SIGHTINGS strictly sail pacific If you've sailed much in California, chances are good that you've been aboard a boat that came off the drawing board of Gary Mull. Mull designed the Santana 22 and 27, the Ranger 23 and the rest of the Ranger line, the Newport 30, Kaliks, Freedoms, the Moore 30, the Orion 50 and the Independence. He co-designed the Capri 22, of which nearly 1,000 were sold. Custom designs included Sorcery, Improbable, St. Francis V, VI and VII, two International 6-Meters, and the 12-Meter USA. Jim Antrim, Jim Donovan, Ron Holland, and the late Carl Schumacher all worked for Mull. Influential, prolific and innovative, Mull died in 1994 at age 55.
For longer than we can remember, Latitude 38's spring Crew List Parties have been a much-loved tradition among Bay Area sailors. Unlike our September Crew List shindig, which focuses on cruising south of the border, our March 9 gathering at San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club (6 to 9 p.m.) functions as sort of a catchall, in that it attracts sailors with a wide variety of interests — including serious in-the-Bay and offshore racing, casual daysailing, chartering and international cruising. Its parallel goals are to help sailors of both vast and minimal experience find rides, while helping skippers find appropriate crew for their needs. As the title implies, this festive evening is designed to expand on initial contacts made via the free online Crew List database found at www.latitude38.com. Although a boatload of Latitude staffers will attend, we generally don't get directly involved with crew/captain matchmaking. But we're happy to share some tips for sucAs you can see, you can't help but make a few friends cess — probably the most while attending one of our Crew List parties. And hope- important of which is to fully, you'll find the ride or watchstander that you need. have clear expectations: • Skippers looking for race crew should give a realistic rundown of the time commitment they expect from potential crew for practice, prep and actual races. • Skippers looking for crew for far-flung cruising should be clear about what duties potential crew will be expected to tackle, and what expenses they'll be expected to chip in on. • Potential crew should not be afraid to be honest about their experience or lack thereof — many skippers would rather train a newbie than take on a know-it-all who's going to critique every decision the skipper makes. • Crew — especially females — should make it crystal clear from the get-go if they are absolutely not interested in a potential romantic relationship. • All attendees should bear in mind that in a whirlwind meet-andgreet cocktail party like this, it's very difficult for either skippers or crew to later remember everyone they chatted with. So we suggest bringing along a stack of single-sheet sailing resumes, complete with your contact info, what you're aiming for, and, ideally, a photo. With that we'll say "Cheers! And best of luck in finding an ideal situation." — andy
hawaii race anticipation builds In December's Sightings, we wrote that this July's Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Kaneohe, Oahu, is full. Indeed, 80 boats are signed up, and another dozen are wait-listed, the most recent of which (at press time) was Greg Nelsen's doublehanded Azzura 310 Outsider. The entries range from Moore 24s to 70-ft sleds. Meanwhile, 28 hardy solo sailors, including three women, have entered the Singlehanded TransPac, which will sail to Kauai's Hanalei Bay the same month. The smallest boats are three diminutive (21-ft) Mini Transats sailed by Europeans. The biggest is Michael Jefferson's Garcia Passoa 47 Mouton Noir, a veteran of multiple editions. Three Cal 40 skippers will enjoy competing against one another. We look forward to profiling them all in upcoming issues. The Hawaii-bound sailors are continuing to prep their vessels and continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 62 •
Latitude 38
• March, 2016
ERIK SIMONSON / WWW.PRESSURE-DROP.US
LATITUDE / LADONNA
find a ride or find a crew
