors in Emeryville when we were readying our new-to-us S2 35 for cruising to Mexico. When we first met, you were weaving a new tramp on the front of your Rainbow. We also ran into you at Two Harbors and had dinner together on our boat, Anum Cara Good luck on your next SHTP. Is this your fifth?
Marney and Roger Briggs
⇑⇓ LIGHT THE CORNERS OF MY MIND
This brings back memories. I did the inaugural LongPac in 1985. We started with light winds, with tougher going in between. A couple of us got blown somewhere south of San
Cliff Shaw and his Crowther 10m catamaran 'Rainbow' — seen here at the start of the 2021 Singlehanded Transpacific Race — received praise from Latitude Nation for his enduring solo feats on the Pacific.
LETTERS
Francisco, and while I was limping and back finally within sight of the Golden Gate, a huge Coast Guard cutter came up behind me and some guy hailed me with a megaphone. He said they had a pan-pan on me for being overdue.
It was a surprise, but then again, I had my radio volume too low so I missed that news. I was sailing my Hawkfar m then. The next year, I did the SHTP. It was a tough boat thx to Tom Wylie.
Linda Newland
Her second letter this Letters
⇑⇓ WATCHED AND LEARNED
Well done Cliff. As you know, I tracked you throughout the race and got to say hi as you sailed by my slip as you returned to yours. It was a great experience for me to see how your strategy worked out the way it did.
With a little help from AI and PredictWind, I was able to watch and learn as I saw what you were sailing toward all the way there and back. Congratulations on your muchdeserved win. Rainbow is a beautiful craft.
Andy Mogg
⇑⇓ EVERY INCH OF SAUSALITO, FROM MARINAS TO RICHARDSON BAY, IS IN FLUX. IN THE SPRING, THE RBRA CLEARED THE EELGRASS PROTECTION ZONE
I am happy to see that. I cannot imagine all the junk and human waste that had been dumped into the Bay by the people living on the floating dumpsters. Several years ago we did a tour, and I was shocked by what I saw.
So happy it got cleaned up.
Are there any plans for moorings and a dinghy dock in the mix, to avoid anchor chain damage to the bottom there?
Joe Maciorowski
Joe was commenting on the April 17 'Lectronic Latitude: No More Anchor-Outs in Richardson Bay's Eelgrass Protection Zone. In the spring, the Richardson Bay Regional Agency (RBRA) announced that the last vessel had been removed from the Eelgrass Protection Zone (EPZ). More than 100 vessels occupied the area in 2022.
Joe — To our knowledge, plans to install moorings in Richardson Bay have been abandoned, but cruisers and transient vessels can apply for a permit to anchor for up to a month.
Eelgrass grows beneath the shallow waters of Richardson Bay. Supporters of the Eelgrass Protection Zone describe the underwater plant as foundational to the bay's ecosystem, while critics argue its protection has come at the expense of a long-standing liveaboard community.
RBRA
Classic Style
SAIL TO HAWAII ON AUGUST 18th!
LETTERS
⇑⇓
ALL OR NOTHING
Let's also save the large eelgrass bed in Belvedere Cove by getting rid of the yacht club there. Let's also save the eelgrass bed right where the Sausalito Yacht Club has its mooring field.
Erik Swanson
⇑⇓
ELSEWHERE
I was pleased to lear n of the 30-day permit offered on Richardson Bay Regional Agency's website and see the space they alloted for anchoring. Thanks for the links [in the April 'Lectronic.] I'm pretty sensitive to people on land trying to take my ocean away from me. It looks like folks actually put some thought into this.
Elsewhere, they have not.
⇑⇓
THOUGHTS ON THE NEIGHBORHOOD
John Lundquist
I'd stopped spending nights at anchor in Richardson Bay after being really hassled and threatened at times by drug or alcohol compromised folks. Now, it is a whole different story; love it.
Al Fricke
TOXIC TOXICITY
Rich people can now look at a view that only has other rich people in it. And their toxic toys and their toxic houses and toxic cars and their toilets that flush into pipes that flow in every rain and go to a sewage treatment plant that doesn't remove most toxins and overflows in every rain and malfunctions constantly.
Tim Anderson
A LAUNDRY LIST (QUOTING OUR STORY)
om an area of only one acre — or less than 1% of the former anchoring area — the [RBRA] team pulled out more than two tons of marine debris during a weeklong operation in 2025. The collected debris included two small boats, a shopping cart, garden tools, marine batteries, several outboard motors and portable generators, a PlayStation, an electric foot massager, a microwave, an office chair and an electric keyboard. The list goes on. There was also an array of the usual suspects: empty motor oil and fuel containers, anchors and chain, fishing nets, tarps and more."
e gone, the derelict fleet has no respect for anything, just dead batteries and oil tossed over the side.
Joe Seraphin
Joe — I would not be surprised if there is no material difference between that and what goes on in marinas.
Scott Smith
THE ECOSYSTEM AT LARGE
The ignorance trying to stop evolution, not to mention all boats that they crushed with no way to control the fiberglass fibers polluting the Bay. They don't realize the anchorouts also spend money and pump-out is free.
Dennis Dickinson
Dennis — The thinking is those anchor -outs were not
LETTERS
using pump-out stations and all that implies.
⇑⇓
MY EXPERIENCE WAS POSITIVE
Every time I heard about how bad the anchor-out com munity was over the years, it made my stomach turn. Op ponents of anchor-outs always had plenty of negative things to say about the community: excess pollution, navigational hazards, and most recently, eelgrass — just to name a few.
Are these things true? Probably not.
But I never heard about the positives. As a kid raised as an anchor-out, I learned so much from the community, which helped me to become a successful, happy adult. The community was full of interesting, fun, low-income, waterloving people who always helped each other out when in need. In this day and age, this spirit is slowly being lost.
When I sail out of Richardson Bay now, I'm sad that the "anchor-outs" are gone, and I'm sorry for the world.
Basic Instinct
Aerial images show scarring, or "crop circles," in Richardson Bay's eelgrass beds caused by vessel ground tackle. A 2019 RBRA-commissioned report found significant damage from anchors and moorings, but concluded that most eelgrass scarring was likely caused by larger commercial and government vessels rather than anchor-out dinghies. It has long been this magazine's view that environmental protection and public access, including anchoring, are not mutually exclusive. The RBRA's decision to create a designated anchoring area for transient cruisers suggests that balance is possible.
⇑⇓
OLD AND NEW MARIN
All of that area in Richardson Bay was a toxic dump for the Marinship. Choosing to keep underwater weeds is like BCDC telling you to mow your yard. Do people ever think about what is being saved?
In the Delta, they trap and kill every nutria. The nutria did nothing wrong, but some biologists say they eat too many tules, which gives ducks less food, which get killed by hunters. Don't ever trust any agency; they never do things for the real reason and they most certainly used eelgrass
MERKEL & ASSOCIATES, INC
LETTERS
because a bunch of BCDC asshole board members live in Sausalito and want it cleansed of any scent of a hippie or anchor-out.
The beauty of Sausalito was always, like Fairfax, a mix of old and new Marin. BCDC is a for-profit organization aimed at fleecing businesses and marinas. If you love eelgrass put some in your pool!
e there bad anchor-outs? Oh yes. But when you say you're glad to see them all gone, that sounds like you're just happy to see poor people or hippies moved out of Sausalito. I encourage you to take the time read the California state auditors review of BCDC 2018.
John Sweeney Suisun City
⇑⇓ A CLEAN LITTLE MYTH
I'd love to see an article about the environmental impact of the thousands of boats, floating homes, marinas, docks, ferries and luxury yachts in Richardson Bay. Nothing grows forever under permanent shade and structure, and even RBRA's own materials acknowledge eelgrass decline is tied to broader pressures like climate change, coastal development, dredging and double-propped powerboats, not just one conveniently scapegoated class of poor people.
What we keep getting instead are repetitive victory-lap stories celebrating the removal of a tiny, politically weak community, as if that alone saved the Bay. If this is really about restoration, tell the whole story. If it was really about using ambiguous environmental claims to remove inconvenient neighbors, say that plainly, too.
False narratives, selective enforcement and outragedriven smear campaigns have not significantly helped the environment. They have, however, helped move millions in grant, state and federal money, while taxpayers were fed a clean little myth. Richardson Bay deserves honest, non-politically motivated science/citizen science, equal standards, public oversight and accountability, not another expensive, taxpayer-funded fairy tale in a press release costume pre-
ect or sit down! And don't forget to continuously fail to mention the demoic acid-producing algae blooms blanketing the Bay for almost four years now.
Arthur Bruce
DOES CLEARING RICHARDSON BAY CORRESPOND ... ith a predictable increase in Oakland? Sigh.
Barry
Demak
Can we really judge the anchor-out community — which is now more than a century old and shaped by the social, political and economic forces of its time — with simplistic labels of "good" or "bad"? Does one anchor-out who wasn't standing watch when a vessel broke free and sank another boat define the entire community? Does one capable, compassionate anchor-out who was always willing to help neighbors represent everyone who lived there?
ee that it's unreasonable to try to paint an entire group with such a broad brush? (We'll say the same thing about the lawmakers involved with Richardson Bay, too.) We hope those of you who are "pro" anchor-out will listen to the
LETTERS
people who dealt with broken moorings, strain on public facilities, illegal dumping and other real impacts. And we hope those of you who are "anti" anchor-out will take the time to meet some of the artists, craftspeople, retirees, neighbors and seasoned mariners who called Richardson Bay home.
And for everyone who is concer ned for the environment, hopefully we can all agree that no one group is solely responsible for degradation. We all have skin in the game.
⇑⇓ AN ETYMOLOGY SAFARI
It's Richardson's Bay, not Richardson Bay.
Sandra Bushmaker
Sandra — not sure if you're trolling us, but it really is Richardson Bay, and not Richardson's or any other variant.
Latitude — Not trolling. Sorry, but it's Richardson's Bay. I was on the Sausalito City Council when we dedicated a monument to Richardson and his bay, thus Richardson's.
Not many people know that.
LETTERS
• Full service engine shop
• Marin County’s YANMAR DEALER
• Doc kside facilities
• Seasonal Diesel 101 Classes
Sandra
Latitude — This 76-year-old lifelong Bay waterman says it's "Richardson's Bay." Always was. Never heard it called otherwise by the locals.
The original of ficial name on old NOAA charts was "Richardson's Bay." This remains the name used by us natives. Somewhere along the way, in relatively recent times, the federal place-naming agency decreed that the "apostrophes" possessive designation was to be dropped from all US geographic place names. Thereafter, on charts and in official documents, it's been called "Richardson Bay."
This is actually incorrect. The original name, "Richardson's Bay," given during Richardson's lifetime, indicated that it belonged to Richardson, not that it was named in his honor or was near someplace named "Richardson." Richardson owned "Richardson's Bay" because it was part of the Spanish land grant he held at that time.
Real sailors still call it "Richardson's Bay" as did the early sailors who anchored their square-rigger's there and took on fresh water from what later came to be called Whiskey Spring. Government bureaucrats call it "Richardson Bay."
Hudson's Bay has the same problem, by the way.
Robert J. Cleek
Robert — Richardson Bay is the standard, modern and preferred geographic name for the shallow arm of the San
William Richardson, the English-born sea captain and merchant for whom Richardson Bay is named, established Rancho Saucelito in the 1830s.
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LETTERS
Francisco Bay located between Sausalito and the Tiburon Peninsula. While historically and sometimes colloquially referred to as "Richardson's Bay" (possessive), official maps and regional agencies, such as the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, use the non-possessive form.
Jeffry Matzdorff Between The Sheets, Jeanneau 52.2 Bay Area
Sandra and Readers — Sorry to be abrupt and maybe even a little snooty with our initial reaction to the Richardson v. Richardson's question. From our perspective as editors and proofreaders, we must show fidelity to one — and only one! — proper noun. For this magazine, it's been "Richardson Bay" for some time, and only because we're adhering to our house style rather than making any kind of statement about what it should or should not be called, or what the "real" sailors say. (lol) It goes to show how arbitrary style really is.
AFTER THE SAUSALITO CITY COUNCIL BLOCKED THE SALE OF PELICAN HARBOR MARINA, THE OWNER COMPLETED THE SALE AND RAISED SLIP FEES chase of marina properties by investment companies is increasing at a phenomenal rate. What is their payback? I can't imaging that they see this as a viable path. My guess is that the plan is to sell these properties to developers for condos. They will force out as many boats as possible before selling to make the property as attractive as
Tony Bourque Circe, Freedom 40/40 Richmond
ony is commenting on the July 13 'LL: Pelican Marina Tenants Blindsided by New Ownership and Rent Increases.
A BROADER PATTERN?
It's happening everywhere. Safe Harbor got bought by Blackstone. Same crap — all about money. I had to leave and move up to the Delta because of it.
David Bennett Laissez, Santa Cruz 52 Alameda
⇑⇓ ALL THIS FOR THE VIEW?
Raising the cost of access to boating has never been to the benefit of either boating or those who enjoy and partici-
Sneaking past Belvedere into Richardson — or Richardson's? —Bay in early June.
LETTERS
pate. Wishing you fair winds and great wealth so you too can enjoy the waterfront now.
Captain Dave Barten
⇑⇓ MEANWHILE, IN THE EAST BAY
About 20% of our marina here in Alameda has empty slips. I'm not sure who the private equity companies think is going to keep eating 10% annual rate hikes, but we're about ready to move to a marina managed by humans and not some algorithm. $600 a month for a 30-ft slip might fly on the East Coast, but not here.
Chad Hedstrom Alameda
Last month, we reported that the Sausalito City Council had blocked Cameron Razavi's proposed purchase of Pelican Harbor Marina by deny ing the transfer of its tidelands lease. Razavi, who also owns neighboring Bridgeway Marina, has since acquired the company that owns Pelican Harbor, allowing the marina to change hands without a lease transfer. The city is evaluating the transaction as slipholders report receiving steep rent increases.
⇑⇓ A QUESTION WE'RE ALL ASKING
This might make good sense, if this is to stay logical rather than emotional, to relate the fees — both old and new — to alternatives around the Bay. Also, what does the new owner have to say about his business strategy, such as it is? What is the end game here?
John McNeill Former commodore, StFYC
⇑⇓ A MINORITY OPINION. AND WHAT STANDARDS?
Good. Raise the standards. Bring back exclusivity.
Lancer 36 Sailboats & More
Lancer — Lol. And, what? It's not 1967 anymore.
⇑⇓ SHARP INCREASES
My friend's rate went from $950 to $2,400. He is selling his boat now.
Jacqueline Amrikhas
⇑⇓ THE OLD DAYS
We lived on a 38-ft Atkins Ingrid in Pelican Harbor from 1980 to '84. With the overhangs, we had a 50-ft berth. Rent was $350 a month. At the time, it was full of Master Mariner boats, as well as fiberglass and cement boats of classic designs. David Crosby's boat visited often. The breakwater was insufficient in a northwest storm; bowsprits would saw the dock and break off. Afternoon docking by amateurs was
LETTERS
sketchy. Many had two-by-fours across their dock fingers. Back in the early '80s, boats would return from Mexico and unload sailbags full of weed. A few weeks later, people would have new vehicles and be ready for another cruise.
The harbor was sold by Ned eventually. So this isn't the first time.
Kit Stycket
Kit — $350 was a lot of money in the early 1980s; about $1,500 when adjusted for inflation.
Stefan Svilich
Stefan — We rented a one-bedroom apartment on Caledonia for $500 a month, as well.
Kit Stycket
⇑⇓
HIS OTHER SAUSALITO MARINA
[Mr. Razavi] runs a floating RV park with a bunch of short-term rentals and the city council sits on their hands and wants legislative changes to allow it to change zoning without consent from the city residents? Where to start?
Paul Dines
Schooner Freda B Sausalito
⇑⇓
NO REASON TO THINK HE COULDN'T
Perhaps a bigger element of the story is why the City of Sausalito has taken zero enforcement actions against what assistant city manager Brandon Phipps so clearly described in his staff report as "a long list of documented code-enforcement issues," such as illegal construction, illegal floating docks, inadequate wastewater discharge procedures and several other items.
Is it me, or does someone have a better explanation for why Mr. Razavi had no reason to think he wouldn't be permitted to expand the floating slum he currently owns when the City has not taken any action against him over this laundry list of violations?
Dane Faber Sausalito
⇑⇓
SO MUCH SH*T FLOWING
That's funny: The article mentioned the Sausalito CC had a problem with "inadequate wastewater discharge procedures." The city of Sausalito seems to have a planned "wastewater accidental release" every five to seven years
Roger Nunez
Reliable Marine Electronics Alameda
⇑⇓
READ THE REPORT!
Sausalito's residents paid for an incredibly detailed, wellresearched 14-page Staff Report. The City gave [Mr. Razavi] an unequivocal NO. And in response, every one of us — especially those at Pelican Harbor — got the middle finger.
I encourage everyone to read the May 14 Staff Report, and if you don't like what you read, don't let this story end here.
Brad Cornelius
LETTERS
⇑⇓
A FEW WORDS ON THE VOLARE TRAGEDY
Thank you for reporting on this incident in such a comprehensive, contextualized and reverent manner.
While no comparison to those directly affected, this incident is a collective trauma for those of us that race, sail, boat or fish on the Bay — recreationally and/or professionally. Thank you for your therapy.
Barry Demak
His second letter this Letters
⇑⇓ WHAT WAS MISSED IN GETTING THE SCOOP
Thanks, Latitude. Well done. Please continue to educate the Bay Area. In fact, a TV interview with you and other notable sailors would go a long way toward that end. The Chronicle articles, specifically, failed to take just a moment to canvass the sailing literati to get their facts straight. It wouldn't have been too much work or even time lost in "getting the scoop."
Richard Jepsen
Ken — Full disclosure: A search through our archives shows that we've apparently been calling Makani Kai a 53-footer for going on two decades now. Thanks for the correction and apologies for the overestimation.
⇑⇓ A CORRECTION AND AN APOLOGY
Readers — In the July issue, we published a letter that, in retrospect, we should not have run.
In the June issue, we ran a letter by Vikki Fennell in support of the traditional moratorium of Mother's Day racing, drawing from her own experience as both a mother and racing sailor. Her letter made the case that Mother's Day should remain free of organized racing in recognition of the continued demands placed on many mothers, both on and off the water.
The response by Jane Pitts published in July characterized Vikki's position as sexist and suggested she was arguing that women should not sail on Mother's Day. Having reread both letters, we do not believe that was a fair representation of the argument Vikki actually made and instead criticized a position she had not taken.
⇑⇓ RESCUE INFRASTRUCTURE
Heeding the experience of Sea Scout leaders and captains is vital for water safety, as this rescue clearly shows. Equally critical was the Gashouse Cove fuel dock! It was the hub that made the rescue possible, allowing for quick transport of victims and immediate refueling. It's the only fuel dock in San Francisco for commercial and public use. Closing it would be a huge loss to our safety and maritime infrastructure.
Veterans For Peace
⇑⇓ TAKING THE BEND OUT OF THE RECORD
My condolences to everyone involved in this tragedy. Thank you, Latitude 38, for taking the opportunity to set the record straight about our Bay and its environment, challenges and opportunities as a playground for water-oriented activities, a place to relax and find solace in its beauty. Your reporting and educating boaters and non-boaters alike is of great public service.
Klaus Kutz
⇑⇓ A LENGTHY CORRECTION
Thank you for the nice cover shot of me steering Makani Kai. It was a fun and windy day. My crew of Suzanne, Steve, Isaac, Gaby and Yoni did a great job keeping Makani Kai sailing on her lines.
The only correction to the MMBA article is that Makani Kai is only 30-ft, 4 inches on deck and 38-ft overall — not 53-ft. It's kind of like bar talk where you tell people your bowsprit is 6-ft. Who believes it? Besides the typo, it was a nice article. You can let this fact die in cyberspace or make the corrections.
Ken Inouye Makani Kai, Angelman Sea Spirit Ketch Bay Area
This is our mistake, and we regret putting both Vikki and now Jane in this position.
In the nine years since the departure of Latitude founder Richard Spindler, we've been fortunate to curate a Letters column that has remained overwhelmingly positive and respectful. Above all, that's a credit to our readers. To our knowledge, we've never had a writer feel misrepresented, personally attacked or blindsided by a response.
But our perceived track record doesn't make us impervious to mistakes. Apparently, our track record made us complacent. We assumed everyone was engaging the same argument and playing by the same unwritten rules of good-faith debate.
Clearly, we made the wrong assumption.
We regret our error, but are happy to gain the good judgment that comes from the experience of bad judgment.
Tim Henry, Letters Editor Point San Quentin
Have a comment? Email us at editorial@latitude38.com
Ken Inouye at the helm of the no-more-than-38-ft 'Makani Kai', as seen on the July cover of Latitude 38.
An unrelated photo of the Bay to exit this month's Letters.
LOOSE LIPS
And you thought we were joking. It turns out this Gorfnic Mini Camper is for sale, for $700. Any takers? According to our readers, she has some good qualities. Check out the winner and top 10.
Top ten (in no particular order):
"Old Henry, fed up, is off to sail to the South Pacific." — Dave Weber.
"The scow schooner ALMA had a baby!" — Patrick Broderick.
"Last 2026 Pacific Cup Boat Crosses Start Line!" — Charlie Wood.
"John, the plans, were they metric, millimeters or feet and inches?" — David Hume.
"My therapist says it's a yacht if I think it is a yacht." — Steve Rienhary.
"Could you please sail the Fridge over to slip D45?" — Mitch Matthews.
"Many dismissed 007's Q when he launched his first sailboat in retirement." — Kelvin Meeks.
"Can I get a PHRF rating? I'd like to go racing!" — Doug Ford.
"New miniaturization device allows you to take a full-size sailboat with you in a suitcase!" — David N Henry.
"(In the style of a comic book advert): 'Cruise Mexico in your miniProfligate catamaran! It's 100% cruise ready and seaworthy – have ALL THE FUN in Mexico like the real Profligate for only $9.99! (Warning: This is NOT the real Profligate. Do not take out on the open sea. Always stay within 100 feet of shore and always wear a lifejacket.)'" — tOm V. aka BATNAP!
Winner: “Funny, it looked bigger in the Temu ad." — Damon Cruz .
SIGHTINGS
the tragic sinking of volare
On July 14, the 50-ft Marine Trader Volare sank on San Francisco Bay, resulting in two confirmed deaths and two missing persons. Twenty people, most of whom were family, had gathered aboard Volare to scatter the ashes of Maria Boisa, niece of the boat's owner and skipper, 62-year-old John Boisa.
The situation unfolded at around 3:30 p.m. when smoke appeared near Alcatraz, alerting authorities to what was presumed to be a vessel fire. The San Francisco Police Department was the first to join good Samaritans who were already assisting passengers on Volare. The police reported no evidence of a fire, but the boat was sinking. SFPD immediately rescued one soul who was in severe distress. The person, who was later identified as Clifford Boisa, 79, the elder brother of John Boisa, was hauled from the water and taken to shore. Despite resuscitation attempts on the way, he was pronounced deceased upon arrival at the Gashouse Cove fuel dock.
Meanwhile, nearby mariners rushed to assist as the vessel sank. Two boats pulled survivors from the water while a kiteboarder held position, allowing several people to cling to his board and sail until they could be rescued. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as people struggled in the water and others reportedly banged on the vessel's windows as it disappeared beneath the surface. In all, 16 people were rescued, one death was confirmed, and three people were missing. Authorities believe the missing souls were either trapped aboard the now-sunken vessel or swept away by the Bay's strong currents.
On the morning of July 16, Captain Bob Kingston of Pegasus Voyages was sailing with a group of teenagers when they spotted a body floating face down off Treasure Island. Latitude ambassador Gerry Gragg told us, "At first Bob thought it might have been a dummy used for MOB drills, but a closer look determined it to be a human body." Having directed the teenagers to look away and engaging them in another task, Bob and his crew dropped their sails and stood on station until the authorities arrived. The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office later identified the person as 58-year-old Tondra Madruga of Sacramento County.
She was a friend of Maria Boisa, in whose honor the memorial had been organized.
Although the Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing persons on the evening of July 15, the SFPD Marine Unit continued searching for Volare using boat-mounted sonar. The vessel was located on July 17 in the vicinity of where it sank, and investigators began using a remotely operated vehicle to assess the wreckage while evaluating whether it could be safely recovered. The search was complicated by roughly 120-foot-deep water, a rocky seabed and strong tidal currents.
As of this writing, authorities were determining if and how the sunken vessel could be raised, and the cause of the vessel's demise was being investigated.
As early as the evening of the tragedy, discussion and conjecture about what had caused Boisa's boat to sink were spreading quickly through the local boating community and
across media channels. Though it was not a stormy day on San Francisco Bay, it may have been a "perfect storm" that caused the accident — an unusual set of circumstances that combined to cause Volare to founder and sink.
Reports indicate that the vessel had cruised the California coast a number of times, where it would have navigated much larger swells. Though all theories are obviously speculation, experienced Bay Area sailors such as Chuck Hawley and Robert Hull said they believe the most likely scenario is that the large, robust trawler was sideways to the wind as she traveled north to south across the Bay to return to San Francisco Marina. A large number of the guests were possibly on the top deck, making the boat more unstable than normal. A breezy day with a slowly building ebb created an
MAGGIE
HALLAHAN
volare —
increasingly choppy Bay — nothing outside the ordinary for summer sailing. A potentially larger-than-average wave and a larger-than-average gust rolled the boat to leeward, at which point the large bimini, ideal for the hot sun of the boat's Delta homeport, also caught the wind, heeling the boat further. At that point, everyone on the top deck might have slipped toward the leeward rail, heeling the boat even further, at which point open engine intakes or ports might have started to flood the hull. Additional speculation in comments and from local sailor Paul Kamen theorizes that perhaps the "fire" was actually steam from seawater entering the engine room, further reducing stability.
The two missing people are Clifford's wife Jackie Boisa and his sister Carol. Ralph Boisa shared a statement on
his Facebook page on July 16 describing his brother John, owner of the Stockton-based Volare, as a "very experienced seaman who had motored through the San Francisco Bay and out through the Golden Gate to the Pacific Ocean many times without a mishap." He also said that last year, John "made his way from Stockton to San Diego and back." Ralph added, "It is my understanding that the Coast Guard had rated the boat to carry up to 30 people." He continued, "I am asking for prayers for the survivors and the rest of the family who are very heavily impacted by this event."
Our hearts go out to all involved and we offer our sincere condolences to the families and friends of all involved in this terrible tragedy.
Clockwise from left and top center: First responders gathered near Gashouse Cove on July 14; the 50-foot Marine Trader 'Volare' sinking on San Francisco Bay as rescuers responded; 'Volare' somewhere in the Delta; the vessel's track on July 14.
MAGGIE
HALLAHAN
the baja ha-ha: it's the people
By the middle of summer, many of us begin listening to the siren call of a cruising winter in Mexico. Now is the time when people are signing up for the Baja Ha-Ha and preparing their boats for a cruise south.
Ask almost anyone why they keep coming back and the answer is remarkably consistent: the people. The sailing is wonderful, the scenery spectacular and the food unforgettable and wildly affordable, but it's the friendships — with fellow cruisers, locals and the larger cruising community — that keep drawing sailors back. It's why a great many cruisers, some of whom have lapped the planet, still name Mexico as their favorite cruising destination.
The deadline to sign up is September 2. Signing up by then helps make sure you are in the 2026 event program and get swag for your swag bag and the very cool 2026 Grateful
Dead Ha-Ha burgee. It also helps us all plan to have enough of everything on hand for participants. We've already sent out the first 37 packets.
The best endorsement of the Baja Ha-Ha may be the number of sailors who return. Six boats in this year's fleet are repeat participants, led by Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven, who will be sailing her 19th Baja Ha-Ha aboard her trusty Gulfstar 50, Talion. Mark and Robin LaFevers are making their fifth trip south aboard the Jeanneau 45 Silver Linings. Stephanie and Becky Thompson return aboard their Catalina 42 MkI Ohana after first sailing the Ha-Ha in 2021. Ed Lecco is back aboard his Hylas 54, Voyager, after joining the rally in 2022. Stephen Albert, who sailed in 2024 aboard the Beneteau 390 Far Fetched, returns this year aboard his Island Packet 38 Kilo Hoku. Taylor Miller, 83, is also heading
Incredible sailing, spectacular scenery and lifelong friendships are all part of the Baja Ha-Ha experience. Top left: Baja Ha-Ha XXXII burgee. Bottom right: Patsy Verhoeven (red shirt) hosts the Ha-Ha seminar at the fall Crew Party.
ha-ha — continued
south again aboard his Catalina 36, Zephyr, after first sailing the Ha-Ha in 2015.
This year's entries range in size from Patricia Royce's Catalina 27 LaVida to Todd and Anne Taricco's Northern Marine 64-ft powerboat Aquila. Yes, powerboats are allowed to join as well. They cruise in the 'Non Comprende' division.
All cruisers who are close to latitude 38 and longitude 122 should plan to stop in Sausalito on September 10 for Latitude 38's annual Crew Party and Mexico Cruising Seminar at Spaulding Marine Center, where our online crew list comes to life. Patsy Verhoeven's Baja Ha-Ha seminar consistently earns five-star reviews from sailors heading south each year and those planning for the future. It's never too early to plan ahead and rarely too late to decide to chuck it all and go now!
Thanks to our sponsors for making the 2026 Baja HaHa the best cruising rally ever: Baja Sur Tourism Board, Cabrales Boatyard, Commanders' Weather, Cruiser Services, Ensenada Cruiseport Village, FlopStopper, Harbor Island West Marina, Hydrovane, Hylas Yachts, author Julia Shovein, Keenan Filters, KTI Systems, La Paz Tourism Board, Marina de La Paz, Marina El Cid/Marina de Sábalo, Marina Puerto de la Navidad, Marina Riviera Nayarit, Mexico Marina Association, Novamar Insurance, Paradise Village Marina, Sevenstar Yacht Transport and Ullman Sails. latitude / john
an angel island update
A Latitude reader recently asked whether the Angel Island Conservancy planned to eliminate free anchorages around Angel Island, expand managed mooring fields, raise mooring fees, and "develop" the island for events. We asked Angel Island Conservancy board president Max Haning about those concerns.
"The plan is to replace the existing docks and mooring field in Ayala Cove with all-new hardware in their current locations. The mooring field will not be expanded within Ayala Cove, as our permitting strictly prohibits it," Haning replied. "Some docks and moorings will move to an online payment and reservation system instead of the current pay-on-arrival system. Others will remain first come, first served. While reviewing the permits for the existing mooring field, we discovered that the state had already approved a small additional mooring field off China Cove. Our plan is to install that field for boaters who prefer not to anchor but still want to go ashore. We have no plans to pursue or enforce any type of anchoring ban around the island.
"As for bottom cleaning and dredging, we would love to address both. Unfortunately, we are nowhere close to having the funds required for an operation of that scale. We are currently speaking with several yacht clubs about organizing regattas and fundraisers to help support that effort. The bottom conditions in Ayala Cove have been a problem for some time, and we would very much like to be part of the solution. If any of your readers are interested in helping, please encourage them to reach out.
"We also have no plans to 'develop' the island for the purpose of hosting events. It is true that we want to bring as many people as possible to experience this beautiful place. Increasing access and introducing more people to Angel Island is central to our mission, and we remain open to events that support that goal while respecting the island and its character," Haning concluded.
We think many Bay Area boaters would appreciate having more deep-water guest mooring balls available for local, overnight cruising. If the Angel Island Conservancy can improve and expand mooring options for visiting day and overnight cruisers on the island, it could provide a model for other waterfront locations on the Bay.
— latitude
saving gashouse cove
Beyond the shock of the recent Volare tragedy, an important element of the unfolding story is the vital role Gashouse Cove plays as an emergency response center and fueling facility for commercial, public-safety and recreational vessels.
San Francisco is known as a city that is "7x7," making it about 49 square miles, with 21 miles of shoreline. Out of all that shoreline, there are very few places where the public can access the Bay by boat. For decades, Gashouse Cove has served as a fuel dock, emergency response center, working boat hoist and public access point to the Bay.
San Francisco Rec and Park has proposed eliminating the fuel dock as part of the San Francisco Marina remediation project. Department of Boating and Waterways commissioner Maggie Hallahan and San Francisco Sea Scouts Wrenn Holloway and Pismono "Mono" Mata-Lee argued that the fuel dock and adjacent public-boating facilities can remain in operation while the environmental cleanup proceeds.
They recently brought that message to the California State Lands Commission.
A letter from Frederick Scott Humphrey, chairman, Harbor Safety Committee of the San Francisco Bay Region, stated, "The Committee supports environmental remediation within the East Harbor. Environmental remediation and preservation of critical maritime infrastructure can occur at the same time. The proposed removal of the Gashouse Cove fuel dock raises significant concerns about emergency preparedness, navigation safety, maritime resiliency and public access to San Francisco Bay."
Steve Welch, the chair of the Golden Gate Area Council Sea Scout Committee, said that Gashouse Cove, also known as East Harbor, has operated safely at its current depth for decades. "The California Water Board has confirmed that dredging is not required and that the fuel dock does not need to be removed for PG&E's cleanup."
Two San Francisco Sea Scouts joined Department of Boating and Waterways commissioner Maggie Hallahan in advocating for preserving public access at Gashouse Cove, top left, where the fuel dock and adjacent boat hoist have long supported recreational boating, youth sailing and emergency response. Top middle: Gashouse Cove Marina Fuel Dock. Top right: The docks at the Sea Scout base in Aquatic Park are an embarrassment to a city full of tech billionaires. Bottom right: Gashouse Cove in the foreground with Aquatic Park to the east, on the other side of Fort Mason. Bottom left: The Sea Scout ship 'Viking'.
S.F.
gashouse cove — continued
Sea Scout Wrenn, 16, said moving to the Bay introduced her to a waterfront community she never expected to find. Fellow Scout Mono, 12, said those experiences are exactly why access matters. "If there's not a community that's out there, then who's going to speak for all this beauty that is living in the water?" Mono added the Scouts are eager to share what they know. "The boats are beautiful, and we get to go out on the Bay almost every week and sail."
As we've said before, the Bay itself is literally the largest park in the Bay Area. Figurative "trailheads" are required to access it. The fuel dock in Gashouse Cove and the nonworking boat hoist next door should be an important connection between the city and the Bay. If the City of San Francisco needs a real-life example, look no further than the upgraded public docks in Berkeley. Those are the kinds of facilities a waterfront municipality should offer its citizens.
— latitude / john
eight bells
We're sorry to note the passing of Jack van Ommen, one of the most unique and inspirational characters we've ever run into in the world of sailing. Surrounded by family, Jack passed away on June 8 in Virginia. He was 89.
Jacob 'Jack' van Ommen was born in Amsterdam in 1937. He immigrated to the United States at age 19, did a stint in the Army (including a non-combat role in Vietnam), and spent most of the next four decades as a West Coast lumber broker. When the business went bankrupt in 2000 (an event Jack later called "one of the best things that ever happened to me"), he sold everything except Fleetwood, his Naja 30 and — to the consternation of family and friends — announced at age 68 that he was going sailing.
His first little jaunt was in 2005, when he sailed 3,000 miles from Santa Barbara to the Marquesas, solo. Since then, living on little more than his $1,450/ month Social Security payments, he visited more than 60 countries — with a few misadventures along the way.
He lost Fleetwood in 2013 after going aground in Ibiza. Aboard a sistership, Fleetwood II, he completed a solo circumnavigation in April 2017 — at age 80. Three months later, she hit one of the barrier islands off Virginia. Jack got her off and repaired her. But in 2022, the boat hit a reef off Cuba and was gone for good.
"Three marriages, two shipwrecks and one 'wrecked ship' better remain my limits," Jack noted in a Changes in Latitudes article in the April 2025 issue (one of several pieces he wrote for us over the years). Unable to find another Naja, and after an unfortunate encounter with the dishonest seller of Fleetwood III that cost three years of boatwork and legal proceedings (he ended up selling that boat), Jack was back aboard Fleetwood IV, a mid-'80s Elan 31, his first-ever fiberglass boat. "I am very pleased with the choice I made," he said at the time, marveling at such luxuries as a mechanical anchor windlass, roller furling and refrigeration.
Jack was always looking forward to new adventures. The last time we heard from him, he was seriously thinking about taking a crack at becoming the oldest solo circumnavigator, hoping to better the late Harry Heckel, who completed a westabout circuit at age 89.
It hurts our hearts to know that won't happen. But we take solace in imagining Jack will always be out there somewhere, reeling off the miles, that big smile spreading across his face as the next landfall peeks above the horizon.
— latitude / jr
Jack wrote about his circumnavigation in SoloMan, published in 2015 and available at www.SoloMan.us, and kept a journal of his life ashore and afloat at www.cometosea.us.
We last met up with Jack van Ommen in Alameda in early 2024. Fair winds and following seas, captain.
SIGHTINGS
going back to santa rosa island
After a devastating wildfire and a closure lasting more than six weeks, Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park reopened to visitors on July 1. While day-use access is allowed, overnight camping remains shut down through at least August 13. The park acknowledges that full recovery from the 18,379-acre fire will take years.
"We know visitors are eager to return to Santa Rosa Island, and we are working carefully to restore safe public access while protecting park resources," Park Superintendent Ethan McKinley said in a press release. "Opening the island for day use is an important step, but additional work is needed before overnight camping can resume."
The wildfire began after Wet Vette, a 1982 Hunter 54, according to reports, became disabled and ran aground on Santa Rosa's southern shore on May 14. Video shared online showed the beached boat with no mainsail and a partially furled jib flapping uncontrollably while thick black smoke and fire poured out of the main hatch.
The 67-year-old singlehanded sailor fled the flames to shore, staying overnight as his vessel burned. He reportedly set off flares to signal his need for rescue. He was airlifted on May 15, which is also the official start date for the fire. The fire was fully contained on June 4, but not before burning through almost 40% of the island, including a section of the Torrey Pine groves. Two historical structures were also destroyed. The flares do not appear to be the cause of the wildfire, and no charges have been filed.
Mariners anchoring off the coast can now once again access the island, but be aware the southeastern half is blackened and charred, with unstable ground and questionable trail conditions. Access to islands in the Channel Islands National Park does not require a permit, as long as mariners are not staying overnight.
Restrictions on land include normal seasonal closures of beaches and sand dunes from Skunk Point to just north of East Point from March 1 to September 15 to protect nesting snowy plovers. Hikers are asked to remain on wet sand below the high-tide line or use the roads through the nesting area. Sandy Point remains closed year-round because of harbor seal rookeries. Some backcountry beaches and the China Camp–Cluster Point area also remain subject to wildlife closures. Park officials note that recovery of native vegetation, wildlife habitat and burned cultural resources will continue for years, and some closures may change as restoration work progresses.
What is available to mariners is the pier in Becher's Bay; however, no mooring cans are available there — the buoys are reserved for official vessels only. Other restrictions on land and around the pier may exist because of the fire damage. Mariners are advised to hail rangers on channel 16 on approach to ask about current conditions.
If you don't have your own boat, Island Packers has resumed service to Santa Rosa. The company typically gives passengers three to four hours on-island to explore. Park staff will open a pop-up visitor center on each boat ride to help you make the best use of limited time.
— brandon mercer
it's boat show time! — almost
We're heading for that time of year when sailors and land dwellers gather on the waterfront for an exhibition of all things boats and boating. This year the Sausalito Boat Show is hosting its fourth annual show at Clipper Yacht Harbor on September 25–27.
The Latitude 38 crew looks forward to connecting with readers, handing out the September issue, the new 2026 First Timer’s Guide to Mexico and doing our annual drawing for Latitude 38 hats. Of course, we love seeing the new boats, products and services being displayed by our advertisers. Last year we had a great time meeting James Fahlbusch and Margaret Kroll, who had just become the new owners of the yellow Olson 25 Alzora. Come say hi.
Along with static displays and demonstrations, the year's show-visitors will have the opportunity to get some professional on-the-water instruction from Modern Sailing and SailTime. Sure, that's not a big draw for those of us who already sail, but it's perfect for someone who wants to dip their toe in the water.
boat show — continued
A great new addition to this year's show is "Chart Your Course" on Saturday 26. Students enrolled in qualifying trade, technical, vocational, internship, and career-readiness programs will be given free Boat Show entry on Saturday September 26, through an interactive career exploration program. Students will visit participating marine businesses at the show and learn about the opportunities open to them within the industry. At the end of their show visit, students who have taken part in the program will be entered into the draw for a prize donated by the participating marine businesses.
"We need more young people entering the trades. We need technicians, parts people, service writers, yard help, sales support, apprentices, and future leaders who understand the marine industry from the ground up," Helmut Marine president Nadine Urciuoli said of the program. "The Chart Your Course Program gives us a practical and positive way to introduce students to those opportunities." Students will
be required to show a valid student ID or proof of enrollment in a technical, trade, vocational, internship, or careerreadiness program.
Also new on the Boat Show schedule this year is the Veterans and Active-Duty Military Flyover Salute: A special flyover to honor veterans and active-duty members of the U.S. military will take place on Saturday afternoon. Visitors will be able to step aboard boats from leading manufacturers, including Jeanneau, Beneteau, Lagoon, Pursuit, Riva, Axopar, Hanse, Chris-Craft, Princess, Boston Whaler, and Arc Electric. Boats will be presented by an extensive lineup of Northern California dealers, yacht brokers, charter companies, and marine organizations.
Learn more and buy tickets using discount code L38 here: www.sausalitoboatshow.com And as they say in the big world, "See you at the show!" September 25–27, 2026.
— latitude
In May, a wildfire scorched nearly 40% of Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park. Santa Rosa has partially reopened to visitors, though some areas remain closed.
adventure cat: over three decades of
"To me, it's a love story," said Pam Simonson, one of the founders of Adventure Cat Sailing Charters, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.
"I started sailing at a young age and fell in love with it. I liked the idea of being on the water — the wind in my hair and going fast. When I met Jay on one of our early dates, I said, 'Let's go sailing.'" Jay Gardner quickly fell for both Pam and sailing. Years later, after racing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Jay remembers stepping ashore and thinking, "That's so much fun. I wish there was a way to share that."
An idea took shape over breakfast aboard Pam and Jay's liveaboard boat Ingwe in the mid-1980s. Along with friend and future partner Hans Corfin, they began sketching out a business. With no commercially available boat that fit their vision or budget, the partners built their own. "I said some-
Thirty-five years of Adventure Cat and charter sailing on San Francisco Bay. Left: Adventure Cat founders Jay Gardner, Pam Simonson and crew in front of a demonstration vessel. Jay Gardner's Wind+Wing Technologies venture sought to develop wind-assist systems that reduce fuel use and emissions aboard ferries and other commercial vessels.
thing to the effect of, 'We should build a big catamaran.'
"And Hans, bless him, made the mistake of saying, 'Yeah, we ought to.' He didn't poo-poo the idea." Retired naval officer and business professor Chris Christensen later helped the trio refine the concept into a workable business plan.
Financing proved far more difficult. Banks, the Small Business Administration and even California energy-efficiency loan programs all turned them down. Instead, Pam and Jay took out a second mortgage on their home and spent 10,000 man-hours over 17 months building Adventure Cat from scratch. Everything except the aluminum mast, backup diesel engines and propellers was built by the partners.
Jay said the partners decided early on to build the boat from scratch rather than convert an existing vessel, as few large domestically built catamarans existed at the time.
charter sailing on san francisco bay
They adapted a Kurt Hughes Sailing Designs cat already operating on Lake Tahoe, expediting USCG approval as a sister-ship design. A cardboard scale model helped refine the layout before Hughes finalized the plans.
The entire endeavor required tremendous faith. Nobody drew a salary. "The banks all said no. The state of California and their energy efficiency loans said no. Everybody that we talked to said no. But Pam was the only one that said yes," Jay said. For him, the business never stopped being a love story. "We were coming from the angle of, 'We love sailing, and this is what we would like other people to experience,'" he reiterated.
The founders wanted to build a boat that would make sailing approachable for everyone — even people who had never been on the water. "You can set down a glass of wine
inside Adventure Cat and it won't budge," Jay said. "The boat, in many ways, was designed around my mom. She was adventurous, but she didn't necessarily like the wind in her hair. But she'd love to have a glass of wine while she was being adventurous."
The end result was a 55-ft sailing catamaran designed to carry 48 passengers — essentially, Gardner said, "a 55-ft version of a Sea Spray catamaran" scaled up from the 15-ft beach cats they loved to sail.
The business's success was not immediate.
"It was terrifying," Jay said. "We'd spent all our time building the boat, building the dream. But now we had to figure out how to get people on it." The founders walked the Embarcadero handing out free tickets and inviting passersby to join them for a one o'clock sail.
The Adventure Cat business debuted in December 1991, carrying its first 40 passengers onto San Francisco Bay. Jay said the first few years were very challenging, with only enough income to pay for docking and insurance. They still weren't drawing salaries. Jay was the sole captain and worked six days a week while he and Pam raised a family of four small children.
The business eventually moved the boat from Pier 40 to Pier 39, about a 4-mile distance on the San Francisco Embarcadero. Jay called the transition a "night and day" difference. "As it turns out, that's where the tourists are. And from that point on, the business thrived." Jay said that while skyscrapers near Pier 40 blocked the wind, Pier 39 was directly in the breeze. "Being that much closer to the wind was fabulous from a sailing point of view." Jay decided early on that every trip should pass beneath the Golden Gate Bridge before returning via the Cityfront or Alcatraz. "But we always go under the bridge," he emphasized.
Today, Adventure Cat carries tens of thousands of passengers each year. The company added Adventure Cat 2, a 65-ft cat that carries up to 98 passengers, in 2003. Pam believes the business has benefited from a growing appreciation for experiences that leave a lighter footprint. Unlike many harbor cruises, Adventure Cat spends about 95% of each trip under sail — something she said resonates with environmentally conscious passengers even more today than it did when the company launched in 1991.
Over the years, Adventure Cat has hosted weddings, marriage proposals, birthdays and memorials, becoming the backdrop for countless personal milestones on San Francisco Bay. "The basic idea is simple," Jay said. "You turn the motors off as fast as you can, you get the sails up, and then you go sailing. The engines are there just to get you off the dock and out to the wind. We've never been tempted to put just one sail up, offer free drinks and do a booze cruise. That's not us. San Francisco Bay is one of the preeminent places in the world to sail. You have the Golden Gate Bridge, the constant wind, the sea life — and the kiteboarders determined to show off in front of you. That's the core."
Jay added, "It's been an adventure." He said that sometimes he wonders, "What in the world were we thinking?'" — latitude
HIGH TIMES IN THE PACIFIC —
Itis always my great pleasure to break out my Magic 8 Ball and predict the fortunes of those lucky sailors who have the opportunity to set sail and bear away toward the former Sandwich Isles. Pacific Cup 2026 will long be remembered as the year the small boats got off to a lively start with steady 30knot winds and heavy seas. The vessels that started a few days later got a little less wind, and the big-money campaigns got the opportunity to blast over the horizon with wind on the beam and set the colorful sails before the sun went down the second day.
Of course, none of this was obvious before the race started, but it's still my best day when I get to write an article that predicts what I think is going to happen. See the July Latitude 38 for my shot at who was who on the high seas. Of course, when I wrote the article, the race had not started, and I had no idea I would actually be participating in the regatta myself.
It was my great privilege to be able to compete among Kimo Winterbottom's excellent crew aboard his sleek, blue Andrews 56 Halawa. Of course, I figured when I wrote my prediction article it would be several weeks before I saw any of the sailors the story was written about. Now in the land of sunshine and coconuts, I'm writing this just as the last vessels get off the course, and more than a few sailors have taken the opportunity to point out that I missed a few top performers.
2026 was also a milestone year, bringing the 1,000th boat to race in
ALL PHOTOS LAUREN EASLEY TOWILL EXCEPT WHERE NOTED
the Pacific Cup across the finish line since the 2,100-mile "Fun Race to Hawaii" was first run in 1980. Finisher number 1,000 was Penelope, a C&C 99 out of Portland, Oregon, correcting to 38th overall (good number) with crew Ben Emery (skipper), Rich Ackerman, Jocelyn Emery, Elisa Fu, Denis Vannier and Kevin Elk.
At the top of the overall fastest elapsed time was Michael Firmin's hot blue Infiniti 52 with her yellow foil boards, Zeus. Six hours behind them was Thomas Furlong's R/P 52 Vitesse. These two 52-footers posted faster times than the rest of the big boys in the fleet.
For anyone with the spirit of adventure, Pac Cup is the place for you.
In the PHRF Doublehanded Holokai Division, I got it all wrong. Nicholas Stevenson's X-332 Surf proved she carried the right moniker and put herself in the victory circle with Greg Ashby's tiny B-25 Akumu playing the bridesmaid with crew Andrew Meyerpeter, and, of course, Papa/daughter team Lorne and Sylver Cheeseman aboard their speedy Hobie 33 Bazinga in third: one of three Hobie 33s in this year's event that surfed their way to Hawaii.
Anyone who follows offshore racing would know better than to bet against a Cal 40, but there were too many to
choose from in the PHRF 2 Bridger Marine Division. As predicted, Don Jesberg's very polished Cal 40 VIVA took first place in the division. However, Steve Smolinske's Spencer 1330 True Love, from the PNW, proved the Cal 40 spoiler by slipping into second, and Duende, which has often played bridesmaid, picked up a third-place pickle dish.
The PHRF 1 – Naos Yachts Division went to the indomitable 94-year-old Commodore Warwick Tompkins aboard his Wylie 39 Flashgirl, with Jonathan "Bird" Livingston, Chris Klein and Marcus Misbach. Jonathan has raced about 25,000 miles with Commodore out of the hundreds of thousands Commodore has sailed. He noted that, while age had slowed the Commodore, "His eye remained extraordinary." He added, "A sailor like Warwick does not merely observe a boat. He understands her. A sail trimmed a little too full, a helmsman wandering slightly off course, a subtle change in the wind before instruments reveal it — nothing escaped his attention."
In the Doublehanded ORR – Bobbi Tosse Division, it was Charlie Devanneaux's mighty Beneteau First 36 Rahan that slayed the Transpac fleet last summer and turned on the proverbial
Left: Charlie Devanneaux and Fred Courouble were first to finish and winners of the Doublehanded ORR – Bobbi Tosse Division. Right: Don Jesberg and crew took first in PHRF 2 – Bridger Marine Division, aboard his Cal 40 'VIVA'.
afterburners again, flat-out smoking the fleet like a three-alarm fire. They were fast all the way, with the doublehanded team also being the first boat in the entire fleet to sail across the finish line. Bart Hackworth and Ben Landon on the Cal 40 Shaman and Christine
Shope and Andrew Hamilton on the Donovan 30 Wolfpack performed as predicted, with Shaman in second and Wolfpack in third. The Erkelens aboard their Hobie 33 Turbo Camper sold her as they touched terra firma so they can't be too disappointed.
Shake and Bake, a Farr X2 sailed by Jack Peurach and Brett Perry, lost one of her twin rudders to an underwater collision, and then the second failed. The pair crawled along under drogue steering while they worked out a solution and counted up their food and water supplies.
After some hours of work, they managed to get two rudders cobbled together out of supplies on hand and carried on with reduced sail to meet the next challenges. A creative mid-ocean recovery, landing them 39th in elapsed time despite being wounded.
In ORR 4, I knew Mr. Reis and his pirates would carry third, but the ORR 4 – Goslings Rum Division went to Brendan Huffman on one of my favorite designs, his restored Schumacher-designed Express 37 Dorado. Brendan said, "This was only our second race on Dorado after purchasing her two-and-a-half years ago and doing a major refit. This was my 11th race to Hawaii and more challenging than most." Dorado simply did what the Express 37 was designed to do, and Gilles Combraisson's restored Wylie 39 Lightspeed, ably piloted by the aspiring young navigator Mark Jordan, was nearly close enough to see the stern light.
In the ORR 3 – Weems and Plath Division, the winner, JJ Hoag's Hobie 33 TC, clocked in with a time of 10 days, 7 hours, 15 minutes and 1 second. They led Tim Roche's J/92 Zaff in by about four hours. Another standout performance in ORR 3 was Buzz Blackett's all-carbon Antrim 27 'io, which was the second boat across the finish line behind Rahan. Small boats did big things this year.
Commodore Tompkins at the helm, at age 94, aboard his class-winning Wylie 39 'Flashgirl'.
Owner Tina Roberts brings 'Ragtime' to the finish line in fine form.
JJ Hoag's Hobie 33 carrying four sails to a first-place finish in the Weems & Plath ORR3 Division.
HIGH TIMES IN THE PACIFIC —
ORR 2 – UK Sailmakers Division would be considered a disaster for my predictions, but the silver lining is I was actually called only about 48 hours before the start to get ready to go yachting and bring my son. As it turned out, we were able to join Kimo Winterbottom's Halawa and we crossed the starting line first and never looked back. The anticipated performance of Doug Schwenk's Swan Club 42 Free Bowl of Soup was curtailed by a shroud problem when they had to return to port for repairs. That didn't stop them. They got back out on the Pacific to follow the fleet, playing course "sweeper" all the way to Kaneohe. Just four hours
behind Halawa was Wayne Zittel on his DK46 Cazan, and one hour behind him were the students from Cal Poly Maritime on the school's Santa Cruz 50 Oaxaca.
In ORR 1 – Pasha Hawaii Division, I got the positions right except I forgot to put Tina Roberts' Spencer 65 Ragtime on top. This classic and beautifully restored speedster, drawn by the hand of John Spencer, is a fan favorite from the '70s, in this case the 1970s, and took the number-one trophy in the fleet of big guns. Originally Infidel, Roberts' Ragtime came to the USA in 1977 to battle Chip Merlin's magical Bill Lee 68 Merlin, making this perhaps her finest
hour to date. She corrected out about 18 hours ahead of second-place finisher Roy Disney's Andrews 68 Pyewacket
The overall PHRF winner was, surprise, a Cal 40! Don Jesberg's Cal 40 VIVA mimicked the overall win by Alli Bell's Cal 40 Restless in the 2025 Transpac by taking the overall win in PHRF in the 2026 Pacific Cup.
Arriving in Kaneohe on the windward side of the islands is like going back in time. The Kaneohe Yacht Club is little changed since the Winterbottom clan first sold the property to the club. Pickleball is new, the pool is cleaner, but the drinks are just as stiff as the dedication of the cornucopia of volunteers who turn out biennially to make sure every vessel feels the spirit of Aloha and is welcomed properly.
The time spent on the water is not counted against the time an individual is allotted, and certainly spending this time in the Great Eastern Pacific Sledding Hill to Hawaii is well worth the effort. From Greg Ashby's tiny B-25 Akumu, just 25-ft overall, to Dave Raney's new Wylie 80 Gem, fresh from the builder's yard in Portland, OR, the Pac Cup again proved its tilt toward plussized fun. For anyone with the spirit of adventure, Pac Cup is the place for you. Sign up for a safety-at-sea course near you now, have a moment with your local rigger, and find some likeminded folks to set sail and enjoy the ride in 2028.
— andy schwenk/latitude 38
Left: 'Merlin's magic wand wasn't enough to knock out her long-time rival 'Ragtime'. Right: Buzz Blackett's zippy, all-carbon Antrim 27 was the second boat to cross the line behind 'Rahan'.
The custom Schumacher 39 'Recidivist' is the first boat that owner Robert Reis has ever owned. Now he's done his first Pac Cup with her.
Clockwise from top left: Brendan Huffman and crew took first in the ORR Goslings Rum Division; David Herring's SC40 'Marisa' flying high on the Pacific; Author Andy Schwenk (back row, second from left) celebrates a first in ORR 2 – UK Sailmakers Division with the crew of Kimo Winterbottom's Andrews 56 'Halawa'; Andrew Hamilton's Donovan 30 'Wolfpack' closes in on Kaneohe.
RETURN TO
Thereare certain places in the world that refuse to stay in the past. You carry them with you, quietly at first, until eventually they demand a return. For me, that place has always been Palmyra Atoll. Sailing there again, years after my first landfall, was a return to a measuring stick, the place that defined what "pristine" meant before I had the miles to truly understand the word. And this time, I wasn't alone. There's something strange about stepping back onto a boat that used to be yours. A boat you lived on, depended on, trusted across oceans through fear, failure, growth and triumph. A boat that helped define who you became. Being on Tiama again with Jenny was a bit like hanging with an ex and her new lover, which is strangely how Jenny and I met.
ALL PHOTOS DUSTIN REYNOLDS
For this trip, I would be captain again. But it was her boat, her journey, her dream taking shape. That dynamic somewhere between teacher and passenger, between past and present, set the tone for everything that followed.
Preparing for a 1,000-mile offshore passage is, in theory, a big deal. In practice, after enough miles, it becomes routine. We prepared methodically: safety gear checked and rechecked, rigging inspected, systems tested. Food provisioned, and one last pilgrimage to Costco for the kind of haul that only makes sense when you're about to disappear into the Pacific for 10 days.
dark smudges on the horizon that grew into towering clouds before delivering bursts of wind and rain. Jenny took a conservative approach. Early reefs. Smaller sail plans. Caution in the face of uncertainty. It was the right instinct, but I found myself pushing against it. Deliberately. I wanted her to feel the edge a little. To experience the moment when conditions shift and decisions matter. I wanted her to reef when it was difficult and scary. I nudged us closer to the squalls. Encouraged slightly more sail. Created situations where she had to respond rather than preempt. It wasn't always comfortable, but it was effective.
Boats change hands. People change partners. Roles shift. Dreams evolve. What matters is that the journey continues.
I had spent nearly five years and more than 50,000 miles solo circumnavigating aboard Tiama. I knew every locker, every creak, every quirk. I could find tools in the dark, feel when something was off. Stepping aboard again, I felt like a guest in my own past. Jenny had made the boat her own. Lines led slightly differently, gear organized with her logic, not mine. The feel was familiar, but not identical, like hearing a favorite song played on a different instrument.
After buying 'Tiama' from Dustin, Jenny made the Bristol 35 her own.
Jenny's nervousness was visible, though she tried to hide it. I understood it completely. The first time I made this exact passage, it was the beginning of everything. My first true offshore leg of what would become a solo circumnavigation. The ocean felt impossibly large. Every decision carried weight. Every mile earned.
Now, a decade later, I had the opposite problem. Experience dulls fear. A thousand miles had become, in my mind, almost trivial. Not easy, but a familiar routine. To me, this was a grocery run. To Jenny, it was the longest passage she had done, multiplied by 10. Somewhere between those two perspectives, our journey began.
We departed Honokohau Harbor, sliding south under conditions that felt like replayed memory. Once we passed South Point, the wind settled into a steady pattern; the boat found her rhythm. Hawaii slipped behind us and the horizon widened into endless, uninterrupted blue sea and uniform, white, trade-wind clouds.
The course to Palmyra is deceptively simple: roughly 1,000 miles southwest, often on a broad reach. The kind of sailing sailors dream about — consistent wind, manageable seas and a boat that belongs at sea. Of course, the ocean never lets you get too comfortable.
Squalls rolled through periodically,
Teaching offshore sailing isn't about avoiding discomfort, it's about learning to operate within it. This was my first time as a teacher so we were both learning.
Approaching an atoll, you smell the aroma of guano from countless nesting seabirds, and you start to feel the reflection of the waves off of the island long before you see it. I've read that the Polynesian wayfinders could see the green reflection of the lagoon on the bottom of the clouds, but I'm yet to definitively see this.
I didn't know any of this when I approached Palmyra the first time. I couldn't see it from 15 miles away. It was one of the first scary moments of my circumnavigation. I double- and triple-checked my charts and GPS coordinates until I heard radio traffic on 16. What a relief that was!
I had wondered whether Palmyra was as incredible as I remembered. It had been the first true "wow" moment of my circumnavigation. The benchmark against which I measured every reef, every atoll, every supposedly pristine destination that followed. After visiting countless remote islands and diving some of the best reefs on Earth, I wasn't sure if Palmyra would still stand above them. Thankfully, my memory was spot on.
The reefs were alive in a way that's incredibly rare. Schools of bumphead parrotfish moved slowly, crunching on the coral. Napoleon wrasse drifted through the water with an almost
prehistoric presence. So many sharks, barracuda, groupers and other large predators cruised the reef edges, a constant reminder of an ecosystem still functioning as it should. Manta rays glided through the channels. Giant clams dotted the seabed in impossible colors. It wasn't just abundance. It was balanced.
Palmyra is one of the few places in the world where the concept of a marine
reserve actually works. Managed by The Nature Conservancy, the atoll benefits from strict protection, limited access, and most importantly, enforcement.
Even so, it's not untouched. Plastic still washes ashore, carried by currents from thousands of miles away. Palmyra gets about 100 visitors a year, and usually not more than 30 at a time. Fewer than 10 private sailboats are allowed to visit per year, and normally not more than five actually do. Access is limited, logistics are complex, and nearly all arrivals come via chartered flights every one to three months. Jenny and I changed the Palmyra population sign from 28 to 30 during our stay — a full house. I made number 17 the last time I was there.
So when Mateo saw a double amputee walking along the beach when no planes had landed, he was understandably curious. We explained that we had arrived via sailboat and that this was our shakedown cruise for Jenny's solo circumnavigation attempt.
A professional spearfisherman and an exceptional diver, Mateo was there as a research assistant, freediving to specific depths to take DNA samples
out of the water column. He was a fellow waterman who had also experienced many of the world's most remote places. We bonded quickly over shared experiences, and would later sail the BVI and to Cocos Island together.
Time on the atoll settled into a simple rhythm. Wake up. Dive. Eat. Rest. Dive again. Ashore we wandered among
The Hawaii-to-Palmyra and return shakedown was Jenny's longest passage to date.
Dustin and Jenny shared a shakedown cruise from Hawaii to Palmyra.
Thankfully, Palmyra was as incredible as Dustin had remembered.
RETURN TO
seabird colonies, watched nesting boobies, frigates and terns, and searched for massive coconut crabs in the forest. Evenings were spent with the Conservancy staff, sharing meals and conversation. It was a rare kind of community: small, focused and deeply connected to its environment. The researchers, mostly Ph.D. students, were trying to make the most of their limited time on the atoll. The Nature Conservancy staff were just as interesting, with a shared passion for protecting the last remote places left in this world.
One of the unexpected gifts of this trip was seeing Palmyra through Jenny's eyes. After years of solo sailing, even the most extraordinary experiences can start to feel routine. Watching Jenny experience it all for the first time changed that. Her reactions were pure
excitement, disbelief and joy, cutting through the layers of familiarity I'd built over years. It reminded me what this all looked like before it became my normal. And in doing so, it made it new again.
Our final day at Palmyra carried a different kind of weight. It marked the 16-year anniversary of my motorcycle accident, which had cost me my arm and leg, and nearly my life. This is a day I have celebrated every year since the accident, no matter where I am in the world. Sixteen years ago to the day, I was sitting on the side of the road with my arm torn from my body. I paused before calling 911. I knew how badly I was injured and considered just letting it end there. Every year I celebrate that I chose to live on this day. This year it was with Jenny, on anchor at Palmyra Atoll.
Jenny knew this and in her own quiet, thoughtful way, had prepared something. She had reached out to friends and family ahead of time, asking them to leave voicemails. That evening, in one of the most remote places on Earth, I listened to those messages. Voices from across my life, offering support, love and memories. It was grounding. A reminder of how far I'd come, and how much I still carried with me.
Sailing back to Hawaii from Palmyra is the exact opposite of the typically comfortable, efficient and forgiving broad reach south. To get back to Hawaii, you're working against the northeast trade winds and the westwardflowing currents. The key is to use the Intertropical Convergence Zone countercurrent near the equator to gain "easting" before turning north toward Hawaii. Turn north too early, and you risk being pushed west into an exhausting upwind, upcurrent battle. There's a 40-mile wind-free zone in the lee of the Big Island, and we carried only 50 gallons of diesel.
We motored/sailed east for three days, burning diesel as far as we dared. Then we turned north, committing to the long beat back to Hawaii. At first, everything looked good and we were consistently pointing 10 degrees higher than our target, but as usual, something broke. The furler began acting up during reefing attempts. At first a subtle resistance, uneven tension. Then it became clear something was wrong. We didn't know it at the time, but the foil inside the furler had separated, causing the sail to twist improperly and preventing it from furling correctly.
We suspected a halyard wrap; Jenny had just had some rigging work done. I sent her up the mast while underway. She inspected what she could, and reported nothing obvious. That left us with limited options. We switched to a hank-on jib. It was reliable, simple and slow. Suddenly our plus-10-degree margin became a negative 5-10-degree deficit.
For a day-and-a-half, I was convinced we hadn't gone far enough east. Every mile lost to current felt like a mistake compounded. Every tack felt inefficient. The possibility of ending up west of the islands forced into a prolonged, punishing slog loomed in my mind.
The shakedown was shared with dolphins.
The last time Dustin was on Palmyra, he was the 17th inhabitant.
I was grumpy and negative. I've made mistakes like this many times that turned into prolonged battles to get somewhere. Jenny was somehow immune to my pessimism and improved the mood aboard.
Eventually, the weather shifted 10 degrees in our favor. We were able to point higher, giving us a line that would carry us home. Sometimes, the ocean gives you just enough. Landfall came at South Point before we motored our way to Honokohau Harbor.
After weeks of isolation at sea, civilization is always jarring. The smell of land and smoke. Noise. Movement. People. But also relief. Jenny stepped off the boat with a kind of pride that's hard to describe unless you've experienced it. The confidence that comes from completing a real passage. The knowledge that you can do it, that you belong out there. And I felt something unexpected. Grief.
Selling the boat had been the right decision. At the time, it felt like closing a chapter and stepping away from a life that had defined me for years. But being back aboard, making that passage again, feeling the rhythm of offshore sailing stirred something I hadn't fully acknowledged. I missed it.
It's not just the sailing, but the community, purpose and simplicity,
and the clarity that comes with life at sea. Watching Jenny step into that world as I stepped away was bittersweet. There was pride, but also a sense of loss. And maybe, quietly, the beginning of a return.
The story has an odd symmetry. Jenny and I shared the same boat. The same dream. Even a girlfriend, though not at the same time. Life has a way of weaving stories together in unexpected ways. But if there's one thing that feels right about it all, it's this: the boat, the dream, the experience. It all ended up with the right person.
Sailing, at its core, is about movement. Not just across oceans, but through phases of life. Boats change hands. People change partners. Roles shift. Dreams evolve. What matters is that the journey continues.
Jenny's just getting started. As for me? I'm not so sure I'm done yet.
— dustin reynolds
Your Next Boat
Jenny is preparing for her own circumnavigation aboard 'Tiama'.
A SURPRISE VICTORY
Living on the Peninsula in an adobe house is great in August but not so much fun in winter. That's why we keep Sipsi in the BVI, mostly chartered out by Dream Yachts, but available for us when we need to escape. This year we were late and finally booked for the first two weeks in March, without even teeing up a crew in advance. With only four weeks to go, only Doug had signed up, so I was scrambling to fill the other berths when two of our usual suspects relented. Dave and John, both octogenarians, decided to come while still "able bodied with all faculties!" Then Shaun, erstwhile shipmate on our 2016 Clipper training, signed up with his son James. So, with a full boat and a twoweek slot, we were hatching plans to visit St. Maarten when Doug noticed our trip coincided with the 2026 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. I sought out the regatta rules and Notice of Race and procured sail numbers for Sipsi's bare mainsail, then signed us up for the regatta's Island Time Class, which seemed a good fit. And so it turned out to be.
We left SFO on a redeye to BVI just as war was breaking out. Shaun, who lives in Qatar, left Doha for Paris on the last day planes were still flying, oblivious as to what was to come. He denied getting tipped off, which I still don't believe. Our upwind crew wanted a quick BVI tour, so we wafted down to Norman Island and dinner at Willy T, then Finally, a sailing trophy.
headed back for a session with BVI immigration in Spanish Town — far more relaxed than the staff in Road Town. Tuesday morning saw us cleared out and close-reaching up the west coast of Virgin Gorda with both of our two reefs. When we got around Buck Island and headed southeast, it got choppy. Sipsi hammered along, however, and I felt vindicated in choosing a twinrudder boat. Not heading up in gusts more than compensated for the missing propwash nudge when maneuvering into a slip.
Then booboo No. 1. I went below to store up some sleep without first agreeing on a watch system. Nobody else would come down; only later did I find out that for most of the day, we were all feeding the fish. At 11 p.m., I went up again to insist — duh, no takers, they needed the fresh air.
At 3 a.m., I went back up and my gallant crew made room for me in the cockpit. We tacked near Saba and headed for Simpson Bay Lagoon on St. Maarten, arriving just in time for the first bridge opening. Quite a trip, 110 miles to windward, sailing 180 miles in 24 hours — an average of 7.5 knots, all the while towing a dinghy. The ride was certainly bumpy, with only the occasional slam down onto a wave, which didn't seem to slow us down. Sipsi sailed herself, on Autohelm most of the way. We all just held on tight.
A stern-tie slip should have been reserved for us at Port de Plaisance Marina, but it was not to be. They directed us to raft up with the other regatta contestants, three deep but no problem for us — we easily claimed a dockside slot since the Island Time Class always had the last regatta start every day. And flying the Maple Leaf from our backstay, we were clearly non-belligerent. I had brought the stick-on sail numbers, so after a dinghy ride to clear immigration, while looking for somewhere to spread out the mainsail, I luckily noticed the regatta tent. Yes, they were expecting us and no, we didn't need to stick the numbers on the mainsail — we could lash temporary regatta numbers onto our bow and stern rails.
Getting the Sailing Instructions was the next challenge — I had left my laptop at home, and the race material was available only online. But we had
a 25-year-old aboard, James, who expertly thumbed them into his phone. Then, the icing on the cake: Shaun even got the course mark locations up on our Navionics/Boating screen, winning his induction into the Nelson Society. We were all set to race.
There were more than 100 boats in the regatta, and all the rated boats raced right around the island of St. Maarten, clockwise one day and counterclockwise the next. The cruisers in the Island Time Class sailed two shorter courses over the four days of the regatta. The first day was an eastward beat to the end of the island, then a spirited beat to the north around Pelican Island, and then back downwind. Maybe we missed rounding one of the marks on this first day, but nobody complained. On the second day, we headed west to a mark off Pointe aux Canonniers, beating back to the finish line. Both races were about 15 miles, just short enough to catch the 2:30 bridge opening to get us back into the lagoon.
By day three, we were accomplished racers and driving down to the start line when, booboo No. 2, an accidental jibe took the wind out of our sails and slammed them to the other side. Each day had brought us 20–25-knot winds, so we kept our double-reefed setup. Despite this, the jibe ripped the mainsheet fitting from the boom, which we then hastily lassoed. Aaargh! The same thing happened when Carol and I
And the second-place trophy for costumes.
JAMES FARLEY
IN THE HEINEKEN REGATTA
brought the boat over from Europe. We sailed the last 300 miles with the boom lashed, no bimini, and only a Code Zero pulling us along. Now our day-three race was over before it began, and likely the rest of the regatta.
We took the next bridge opening back into the lagoon and back to our slip. Well, the responsible thing to do was to fess up, so we contacted the Dream Yacht Charter Base in Tortola to share the bad news. Richard, the base manager, got back to us in short order. He said, "Get 'round to the Dream Yachts Base at Anse Marcel and Roger will sort it out." We had enough time to get there, but — duh — couldn't get out of the lagoon. The Simpson Bay Bridge is busy; it carries all the traffic to the St. Maarten Airport, and the next opening was 4:30, which was too late for us to get to Anse Marcel at the far north end of the island. But crewmate John had managed an antiques business and knew how to persuade. He managed to finagle us a personalized bridge opening, so we escaped the lagoon and belted around the western end of St. Maarten and up the coast to Anse Marcel. Roger had said we needed to be there by 5 p.m. and we made it with five minutes to spare. He had dinghied out to meet us and hopped aboard to
pilot Sipsi up the meandering 20-footwide channel to the marina. His team was ready on the dock and took only 20 minutes to get us shipshape. The sail cover on Sipsi sits in a groove along the top of the boom, but not all the way to the end. Roger lashed the mainsheet fitting to the boom with another Spectra line led to the back end of the boom to restrain it from being pulled forward. All done. Wow! If only Carol and I had figured this out when it happened the first time, 300 miles out from Antigua! Doug had been staying ashore in an Airbnb following his dive holiday, so after fetching him from the immigration dock the next morning, we left our dinghy on a defunct mooring buoy outside the lagoon and blew down to the start line for the last day's racing. It was still windy, so we were more careful. We had a good race out to the west end, ticking off the marks and with everyone taking a turn on the helm. Then over the finish line and back for the last time under the bridge where the fancy dress competition was judged from the adjacent St. Maarten Yacht Club. Loud cheers and hoots for our show "Pirates and a French Maid."
They throw a good party after the Heineken Regatta; Caribbean food trucks and beer, all in a stadium-like
arena facing a massive stage. Music, flashing lights and some dancing had us all entranced when we heard the word "Sipsi" over the PA. What, us? What's going on? We were shuffled up onto the stage and learned our "French Maid Encounters Pirates" was so admired that we had earned second place in the "Serious Fun" competition. We climbed down from the stage clutching the trophy and more beer cans. Then, while mingling with the other crews, heard it again, "Sipsi, Sipsi." What, us? What's this? It turned out we were hauled back up onto the podium with a first-place finish (on handicap) in the last race. Another trophy and more beer. What a surprise! It was serious fun.
We tried to convince Shaun that his firm would understand his extending his holiday, not only to celebrate our victory but also to skip the war in the Gulf, but he took off to Paris the next day anyway. Amazingly, he got back to
John takes 'Sipsi' around the mark.
'Sipsi's pirates Doug, John and James capture French maid Dave. The crew won second place in the "Serious Fun" competition.
SHAUN FARLEY
LAURENS MODEL
A SURPRISE VICTORY
Doha the day after that, reporting "just the odd explosion."
The remaining downwind crew had another week, so took the opportunity to visit Anguilla's gorgeous anchorage at Sandy Bay, with a fantastic in-and-out, onestop immigration clearance on the beach. John and I were missing our step quota, so we set off to walk the 4 miles to Anguilla's main drag — the Valley. After 10 minutes, a couple of locals offered us a ride, so instead of our planned workout we spent two hours with some very friendly folk sipping beer in a downtown pub. OK, where next? The next morning we took off for St. Bart's, motoring east up the north side of Anguilla, then reaching across to St. Bart's, still glad of the double reef. Realizing the gods were smiling on us, we tried to catch a buoy in the main downtown harbor, but no luck. We were sent out to anchor on the other side of the fairway, then dinghied back in.
Now we were not just the downwind crew but were tourists. A visit to the Musée du Wall House detailed the history of the Island. First Arawak before Columbus' 1493 visit, then settled by the French with the blessing of the French West India Company, then traded to Sweden in 1784 in exchange for trading rights in Gothenburg. This explained why the food was a notch up from our usual, and why downtown had echoes of Halden, my brother's home in Norway.
Feeling a little bit Scandinavian, we swam off the city beach in our undies (and nobody cared), then hiked our
way to the locals' big grocery store, located over the hill by the airport. Even this walk was a thrill — planes landing at St. Barts need to skim the top of this downwind hill, so we spent some time on the top terrace videoing the prop planes coming in just 20 feet above us. That afternoon we took off back to BVI, downwind all the way, so we rigged preventers and shook out our reefs. We wanted to get back to the Dream Yacht Base early so they could fix up Sipsi for the next charter. Our boom fix was thought to be temporary, and we had also ripped out the second reef leech cringle. While the boat was being sorted, our diver Doug hired a car and drove us to the pristine beaches he knew on the west end of the island. We were still bouncing, but now on dirt roads — tired, happy and unusually victorious. After vainly racing the Folkboat F-103 for 10 years on San Francisco Bay, I had finally scored a win. — nick wynn
Skipper Nick finally gets a win.
JOHN OSBORNE
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ALL PHOTOS RUSSEL REDMOND EXCEPT WHERE NOTED
Thething most people want to know when they hear about our 9,000mile, three-year voyage on a 26-ft sailboat has nothing to do with sailing. They want to know how we got along so well together in such a small space.
When Russel proposed to me, we'd just spent the day sailing San Diego Bay on board his 26-ft Columbia, Watchfire, which he'd been preparing for long-distance cruising. I was an actress living in New York City. Russel, a successful illustrator, was willing to relocate, so we planned to ship the boat east; we'd sail when we could, while pursuing our careers.
One day I asked what his big dream was. He said he'd like us to sail down Baja and up into the Sea of Cortez for a few months while he did some paintings. It sounded fabulous — I loved the water and it seemed an ideal way for us to spend time together building a strong foundation for our marriage.
We'd studied celestial navigation since we had no GPS. Luckily, Russel could take a sextant shot while the boat rolled, which made me queasy. He found figuring our position from the tables equally nauseating. The first time I figured out his sun shot, our position matched our dead reckoning, and soon a smudge on the horizon appeared right where it was supposed to be.
below, with no guide but a compass. I was back in time, steering by Orion and Polaris, the fate of the crew in my hands. My four-hour watch flew by and it was time to wake Russel. Soon I was snug in the berth as he took the helm.
You simply respect each other, gut out tough times, laugh at your mistakes, and occasionally bite your tongue.
On November 11, 1989, after a wedding, dozens of boat jobs, and seemingly endless preparations, we untied the dock lines and sailed south. Still a novice, after a Basic Seamanship Class and some daysails, I was able to steer straight. Russel was a good teacher who never yelled. He said the guy yelling on a boat usually doesn't know much. Day one, he had seen my white-knuckle grip on the tiller and said, "Don't worry Jennifer, you're not flying an F-15."
That first voyage, 900 miles to Cabo San Lucas, and up to La Paz, was something Russel jokingly referred to as "a recipe for divorce." Some predicted I'd hate it and fly back to San Diego but he shrugged the warnings off, saying he just knew I'd be OK.
It's hard for a modern woman to defer to and even (gasp!) take orders from her partner. If the person she's chosen to sail with encourages her input, it benefits everyone on board.
On my first overnight sail, we headed to the San Benitos Islands, off Turtle Bay. We soon lost sight of land, and after sunset, the only light was on our mast top. Russel hugged me, said good night, and went below. An hour later it was so still I could hear his breathing.
The wind and waves pushed us along, as stars filled the inky sky. We moved swiftly across the starlit sea, heading toward that dot on the chart
Is the cactus symbolic of some prickly moments between the couple as they navigate their new lives aboard?
Just a week later, feeling seasick as Russel steered us north from Cabo through rough seas, I recalled that peaceful night, which helped me hang on, mentally and physically, until we rounded the final punta (point) and found shelter in a protected bahia (bay) south of La Paz. "For every punta, there's a bahia" is a bit of verbal shorthand we use to this day.
Each new anchorage brought new opportunities: beachcombing, snorkeling, or hiking to a nearby mountaintop to see the perfect vista. In the cities, it was even harder to find time to do and see everything. We'll never forget the museums of La Paz or the ruins at Monte Alban, outside Oaxaca. Some of these side trips cost extra time or money, but we never regretted them. And the parties, potlucks and regattas brought friends we still correspond with. Some other cruisers actually complained about being bored, but this was never a problem on our boat. When you've hauled ice, water, fuel and groceries to the dinghy and then loaded them into your boat, you're glad for time off to read or swim. All this in addition to everyday upkeep and cooking would be hard for one person, but together it's manageable and even fun.
A good hedge against boredom and its inevitable progression into frustration and discord is to have non-boat projects. Russel was busy sketching and
painting, so I set myself a goal of keeping a daily journal, which got me started writing stories and poems. Some have said that we were lucky to have "talent," but I was just beginning to write. Liking a hobby is the most important thing, be it writing, photography, shell collecting or birdwatching.
The key to happiness on our boat is that we're a real team. Sometimes we have to attack things separately — we call it "divide and conquer" — such as Russel hauling water and ice while I shopped at the local supermercado, or him on anchor watch while I cleared us into a port. As I dealt with officials and shopkeepers, my Spanish improved. This was another aspect that made
me feel included in the adventure, which is something many spouses may lack.
It's also hard for the first mate to enjoy sailing when it's full of noise, trouble and breakdowns. Our outboard engine, a Yamaha 8 hp, gave us virtually no trouble. The same was true of our sturdy little Columbia. A boat that is too big for one person to handle is too big for two people to cruise on, in my way of thinking.
Good communication on a boat is key to avoiding conflict and misunderstandings, and of course it's important to agree on the big issues before you take off on your adventure. We'd agreed on a short-range goal, the Sea of Cortez. Our ultimate goal was New York, but after a year in the Sea of Cortez we headed south along Mexico and Central America, went through the Panama Canal, and sailed to Florida. A year later, we headed back along the Intracoastal Waterway to Houston, Texas, where we hauled Watchfire out and trucked her to San Diego.
That honeymoon trip has proven to be an endless one. Taking an inexperienced first mate on a long trip in a
Jennifer undertook a life-changing transition from New York to the warm waters of San Juanico, Mexico.
As newlyweds, Russel and Jennifer's first real voyage (900-plus miles to Cabo San Lucas) was a proving ground for their relationship.
Author Jennifer and her husband Russel ready to cast off in 1989.
HONEYMOON AT SEA
small boat worked out, because Russel had experience and had spent two years upgrading Watchfire. As important was the mental preparation — not just classes and the seminars but the commitment to making it work.
My leap of faith paid off for me in hundreds of ways. Without the years of sailing, the calms as well as the storms, I'd be a completely different woman. If I had the last 37 years to do over, I wouldn't change a thing. I've learned about nature's power and my own strengths and weaknesses — and I require much less closet space!
Cruising on a small boat can put strain on a romantic relationship, but it has definitely strengthened ours. If you are very compatible — we're talking soulmates — boat size isn't a real problem. You simply respect each other, gut out tough times, laugh at your mistakes, and occasionally bite your tongue. However, if you don't get along extremely well to begin with, there isn't a yacht in the world big enough.
Ed. Note: Jennifer Silva Redmond is the author of a memoir, Honeymoon at Sea: How I Found Myself Living on a Small Boat. She and Russel have been cruising since 1989; after four summers exploring Puget Sound, the San Juans and Gulf Islands aboard Watchfire 2 (a highly modified Coronado 35), they'll sail south to San Francisco in late summer 2026.
—
jennifer silva redmond
Inspecting your lines is a critical part of your pre-trip checklist. If you see chafe, stiffness, or UV damage, replace them now before you head out. Save on Samson’s high-strength ropes at Fisheries Supply. We have a full inventory of pre-spliced and bulk lines ready for your summer departure.
Jennifer settles comfortably into the cruising lifestyle.
Russel stands watch in Baja, July 1990.
A 27 mile race from SF to Benicia. Enjoy warm weather and great wind.
Pre-CUP Party IN SOUTH BEACH
Friday, September 4
South Beach Yacht Club - Pier 40
Saturday, September 5
Racing from SBYC to BYC After-party raft-up in the lovely, warm Harbor & Benicia Yacht Club. Live Bands, Dinner & Trophy Awards!
"Whenevertwo sailboats are in sight of each other, heading in the same general direction, they are racing."
An old saw, but very true. What if there are 30 boats? Or 130? And what if the event is promoted as a "Cruisers' Rally" and the fleet is unapologetically, at least on paper, not interested in racing?
They will race anyway, and may Poseidon help the organizers who have to come up with a scoring system.
That's how I persuaded Lee Helm, usually too much in demand as a tactician, to race on an old boat like mine, and with an old skipper like me, to come along on a midsummer cruisers' rally up the river. It was billed as a refreshing break from the racing schedule. My old friend Roxanne Scholes, a confirmed non-racer, was also on the guest list. So was Phill Chute, an experienced foredeck crew who can't resist a long downwind sail, especially in a relatively heavy boat like mine that sails deep downwind angles instead of hot reaches for best VMG.
The wind at the start was flat calm, so the call had been made for a "rolling start." That means, in this context, that all boats are asked to motor across the starting line.
"Is this a powerboat race?" Phill asked. "How do we know who wins?"
"They have a system," I said. "The RC announces on VHF what time the
Are we racing or are we cruising?
engines are allowed to go on, and when they have to go off. There's a six-knot speed limit, so in theory, everyone motors the same distance."
"But the RC picks only one winner in each division," Lee added, "and everyone else is scored as tied for, like, second place."
"Keeps the logistic overhead under control," I surmised. "They also make up prizes for biggest fish caught, best wine list, oldest and youngest crew, and other cruisey stuff."
"For sure," Lee said. "But I think a lot of us would like to go for 'adult' prizes too, based on, like, you know, actual sailing skill."
Phill was also big on the adult prizes. "This morning I bet a round of drinks with my buds on another boat that we would beat them on corrected time. Not fair if we're already locked in a tie."
"Well, the race organizers already put in a ton of work to make this happen," I reminded him. "If they tried to run a real regatta too…"
"They could do it with, like, hardly any grunt work if they planned it right," Lee argued. "'Distributed administrative load,' I call it. Here's how it could work."
Lee went on to describe a system of handicapping a mixed fleet of cruisers and racers based on a user-editable spreadsheet.
"The spreadsheet lists all the boats in the region with known downwind ratings, along with nominal dimensions and specs. If a boat in the rally can't find a sistership, or, like, even a near-sistership with a known rating, then they pick a boat that they think is about the same speed downwind as theirs and use that rating as a base number. If you have, like, a Rub-a-Dub 34 with no listed rating, and there's a Crab Crusher 33 with about the same specs, you can choose to sail with the Crab Crusher's rating."
"But I'm allergic to spinnakers," Roxanne noted. "Not very fair."
"The next part of my evil plan," Lee explained, "is to adjust the base rating according to sails carried and other factors. Rally participants fill in the blanks for things like number and types of spinnakers, if any, length of retractable or fixed bowsprits, whisker pole or spinnaker pole length, whether they tow a dinghy, and what the HP of the outboard is if it's on the dink during tow. Also things like time since last bottom job and if it's brushed, rolled or sprayed, and whether a diver will clean the bottom before …"
"Wow!" Phill interrupted. "You think racers will honestly pick a rating for a boat that's the same speed as theirs? Won't everyone pick something at least a little slower to get a rating advantage?"
"Cruisers always think their boats are a little faster than they really are," Roxanne observed.
"And remember," Lee added, "this spreadsheet is transparent to the fleet, so a blatant self-serving choice will stand out."
"As long as there are no paid pros involved," Phill noted.
"Racing sailors are actually pretty
honest," Lee explained. "They have to be. This is a sport where the competitors are also the referees."
"Well, maybe," Phill agreed. "I was in a race once where one boat won by skipping a mark. It was in dense tule fog and no one saw it. But the crew spilled the beans after only two drinks at the Harbor Pub."
"This spreadsheet," I added, "would be a good place to remind people of the Paul Elvstrom quote. He was a fourtime Olympic gold medalist."
Lee knew what came next: "You have not won anything if you have not also won the respect of your competitors," she quoted. "Or words to that effect. That, and the fact that sailors can't keep a secret, keeps the sport pretty honest, at least at the non-professional level."
"I'm not sure about a dirty-bottom allowance," I complained. "Would you really want to encourage people to sail in this event with slow bottoms?"
"The allowance for that should be small," Lee answered. "Like, you're right, we don't want to encourage people to participate with slowness they
can fix, but it also gives the impression that they get some credit for their non-race bottom. You know, inclusivity. Make the slow boats feel welcome, even though there's really no way to know how much any one boat's dirty bottom will slow them down. The rating adjustments that make a more predictable downwind speed diff would be the spinnaker-related adjustments."
"OK," I summarized as I watched a boat with less displacement and a longer waterline steam right past us, going about 2 knots faster. "We have user-supplied ratings for the fleet, with no extra admin burden on the event Poobah. How do we account for the motoring? The rally rules can set a maximum speed, but no one pays much attention to the speed limit, and
knotmeters are notoriously out of calibration."
"Speed limits are bad," Lee asserted. "Also, no calls for the whole fleet to turn engines on and off at the same time. That should be up to the sailors. Maybe a rally manager with enough 'rizz can get away with it, but like, IMHO, that's
How to look nonchalant while straining to beat the other boat.
If two boats sailing to the same destination are by definition racing, how do you manage a fleet of 130?
MAX EBB
the wrong way to do it. Let each boat decide. Use more precise data for separating motoring from sailing: Log the lat/long from the GPS, and the time whenever the engine goes on or off. No calibration needed, and that way we have, like, the actual time and distance under sail and under power. Correct for the speed factor from the adjusted rating, and you can rank the boats based on their corrected performance for just the part of the trip that they do under sail."
"That's a huge amount of input for a Poobah to deal with," I said.
"No," insisted Lee. "It's all selfdriving. The final results spreadsheet is user-editable, so the sailors do all the data entry."
"One big problem," Roxanne weighed in, still very skeptical of racing in any form. "It would be too easy to game the system by only sailing when the wind is up. That way all the sailing is fast compared to a boat that sails in a more
usual mix of wind speeds." "Correct," Lee agreed. "But like, we're not done. The results spreadsheet also computes what portion of the distance was under sail and what portion was under power. That's another way to
rank the fleet, according to distance sailed over distance motored. Then the final performance ranking is a combination of the two: performance under sail, and portion of the total distance under sail versus power."
Lee had a write-up of the protocol in her tablet and emailed it to the boat we had the bet with, since both boats had known PHRF downwind ratings and full race inventories of downwind sails. We agreed on a 60/40 split for averaging how results based on sailing performance are combined with the percent of distance under sail. And at the end of the day, Phill won his bet. We had won the round of drinks by less than two minutes.
Lee was pleased, Phill was happy. Roxanne had to admit that it was fun. But it didn't make much difference to me. I took home the trophy I was really after: the boat with the best-stocked wine locker.
— max ebb
How does towing kids improve your rating?
BAJA HA-HA XXXII
NO MAS FLOP!
• Makes every anchorage comfortable by greatly reducing side-to-side rolling.
The Baja Ha-Ha is the 750-mile cruisers' rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, with R&R stops along the way at funky Turtle Bay and spectacular Bahia Santa Maria.
Nearly 4,000 boats and 10,000 sailors have done a Ha-Ha.
IMPORTANT
DATES
September 2, 5 p.m. Wednesday –Deadline for all entries and information to be received by Baja Ha-Ha, LLC.
September 10, 4:30-9 p.m. Thursday –Latitude 38's Fall Crew List Party and Baja Ha-Ha Reunion, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito.
The place to be in La Paz, conveniently located near downtown. marinadelapaz@prodigy.net.mx 011-52 (612) 122-1646 www.marinadelapaz.com
November 1, 8:30- 9:15 a.m. Sunday –Skipper check-in. West Marine, 1250 Rosecrans.
November 1, 9:30- 11 a.m. Sunday –Skippers' meeting. West Marine, 1250 Rosecrans.
November 1, 1-4 p.m. Sunday – The Annual Ha-Ha Costume Party and BBQ. West Marine, 1250 Rosecrans.
November 2, 10 a.m. Monday – Baja HaHa Kick-Off Parade.
November 2, 11 a.m. Monday – Start of Leg One for all boats off Coronado Roads.
November 5, 2 p.m.-ish Thursday – BHH bazeball game at Turtle Bay.
November 5, Evening: Restaurant hopping, such as it is, in Turtle Bay.
November 6, Noon-ish Friday – Famous Turtle Bay Beach Picnic Party until sundown.
November 7, 9 a.m. Saturday – Start of Leg Two to Bahia Santa Maria.
November 9, Monday – Bahia Santa Maria Day; a lay day for relaxing and exploring. November 10, Tuesday – Annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Beach Party, sponsored by the local fisherfolk.
•
•
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November 11, Wednesday – Hiking, beach walking, sports and water activities at Bahia Santa Maria.
November 12, 7 a.m. Thursday – Start of Leg Three from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas.
November 13, 8 p.m. Friday – Dance Party at Squid Roe.
November 14, 4 p.m. Saturday – Awards presentations hosted by Mango Deck. November 20, 4-7 p.m. Friday – La Paz Beach Party at La Costa Restaurant.
THE RACING
In this month's edition of the Racing Sheet, we kick it off with the J/105 and J/88 fleet racing in tricky conditions and crosscurrent at SBYC's J/ Stop Regatta. YRA racers then journey down the coast in the Half Moon Bay Race, and Latitude 38's Racing Editor recaps a win in the Woodies Invitational. Readers will then journey to the Sierra Nevada to read about Tahoe YC's Trans Tahoe Regatta, and Fresno YC's High Sierra Regatta Summer in the mountains! Finally, we wrap it up with a recap of a Bay Area staple: Bay View Boat Club's Plastic Classic
While the Giants Struggle, Sailors Race by the Ballpark
It's not that often that the boats get to race upwind toward one of the most beautiful stadiums in sports, or that the offset leg of a race course is nearly as long as either the beat or the run, but both of those were the case at South Beach Yacht Club's J/Stop Regatta on June 20 and 21.
Fifteen J/105s competed in the event, along with four J/88s. Three races were sailed on each day. Both of the J fleets are well versed in the typical conditions that come to mind when one thinks of San Francisco Bay, but the conditions were far from that. With the course set to the east of Oracle Park, the wind was up and down throughout the day, with massive shifts coming out of either side.
As the flood that was persistent all weekend bent around the Peninsula, it created a right-to-left crosscurrent that made both upwind and downwind tactics very different from the conditions both fleets are most accustomed to on the Berkeley Circle or in other parts of the Bay. In order to compensate for the sweeping crosscurrent, the race committee set an offset leg that was around a mile long in order to square up the downwind run as much as possible.
Unlike the (at the moment) wildly disappointing baseball team that occupies
Oracle Park, the race committee from SBYC did an excellent job of managing the difficult conditions and creating an environment for success.
The four-boat J/88 fleet was won by Brice Dunwoodie's Ravenette (StFYC) in dominant fashion, recording a picket fence. The J/105 fleet was won by Randy Hecht's Niuhi (SFYC) with a net total of 18 points. Hecht and his team were sitting in second behind Phillip Laby's Godot 2.0 (NoYC). Laby came out on fire, winning the first two races on Saturday, and finishing second in the third. Niuhi went second-fourth-third in those races.
The script was flipped on Sunday, with Hecht coming out with back-toback bullets. Laby didn't quite have the same pace on Sunday, finishing sixth and eighth in races four and five, respectively. While Niuhi and Tim Russell's Ne*Ne (SFYC) got stuck on the wrong side of a tanker in the final race, dropping the former from the top three into seventh, Laby was unable to pass Russell in the final standing. Niuhi finished the weekend with 18 points, and Godot 2.0 with 22. Ryan Simmons' Blackhawk (SFYC) rounded out the podium with 29.
"Racing off Oracle Park has very different challenges than racing in the middle of the Bay," Hecht tells Latitude Off Oracle Park we saw regular 20- to
50-degree wind shifts and up and down velocity, six to 15 knots, to go along with quickly changing current conditions. On Saturday Godot showed us how to navigate those challenges while they recorded a 1, 1, 2. Saturday after racing we sorted out what we had learned and came out to apply that on Sunday.
"The strategy changes we made led to winning the first two races, and in the last race we were a very close second to Ne*Ne when a moving freighter got in our way and pushed both of us to the back of the fleet," Hecht continues. "We managed to get a few shifts right before the finish and managed to grab a seventh and win the regatta. Overall really good racing conditions that are very different from the rest of the Bay. SBYC did a very good job setting up the race course for the conditions and managing the racing."
The 2026 YRA Half Moon Bay Race saw 23 boats race from San Francisco
J/105s race toward Oracle Park, a change of pace from the fleet's normal Berkeley Circle environment.
Bay down the Central California coast, with boats racing across three divisions. The PHRF One division, the second-largest in the regatta (behind PHRF Two) was won by Reverie (CYC), a J/111 skippered by John Arens. The race was sailed on June 20.
Racing with Arens aboard the J/111 were five crew members: Erik Breedlove, Jim Coburn, Gregg Golembeski, Hugo Knef and Ben Burbridge. The Reverie team finished in an elapsed time of 5:20:32, which corrected out to 5:55:32. In real time, they finished 23 seconds behind Nicholas Grebe's Santa
Cruz 37 Wildcard (RYC). On corrected time, Reverie was just under five minutes ahead of the 37.
"[Conditions were] light," Arens tells Latitude of the race. "We never saw more than 10 knots true, and that was coming out the gate. The ebb provided a nice push. Downwind, everyone worked hard to string together momentum on four to six knots of true wind speed with occasional puffs. The plan was to win the weather leg, and then head to the beach because the forecast showed breeze filling inside out. So basically, that plan didn't work. But we adjusted
— the breeze didn't materialize inside, so we heated up and went back out. That ultimately paid."
As with any light-wind offshore race (or any light-wind race in general), conditions were tricky, and even the winning boats had good and bad moments.
"The highlight of the race for us was the last jibe before the finish," Arens tells us. "We were trailing both Wildcard and Saoirse after staying inside through Pedro Point, mistakenly expecting the breeze to fill inside out. At Pillar Point, they both went inside and we stayed outside until layline to the finish line,
JOHN ARENS
Incredibly tight racing in the J/105 fleet around an offset mark in SBYC's J/Stop Regatta.
CAROL SHOAF
Left: Sunny weather meant shorts and no foulies during the YRA Half Moon Bay Race. Right: Hard to ask for better offshore racing conditions!
THE RACING
and we made a huge gain that won the race for us. Our lowlight was giving away a great start and a good lead out the gate with some struggles shifting gears as the breeze turned off."
While the light breeze may not deliver the adrenaline rush and drama of an offshore race in big breeze, it delivers instead a far more relaxing experience.
"Everyone signs up for sunshine, a pleasant downwind run and some whale watching," Arens says of the conditions. "This Half Moon Bay Race delivered all three. It was a bit of a drifter but it beats the hell out of a southerly on the nose, as many feared based on the early week forecast. And as always, the folks at Half Moon Bay Yacht Club were lovely. We had a blast."
The other two divisions were not nearly as close as PHRF One. Timothy Roche's J/92 Zaff (EYC) won the PHRF Two division by 10 minutes on corrected time, and Truls Myklebust's Explorer 44 Caliente (BAMA) won the four-boat multihull division, also by 10 minutes on corrected time.
— fritz
YRA HALF MOON BAY RACE, 6/20
PHRF 1 — 1) Reverie, J/111, John Arens; 2) Wildcard, SC37, Nicholas Grebe; 3) Saoirse, Tripp 41, Russell Huebschle. (10 boats)
PHRF 2 — 1) Zaff, J/92, Timothy Roche; 2) Inconceivable, J/88, Steven Gordon; 3) Vera Cruz, Sun Odyssey, Michael Johnson. (7 boats)
MULTIHULL — 1) Caliente, Explorer 44, Truls Myklebust; 2) Round Midnight, Explorer 44, Rick Waltonsmith; 3) Tri Jolie, Corsair 880, Rafi Yahalom. (3 boats)
Full results at www.jibeset.net
On-Site Reporting on the Woodies
One of the great perks of covering our wonderful sport is that in almost every edition of Latitude 38, I get the privilege of writing about a regatta in which I participated. I think that's pretty unique. The 49ers beat writers don't get to suit up in the red and gold on Sunday. The Giants columnists don't get to take at-bats every day (though they can't be much worse than the Giants this year), but as Latitude 38's racing editor, I get to compete in the sport I write about regularly.
I was out on the water for the 2026 Woodies Invitational at St. Francis Yacht Club on June 26 through 28, racing on Three Boys and a Girl (StFYC), the Knarr that my dad, Hans Baldauf, has co-owned with legendary Knarr skipper Chris Perkins since well before I was born.
This weekend, I was in my normal position on the bow of the boat. My dad was in his usual jib trimmer spot, and Chris, as ever, was driving. The main trimmer role was filled by my good friend and former Connecticut College
sailing crew, Alejandro Amezcua. Alejandro flew out to the West Coast for the weekend to come and race with us, an idea that he and I devised at a karaoke bar in Boston.
With StFYC's Wednesday Evening Series, we were able to get in a warmup race on Wednesday to get Alejandro accustomed to the Bay. Wednesday's race was a promising start to the everenjoyable Woodies weekend, as we won the race, giving us a good feeling.
The Woodies have always started with a single Friday evening race (followed by a raucous Friday night party), followed by two full days of racing on Saturday and Sunday. In the past few years, we had consistently finished between second and fourth in the Woodies.
We have often joked in the past that you can't win the Woodies on Friday night, but you sure can lose them. Early on, it looked as if we were on track to lose them on Friday night. Racing in a foggy, moderate-wind evening with a late flood, we wanted to get a clean start and get to the Cityfront shore. Instead, we got flushed right at the
JOHN ARENS
Top: The Folkboat fleet charges off the start line toward the Cityfront shore at the Woodies. Bottom: Saturday at the Woodies was limited to one race due to high winds and a building ebb.
The sailors weren't the only ones soaking up the sun during the Half Moon Bay Race.
FELIX WEIDLING
MACY DEAM
start and had to take a clearing tack immediately. Russ Silvestri and Niuhi (StFYC) then tacked on us, and almost the entire fleet followed. We were able to tack back and head to shore, and the fleet gave us a massive gift by staying on port out in the flood for much of the upwind.
By getting to the current relief first, we were able to get to the windward mark in first, extend on the downwind, and then hold off Chris's brother (and winner of last year's Woodies) Jon Perkins and Kulani (StFYC) to win the Friday night race. The Friday night party had a Western theme, with Mitch Polzak and the Royal Deuces putting on an amazing show. As my girlfriend Charlotte and I are both massive country music fans, it made for the perfect evening after a great race.
There was still work to be done, however. We shook off our hangovers on Saturday. After a weird first upwind that saw us get ping-ponged on the shore in the dying flood, we had an excellent downwind and chose the correct (outside) gate in race two, jumping
from fifth to second. Don Jesberg's VIVA (SFYC) won the race. Racing on Saturday was then called off due to the early ebb and high breezes kicking up massive chop.
Going into Sunday, we needed three solid races to clinch the regatta win and hold off VIVA. We had a gap on Niuhi and Kulani going into Sunday, to where Don and his team were our main focus. Chris came out on fire on Sunday.
In the last 30 seconds of the start of the first race on Sunday, we were able to hook VIVA and win the pin, giving us a clear runway to current relief. We made it to the windward mark in first place, and never gave it up. VIVA finished second, so it was still game-on.
In race two, we pushed VIVA over the line early, but we were over in the process. After jibing around the pin, we rallied back around the weather mark in fifth, importantly keeping VIVA behind us. We passed two more boats on the downwind to finish third, behind Kulani and Niuhi in first and second. Going into the final race, we had a fourpoint gap at the top of the standings.
We got a clean start off the pin, and sailed another clean, fast race, punctuating the regatta with a bullet.
The Woodies, as always, were a blast. It's even sweeter when you win, of course. It's always a privilege getting to race with my dad and Chris, and it was a treat getting to race with Alejandro for the first time since college. Now we turn our eyes to the 56th International Knarr Championship in early August, and with this regatta win in the books, we're going into that event in Oslo, Norway, on a high note.
— fritz
WOODIES INVITATIONAL, StFYC, 6/26-28 (5r/0t)
ALERION 28 — 1) Althea, Chris Herrmann/ Brad Schwarz, 12 points; 2) H2Osprey, John Skinner/Bruce Baker, 15; 3) Fulvia, Andrew Kobylinski, 19. (6 boats)
FOLKBOAT — 1) Polperro, Peter Jeal, 11 points; 2) Windansea, David Wilson, 14; 3) Freja, Tom Reed, 15. (8 boats)
KNARR — 1) Tree Boys, Chris Perkins, 8 points; 2) Niuhi, Randy Hecht, 15; 3) Kuliani, Jonathan Perkins, 17. (12 boats) Full results at www.stfyc.com
Clockwise from upper left: The Woodies bring out some of the most beautiful one-design boats on the Bay; The winning Knarr team with StFYC Commodore Susan Ruhne (center), from left: Chris Perkins, Alejandro Amezcua, 'Latitude 38' racing editor Fritz Baldauf, and Hans Baldauf; The Friday night race was a foggy affair; Mitch Polzak and the Royal Deuces put on a boot-stomping show for the Friday night Western party.
FELIX WEIDLING
THE RACING
The 2026 Trans Tahoe Regatta: A Dynamic Start to Sail Week Tahoe
Sail Week Tahoe 2026 opened in fitting fashion with an exciting and unpredictable Trans Tahoe Regatta, hosted by Tahoe Yacht Club. The Trans Tahoe is typically a two-day event, with Friday full of buoy racing and a scenic distance race across the North Shore on Saturday.
This year's regatta included a threeday one-design event for Moore 24s and Melges 24s, who both competed in three additional buoy races on Sunday. The opening weekend showcased nearly every type of sailing conditions an alpine lake can deliver, reminding competitors that no two days (and sometimes no two hours) on Lake Tahoe are ever alike.
Friday's racing featured four fleets, with the largest start fielding 10 Moore 24s. Four windward-leeward races kept competitors busy with three-minute starting sequences. The race course was designed to maximize action by setting the starting line, finish line and leeward gates within 100 yards of each other. Conditions evolved throughout the afternoon, with the breeze building while oscillating dramatically. The combination of shifting breeze, Tahoe chop and constant interactions between fleets rewarded crews who anticipated traffic and avoided costly entanglements. Clean starts and smart positioning often proved to be the difference-makers.
Saturday shifted gears with the regatta's signature 19.7-mile distance race. Four fleets circumnavigated a course featuring marks near Eagle Rock, Sugar Pine Point, the UC Davis R3 research buoy and Dollar Point before finishing near Tahoe City.
The strategic decision of the day centered on sail selection. Crews with multiple jibs had to decide whether to carry a larger headsail for more power through Tahoe's steep chop or opt for a smaller sail to remain balanced during stronger puffs. While the larger sail occasionally demanded extra attention in the gusts, the added horsepower generally paid dividends by maintaining momentum through the lake's characteristically short, choppy waves.
Sunday delivered the kind of conditions that have built Lake Tahoe's reputation as an unpredictable racing venue. The morning began nearly windless, with many boats requiring tows to reach the starting area. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a squall rolled in from the southwest.
The first race became a heavy-air test of boat handling as breeze and waves rapidly built. By the second race, the squall had passed, leaving behind moderate wind but an exceptionally lumpy sea state that rewarded crews capable of maintaining speed through confused chop. By the third and final race, the breeze had nearly disappeared again, forcing a shortened
course in light, shifty conditions where finding pressure became the deciding factor. In the span of a single day, competitors experienced both survival sailing and drifting tactics; a fitting finale to a regatta that high-lighted Lake Tahoe's remarkable range of conditions.
But the Trans Tahoe Regatta was only the beginning! Rather than centering around a single regatta, Sail Week Tahoe 2026 is a celebration of Tahoe sailing itself. As the North Shore racing concluded, sailors headed to the South Shore to continue with a full slate of events celebrating every corner of the local sailing community. The week continues hosted by South Lake Tahoe Windjammers Yacht Club in South Lake Tahoe: Tuesday evening dinghy racing, Wednesday's popular beer can race and BBQ, Thursday's cruise-out, Saturday's Southern Crossing distance race, and finally Sunday's Awards Brunch.
DIVISION 3 — 1) Hot Sheet, Express 27, David Wick, 9 points; 2) Fired Up!, Express 27, John Morrison, 11; 3) High Sierra, Express 27, Bartz Schneider, 25. (7 boats)
Full results at www.tahoeyc.com
Left: Picturesque and windy conditions on Lake Tahoe. Right: All smiles aboard this article author's Moore 24 on Lake Tahoe.
BIANKA DODOV
ASHLEY FARR
Fresno YC Hosts 73rd High Sierra Regatta
Huntington Lake has long advertised that "life is better at 7,000 feet" — a tagline that participants in the 73rd anniversary of the High Sierra Regatta found to be true! Across two weekends in July, the regatta drew more than 165 boats racing in 21 classes.
Many racers have sailed this alpine lake for decades, with some representing their family's fourth generation participating in the High Sierra Regatta. The original regatta was held in 1953 with Thistle and Mercury sailors, though the classes have expanded and shifted over the years to attract new sailors. Everyone was soon reminded that there's a reason generations of West Coast sailors have considered Huntington Lake a premier sailing destination.
Situated in the mountainous Sierra National Forest east of Fresno, Huntington Lake's 5-mile-long, 1-mile-wide waters are latitudinally oriented. Experienced sailors gauge the surrounding terrain, looking for shore lifts that add technical challenges to the racing.
"Huntington Lake is our little piece of heaven on Earth," boasts Fresno Yacht Club (FYC) commodore Dan Irwin. He laughs, "It's a lot like sailing in the ocean except no salt in the water, no currents, no sharks, no kelp and no waves!"
This year, the High Sierra Regatta included sailors from across California, Oregon and Colorado. The diverse fleets
who participated represented both classic and new fleets. Traditionally, the first weekend features smaller centerboard boats, while larger boats race the second weekend.
First weekend classic fleets this year included the Lido 14, Day Sailer, San Juan 21, Snipe, ILCA 7, Banshee and Vanguard 15, while newer and faster fleets such as the RS Aero, Moth, and International 14 zipped in and out as they raced around the courses. The second weekend hosted the Ultimate 20, Victory 21, Santana 20, Wyle Wabbit, Thistle and Coronado 15 fleets, along with a large group of Windsurfer LTs and two classes of NorCal PHRF handicap racing. Both weekends also included junior sailors from the Morro Bay Yacht Club and Camp Gold Arrow in Optimist- and RS-design boats, respectively. For full details, racing results can be found on Regatta Network.
FYC port captain Rod Hansen's parents met at a dance at Huntington Lake in the 1950s, and his family has been sailing the lake ever since. During the High Sierra Regatta, Rod and his wife Missy alternated: Rod took the helm the first weekend in a San Juan 21 while Missy crewed, and Missy took over the tiller for the second weekend in a Victory 21 while Rod crewed. The fiercely competitive sailing couple performed well during the regatta, taking home some first-place hardware. More importantly, the Hansens continued to be local ambassadors for sailing, welcoming newcomers and old-timers into the
Top: The next generation getting in on the action at the High Sierra Regatta. Bottom: Champagne conditions and a beautiful day on Huntington Lake.
magic of alpine lake sailing.
"It's our mission to continue the sport on behalf of those that came before us and to ensure that we set our children and their children up for the future in this sport," says Missy Hansen. "The legacy of the San Juan Fleet #3 started on Huntington Lake over 50 years ago with a few sailors, including Jerry Hansen (Rod's father). We are now 20 boats strong and continue to build the fleet, one sailor and boat at a time … family, friends, friends of friends!"
The Hansens now race alongside their kids, close friends and their grandson — who raced this year in the original San Juan 21 boat that once belonged to Jerry, carrying on the family tradition in the next generation of sailors.
The High Sierra Regatta remains a family-friendly event, with children, parents and grandparents clustering on the sandy beach or finding an outlook along the rocky point to watch the race. But don't let their camaraderie fool you: This is a highly competitive regatta with top-notch sailors testing their sailing skills against the best of their fleet.
Several of the fleets participating make the most of their trip up to the Sierra by hosting their national regattas during the weekdays surrounding the High Sierra Regatta weekends. This year, the Lido 14, Santana 20 and Coronado 15 nationals were held during the week between regatta weekends, with the Victory 21s hosting their own nationals the following week.
This year's High Sierra Regatta again demonstrated why sailing at 7,000 feet can be so thrilling. Competitors on the water are some of the best one-design sailors in California; for example, winners of the Snipe class will be competing in the Snipe Junior World Championship.
The camaraderie off the water, combined with breathtaking mountain landscapes, builds lasting memories for all. The Fresno Yacht Club looks forward to continuing to host this signature West Coast sailing event so future generations can experience something truly local and special.
— mike trela
THE RACING SHEET
FYC HIGH SIERRA REGATTA, 7/11-12
MOTH — 1) Northern White Rhino, Richard Didham, 7 points; 2) One_Whole_Moth, Jack Lugliani, 12. (3 boats)
SNIPE — 1) Thing 1 & Thing 2, Owen Fretwell, 6 points; 2) Monkey Business, Colin Krebs, 9; 3) In the Way, Packy Davis, 14. (10 boats)
SAN JUAN 21 SPINNAKER — 1) The Black Pearl, Rod Hansen, 4 points; 2) Uno Mas, Ken Nelson, 8; 3) Crowsnest, Tim Crow, 13. (4 boats) SAN JUAN 21 WORKING SAILS — 1) Green Top, Sean Tomlinson, 6 points; 2) Dulcinea, Robert Ferraro, 9; 3) Orcas, Evan Halstead/Cameron Spencer, 13. (8 boats)
INTERNATIONAL 14 — 1) Amused, John Clark, 5 points; 2) Lokita, Paul Galvez, 13; 3) Low and Angry, James Clarkson, 17. (5 boats) RS AERO — 1) Luck Punk, Craig Perez, 7 points; 2) Double Nickel, Randall Rasicot, 12; 3) Sequential, Lise Smith-Rasicot, 14.5. (8 boats) Full results at www.regattanetwork.com
Bay View Boat Club
Hosts 2026 Plastic Classic
The Bay View Boat Club (BVBC) hosted the 41st annual Plastic Classic Regatta on Saturday, July 11, with perfect sailing conditions in distinctive Bay View style! First overall was Steve Smith's Olson 25, Synchronicity. He had this to say:
"We were glad to see a big variety of classic boats out in the beautiful weather. Our Olson 25 fleet numbered seven including several new racers. The wind was 'steady, just right' pressure from start to finish with reproducible wind shifts on each of the three weather legs.
Top: Clear blue skies (George Strait, anyone?) at the BVBC Plastic Classic. Inset: 'Synchronicity' gets the win.
At the start we chose the upcurrent end of the line and got clean air for the long starboard-tack leg to the San Francisco shore. There we learned about how the wind shifts around the big ship at the end of Pier 50; we were able to sail nearly the same line at the top of all three weather legs. We were very lucky to get to the lighter and shiftier air near the Bay View Boat Club without much congestion from other fleets. The leg to the wing mark was a little challenging keeping the spinnaker flying as the wind went forward and boats from other fleets converged."
In the spirit of our vintage regatta, four different fleets of one-design boats entered: Olson 25, designed in 1984 by George Olson; Catalina 30, designed in 1976 by Frank Butler; Pearson Triton, designed in 1958 by Carl Alberg; and Santana 22, designed in 1966 by Gary Mull.
Sixty registered entrants, racing from around the Bay in nine divisions, had a very good course run, encouraged by a squad of lovely, sparkling-fan-waving ladies at the infamous T-Mark. Fifty boats finished. Sea Bop II entertained race enthusiasts at the BVBC throughout the afternoon. After the race, boats anchored in the cove were water-taxied to the clubhouse for awards, dinner and partying to the beat of Steady Eddy and the Shakers. We enjoyed celebrating the winners of each division, dining,
and dancing late into the evening. Join us for our 42nd Plastic Classic in 2027! — devra dallman & hans opsahl
BVBC PLASTIC CLASSIC, 7/11
MULTIHULL — 1) Tri Jolie, Corsair 880, Rafi Yahalom; 2) Triple Play, F-31, Richard Keller; 3) Triple Zero, Outrigger Somer, Anton Berteaux. (5 boats)
PHRF I — 1) Streaker, J/105, Greg Arkus; 2) Rakusu, J/105, Bill Davidson; 3) WYSIWYG, Olson 30, Henrik Bruhns. (7 boats)
PHRF II — 1) Humble Vandal, J/92, Rhett Smith; 2) Heart of Gold, Olson 911s, Joan Byrne; 3) La Dolce Vita, J/32, John Riley. (9 boats)
OLSON 25 — 1) Synchronicity, Steve Smith; 2) Shadowfax, JP Camille; 3) O'Mar, David Scott. (7 boats)
SANTANA 22 — 1) High & Dry, Igor Polevoy; 2) Anemone, Hank Lindemann; 3) Zingaro, Jennifer McKenna. (5 boats)
PHRF III — 1) Circle Sea, Folkboat, Kelley Gallese; 2) Can O'Whoopass, Cal 20, Richard vonEhrenkrook; 3) Josephine, Folkboat, Tricia Dantin. (6 boats)
CATALINA 30 — 1) Avalon, John Ford; 2) Grinnin Bear, John Tennyson; 3) Dancing Bear, Neil Leonard. (4 boats)
TRITON — 1) Bolero, Mark Harrington; 2) Sanctuary, Ian Elliott; 3) Viking, Mike Borgerding. (4 boats)
PHRF NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Giselle, Sabre 42, John Geary; 2) Aries, Catalina 387, John Williams; 3) Sweet Grapes, Ericson 36, John Bradley. (10 boats)
Full results at www.jibeset.net
LARRY WHITE
SFYC FIREWORKS FOLLY, 7/4
1) Jose Cuervo, J/105, Dave Williams; 2) Peregrine, J/120, Randy Smith/David Halliwill; 3) Syzygy, Aerodyne 38, Ethan Doyle. (11 boats)
Full results at www.sfyc.org
SCYC FIRECRACKER REGATTA, 7/4
A FLEET — 1) Javelin, J/105, Charlie Abraham; 2) Sur, J/120, Robert Jones; 3) Thunderstruck, J/120, Jean DuPreez. (7 boats)
B FLEET — 1) Maverick, J/80, Ryan McMillen; 2) Flexi Flyer, Soverel 33, Mark Merritt; 3) Blue Max, J/24, William Burson. (4 boats)
MOORE 24 — 1) Firefly, Joel Turmel, 12 points; 2) Mooretician, Peter Schoen, 19; 3) Painkiller, Sam Corso, 22. (10 boats) Full results at www.tahoeyc.com
For more racing news, subscribe to 'Lectronic Latitude online at www.latitude38.com
ILCA 6 SILVER — 1) Mara Stransky, AUS, 42 points; 2) Annie Balasubramanian, CAN, 68; 3) Brayden Zawyer, USA, 77. (51 boats)
ILCA 4 — 1) Colton Ford, USA, 20 points; 2) Leo Gosling, SUI, 24; 3) Charles Julien, USA, 24. (54 boats)
Full results at www.cbyc.org
PERFORMANCE
CHANGES
With reports this month from The Seahorse's Pacific Puddle Jump; regular contributor Jim Immers' ARC Europe adventure on Queen Bee II; Tardigrade's trip to the Marquesas; Into the Mystic's first Mexico adventure; and some Cruise Notes, including info on the upcoming Baja Ha-Ha XXXII.
The Seahorse — Beneteau 46 Andries Bik
Three Men, Two Mains and One Lost Bucket Mexico via The Netherlands Mexico did not want us to leave. Not because storms were coming. Not
before departure from La Cruz.
because the Pacific is dangerous. But presumably because somewhere a photocopy of a photocopy was still missing to confirm that another photocopy had indeed been photocopied.
By the time Crispijn, Jip and I finally cleared out of La Cruz, Mexico, we had survived three days of bureaucratic combat and enough paperwork to qualify as minor government employees.
And honestly? Mexico was still wonderful. For the previous year-and-a-half it had given me surf, whales, sunshine and some of the best years of my life.
But on April 22, after a proper crying session with my Mexican girlfriend, immigration, customs and the port captain finally waved us goodbye and we pointed The Seahorse west. Ahead lay 3,000 miles of Pacific Ocean.
I'm Andries Bik, 47, lifelong addict to surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, wakeboarding and kickboxing — until my body politely suggested another hobby. So I moved onto a sailboat 13 years ago and never moved back ashore. My home is a 1997 Beneteau Oceanis. My philosophy is simple: If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. And if it is broke, and you cannot repair it with
tie-wraps, duct tape or a hammer, it probably does not belong aboard.
My ocean-crossing team represented two entirely different schools of thought. Crispijn Hartzema, 40, 2 meters tall, big-wave surfer and professional climber, is the type of man who works on oil platforms where safety is sacred and every bolt has paperwork. I would cross an ocean with a surfboard as a backup liferaft. He arrived with three personal beacons, an EPIRB, Garmin InReach, VHF and enough emergency equipment to evacuate a small airport.
Then there is Jip Lommerse, 23, fitness machine, charter captain on a catamaran in Bonaire and human Labrador retriever with limitless energy.
The Seahorse has three cabins, all with their own heads, and to me those matter as much as the sails. People romanticize ocean crossings. Experienced sailors know civilization begins with sleep and some privacy, including toilet time after coffee without smelling up the rest of the team.
We loaded the boat with 200 liters of diesel in the tank, plus 120 liters in jerry cans. 700 liters in the fresh water tanks. And my lovely Mexican girlfriend and her friends helped haul roughly 450 kilos of food and bottled water aboard, which almost killed them. I will never forget the scene of two girls being dragged down a hill behind a runaway trolley while their friend is running backward trying to stop the show before catastrophe strikes.
I take care of all the cooking on board. Three meals daily. Not because I'm controlling. Well… maybe slightly. But one cook can more easily organize what needs to be eaten first from the fresh food, and knows what is left.
The first days were glorious. Trade winds behind us. Smooth sailing. A watch schedule of three hours by day and four at night meant everyone slept properly. Then day five arrived and the genoa exploded. Not ripped a little. Completely tore across. Unfortunately, I had no spare genoa.
What I did have was a spare mainsail. I suggested attaching it to the forestay
using tie-wraps. Crispijn looked at me with the expression of a man internally filing several safety complaints at once. But we rigged it. And probably annoyingly, embarrassingly, and offensively to a lot of very well-prepared and organized sailors, it worked better than the original genoa.
Offshore sailing is never about whether something breaks. Only in what order. Next, the reinforced spinnaker pole fitting tore off the mast. Ironically, not because the steel failed. My pop rivets surrendered. So out they came and stainless screws I had lying around went in. Problem solved.
THE SEAHORSE
Three amigos Andries, Jip and Crispijn shortly
painting silver across black water. Pods of dolphins racing alongside.
Then came grief. I got word that Hans, a close friend and longtime supporter of my adventures, had died. Loss feels different when you are closer to astronauts than civilization. The following sunrise a booby landed gently on my arm. He sat there quietly. Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe everything. But it felt like Hans saying, "Good journey, mate."
Before the doldrums, the wind vanished completely. The Pacific became glass. Then 30 dolphins appeared. So naturally, we jumped in.
Three grown men floating in endless blue water, kilometers deep, swimming with dolphins in the middle of nowhere. Moments like that cannot be bought.
Meanwhile, life aboard continued. Jip read. Crispijn drafted a business plan. And I spent two hours daily live on TikTok via Starlink, sharing the crossing with hundreds of people — many elderly or sick — people whose own sailing dreams now lived through ours.
Then we lost our favorite bucket. Not electronics. Not navigation equipment. The bucket. Which somehow felt worse. Our loyal bucket that had handled rinsing our dishes, the fish and our body odor disappeared overboard like a crew member resigning without notice.
Soon after, Crispijn noticed the light in his cabin flickering. After some investigation, we discovered that the bilge pump was running nonstop.
Turns out the motion of the boat had broken the connection between the water tanks, and The Seahorse had quietly donated 350 liters of fresh water back to the Pacific.
We still had half our fresh water. And bottled water. Fewer showers. More saltwater dishes. Ocean economics.
Our first fish nearly became another
tragedy. The rod holder snapped completely off. Fortunately we always secure rods with heavy line. Jip hauled it back aboard and fought heroically for nearly an hour. The 30-kilo tuna jumped free just meters from the boat — and was gone. Pacific: 1. Jip: 0. The score later improved. Two mahi-mahi. Two tuna. One wahoo. The canned chicken remained untouched and morale soared.
And then there were the booby birds. Cartoons portray them as idiots. This is unfair. They are geniuses at fishing and complete disasters only when it comes to parking. They slammed into rails, bounced off solar panels, and regularly overshot crowded landings. When 10 birds sat comfortably on the bow and number 11 attempted arrival, physics usually intervened. They crashed magnificently. And we loved them. They sat on our hands and entertained us for hours. Funniest Home Videos had nothing on boobies.
The nights were equally spectacular. No city lights. Only stars. Moonlight
During watch changes we handstitched the wounded genoa, centimeter by centimeter. On day 17, it flew again. Three men did well. One guiding the route. One grinding the winch. One handling lines. We were a well-oiled machine.
It took nearly all our diesel to get through the doldrums. Only 10 liters remained — just enough for entering a bay and dropping anchor.
When the trade winds returned, we carried on toward Hiva Oa.
The final days felt longest. Every horizon scan held hope. We were looking for land every 10 minutes. And finally — only 20 miles away — the mountains of the Marquesas appeared. After 24 days and 19 hours, we entered Hiva Oa Bay on diesel fumes.
The anchorage looked like musical chairs — 20 boats packed absurdly close together. Then, almost magically, one boat nearest shore departed. We dropped anchor exactly there.
And that was when it hit me: We had done it! Not with perfection. Not with the ideal boat. Not with endless backup
Clockwise from above: On some points of sail, the spare main (right) worked better than the ripped genoa; a quiet encounter with a friendly booby reminded Andries of a friend who had just passed; Jip with a nice wahoo. Inset: 'The Seahorse' in light air.
CHANGES
plans. But with trust, ingenuity and my friends.
People wait their whole lives for perfect timing. But perfect moments rarely arrive by themselves. Just grab a moment and make it yours. Stop saving for that $500,000 dream boat — buy that smaller boat and leave 10 years earlier. Live now. Because dreams do not wait. And oceans, it turns out, are far less frightening when crossed with people you trust.
— Andries 5/28/26
(Andries Bik Sailing Adventures on YouTube and TikTok)
Queen Bee II — Hallberg-Rassy 57
Jim Immers
ARC Europe 2026
El Dorado Hills
The ARC Europe 2026 got underway on May 9 from the harbor outside Simpson Bay, St. Maarten. Thirty-five impressive offshore cruising yachts lined up for the start, all eager for bragging rights and the honor of being first around the offshore buoy. While none of the six ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) events are officially races, put two sailboats on the same course and competition is inevitable.
The Europe route would take us from St. Maarten north to Bermuda, then east to the Azores, nearly 950 nautical miles west of Portugal. From there, the fleet would split, with some boats heading to Portugal, and others continuing on to Northern Europe.
I joined the crew of Queen Bee II, Neil Gerrard's London-based HallbergRassy 57, a few days before departure. Rounding out the crew were Jeff Gordon and Becky Broudie. All three were experienced sailors from the UK or Australia, with Becky currently based in Barcelona. I joined the crew through Ocean Crew Link after Neil and Becky reviewed my racing/cruising sailing résumé and my 20,000 miles of offshore experience. We followed that with a detailed Zoom interview covering everything from safety equipment to crew expectations.
Our early duties were to provision the boat and prepare for a seven-week voyage, including layovers in Bermuda and the Azores. Fortunately, St. Maarten is a major Caribbean cruising hub, serving everyone from charter sailors to superyachts. We were able to purchase a
mountain of provisions, and everything was delivered right to the dock.
One of our biggest jobs was installing a brand-new jib and an in-mast furling mainsail that had been air-freighted by Elvstrøm from Denmark. Wrestling 70-foot fiberglass battens vertically into the mainsail proved to be quite a challenge, made possible only through the generous assistance of the Dutch crew aboard the Outremer 60 Lana. It was a memorable workout that nearly finished me off. The well-earned dinners ashore that followed, along with ARC barbecues, briefings and cocktail parties, were much appreciated.
The ARC's rigorous safety inspections answered many of my questions, but one thing can never be verified beforehand: crew chemistry. That's always a gamble. Fortunately, while there were a few bumps along the way, the crew got along well overall, making for a memorable adventure.
After an exciting start, the fleet rounded the western end of St. Maarten and sailed on a tight reach toward Dog Island. Hand-steering Queen Bee II under our large Code Zero sail, we surged to the front of the fleet. By sunset the boats had spread across the horizon, each crew pursuing its own strategy for the 850-mile passage to Bermuda.
Fishing lines trailed behind us as we sailed. On the third day, we landed a beautiful mahi-mahi that provided
two excellent dinners. Unfortunately, it would be our last catch. Between disappearing lures — perhaps victims of the Bermuda Triangle — and floating sargassum weed, our fishing success was at an end.
Early on the fifth morning, we arrived off St. George's Harbour, Bermuda. However, Bermuda Radio instructed us to stand by while harbor pilots were transferred to an arriving cruise ship and freighter. Normally a delay would be no big deal, but a storm was arriving at the same time. While waiting outside the channel, we endured 35-knot winds and steep, confused seas, even within Bermuda's protective reef system.
Fortunately, the 38-ton HallbergRassy handled the conditions with ease. While the boat pitched and rolled, I somehow managed to sleep through much of it. Once safely anchored, we celebrated our arrival with champagne and discovered we were among the earliest ARC boats into Bermuda.
Later that morning, Neil and I launched our Highfield dinghy to clear customs. Reaching the dock was an adventure in itself, with waves breaking
Top left (l to r): ARC crew Jeff, Neil, Becky and Jim. Top right: The anchorage in Bermuda. Above left: The bad news is, the 'Queen' crew caught only one fish the whole trip. The good news is, it was a mahi-mahi. Above right: 'Queen Bee II' in Angra do Heroismo, Terceira, in the Azores.
over the undulating dock. Customs officials informed us that all crew members were supposed to be present. Neil, a retired lawyer, successfully argued that bringing everyone ashore in those conditions was unsafe. The officials kindly waived the requirement, and we were cleared in.
With our sea legs reacclimating to land, we briefly explored the charming town and harbor. The storm produced gusts over 50 knots, torrential rain, and even a waterspout in the harbor. Several ARC boats still at sea issued PanPan calls, reporting torn sails, a lost life raft, and an accidentally activated EPIRB. Other boats wisely slowed down offshore and waited for the weather to pass before approaching Bermuda.
Once conditions improved after several days, we took the ferry to the historical Royal Naval Dockyard and later continued to Hamilton. Lunch at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club was a highlight. The commodore personally stopped by our table to welcome visiting ARC sailors. Beyond the club's hospitality, we were struck by how genuinely friendly everyone was in Bermuda.
The next day I headed to Grotto Bay for some scuba diving, enjoying excellent reef and wreck dives and an encounter with an enormous grouper. The crew joined later for snorkeling, ARC Europe is as much a social adventure as a sailing rally. Throughout
our week in Bermuda, the ARC team organized gatherings and events, and the CrewChat WhatsApp group buzzed constantly with stories and advice. After enjoying Bermuda's colorful architecture, welcoming people and excellent food, the fleet departed again on May 21.
The 12-day passage to the Azores promised more challenges. Several lowpressure systems were forecast to cross our route, and the first few days featured hard close-reaching and plenty of pounding into waves.
Then we began hearing an alarming slamming noise from the bow. Neil suspected a recurring issue involving the bow-thruster hatch under the forward part of the hull. If the hatch wasn't sealing properly, repeated impacts could potentially damage the boat. We reduced speed and considered motoring all the way to the Azores — or even returning to Bermuda.
Around midnight, we notified ARC organizers and informed the fleet through CrewChat that we were diverting north toward lighter conditions to investigate.
The next morning, support arrived in true cruising-sailor fashion: the Brazilian crew aboard the Beneteau Sense 55 Dany brought us waterproof epoxy and four jerry cans of diesel. Their generosity reminded me of the camaraderie I've experienced during multiple Baja Ha-Ha rallies to Mexico.
With no water entering through the thruster location forward, we stopped the boat and I jumped overboard with a safety line around my waist to inspect the thruster underwater. The hatch appeared to be closing correctly, but a small amount of play in the door was apparently causing the loud noise when slammed by waves.
We decided to improvise. Using a small piece of silicone cut from a window squeegee, I attempted to wedge it into the hatch mechanism while diving beneath the boat. It was nerve-racking work — I definitely didn't want my hand trapped when the hatch closed. On the third attempt, success!
The slamming noise did not reoccur. Sometimes ocean voyaging comes down to solving major problems with tiny pieces of plastic.
While other boats farther north encountered cold fronts, gales, torn sails
and autopilot failures, Queen Bee II benefited from the guidance of professional weather router Chris Parker. Combining his advice with PredictWind forecasts and Jeff's routing expertise, we followed a more southerly course. The result was mostly steady 25-knot winds and only a few days of motoring near the finish.
On the afternoon of June 2, after 12-and-a-half days at sea, we arrived in Horta on Faial Island in the Azores. ARC volunteers in their signature yellow shirts greeted us enthusiastically. Customs clearance was quick and fuel quickly pumped aboard at the gas dock, and soon we were celebrating at the legendary Peter Café Sport.
Over the following 10 days, ARC organized tours and events across several islands. We explored Faial's volcanic landscapes, Terceira's rich history and excellent restaurants, and São Miguel's spectacular crater lakes and worldclass cetacean-watching opportunities. By this point, we had sailed 894 miles to Bermuda and another 2,140 miles across the Atlantic to the Azores, with roughly 950 miles still remaining to Portugal.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the voyage before the final leg in order to return home to California for a family wedding. Even so, the experience had already delivered more than enough adventure, camaraderie, and unforgettable memories.
Back home, I sometimes miss the quiet rhythm of offshore watches — adjusting sails, checking fishing lines, and scanning the radar for ships beneath a sky full of stars. Life ashore has its own pleasures, but those peaceful moments at sea are hard to replace.
— Jim 7/1/26
Tardigrade — Tayana 42
Maddie Zug and Jeremy Snyder
The Timeless Blue Bubble
Berkeley
Almost exactly one year since we cut the dock lines in Berkeley and started full-time cruising, we left La Cruz, Mexico, and pointed the bow toward French Polynesia. Even though our Tayana 42, Tardigrade, was kitted out and provisioned, our stomachs churned with nerves and anticipation as we bashed out of Banderas Bay under a glowing sunset.
CHANGES
In the past year, we'd sailed from San Francisco to British Columbia, cruised the Pacific Northwest, and returned south to Mexico. With our longest passage yet having been just five days, the jump to a multi-week, 3,000mile crossing felt big, but it was something we were eager to experience.
Our first couple of days passed in
a sapphire rush. We had near-perfect sailing, 10–15 knots, 60 degrees off starboard. With all three sails up, Tardigrade galloped forward, chewing through miles as we approached Isla Socorro, the last land we would see for the next three weeks.
We struggled at first to relax into the stillness, our internal flywheels still spinning from the intense months of prep in La Cruz. Jeremy channeled his energy into little tasks like splicing several dozen Dyneema soft shackles. Evidently he wasn't replacing the metal fixtures fast enough, because on the third day we heard a loud BANG as the boom vang snapped clean off its padeye. We fixed it by Dyneema-lashing it to the mast base, with a WhatsApp consultation from our buddy boat Dogfish. Despite the stress of the first breakage, we felt the ocean was being kind to us with a relatively easy fix and a playful pod of speckled dolphins at our bow that evening.
By week's end, we'd settled into our watch rhythm: threeand four-hour shifts from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. Jeremy liked his night-owl time, meditating, writing, and winding down. I loved mornings making tea and watching the sun
rise. We both liked the "bonus" time on midnight watches, feeling like kids reading under the covers with a flashlight.
Deeper into the northern trades, clear skies gave way to puffy cumulus. One night we realized the four-star constellation dead ahead was the Southern Cross, a small, stellar signpost of our progress that made us feel connected to seafaring traditions spanning millennia. We lay on our backs in the cockpit for hours, our only entertainment watching the silhouetted mast arcing back and forth against the Milky Way.
One day on a whim, Jeremy cut a tube of Crest toothpaste into ribbons, drew an eye on it, and added a hook. Within 20 minutes it caught us a perfect 15-lb yellowfin tuna! We feasted on poke bowls and spent hours watching flying fish fluttering through the waves. One midnight watch change, Maddie heard a whoosh and then a smack, and turned to see Jeremy trying to pin down a (formerly) flying fish that was flapping around on the galley floor. We stood there stunned for a second before bursting into laughter. It doesn't get much closer than that to the fish throwing themselves into the frying pan!
Approaching the ITCZ, the cute, puffy cumulus started morphing into menacing gray thunderheads. The squalls formed towering walls that felt like entering a cave as we approached
them. The world would turn dark and quiet as the wind dropped, then return violently with curtains of pounding rain. Once the squalls passed, we'd emerge back into our peaceful blue world. With the wind gone and sea flattened, we'd sit blinking in the soaked cockpit, feeling as if we'd just come out of a drive-through car wash.
Eventually the northern trades died and we begrudgingly started the engine. For two days we motored through the remainder of the ITCZ in a soggy, slate-gray disc, surrounded by mist and drenched by near-constant rain. We lived in swimsuits and ate cozy, easy food like udon noodles and quesadillas. The upside was that the rain kept us cool, and any Baja dust that had survived this far was definitively hosed off the boat.
Sunset in the southern trades.
Jeremy and Maddie in "equator casual" for their promotion from pollywogs to shellbacks.
Neptune finally took pity on us minutes before we crossed the equator. The wind turned on and we got sails up in time to sail across the invisible line. We read poems and celebrated our graduation from pollywogs to shellbacks with coffee ice cream and Trader Joe's peanut butter cups.
Now in the southern trades, the days passed homogenous and blue. Our bodies were sluggish but the boat was fast, beam-reaching through 15–20 knots with 6–8-foot swell and a helpful current. After the fluttery ITCZ, the muscular southeast trades were a welcome change, even if the beam seas created some bruising rolling. My fam-
ily has a saying where the harder version of any task is "varsity." With how much the boat was moving, I'd say we were participating in varsity cooking, varsity dishwashing, varsity walking up stairs and varsity peeing.
After a few days of this, our bodies were bruised from high-speed encounters with every little corner on the boat. Other than these boxing matches, there was very little to do: The sails and windvane stayed set for days, and there was nothing to run into for a thousand miles. We were pleasantly bored, feeling the days blurring together as Tardigrade made steady progress toward the Marquesas. One sunrise after discussing our
food cravings, we pulled out all the stops and made a full diner breakfast with scrambled eggs, pancakes, and hash browns — from scratch!
As we started feeling the finish line within reach, we had mixed feelings about arriving. Our bodies felt ready to be done, but we knew we'd miss the simplicity and presence of this timeless blue bubble.
Our last night brought a final test. We had back-to-back squalls, wind dying, then gusting 20 knots every 20 minutes. Even hove-to to wait for daylight, we barely slept. But all our frustrations faded at sunrise, as the vibrant reds and greens of Hiva Oa's cliffs came into view, and the earthy smell of land hit us so hard it felt like sticking our face into a bag of potting soil. Entering Hanaiapa Bay, the last of the squall rain formed a perfect rainbow over Dogfish, whose crew greeted us with cold beer and fresh pamplemousse, followed by a crêpe brunch for the whole anchorage. It was the landfall of our dreams, even as the emotions continued to hit us in waves: gratitude, awe, sleep deprivation, nerves about the next chapter, pride, soreness and the itch to finally get off the boat and explore!
Into the Mystic — Irwin 43 Tim and Jessica McCreary
Chasing the Dream
San Diego
Our story started like those of so many other sailors. You catch a dream to sail, obtain a boat, dump endless money into getting it ready — and then one day cut the cord and set sail.
We took the first step in our big dream when we obtained our sailboat five years ago. We named her Into the Mystic because that song came on the radio one day during a time of great anguish. It reminded us of the sailing dream we had, but was buried in the devastation that comes with caring for a loved one with severe mental illness.
We worked on the boat for four years and gained experience sailing her in and around San Diego Bay. In 2025, we took early retirement and finished up the prep work for bluewater cruising, and then our day finally came to chase our world-sailing dreams.
The goal was to sail around the tip
PHOTOS TARDIGRADE
Above: 'Tardigrade' at anchor. Inset: "Land-ho"at Hiva Oa. Lower left: Chasing rainbows across the Pacific. Upper left: Turns out shredded toothpaste tubes make great lures. Plus, the fish's teeth get sparkling clean.
CHANGES
of Baja, up the Sea of Cortez, into Bahia de los Angeles, and anchor Into the Mystic right in front of our little vacation beach home. Visualizing the boat anchored off our front porch had been a large part of the motivation to keep the dream alive.
We left in the early spring this year, and the Pacific Ocean gave us an initiation to remember. With huge eastbound swells and 25-knot northerlies, it was a rough but very fast ride to the tip of Baja. We sailed with only the
doublereefed mainsail. Between Mag Bay and Cabo, our 43-ft Irwin MkIII never went slower than 8 knots.
Rounding the tip of Cabo and entering the Sea of Cortez instantly put us in a whole different sailing world. We were welcomed by pods of dolphins, jumping mobula rays, breaching whales, curious sea turtles, and many schools of large fish. As we made our way north, we anchored off many secluded beaches with colorful snorkeling environments and amazing celestial shows at night. But the most incredible experiences came from the people we met along the way, both local residents of Baja and cruising sailors exploring just like us.
We arrived in Bahia de los Angeles on May 28, a beautiful day with gentle
winds to take us to the "finish line." Neighbors and friends gathered ashore to celebrate our arrival. Tim and I were elated that we got to live the dream that guided us through hard times and into the best times of our lives.
— Jessica 6/21/26 (YouTube @sailingintothemystic36) Editor's Note — After a month of R&R, the McCrearys moved Into the Mystic to Puerto Peñasco for the summer. "The Cabrales yard is only a six-hour drive from our house in San Diego, so we can head down once a month and put some work in," says Jessica. Come January, the couple will continue south down the mainland coast of Mexico.
Cruise Notes
• While much of the US broiled under record-high temperatures in July, Sally-Christine Rodgers and Randy Repass of the Santa Cruz-based Wylie 65 ketch Convergence enjoyed a cooler start to summer at their family digs in British Columbia, "prawning, fishing,
'Into the Mystic' at anchor. Inset: Jessica and Tim are headed farther south next season.
PHOTOS INTO THE MYSTIC
sailing Marguerite, and pretending to be Canadian," says Sally-Christine. Marguerite, named after Randy's mother, is a 15-ft Marshall Catboat similar to the ones Randy grew up around in New England.
Regular readers will recall that, aboard Convergence, the couple "tied the knot" of a 21-year circumnavigation shortly before Christmas last year. Sally-Christine is currently working on a chronicle of their travels.
• For most entrants, the Baja Ha-Ha ends at the awards party in Cabo.
For those more deeply involved in the event, the Ha-Ha doesn't really seem "over" until Patsy Verhoeven arrives back in San Diego aboard her Gulfstar 50 Talion. That milestone occurred on June 29, after a five-day, five-hour, nonstop Baja Bash straight up the coast from Cabo.
So how does this year's Bash compare to the 20 or so others she's done on Talion and other boats?
"Like most Bashes, it was both wonderful and miserable. The highlight was eight-knots-for-hours that felt like we were cheating. The low point was about 12 hours of nasty wind and seas between Cedros and Sacramento Reef. The Bash is a lot like childbirth. In the middle of it, you're wondering why you ever thought this was a good idea. Then you arrive in San Diego and somehow it
was all worth it."
This year, her only human crew was Tim Horne, but a third entity garnered by far the biggest response on her Facebook page: Jabba the bladder.
Jabba is a 100-gallon bladder tank she found at a swap meet a few years ago for $75. When called to duty for the Bash, Jabba "assumes the position" in the forward part of Talion's cockpit right in front of the companionway.
Along with the boat's 90-gallon tank (and several jerry cans of additional fuel on deck), Patsy can make a straight shot from Cabo to San Diego without having to stop.
Fuel transfer from Jabba to the boat's fuel tank is a simple matter. "After trying various methods over the years, we've settled on a simple shaker siphon pump. Give it a few shakes and the siphon starts — no electricity, no mess, no fuss."
Someone asked why she doesn't just sail back to California.
"I wish!" she replied. "Talion is just
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Left: Randy and Sally-Christine. Above: 'Marguerite'. Top: As locals note, Salish Sea prawns are "Shrimply the best."
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CHANGES
not a to-weather boat. In 2024, the engine went kaput north of Bahia Santa Maria. We sailed east, tacked, sailed west for two days, and came back on the same line we sailed out on!
"Talion loves to sail DDW. That's why we love the Ha-Ha!"
• For those of you who may not know, Patsy has been an integral part of the Baja Ha-Ha for almost 20 years. She first sailed the event in 2007 and quickly went from volunteering to helping distribute event swag, to Assistant Poobah for Grand Poobah (and Ha-Ha founder) Richard Spindler. She is instrumental in the organization of every Ha-Ha, from working with marinas and officials to registering and corresponding with new entries. Her dedication ensures a smooth transition for the event's new Poobah, Chuck Skewes, who was "coronated" last year.
Unlike previous Ha-Ha's, when entries opened in May, this year boats could sign up starting in January. At this writing, entries are down a bit from
Lucas at the end of the rally. The marina would essentially become HaHa Central, with boats filling every available slip and rafting three or four deep on headwalks and end ties.
"Those days are gone. The marina is now largely occupied by long-term tenants, so there simply isn't room for the fleet the way there used to be."
While entering early no longer has the advantages it once did, Patsy reminds everyone that "Early entries certainly make planning easier!"
"The Ha-Ha remains one of the best ways for not only first-time cruisers but for every cruiser to head south. The friendships, support network and shared adventure make it special, and I'm looking forward to joining the next fleet again this fall!"
previous years, an anomaly Patsy attributes to the end of a big incentive.
"For many years, early entries could count on getting into Marina Cabo San
Baja Ha-Ha XXXII is scheduled to depart San Diego on November 2. For more information. go to www.bajahaha.com.
L A T I T U D E 3 8 F A L L C R E W L I S T L A T I T U D E 3 8 F A L L C R E W
Above: Jabba the bladder. Inset: Patsy aka 'La Reina del Mar.'
DINGHIES, LIFERAFTS & ROWBOATS
17 FT GIG HARBOR JERSEY SKIFF 2010. Excellent condition and ready for the summer water. Sailing and rowing rig includes: new Ullman sails (main and jib), two sets of wooden oars, sliding seat, electric motor, road-ready trailer and canvas cover. Clean, well maintained hull with light use and careful storage. The Jersey Skiff is known for its quality construction, stability and excellent rowing and sailing performance. Sacramento River and Delta vet. Ideal for lakes and protected waters. Email for more information $16,000 OBO. Northern CA stirling305@gmail.com
9 FT OC TENDER 2025. Custom New Zealand-built, world-renowned, OC Tender 300 full carbon-fiber dinghy for sale. Bought for our boat, tried it out for 15 minutes, and realized it was too small for our vessel, family and dog. This is the third OC Tender we’ve had and love them! It’s a rare opportunity to own a virtually new, ultra-lightweight premium dinghy, without the cost and hassle of importing one. See image for specs for size, weight, and all accessories and upgrades (highlighted) as equipped, and having paid the freight and duty, we paid $15,630. The boat currently has a virtually new Tohatsu 9.8 MF9.8CEFS engine on it: new $2900. Tender only asking: $13,600. Tender plus engine, asking $15,600. Engine alone, asking $2000. $13,600. Ventura, CA onscuba@gmail.com (805) 455-5230
14 FT GIG HARBOR WHITEHALL ROWBOAT/SAILBOAT 2001. Rebuilt sliding seat system for rowing (forward and 2 rear stations). New oars, excellent sails. Sail, mast/boom rigging bags plus boat cover. New structural improvements (resin/fiberglass) and newly varnished and other woodwork. New wheels and running/brake light on trailer. She has all the “bells and whistles” available. A great boat to explore quieter waters in lakes, rivers, estuaries, etc. $5,500 OBO. turnbeaugh123@comcast.net (831) 383-9192
13 FT BANSHEE VARIOUS/UNKNOWN YEAR(S). Choose from three available boats! $900. Fair Oaks mmartorana4@gmail.com (650) 9240504
MARINE SAFETY 78-PERSON OPEN LIFEBOAT. Thirty ft. long x 10-ft beam x 4.33 ft deep. Fiberglass construction, Fleming gear. Good used condition (refurbished). Boat is located in Oakland, CA. g.levin@uscombustion.com (208) 7255781 https://tinyurl.com/2wyd2n3v
10 FT 2016 WALKER BAY 2016. Comes with mast, boom, striped sail, daggerboard, rudder, oars. Electric motor, battery, bimini top and galvanized trailer. $2,000 OBO. Gilroy, CA preacherplumber@gmail.com (408) 205-0201 RIGGING ONLY ✪ SMALL AD, SMALL PRICES Standing and running rigging, life lines, furling gear, winches, line, windlasses, travelers, wire and terminals, blocks, vangs, and much more. ~ Problem solving and discount mail order since 1984 ~ www.riggingonly.com • (508) 992-0434 • sail@riggingonly.com DAVE’S DIVING SERVICE
24 FT MELGES 24 USA001 1993. Yes, hull 001, the original ‘Zenda Express’, is still alive and quite well. Successfully campaigned on Lake Tahoe. Excellent condition. New stanchions/lifelines, new standing/running rigging, new covers, new Raptor decking, mast up full cover, Honda 2.6 outboard, new North 3DI sails (hoisted once), 2022 North 3DI practice sails, numerous kites, All upgrades performed recommended for older M24. Tacktick, roadworthy trailer (new tires/wheels, bearings packed, new wiring) and much more. All offers seriously considered. Own this slice of yachting history. For more information email/text or call Carsten Owens. $25,000 OBO. Lake Tahoe CPO718@YAHOO.COM (775) 5306562
17 FT CORE SOUND 17 2014. West Coast Core Sound 17! ‘Petunia’ is a rare trunk-cabin version of the Core Sound series: https://bandbyachtdesigns. com/core-sound-17/. The ultimate beach cruiser, no slip needed. Included: 3 tanbark sails (main, mizzen, mizzen staysail). 3 anchors/rodes with bow roller. 2.5 hp Suzuki 4-stroke motor. 9.5-ft oars with knockdown ferrules. 5 lockable cockpit lockers/lazarette for onboard storage. Cockpit floorboards convert to double bunks. Load Rite trailer. 8 cubic feet of positive flotation enclosed. Electrical system powering lights, pump, USB/12 volt socket. Fenders, cushions, etc. Boat/trailer are California-registered/-titled. She will be available for viewing at Braito’s Marina, Clear Lake, CA (berth #264) during July/August. $6,000. Clear Lake, CA docpalumbo@gmail.com (732) 8953126 https://tinyurl.com/5bjva7ej
22 FT BENETEAU 2015. A responsive daysailer with great performance. The large cockpit is great for taking friends. The rig is simple and manageable with controls leading to the cockpit. $23,000. Richmond, Ca Brandy@Tradewindssailing.com (510) 232-7999 https://tinyurl.com/2afh3b8b
13 FT ZIM CLUB 420 2020. Racing boat, perfect for junior sailors on the Bay. I sailed throughout high school and she has sailed well in many regattas. Original boat details found on Zim site: https://zimsailing.com/ c420—club/. My flyer with specific details on this boat, including equipment, etc., is at URL. $9,000 OBO. Westpoint Harbor, Redwood City bptheo@gmail.com (201) 920-4934 https://tinyurl.com/5n86j3b3
24 FT J/24 1981. ‘Blue Blossom’ boat and trailer $5500. US 4260. Boat is $4000 and lightweight aluminum trailer is $1500 and can be sold separately. Sails good. Minimum interior. $5,500. Valley Springs, CA bonnielopezunr@gmail.com (209) 273-8619
23 FT CORONADO 23 1972. Ready for SM Bay cruising, Catalina or King Harbor adventures. New rigging, 6hp extra-long-shaft outboard, autopilot, VHF, sleeps 4, lifejackets, anchor. Selling only because I no longer use; she deserves an owner who will. $4,800. Marina del Rey da.nelson@mac.com
19 FT YAWL 1996. Rare Caledonia yawl, designer: Iain Oughtred, built in the US by Geoffrey Saylor, 1996. Length 19 ft 6 in, beam 6 ft 2 in, draft 12 in with retractable centerboard up and 3 ft 6 in down. Original Egyptian Dacron mainsail and mizzen, with rigging. #11 Fortress anchor; fixtures from Bristol Bronze; Silva compass; okoume high-strength laminated lapstrake hull; 4-stroke Honda 2hp (inboard, well-mounted); 216 lbs lead ballast; hinged rudder for tidal moorings; 4 rowing stations; seats 5; 4 13-ft light cedar oars by Barclay Sound; boat trailer; bow and stern lockers; air chambers provide additional safety. Fine woods throughout. In dry shed storage last 10 years. Wooden boat craftsfolks will enjoy the details. Annual haulouts; good care history. Descriptive booklet on request. $18,000 Price Firm. Sebastopol, CA rf-s@f-sc.com (415) 290-8226
23 FT BEAR BOAT 1938. Classic, ‘Pola Bear’ #8. The oldest Bear-class boat still sailing! Fir-planked, oak ribs. Mahogany cockpit. Canvas deck. Lead keel. Hitachi 6hp outboard motor. Electric toilet never used. Full winter cover. Summer boat cover. She is simple, perfectly balanced and being sailed on Monterey Bay. Hauled out each year for bottom paint. $5,000. Moss Landing steve@sequoiafoods.com
18 FT MALBEC 2020. Trailerable. Swing keel and rudder. Tohatsu 6hp outboard. In Martinez Marina currently. Almost new. Selling for $45K new. Sail the freshwater lakes this spring/summer. $20,000. Martinez sahealey@comcast.net
25 – 28 FEET SAILBOATS
27 FT EXPRESS 27 1982. Hull 28, CF5608HE. Current registration, tags not on boat. Boat is sound, needs deck paint, new pads on trailer and some TLC. Has not been sailed for 7 years due to health. $6,000. Brickyard Cove, Point Richmond, Space 30 cynthiadeveau7@gmail.com (707) 779-8909
25 FT CAPE DORY 1977. Sloop rig. Full keel, new jib. Docked at Safe Harbor on Harbor Island, San Diego. New Tohatsu 5hp outboard mounted in a lazarette locker. Text or email. $11,900. San Diego capedorydaysailer@gmail.com (562) 579-1523 https://tinyurl.com/4v6fyrcs
25 FT NORDIC FOLKBOAT 1958. Sturdy wooden sloop — outboard engine. $1,500 OBO. S.F. Marina West Harbor maxime@dmgdesignsf.com (415) 810-8704
26 FT RANGER BY GARY MULL 1973. Price drop!!! Turnkey, exceptionally well-equipped pocket cruiser (hull #RAY264060173). This specific boat is completely outfitted with premium modern electronics, an extensive sail inventory, and high-end offshore safety gear. Five hp outboard motor. Sails, rigging and deck hardware: premium Hood mainsail, self-furling jib system plus 2 spare jib sails, spinnaker sail with dedicated spinnaker pole and jib pole. Premium Harken deck hardware England. $3,000. San Rafael jdbrtn@gmail.com (415) 740-4639
25 FT FREEDOM 25 1982. Catboat, galley, flush toilet, sleeps four, with new Newport NT600 4.4 hp electric motor (2026) never used, with self-contained LoPro iron phosphate lithium battery BMS and charger. Great daysailer or weekender. Fiberglass, needs TLC and varnish on exterior teak trim. New mainsail in 2022. Owner diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and must sell. $12,500 0B0. Alameda Captain.Hugenot@gmail.com (415) 531-6172
26 FT FRISCO FLYER CLASS 1960. Teak wooden sloop built by Cheoy Lee. Large cabin and cockpit. Aluminum mast and boom. A great sailboat for a day on the Bay or the weekend. Very good condition. Asking $6,900 OBO $6,900. Richmond, CA stefroche916@gmail.com
27 FT PACIFIC SEACRAFT ORION 1982. Reduced! LOA 31-ft. Thick fiberglass hull. Well equipped and maintained. Admired by many. Sixfoot headroom, sleeps five. Rigged for singlehanded sailing. Reliable Yanmar inboard engine. Raymarine radar and chartplotter. Depth, wind, and boat speed. Jib furler, and windlass. Bimini, cockpit cushions and seats. Refrigeration with propane stove and oven. Two suits of sails and spinnaker. Lots of extra gear and parts. Dinghy included. Act now as these boat boats are rarely advertised. $35,000 OBO. Sausalito ElKeoni@gmail.com (415) 488-1475
28 FT LASER 28 1985. Designed by Bruce Farr, built in Canada by Laser International, ‘Sonata’ has a carbon fiber hull. She is fast and fun with a PHRF of 138 with small jib or 135 with class sails. She is equipped with Harken roller furling, and a Gori folding prop. The BUKH diesel was replaced with a ThunderStruck electric motor in 2020. ‘Sonata’ can also be used as a weekender. Accommodations include 5-ft 10-1/2-in standing headroom, double V-berth (6 ft 3 in), dinette is convertible to 6-ft 7-in berth, two-burner alcohol stove, cooler, marine toilet with holding tank. Currently in the water in Sausalito. A trailer is available. $10,000 OBO. Sausalito, CA shinn.alice@gmail.com (415) 272-0562
29 – 31 FEET SAILBOATS
30 FT FISHER MARINE NO YEAR. Year not on documents. Project. Very reasonable to right person. Great sea boat. Charleston, OR kovexair@gmail.com
Cleaning/Anodes/Props/Inspections Prompt, professional service for Bay Area boaters since 1994 (925)671-2826 matt@fastbottoms.com • www.fastbottoms.com
2,000 GOOD
Listed at minneysyachtsurplus.com More info? email: minneys@aol.com
30 FT TARTAN 1976. Sparkman & Stephens design. I’m the original owner purchased new 11/1977 in Newport Beach, CA. Well maintained: Bottom painted last summer, bottom cleaned monthly. Multiple sails, 2-man dinghy, electronics, Atomic 4 runs great. Must sea (ha). $9,900. Alamitos Bay Marina, Long Beach, CA singjeff1@cox.net (949) 212-4484
30 FT CAPE DORY CUTTER 1984. Clean, particularly nice full-keel cruiser, MD7A diesel, good sails, great electronics. LED lighting, lovely interior. Sea-kindly, stiff and ready for adventure. Berthed in Marin County, CA. Serious buyers only. Documented vessel. $18,000. Marin johnreedthree@gmail.com (415) 7069229
30 FT SABRE SAILBOAT CRUISER, BETA MARINE DIESEL ENGINE. 1981. Located at the Coyote Point Marina in San Mateo. It has a Beta Marine 20hp diesel engine with low hrs. Solid boat, just needs a little TLC. LOCAL SALE ONLY, email for inquires, photos. $14,000. 1900 Coyote Point Dr, San Mateo, CA 94401 SabreBoat@sonic.net
29 FT NEW JAPAN YACHT VENT DE FETE SLOOP 1983. This boat was singlehanded from Japan to San Francisco. Needs maintenance and cleanup. Many new items, including Electric Yacht motor, new sails, electronics, etc. Owner moved to the foothills. Clear title and current registration. The slip is also for sale — potential liveaboard. Located at Glen Cove Marina in Vallejo. I can email you the survey. Slip is easy-in, easy-out on Dock 6 — will negotiate price of slip. Cash only. No scams. First come first serve. $6,000. Glen Cove Marina john@wadsworthassociates.com (925) 381-0481
29 FT ERICSON 30+ 1985. Well kept. Great sailing. Summer use on Tahoe 20+ years. Wheel steering. Solar. AutopilotRaymarine EV-100. M-18 diesel. Roller furling headsail, Schaeffer furler. Galley. Head. Three cruising sails (North) .Extras. Ready to view/launch. No trailer. $19,750. West Shore Lake Tahoe vabjrmd@gmail.com (530) 416-1183
30 FT NONSUCH ULTRA 1984. Beautiful interior, comes with new canvas dodger, sail bag and rail covers, not installed. Garmin chartplotter, autopilot, wind, depth indicator, power halyard, electric windlass. $45,000. Stockton, CA cathyyochheim@gmail.com (209) 419-0839
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30 FT KNARR 1983. ‘Penelope’ and her transferable upwind slip next to the Golden Gate Yacht Club in the San Francisco City Marina are for sale. Knarr US 132 was built in Vejle, Denmark, 1983 at Borresen by longtime fleet member. This boat is a fiberglass example that has had consistent upgrades and always has been a top performer in the fleet for decades; have won countless races. The mast was upgraded to aluminum with the fleet several years ago and all rigging was completed by GC. The epoxy rudder, rudder stock and Billet rudder head were all replaced four years ago with work completed by KKMI. The winches have been moved forward. Multiple sets of sails, ready to continue winning races. $29,500. San Francisco Marina c.griffith@ggsir.com (415) 672-3263
30 FT KNARR 1960. Built in Norway. Varnished. Aluminum mast and boom. Two suits of North Sails, two outboards. Stuff. Good racing record. Berthed in S.F. Yacht Club Harbor. $15,000. Belvedere, CA georgerygg@gmail.com (415) 596-6296
30 FT CAL 3-30 1974. Racer/cruiser sloop. Selling ‘Williwaw’, my boat of 30 years. A great boat for getting into racing, cruising and voyaging. Safe, dependable and fun to sail, even singlehanded. Full sail inventory and spinnaker pole. Powered by a Yanmar 16hp 2GM20F diesel in good condition with new fiberglass fuel tank. Many updated amenities:, sail covers, hydraulic backstay, auto tiller, roller furling jib, halyards, personnel harnesses, anchor and rode, VHF, bottom paint, Autohelm and new wireless Garmin electronics. See URL for specs. $6,500. Santa Cruz South Harbor/Slip O18 vmartin@cruzio.com (831) 818-3108 https://tinyurl.com/4jnpwznc
30 FT OLSON 30 1982. Late model. Includes custom dual-axle trailer and very recent Ballenger double-spreader mast with corresponding rod rigging. Last 20 years in Portland (freshwater). Rigging, stanchions/lifelines, running rigging, winches in excellent condition. Boat has been thoroughly/completely gone through at well-known Elkhorn Composites: A. All three ribs at mast foot replaced with composite elements (boat has substantial jockstrap). B. Three small soft spots in the deck/ cockpit replaced w/composite core/ gelcoat. C. Bottom and keel completely stripped to the gelcoat and keel fiberglassed as necessary. D. Keel bolts torqued/updated. E. New lifting rod threaded end. F. Several coats barrier, two of Pro-Line antifoul (59% Cu). Mucho $$. Not splashed yet. Two good race mains, spinnakers, older jibs. $12,500. Morgan Hill mtown@att.net
30 FT YANKEE ONE CLASSIC WOODEN RACING SLOOP 1949. Master Mariners award-winning sailboat designed by William Starling Burgess and Stone-built. ‘Flame’ was totally restored in 2015. Varnished wood hull. Roller furling. Stainless outboard bracket. 2 spinakers. All new stainless rigging. More photos available. Complete survey in 2023 available. “A Sailor’s Saiboat.” Recently shown at the Master Mariner’s Wooden Boat Show. $39,900 OBO. Richmond stefroche916@gmail.com
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30 FT OLSON 30 1982. ‘Hot Betty’ formerly Point Richmond, CA, now Ventura Yacht Club. Owner career change leading to sale. Sail #67537, Hull #PCX3001700479 Pacific Boats. Complete unqualified survey October 2023 by SAMS Marine Survey, report #7265223A: “Rare to find a vessel in this fine Bristol quality condition.” Ballenger double-spreader mast, rod rigging. All running rigging replaced 2024/25. Mast step/jockstrap new 2020. Four Barient 10 winches rebuilt. Electronics upgraded: 2 LiPo 750-amp batteries, solar charger, autotiller Tacktick suite. 3hp Nissan gas and 5hp Mercury propane outboards. New VC Baltoplate bottom paint, 45 days in water. Everything retrofitted for extensive offshore racing. Carrier EJ dual-axle trailer, sandblasted, painted, rewired, new bearings hubs, new tires in 2024. CA registered. $14,999. Ventura Yacht CLub george@wilbanksfamily.org
32 – 35 FEET SAILBOATS
35 FT YORKTOWN 35 1979/80. SV ‘Merilon’ has been meticulously maintained by a single owner over the last 32 years. It is a USCG documented vessel with solid hand-laid fiberglass hull that was factory finished by Yorktown Yachts and was refitted for bluewater sailing. It has a modified long fin keel with skeg-hung rudder and 7000 lbs of lead ingot/cement ballast that gives it great hull speed (7.5 kts) and downwind tracking performance. It is berthed at Bercovich Marina in La Paz, BCS, MX, in the heart of Loreto Bay Marine National Park. Perfect liveaboard boat for exploring the Sea of Cortez and beyond. $33,000 Consider trade for Airstream. La Paz, BC Sur, MX michaelkehir@gmail.com (415) 8940388
35 FT SCHOCK 35 1986. This boat is not trash; needs bottom job and minor repairs. Yanmar 2gm20 motor runs fine. Six sails, Awlgrip hull. PHRF 75. Injury forces sale. Vallejo berth available. $1,500 OBO. jinkxochs@gmail.com (707) 694-9846
31 FT C&C 32 1982. New standing rigging (2025, Hansen Rigging). All new thru-hulls (2024, Boatyard at Grand Marina). Seacocks rebuilt with new backing plates (2024, Boatyard at Grand Marina). Bottom job, keel bolts torqued, keel smile repaired and glassed (2024, Boatyard at Grand Marina). ACR EPIRB (2024, good for 10 years). New fuel tank and fuel lines (2025). Spin running rigging (2026). Orca Core 2 (2026), AIS (2026), Yanmar 2GM20 fully serviced, including flushing water jackets (2026). New exhaust hoses (2026). Sails: main, genoa on furler, 0.75oz tri-radial spin. Wanting to get more involved with racing, so I am trying to sell and replace with a trailerable racer. $15,000. Alameda kata.ryan824@gmail.com (831) 8890879
34 FT CATALINA 34 1986. Drastically reduced! Sail-ready in great condition. Perfect for S.F. Bay or Baja liveaboard. Sleeps 6. Mainsail and 120 genoa. Like-new cushions and teak interior. Rigged for solo. New Catalina sells for $200K+. Sacrifice $21,900. All gear and furnishings included. Can be seen at South Beach Harbor, S.F. Contact Ed at baycat34@comcast.net or via cell at (408) 489-7511. $21,900. dvineman@gmail.com (415) 515-3704
35 FT J/35 1984. Pacific Cup /Hawaii vet, well maintained, newish B&G electronics, batteries, cabin paint, cushions, shaft, motor work, solar charging, roller furling. Comfortable in light air, breezy S.F. Bay, ocean crossing. Lots of extra gear, sails, anchors, etc. Designed as offshore one-design, great cruiser. Quick, stiff and safe. $20,000. Grand Marina, Oakland pratt42fairwinds@gmail.com (408) 203-2922
34 FT CAL 1967. $10k Cal 34, but consider the B&G electronics, radar, depth, wind speed, direction. Solar with 600 Ah lithium house bank, AGM start battery with DC/DC charger, 3 kW inverter, Standard Horizon VHF with receive AIS, plus second VHF. Refrigeration, Benmar autopilot, Lewmar windlass, 2-speed self-tailing winches, Ullman main (2 yr), 125% genoa (1 yr) on Harken furler, asymmetrical spinnaker (2 yrs) on a top-down furler, all Ullman sails. Hard dodger with isinglass. Excellent running Atomic 4 (4 yrs old 850 hrs). Will take best offer, can’t load photos, will send upon request. $10,000 OBO. San Pedro EDGERTONJACK@YAHOO.COM (310) 591-7601
33 FT RANGER 33 1974. Summer Sailstice mothership. Atomic 4, running. Bottom paint in 1/25. Folding prop. Good electronics: wind, depth, speed and fishfinder. Nice stereo. USBs with A and C. Interior cabin lights. $20,000. Alameda wesleyinunez@gmail.com (510) 5895530 https://tinyurl.com/3se64p4z
32 FT CATALINA 320 1996. Excellent condition. Second owner since 1999. Cruised and sailed in S.F. Bay and the Delta. Great family boat. New sails in 2022 with very low hrs since. Westerbeke diesel 920 hrs. Hauled out and bottom painted in June 2025. New Batteries in 2024. No damage, no Catalina smile or gap with keel. Comes well equipped for Bay Area sailing and California Delta cruising. Selling for my parents due to father passing away. More images available upon request. $45,000 OBO. SFYC Belvedere, CA d1.davidm@gmail.com (435) 901-1013
34 FT DEHLER 34 1985-1986. German/Dutch racer-cruiser. Tiller. Yanmar diesel ( $19,000. South Beach Harbor, San Francisco (650) 670-5300
35 FT FANTASIA 35 MK II 1979. In very good condition and ready to go. Most all systems upgraded including standing rigging and lifelines. Abovedeck Maxwell windlass, Profurl 4200 genoa furler, ComNav autopilot, Vector AIS, Dometic fridge in updated galley and full stand-up workroom are just some of the features that make so much in a 35-ft boat. Ten-inch pillow top mattress! Runs great! ComNav Commander P2 color autopilot, Octopus hydraulic steering ram, Blue Sky charge controller, new lifelines (2018), new rigging (2018), New Found Metals stainless ports, Garmin chartplotter, Vesper SP160 antenna splitter, Vesper XB-8000 AIS, Standard Horizon AIS/ GPS VHF w/remote handset in cockpit, Iverson freestanding bimini, lazy jacks, transom hoist. $39,000. Isleton CA carey.shine@gmail.com (541) 973-9562 https://tinyurl.com/ypssa9ue
34 FT NAJAD 34 1976. Fresh from a circumnavigation, this plastic classic is ready to go again. With a deep center cockpit, windvane, extensive sails, 600W solar, modern electronics, dinghy, life raft, tools and abundant spares, she’s fully equipped for serious offshore cruising. $35,000 OBO. Puerto Vallarta, MX lewisjonjepson@gmail.com (919) 5793134
36 – 39 FEET SAILBOATS
38 FT CATALINA 38 1986. This Sparkman & Stephens/Frank Butler design is a classic performance racer/cruiser. Recent upgrades include: a new Gori folding prop, new sails, new lazy jacks and new sail cover in 2024. Other recent upgrades include new standing rigging, new electric panel and new batteries. $37,500. Port San Luis, CA athenasail@yahoo.com (805) 295-6377
36 FT ISLANDER FREEPORT 36 1980. Bob Perry cruiser, 2016 Volvo D2-40 with 250 hrs and recent service, 2025 bottom paint, 2024 canvas, and four new AGM batteries. Older sails in good shape. Comfortable and easy to singlehand. $50,000. Alameda, CA svcamelot@proton.me (719) 888-9785
36 FT CAPEDORY 36 1984. The flagship of the Cape Dory fleet. ‘Indigo’ is an excellent and unmolested example of a Carl Alberg classic. A boat that can take you anywhere and look great doing it. Lead-encapsulated full keel and cutter rig help make her safe and versatile. All built in the USA with extrusions and bronze fittings still available. Excellent support from extensive owner’s association website. My next adventure awaits but this one must end first. Lots of pics and equipment list available. USCG documented vessel. 50hp Perkins diesel, 53 gals fuel, 106 gals water, 25 gals waste. $74,500. Point Richmond johnnya9001@gmail.com (530) 5185971
39 FT BENETEAU OCEANIS 1989. ‘C-Song’ is a well-sorted, easy-to-sail 39-ft cruiser based in British Columbia. Designed by Philippe Briand, she combines a modern, easily driven hull with a forgiving sail plan and secure cockpit that works well for couples or families, in all typical West Coast conditions. Bright, airy interior with three cabins, proper galley and comfortable saloon. Shallow draft for tucking into Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound anchorages, yet with the build and feel that give her real offshore potential. Recent major upgrades include new engine and transmission, fuel tank, refrigeration, and batteries, making her a genuine step-aboard-and-go cruising platform. Motivated seller; serious, realistic offers invited. $55,000. Nanaimo, BC helloavis@gmail.com (250) 729-5428
36 FT PETERSON 36 1975. Descended from the legendary Doug Peterson One Tonner, ‘Ganbare’, ‘Kindred Spirit’ still has good bones, but is in need of work. She is a project, but a project worth doing. For details, see the Richmond Yacht Club Foundation Boats for Sale page on the Richmond Yacht Club website at URL. Richmond Yacht Club, Point Richmond tcknowles@comcast.net https://tinyurl. com/mr358y98
39 FT TAYANA 37 1979. Well-kept Bob Perry-designed Tayana 37 sloop rig (1979) with many modern upgrades. Perkins engine, new electrical system and instruments, with solar and wind power. $40,000. Alameda, CA scottiemauricia@outlook.com (505) 480-8179 https://tinyurl.com/bd8x63yb
36 FT BANJER 37 1972. Iconic, capable GRP construction to Lloyd’s spec. Enclosed wheelhouse and a full keel. Ideal for all-weather coastal cruising, extended liveaboard use, or singlehanded offshore passages. Perkins 4-236, 72hp rebuilt diesel. A well-thought-out craft, fresh from a 4-year refit of all electrical, mechanical and convenience systems. New lithium and AGM batteries, Victron gear, solar, Garmin chartplotters and autopilot. Five sails, Apex dinghy and 7.5hp outboard. LOA 36.5 ft. Beam 11.5 ft. Draft 4.6 ft. Displacement 24,400 lbs. USCG doc’d. An in-the-water survey from July 2025 available. ‘Tulip’ is lying afloat, ready to go, at Brisbane Marina. Selling due to my age and health. More info, pics at my Craigslist ad. $59,000. Brisbane, CA francis.h.sargent@gmail.com (650) 906-4394
36 FT SWAN 36-2 1989/90. Proven and just returned from a 3,000-mile Puerto Vallarta round trip. B&G instruments, autopilot, solar, radar, Starlink, inverter and more. Decks showing age. Ready for Baja HaHa ‘26. $77,000. S.F. Bay Area kilbrid3@gmail.com (650) 288-8839
37 FT CREALOCK 37 1980. Veteran cruising cutter with wind vane steering, tiller autopilot, dinghy and outboard, life raft, VHF, HF marine/Ham, wind generator, 50 hp Yanmar, refrigerator, propane stove and heavy-duty cruising sails. Age forces sale. $35,000. Eureka, CA allingforeman@gmail.com (510) 507-0209
36 FT ISLANDER 36 1980. Our beautiful 1980 Islander 36 is for sale. Sails include a 130 jib with roller furling, main, and an asymmetric spinnaker, used maybe twice. Newer Ballenger boom. It has a never-used Force 10 3-burner stove, a rarely used Magma stove. Adler/Barbour refrigerator/freezer, Atwood electric water heater. The salon table seats six or folds up and slides out of the way, Oiled teak interior has a “like-new” head liner and cabin lights. Engine is a well maintained Yanmar 3JH2. Raymarine EV100 autopilot, 4 anchors, windlass. Never-used West Marine inflatable dinghy. $25,000 OBO. Alameda Marina rsamuelson@aol.com
38 FT HANS CHRISTIAN 38T 1979. Traditional model, two-cabin, head/shower, Perkins 4-154 with extremely low hrs, propane stove, acres of teak below, solid bones, needs work and new sails. No negotiation. Please call. $16,500. Berkeley pfetherston@sbcglobal.net (510) 5080151
38 FT AERODYNE 38 2003. Fast and fun racer-cruiser setup for daysailing on the Bay, YRA racing (PHRF is 48) or bluewater. Outfitted with a Forespar Leisure Furl boom (a $40k option) allowing the sail area and performance of a fully battened mainsail with the convenience of a furler, which makes hoisting, reefing, and dousing the main very easy from the cockpit with a Harken 2-speed electric winch. A large cockpit is great for daysailing with a group, or an aggressive racing crew. Includes two spinnakers. Full galley, head with shower, bow stateroom, stern bunks, well equipped nav instruments. Yanmar 27hp model 3GM30FC. $79,000 OBO. South Beach Harbor (B30) spencer@deepdarksee.com (650) 9220400 https://tinyurl.com/mt82sksj
39 FT CAL 39-2 1977. ‘Sea Star’ is a veteran racer in San Francisco Bay with many championships. She’s ready to win more! Full suite of sails and also cruising gear. Currently based in the Delta for freshwater fun, she’s ready to go back to racing in the Bay or beyond. See full details at tinyurl.com/ buyseastar, which includes links to more photos, inventory and videos. This is a boat for racing, but could be a cruiser with some modification. Email bob@bobwalden.com. *** PLEASE*** do not suggest getting a “boat history report”—save us both some time. $37,000 OBO. Stockton, CA bob@bobwalden.com https://tinyurl. com/buyseastar
36 FT J/36 1982. Great racer/cruiser. 2021 Quantum Fusion M mainsail, #3 jib, and genoa like new. Raced one season. Forespar carbon spinnakar pole. B&G Zeus 3 chartplotter, radio with cordless hand unit. 2015 upgraded Yanmar 30 hp diesel with 400 hrs. Beam 11.75 ft, draft 6.6 ft. $15,000 Price reduced!’. Pt. Richmond, CA kmwino@gmail.com (707) 287-6397
38 FT CATALINA 38 1980. The boat you’ve been waiting for! Sparkman & Stephens/Frank Butler Catalina 38. Fine lines and superior performance! Many upgrades! Yanmar 3GM30 diesel, new upholstery, new dodger, mainsail and wheel covers, Raymarine autohelm, chartplotter, AIS receiver and instruments, Standard Horizon, Matrix VHF, 2 anchors, windlass and 150-ft chain, Isotherm refrigeration, 4 12-volt batteries, new electrical panel and more! $35,000. Alameda, CA gmwill2301@aol.com
37 FT PEGASUS NEWLAND 360 1992. ‘Pegasus’, a custom Newland ULDB veteran of many singlehanded and crewed Hawaii races, is for sale. Very good condition, carbon/foam-cored hull and deck, new custom Sjoberg carbon mast, carbon and aluminum spinnaker poles, Harken winches, Sailmon instruments, autopilot, B&G chartplotter, B&G VHF, internal Wi-Fi network, 4-person life raft, aluminum anchor, extensive sail inventory including new main, jib top, #3, symmetrical and asymmetrical chutes, Yanmar 2GM diesel, new batteries, racing and cruising propane stoves, stereo with on-deck speakers, PHRF and ORR rating certificates, last haulout February 2026. 95% ready for Pac Cup inspection, including paper charts and Transpac-length dock lines. Regrettably, illness forces sale. $65,500. Richmond Yacht Club stephenlewis1900@gmail.com (559) 217-9644
40 – 50 FEET SAILBOATS
39 FT C&C 40-2 1980. Classic design for fast cruising. Just completed 14,000-mile loop through SP. Ready to go again. Re-rigged in 2022 with rod rigging, all new electronics new main and genoa, 8-ft inflatable with outboard. $37,500. Port Townsend, WA nlsmith17@gmail.com (541) 660-4927
40 FT SANTA CRUZ 40 1983. For sale in Fiji. Watermaker, solar, fridge, dinghy hoist, bimini, anchor windlass, new paint. Stored in cyclone pit — pit reserved through 2027. $200,000. Vuda Marina, Fiji SVMetaphor@proton.me
42 FT BENETEAU FIRST 1984. ‘Page One’ is currently moored near the Tidelands dock in Morro Bay. Mooring and Portland Pudgy tender go as package deal. The Pudgy comes with a sail kit and two motors: one Honda 2.3 with under 200 hrs and a Temo electric motor. We’re asking $120,000 for the package. Will consider any reasonable offer. $120,000 OBO. Morro Bay, CA joesalino4927@gmail.com (830) 2651944
43 FT HANS CHRISTIAN 1983. ‘Sovereign’. This once-loved beautiful ketch-rigged classic needs a dedicated new owner to bring her back to her prime. Equipped with Mercedes Benz diesel engine, new batteries with only 2,274 engine hrs. Original sails, including newer spinnaker, have all been stored off the boat and are in good condition. Boat is moored in Portland, Oregon. Recent survey available, more photos upon request. $70,000 OBO. Portland, OR jan.petrella@gmail.com
39 FT KETTENBURG K-40 1960. ‘Zephyrus III’ is one of 40 ever built — hull #11 of the iconic K-40 class. Built 1960 at Kettenburg Boat Works, San Diego. Philippine mahogany on steam-bent oak. Lead keel. Spruce spars. She’s a proven, fun, enjoyable coastal cruiser and local regatta performer with genuine offshore pedigree: second in class, 1965 Transpac; fourth overall, 1965 L.A.-Mazatlán. From 1997 to 2026, her owners invested 2,000plus hours and a recent $50,000 in a 2023 South Coast Shipyards refit. Yanmar diesel w/450 hrs. Elliot Pattison sails. Profurl furling. She’s not a project. She’s ready for a new caretaker — after 30 years of same-owner stewardship. Contact Alan Peterson. $35,000. Alamitos Bay, Long Beach apeterson@go4tpg.com (949) 4668616
40 FT FUJI 1978. Bulletproof. Brand-new AGMs and autopilot, solar, watermaker, Yanmar w/1500 hrs. See link for details. Right boat, right place, right price. Get out there! $40,000. Puerto Vallarta, MX sellingmosaic@gmail.com https:// sellingmosaic.com
42 FT PEARSON 424 KETCH 1980. PRICE REDUCED! Classic, one of approximately 225 produced. Good main, mizzen and hank-on jib. VHF, depthsounder, windlass, claw anchor with 200 ft chain, 150 ft line. Washdown pump, 170 gal. water tankage, 80 gal. fuel. Diesel: Westerbeke 60 hp. Cockpit and midship companionways. Aft cabin double berth, V-berth. Walk-in shower. Galley: Propane 4-burner stove with oven. Double sink, under-counter refrigerator. Charming teak interior. Dedicated chart table. 2026 survey available. Priced for quick sale. Call or Email for more detail. $20,500. Alameda johnstapleton2010@yahoo.com (360) 333-8900
42 FT SPINDRIFT 43 PILOTHOUSE 1982. Classic cruising pilothouse sailing cutter capable of sailing anywhere you wish. Heavy fiberglass construction with a modern cruising rig. Comfortable room for five to live aboard, plus a few occasional guests. $35,000 OBO. South San Francisco robert.schulke53@gmail.com (650) 245-0226
50 FT HUDSON FORCE 50 1978. Center cockpit ketch set up for comfortable living aboard. Spacious interior, solid cruiser, 80hp Ford Lehman with Yanmar 100A generator, good sails. Lower teak decks removed for easier maintenance. $60,000. Berkeley, CA Tcparfitt@yahoo.com (707) 861-2954
42 FT VAN DE STADT REBEL 42 1977. English-built boat, sailed across the Atlantic shorthanded with no problems. Great sea boat. New standing rigging and lifelines 2024, Perkins 4.108 diesel with BorgWarner V-drive, regularly maintained, works great. New slab-reefing mainsail 2022 and six foresails. In great sailing condition, needs modern electronics. Electric Lofrans windlass and self-tailing 44 Lewmar cockpit winches. Hydraulic steering with wheel. Recent lead acid batteries. Gimbaled gas cooker with oven. Manual and electric bilge pumps. $25,000. Channel Islands Harbor, CA philip.vaughan@gmail.com (626) 4758522
49 FT CUSTOM CHOATE PETERSON SLOOP 1988. Solid performance racer/cruiser. Spacious headroom, storage, large galley and main saloon, with roomy aft cabin and separate head. Rod rigging, great winches and running rigging layout. $70,000 OBO or Trade. Sausalito, CA libertyshipmarina@comcast.net (415) 613-3665
CLASSIC BOATS
44 FT FELLOWS & STEWART ISLAND CLIPPER 1946. In the water and structurally sound for her age. Several maintenance, repair and refinishing projects are required to return to sailing condition. Needs repowering. Available without a purchase price under a range of options, with the intent that the new owner’s funds can be used for her upkeep. Good fit for a wood boat enthusiast with strong sailing skills and moderate DYI wood boat repair, maintenance and finishing skills. See website for more details and contact info. Richmond https://www.sfnirvana.com/blog
46 FT FELLOWS & STEWART YAWL 1931. ‘Cheerio II’, 1931 46-ft yawl, formerly owned by actor Errol Flynn. Three-time winner of her class in the Newport to Ensenada Race; first to finish in the 2024 McNish Classic Yacht Race; winner of “Best Represented Theme” in the 2025 Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival. Google “Cheerio II” for photos, videos, and articles about the boat, a SoCal classic! Recent survey available. $80,000 OBO. Channel Islands Harbor jmcnish@earthlink.net (510) 846-4178 https://tinyurl.com/2bsw8djr
MULTIHULLS
27 FT CORSAIR F27 TRIMARAN 1992. Stored inside for last 26 years, rarely used. Trailer in good shape. Full inventory and description via the link. Please see Facebook marketplace link for full listing of inventory, condition and what is included. $32,000. Bend, OR hearstdk@gmail.com (208) 982-4575 https://tinyurl.com/3uz9e8dk
16 FT NACRA 500 2012. With trailer. Very well equipped, great condition. Full cover. Newer main, rigging; carbon boom; 2 trapezes plus harnesses; righting system. In SD? Keep on trailer in current location next to boat ramp, rig up. $5,000. San Diego framegreg@gmail.com (415) 4056384 https://photos.app.goo.gl/66BnL8zwoohFztnr6
31 FT CORSAIR F31 1996. The F-31 remains one of the most influential production folding trimarans ever created, beloved for its fast yet accessible sailing experience. $72,955. San Francisco/Brisbane mevered@gmail.com (415) 745-0384 http://www.corsairf31.com
27 FT STILETTO 27 1979. High-performance Stiletto catamaran with 2 berths, multiple sails, 10 hp Tohatsu motor with galvanized telescoping trailer and power winch. Dry-sailed all over Southern California, Lake Powell, Ensenada and out to Catalina and San Clemente islands. Newport Beach mooring available at market cost if desired. Very light and strong epoxy honeycomb and pre-preg construction. A very fun boat to sail! $20,000. San Clemente toknkok@aol.com (949) 933-4530
26 FT CUSTOM CATAMARAN 2000. ‘PAJA’, a custom-built catamaran, fun to sail and kept in fresh Delta waters for 25 years. Corecell construction, aluminum crossbeams. 2023: new bottom/barrier paint; running rigging. $15,000 OBO. Rio Vista, CA PETER@THEALLENSITE.COM (916) 538-1530
POWER & HOUSEBOATS
25 FT RANGER 25 SC 2016. Immaculate condition, fully equipped, turnkey ready and priced to sell. The perfect blend of classic tug styling, modern comforts, and efficient cruising. Lovingly maintained and lightly used, ‘Sea Spirit’ has been meticulously and professionally serviced. Volvo Penta D3 150 diesel, only 400 hrs, hull speed up to 20 knots, Garmin 7612 chartplotter, radar, depth, Autopilot, VHF, TV, AM/FM stereo, bow and stern thrusters w/wireless remote for easy docking; solar panel, AGM batteries and inverter, propane cooktop, refrigerator, microwave, fully enclosed head with standup shower, fuel efficient (2.5 gal @ 8 knots). $114,500. Loch Lomond Marina, San Rafael jimcolesailor@gmail.com (415) 5196250 https://tinyurl.com/msfxz369
PARTNERSHIPS
BENETEAU 473 PARTNERSHIP IN PACIFIC MEXICO/BAJA. Great opportunity to cruise Mexico. Plug-n-play. Third partner wanted, 2004 Beneteau 473.Cruise-ready. This season San Blas to Manzanillo. Next season plan to return to Sea of Cortez. Davits, dinghy, outboard, solar, Starlink, dive gear, electric winch, two heads (one electric), radar, Westerbeke 63 hp diesel with 2,400 hours, folding prop, separate shower in head, fridge/freezer, well outfitted and maintained. 1/3 ownership $50,000. New bottom paint fall 2025. Documented, surveyed, insured. Contact Greg (415) 407-0491, grw@gwilson. com. $50,000. Barra de Navidad, MX grw@gwilson.com (415) 407-0491
PROPERTY FOR SALE OR RENT
DELTA MOBILE HOME FOR SALE. 1984 mobile home in a small, quaint 45-home park. 2 bdrm. 2 bath. Completely remodeled. Almost everything is new. 1248 sq. ft. situated in a park directly across from the Spindrift Marina. Enjoy dining at the Spindrift restaurant, only about a 75-foot walk. Reduced rent for the first 12 months, at $514. Normally $674. Also receive 12 months of free berthing directly across the street. A fisherman’s dream! $160,000. Isleton/Delta graywolfproperties@yahoo.com (509) 671-4009
BERTHS & SLIPS
PRICE REDUCED 50% - 50 FT SLIP ON THE SEA WALL WITH ALCATRAZ AND GG BRIDGE VIEWS! Price Reduced 50%. 50-ft x 18-ft slip on the coveted Pier39 G Dock. Move in immediately. Don’t miss this opportunity for some of the best views and most convenient slip on the San Francisco Bay! The slip is protected by the sea wall and offers easy access in/out launching across from Alcatraz. $7,500. Pier 39, San Francisco bserling@yahoo.com
REDWOOD CITY MARINA SLIPS AVAILABLE. Slips 30’-75’ at great rates! Amenities: parking, bathrooms, laundry, pump-out, free wi-fi, keyless entry. Guest berths also available. Call for availability. 451 Seaport Court, Redwood City, CA 94063 crevay@redwoodcityport.com (650) 306-4150 http://www.redwoodcityport. com/marina
AWESOME 50 FT SLIP PIER 39 SAN FRANCISCO. For sale: Stunning city views, 15-ft+ beam, 50-ft length. New cleats, dock box, power pedestal, and hose management. Perfectly located for entire Bay Area coverage and beyond. Very easy access, great maintenance team, parking, and more. $24,000. Slip G-32, Pier 39 Marina greg.rossmann@gjrcap.com (650) 740-0263
EMERY COVE BOAT SLIP FOR RENT. Berths for rent. Emery Cove Yacht Harbor 35-ft = $472.50/month C dock and 40-ft = $540/month E dock. Dockominium-run marina in Emeryville. emerycove.com. Brandnew docks, aluminum with Ipe wood deck, brand-new restrooms, beautiful grounds and just dredged. Great location center of S.F. Bay. Emeryville, CA studio6161@icloud.com http://www. emerycove.com
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
INSIDE SALESPERSON. Inside Salesperson — Alameda, CA — Llewellyn Marine Supply, serving the marine industry since 1936, is seeking a motivated full-time Inside Salesperson to join our Alameda team. Responsibilities include selling marine products to wholesale, retail and online customers, building customer relationships, processing orders, and providing product support. Sales experience in wholesale, retail or online sales is preferred. Marine industry knowledge or a passion for boating is a plus. We offer competitive benefits including 401(k), medical, dental, vision, paid time off and employee discounts. Apply by emailing your résumé to amanda@llsupplyco. com or visit Llewellyn Marine Supply, 2900 Main Street, Suite 1900, Alameda, CA 94501. Monday–Friday 8am–5pm. amanda@llsupplyco.com
PARTS AND INVENTORY PURCHASER/CUSTOMER SERVICE. Berkeley Marine Center is seeking a dependable, organized, and customer-focused professional to join our team. This position combines marine parts purchasing and inventory management with front desk customer service. Strong familiarity with marine parts and boating systems is preferred. Experience in retail or customer service is also beneficial, as this position involves daily interaction with boatyard clients and chandlery customers. We are seeking a friendly, detail-oriented individual who thrives in a fast-paced boatyard environment. This is a full-time position with a Mon–Fri 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. schedule. Start ASAP. We offer competitive pay and benefits. Contact us for details and to apply. Berkeley office@berkeleymarine.com (510) 8438195 http://www.berkeleymarine.com
VOLUNTEER EVENT LEAD. Love people and the Sausalito waterfront? Spaulding Marine Center seeks a Volunteer Event Lead to help plan and run community events, from venue rentals and speaker series to parties and celebrations. 5–10 hours per week. Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito matt@spauldingcenter.org (415) 3323179, ext 1 http://www.spauldingcenter.org
SEEKING CAPTAIN WHERE TOURISM MEETS REAL BOAT HANDLING. Want adventure? Interested in taking your RHIB boat handling skills to the next level on San Francisco Bay? Do big waves scare you? Good. Get paid to stop being scared while giving guests the experience of a lifetime. Bay Voyager captains run fast, maneuverable 12-passenger RHIBs throughout the Bay. We’re looking for captains with strong (or willing to train) boat handling skills, situational awareness, and personality. Ideal candidates: Enjoy telling stories. Speak a second language. Former USCG or military experience a plus. Available weekends. Requirements: USCG captain’s license. If you’re the kind of captain who looks at whitecaps and thinks, “This is going to be fun,” we’d like to hear from you. $40. Pier 39 charles@bayvoyager.com (510) 6121251 https://bayvoyager.com/
SEEKING EXPERIENCED BOAT CARETAKER/OWNER’S REPRESENTATIVE. Looking for someone practical, detail-oriented and experienced to help my father keep up two vessels in S.F./ Emeryville as he gets older. Responsibilities would include: 1) overseeing maintenance and refit projects; 2) coordinating with yards and subcontractors; 3) identifying issues proactively; 4)ability to tackle small but important detail work that often falls through the cracks at yards, including hands-on maintenance and troubleshooting; 5) opportunities to captain or crew these vessels depending on experience. One vessel needs a haulout here soon, and liveaboard accommodation may be available during the yard periods, so I’m open to someone from out of town! ateece16@cmc.edu (510) 604-7071
EXPERIENCED SAILBOAT CAPTAIN. Looking for an experienced part-time sailboat captain in San Francisco with a valid USCG license 25T minimum? Please contact me, John Yelda at email below. email@sailingsanfrancisco.com
ADMINSTRATION ASSISTANT — SAILING SCHOOL. Administrative assistant and fleet manager. Both positions are part-time. If can do both, by splitting tasks, can be full-time. Afterguard Sailing Academy is full range+ ASA Sailing school in Oakland, c.2003. Protected free parking. A fun family atmosphere. Main tasks include front desk, marketing and enrollments. Handle emails and phones plus coordinate what is needed for courses to run smoothly. If taking on fleet management, need to ensure boats are running smoothly, order what is needed, and check that boats are clean and ready for classes or charters. Days/hours are Tue 12–5 and Wed–Sun 9–5. Other side projects? Have building space, plus equipment, for canvas, upholstery and minor sail repair work. Also an area for engine work. 1285 Embarcadero, Oakland info@afterguard.net (510) 535-1954
SPINNAKER SAILING S.F.. Spinnaker Sailing SF is hiring experienced sailors. Join one of the top schools on the West Coast. Modern fleet (Andrews 21s, J/80s, J/105s, Santa Cruz 50), tiny class sizes, expert crew. F/T– P/T, Flexible scheduling, Midweek/weekend work available. Teach, skipper charters, or sail team events on our well-maintained yachts. ASA instructors and USCG captains encouraged. TOP PAY, Great tips, build sea time, and work as much as you like. This is a FUN place to work! San Francisco staff@spinnaker-sailing.com (415) 5437333 https://tinyurl.com/ysh5k33a
EXPERIENCED SAILBOAT RIGGER WANTED. Rig shop in business for over 30 years is looking for an experienced rigger to add to our team. Excellent pay is available depending on rigging knowledge. Send a description of your rigging/boat work experience Sausalito southbeachriggers@gmail.com (415) 331-3400
JOIN OUR TEAM OF INSTRUCTORS. Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City is looking for ASA-certified sailing instructors to teach out of our Redwood City Marina location. Part-time, flexible schedules, midweek and/or weekends. Please contact Rich or Bob by phone or email. Redwood City Marina office@spinnakersailing.com (650) 3631390 https://tinyurl.com/y7b2587w
LATITUDE 38 ‘AMBASSADOR’. Latitude 38 is seeking an “Ambassador.” The ideal candidate is a sailor based in the SF Bay Area, is friendly, outgoing, well-organized and a self-starter with excellent communication skills. They are someone who can work independently as well as manage a team of volunteers. An ambassador encourages enthusiasm, understands the scope and goal of a project and is able to appreciate, respect and organize a team of volunteers to execute a project with efficiency and eagerness. This is an ideal position for someone who is financially secure and looking to stay active and social, and is excited to be part of our vibrant sailing community. Meet and greet the great people who help us distribute the magazine. Read about a few of them here: www.latitude38.com/lectronic/meet-great-people. Email Penny with AMBASSADOR in the subject line. This is a volunteer position. SF Bay Area Penny@latitude38.com
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
PLAN YOUR MEXICAN GETAWAY
NOW. At the gorgeous Cielo Y Mar condos. Located in Punta Mita, 35 minutes from Puerto Vallarta, available to rent from private owner. On the beach, 10 feet from the water, they offer spectacular views of ocean and mountains, the biggest infinity pool in the area, an endless beach, great surf breaks, great fishing, tremendous views of whales, bird life and the islands. While uncrowded and tranquil, just a five-minute walk to several waterfront restaurants. Choose from a spacious, beautifully furnished one- or three-bedroom unit, or an amazing two-story penthouse with lovely shade trellis on the top floor. To reserve, call or email Dona de Mallorca. puntamitabeachfrontcondos@gmail. com (415) 269-5165
ADVERTISERS' INDEX
36 Degrees 69 www.36degrees.nz
Annapolis Sailboat Show ................. 19 www.annapolisboatshows.com
ING. This beautiful Jim Dewitt painting was a gift to my wife as a wedding present in 1987. The wife has gone but the painting remains. The painting “Into the Light” was taken from a photograph of the SV ‘Speedwell’, built for Carl Strom, commodore of the Aeolian Yacht Club, for Thomas Jennings commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club from 1904–1906. The picture has some minor heat–related damage, which is reparable. Jim DeWitt’s paintings of this type are for sale for prices in excess of $15,000, which makes this painting a rare buy. $7,500. fool4flotsam@gmail.com (530) 9998655
DONATE YOUR BOAT. The Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors strives to make sailing accessible to people with disabilities. BAADS is always on the lookout for donated boats to support its mission. Help an all-volunteer organization while receiving a charitable tax deduction. boatdonations@baads.org (415) 5329831
TRYING TO LOCATE
LOOKING FOR 24 FT PIVER TRIMARAN ‘NO NAME’. We’re former owners of the plywood 24-ft Piver trimaran that sailed around the world in the ’70s. The boat’s last known location was San Diego. We’d appreciate hearing from anyone who might know the whereabouts of ‘No Name.’ wolfinds@mindspring.com (415) 8063334
www.hydrovane.com
- Full Service Boatyard .........
www.kkmi.com KW Advisors - Keller Williams ........
Richard Boland Yacht Sales ............. 69 www.richardbolandyachts.com
WANTED
LOOKING FOR FULL-KEEL SAILBOAT. Looking for a full-keel heavy-displacement cutter or ketch sailboat. Ideal is 1980–1995 36-to 44-ft, such as a Tayana 37 PH or standard, Hans Christian 36–43, Tashiba 36–40, Union 36, or similar in the S.F Bay Area (Bodega to Monterey). In reasonable condition. Trying to avoid structural repairs. Prefer a wheel over a tiller. If you have one or know of one please contact me. stangersnyder@yahoo.com (415) 4505752
NEW VIKING LIFE RAFT. Brand-new Viking RescYou Pro* Recreational Life Raft 4 Person/valise, purchased a couple of weeks ago for $4,445.00. It does not fit my needs, so I’m selling it. Local. $3,800. S.F. Bay Area alexistavropoulos@sbcglobal.net (707) 953-8947
SEEKING SMALL INBOARD ENGINE FOR SAILBOAT. I am desperately seeking and happy to pay good dollars for a single- /twin-cylinder inboard saildrive marine engine for 26-ft Lake Tahoe sailboat. The perfect engine would be a 1980s MR2-50S, which was a Volvo Penta Saildrive with a 7.5 Honda twin-cylinder gasoline outboard powerhead. Total weight was 80 pounds. Any condition acceptable. Can repair/rebuild/replace engine if necessary. Seeking saildrive unit, engine, and mounting bed. Old single- / twin-cylinder Volva Penta, Yanmar, Beta would be considered. Would be happy to personally pick up anywhere in western USA. Also happy to pay any “finder” fees as well! Happy to trade for 9.9 Honda long-shaft outboard in excellent good condition. Email Gary. Western States CaliforniaKiwi49@frontier.com (916) 337-7029
Richardson Bay Marina ................... 27 www.richardsonbaymarina.com
ANDERSEN ELECTRIC WINCHES. Three new Andersen stainless 12V electric winches. One 52ST-E1 w/12V electric compact motor. New. Still in original factory boxes. New $5,776, sale price $3,770. Two Andersen 72ST-E1 with 12V electric motors. New. Still in factory boxes. Retail price $9,200 ea. or $18,400 pair. Sale price $11,960 for the pair. $15,730. San Diego HarryT1952@yahoo.com (858) 967-6212
