Latitude 38 January 2023

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Photo Credit: Lupe Molina

CALENDAR

Non-Race

Dec. 26-Jan. 1 — Kwanzaa.

Jan. 1, 12 a.m. — Ring in the New Year with the City of San Francisco fireworks at midnight. The best viewing will be along the Embarcadero south of the Ferry Building, and from the water.

Jan. 4-25 — Wednesday Yachting Luncheon, via YouTube, noon. StFYC, www.stfyc.com

Jan. 6 — Full Wolf Moon on a Friday.

Jan. 7 — USCG Boat America Class, Benicia YC (in person), 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Certificate of Completion satisfies CA Boater Card requirement. Bring lunch or purchase on-site. $40 includes all materials. Text or call Margie, (925) 768-1608.

Jan. 7-28 — Small Boat Sailing, South Beach Harbor, San Francisco, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, weather permitting; RSVP in advance. Free. BAADS, www.baads.org/sailing

Jan. 11, Feb. 8 — Singlehanded Transpacific Race seminars, via Zoom, 7:30 p.m. 1/11: Rigging, sails, repairs at sea. 2/8: Returning the boat (under sail or by freighter). Free. Register, https://tinyurl.com/3bcb5f8j

Jan. 11-15 — Portland Boat Show, Portland Expo Center. $15/kids 12 & under free. Info, www.pdxboatshow.com. Jan. 13-16 — 33rd anniversary of the arrival of the sea lions at Pier 39, San Francisco. Info, www.pier39.com/sealions

Jan. 14 — PICYA Commodore's Ball and Installation of Officers, Sequoia YC, Redwood City, 5-10 p.m. No-host bar, dinner, music, dancing, black tie suggested. $60. Info, https:// picya.org/event/commodores-gala-officer-installation

Jan. 16 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Jan. 21 — Understanding Marine Corrosion, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. With Malcolm Morgan. $59 includes coffee & light lunch. Info, www.spauldingcenter.org.

Jan. 21-22 — Team Racing Clinic. MPYC, www.mpyc.org

Jan. 22 — Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit.

Jan. 22 — NorthU Racing Tactics Seminar, Sequoia YC, Redwood City, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Info, www.sequoiayc.org

Feb. 3-11 — Seattle Boat Show, Lumen Field Event Center & Bell Harbor Marina. Info, www.seattleboatshow.com.

Feb. 4-5 — International Offshore Safety at Sea Seminar with Hands-On Training, San Diego YC. $375. Info, https:// sailaweigh.org

Feb. 7-Mar. 9 — USCGA Boating Skills & Seamanship, via Zoom on Tuesdays & Thursdays with in-person option on Tuesdays at Loch Lomond YC, San Rafael, 7-9 p.m. Satisfies CA Boater Card education requirement. $85 cash or check only includes textbook. Info, marinboatingclasses@yahoo.com.

Feb. 8 — Transpac Seminar, 6-8 p.m. Presented by Peter Isler for navigators, tacticians and watch captains. Info, www. transpacyc.com

Feb. 10 — Movie Night, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, 6:30 p.m. Pirates of the Caribbean — The Curse of the Black Pearl. Free. Info, www.spauldingcenter.org

Feb. 13-18 — SUP Build Week, Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito. Info, www.spauldingcenter.org.

Racing

Jan. 1 — Resolution Pursuit Race. CYC, www.cyc.org

Jan. 1 — Brrr Rabbit. CPYC, www.cpyc.com

Jan. 1 — New Year's Day Race in San Diego. SDYC, www. sdyc.org

Jan. 7 — Berger/Stein Series, Malibu & Return. Del Rey YC, www.dryc.org.

Jan. 28 — Three Bridge Fiasco. SSS, www.sfbaysss.org

Jan. 28-29 — California Dreamin' Match Race Series. SDYC, www.sdyc.org

FRANCISCO BAY

CALENDAR

NOSA, www.nosa.org. May 17-20 — Tahiti Pearl Regatta, îles Sous-le-Vent, French Polynesia. Info, www.tahitipearlregatta.com. June 25 — Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race to Hanalei starts from San Francisco. SSS, www.sfbaysss.org June 27, 29, July 1 — Transpac Race to Honolulu starts from L.A. TPYC, www.transpacyc.com July 21-24 — Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendez-vous. Latitude 38 is a sponsor. Info, www.tahiti-moorea-sailing-rdv.com.

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.

January Weekend Tides

Predictions for Station 9414290, San Francisco (Golden Gate)

date/day time/ht. time/ht. time/ht. time/ht.

HIGH LOW HIGH 12/31Sat 0626/5.9 1313/0.9 1929/3.9

LOW HIGH LOW HIGH 1/01Sun 0018/2.0 0704/6.2 1408/0.3 2052/4.1 1/02Mon 0115/2.6 0745/6.3 1456/-0.1 2158/4.3

HIGH LOW HIGH LOW 1/07Sat 0053/4.8 0507/3.3 1054/6.1 1758/-0.6 1/08Sun 0125/4.7 0545/3.2 1131/6.0 1830/-0.5

HIGH LOW HIGH LOW 1/14Sat 0435/5.3 1058/2.0 1638/3.7 2206/1.8 1/15Sun 0514/5.5 1205/1.3 1826/3.5 2300/2.4

LOW HIGH LOW 1/21Sat 0405/3.0 1015/7.2 1715/-1.8

HIGH LOW HIGH LOW 1/22Sun 0030/5.1 0459/2.7 1108/7.1 1800/-1.7

HIGH LOW HIGH LOW

1/28Sat 0437/5.9 1128/1.0 1751/3.8 2239/2.2 1/29Sun 0525/5.9 1240/0.6 1936/3.8 2346/2.8

January Weekend Currents

NOAA Predictions for .88 NM NE of the Golden Gate Bridge

date/day slack max slack max 12/31Sat 0036 0418/2.5F 0748 1036/1.6E 1424 1736/1.7F 2042 2248/0.9E

1/01Sun 0124 0506/2.5F 0830 1124/1.7E 1530 1842/1.9F 2200 1/02Mon 0000/0.8E 0224 0554/2.3F 0912 1206/1.7E 1624 1942/2.2F 2300

1/07Sat 0224 0424/1.0E 0648 0936/2.1F 1236 1542/2.0E 1954 2324/2.7F 1/08Sun 0306 0506/1.0E 0724 1018/2.0F 1318 1624/1.9E 2024 2354/2.6F

1/14Sat 0230/2.2F 0612 0842/1.2E 1212 1512/1.0F 1848 2100/0.7E 2306

1/15Sun 0318/2.1F 0648 0930/1.3E 1324 1648/1.1F 2024 2212/0.5E

1/21Sat 0118 0324/1.0E 0542 0848/2.6F 1136 1448/2.7E 1906 2224/3.2F

1/22Sun 0206 0406/1.2E 0636 0942/2.7F 1230 1542/2.7E 1948 2306/3.3F

1/28Sat 0236/2.5F 0606 0842/1.5E 1242 1554/1.5F 1912 2112/0.8E 2348

1/29Sun 0330/2.2F 0700 0936/1.4E 1400 1724/1.6F 2036 2230/0.6E

Source: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov

LETTERS

⇑⇓ BERNARD MOITESSIER, THE LONG WAY, AND THE SAILING BOOKS THAT MADE US

I got to meet Bernard Moitessier because I was the fortunate person who sold him an oil filter for his engine. We had a great chat. I have read The Long Way several times.

Speaking of books: I love to read and have a huge library. Early influence authors and books for me were many Londons and Villiers. And who could leave out The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, The Grey Seas Under and The Serpent's Coil by Farley Mowat?

Also check out The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wolfe. There are more natural phenomena named after Humboldt than any other person. Think Humboldt Current, Humboldt squid, Humboldt County, etc.

Humbolt also invented the idea of isotherms and isobars that we see today on weather maps. Many extraordinary people stood on his shoulders, such as Charles Darwin and John Muir. He also had epic discussions with Thomas Jefferson, but very few people know about this amazing man.

Milly Biller

Big Pink, International 110

Inverness

⇑⇓ A MENTOR MEETS A LEGEND IN A LAGOON

One of my big-time racing/delivery mentors, Sterling Dusty Way, told me about a time when he pulled into the Bora Bora lagoon in 1969 on a delivery to New Zealand, dropping anchor in the spot that would eventually be the Bora Bora Yacht Club.

After about 10 minutes, a gentleman swam up, climbed on board, and asked him to please move a little farther away from him. Together, they repositioned Dusty's boat, and the two of them spent the next four or five days diving and trading stories.

The gentleman was Bernard Moitessier.

He was on his second lap around the world and needed provisions, so he stopped in Tahiti.

Dusty has his own legacy. He has raced and delivered over 300,000 miles, was awarded the overall navigator's trophies for the 2005 Transpac, and has a couple of Manzanillo and MEXORC races to boot. He was navigator/tactician for a boat that three-peated first in class in Transpacs '03, '05 and '07.

Dusty was a diver for Philippe Cousteau, the son of Jacques, for several years. The two of them had a lot of fun in Tahiti.

Jeffry Matzdorff 100-Ton Master Captain

Yes. One of the best books. A super-cool thing to do is

Everything about Bernard Moitessier is iconic, especially this photo, which graces the cover of his signature memoir, 'The Long Way'.

LETTERS

to read The Long Way, and then read The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst. They were in the same race, but had totally different mind-sets. The two books are an amazing look at something from two totally different viewpoints.

Jane Piereth Sailing Education Adventures San Rafael

LOVE BERNARD, BUT MY FAVORITE BOOK…?

I'm a huge fan of Bernard, his books and his film. But my favorite sailing book is We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome. It's a great story of an English Channel crossing by 12-year-olds.

Kit Stycket San Francisco

THE BOOKS THAT MOTIVATED ME

I too loved Moitessier's writing, but it was probably the Pardeys who really got me motivated. Eventually, I built a wooden sailboat in Alaska, and sailed it thousands of miles in Alaska and the PNW. Sailing even inspired me to write a novel, Cape Decision Michael Rostron Bellingham, WA ⇑⇓

DON'T FORGET DOVE

As a young boy, at the urging of my grandmother, I read Dove by Robin Graham. I was already sailing, but it certainly left an impact on me and changed the way I felt about being on the water.

Larry

Nelson

For me it was At One with the Sea by Naomi James. It's a powerful book about determination.

Maureen 'Moe' McDonough Roddy Marin County ⇑⇓ FROM THE INSPIRATIONAL TO THE PRACTICAL Are there any sailing books about sailing up and down the West Coast from San Diego to Seattle or to Alaska on the outside?

Phil Cathey S/V Webejammin

Phil — If you're looking for a cruising guide, I highly recommend Charlie's Charts: US Pacific Coast. Not Alaska.

Jeffry Matzdorff

Phil — If you aren't looking for a cruising guide, but rather, a good read with West Coast highlights, then I would recommend Two Years Before the Mast. You may already have

Another famous portrait of Moitessier.

THE INTERNET

In an unoffcial, unscientifc study conducted by 'Latitude', Robin Lee Graham's 'Dove' is among the top-fve most infuential sailing books of all time.

Alameda: (510) 521-1327

Sausalito: (443) 454-2275

San Diego: (619) 681-0633

Marina del Rey: (310) 821-8300

LETTERS

read it, cuz it's a classic.

Moe Roddy

Moe — As long as it's about a modern catamaran sailboat sailing north up the West Coast of Oregon and Washington from the Baja to escape the summer heat of Mexico!

Phil

⇑⇓ THE OLD MAN AND THE KEY(BOARD)

My Old Man and the Sea, by David and Daniel Hays, is a well-done story from 1995, subtitled "A father and son sail around Cape Horn." They rounded the Horn in a 28-ft cutter they'd built — it's an experience in seamanship that's quite revealing. Their perplexity at the GPS in the lower hemisphere was fascinating.

Hobart Bartshire, Shipwright San Rafael

⇑⇓ AND NOW BACK TO THE WEBB

When I was about 12 years old, I remember reading Webb Chiles' account of his 1992 sinking and miraculous survival off the coast of Florida. It left a huge impression on me, and almost 30 years on, I googled his name, which I'd never forgotten. It's great to see that Mr. Chiles is alive and well.

Mike

⇑⇓ WHAT TO DO WITH THAT SAILING LIBRARY?

In storage at my yacht club, we have no fewer than 50 sailing books. I have not known what to do with them until now.

I would like to give them to your bookstore. Who can I contact to do that?

Also, let me add to the list of great reads with some of my favorites:

All 14 of Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons kids' book series.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe; 300 years old and possibly the first novel written in English.

Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Daniel J. Irwin

Daniel — Thanks for the offer, and thank you, readers, for sharing your favorite reads. We've launched Latitude 38's online independent (non-Amazon) bookstore, which you can find here: www.bookshop.org/shop/latitude38. You'll find many of the books mentioned in these very Letters.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE DAUGHTER OF MOUNT TAM?

I learned the story of the "The Sleeping Maiden" from my father 60-70 years ago while sailing on the Bay and looking at Mount Tamalpais from a distance. [Bill is commenting on the December 2 'Lectronic Latitude with the same name as

This illustration from the classic 'Treasure Island' shows Jim Hawkins hiding in an apple barrel, in the foreground, while eavesdropping on a band of pirates.

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LETTERS

this letter.]

Here's some more info:

The name Tamalpais was first recorded in 1845. It comes from the Coast Miwok name for this mountain, Támal. Various folk etymologies also exist; one holds that it comes from the Spanish Tamal país, meaning "Tamal country," Tamal being the name that the Spanish missionaries gave to the Coast Miwok people.

Another piece of folklore holds that the name is the Coast Miwok word for "sleeping maiden" and is taken from a legend that says the mountain's contour reflects the reclining profile of a young Miwok girl who was saved from a rival tribe by the shuddering of the mountain. However, this legend actually has no basis in Coast Miwok myth, and is instead a piece of Victorian-era apocrypha.

The "Sleeping Lady" story was the creation of playwright

But I like the sleeping maiden story handed down by my father best.

Bill O'Connor Latitude Nation

⇑⇓ MY FAVORITE SIGHTINGS AROUND THE BAY

I actually noticed this alignment back in 2014-2015, I think. I took a bunch of pics. There were particularly nice clouds that day — big cumulus hanging above Mount Tam. I try to look for this alignment when I happen to be sailing that way. (I have a few other favorite sightings around the Bay, as well.)

Thanks for all the great work you and everyone does at Latitude 38

⇑⇓ YOU ON GRAM?

Thanks again for your wonderful service of Sailagram for the sailing community! Sailing newbies love it since they can send a link to their friends, rather than just upload photos. [With Sailagram,] they become part of a sailing journal and community. This often encourages more sailing on their part, with some

Thanks, 'Cetacea', for this letter, and for the photo, seen above, on Sailagram.

Dan Totheroh, who wrote the first play performed at Mount Tamalpais's Mountain Theater about Tamalpa, the Mountain Queen.

Vikas Kapur Bay Area

You might have heard any number of tales about the "sleeping maiden," referring to the silhouette of Mount Tamalpais. But did you know there is a similarly fgured landscape in the foreground, as seen here sailing out of Sausalito?

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LETTERS

joining sailing schools, and a few even purchasing a boat for their own enjoyment and introducing others to sailing.

Captain Kerry Brown Cetacea, 42-ft cutter San Francisco Bay Area ⇑⇓

A SAILING YOUTH

Tom Siebel and I both grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, and attended Wilmette Lutheran Church. Tom and my brother both graduated from New Trier High School. Tom likely sailed out of Langdon Beach and/or Gilson Park Beach, both in Wilmette. We're of different generations, but I enjoyed sailing with Tom and friends a few times on his J/125, Tyr, for a few Corinthian YC Fridays in Tiburon.

Tom's foundations support many important causes. I hope that he and the Arillaga family follow up on their Coyote Point donation to make sure that the practice range gets reopened to the public.

Alex Kent

Alex was commenting on the December 2 'Lectronic: Give the Gift of Sailing With the Siebel Sailors Program. ⇑⇓

A RELAXING SATURDAY SAIL, OR MESSING ABOUT IN BOATS?

Sailing Education Adventures, the nonprofit and largely volunteer community sailing program in San Rafael, has "Messing About in Boats Saturday" — the first Saturday of every month — where our members, young and old, come on down and do a bit of work on the SEA boats.

Last month, sail-camp counselor Julian Levash and "Gentleman of a Certain Age" Doug Moler worked together on the rigging of our Cal 20 Jeanne.

Jane Piereth

Her second letter

Jane was commenting on the November 30, 2022, 'LL with the same name as this letter.

⇑⇓ LOTS OF SKILL, INGENUITY AND 20 HOURS WORTH OF MESSING ABOUT WITH A BOAT ENGINE

One day, it became apparent that there was a serious leak in the engine raw water system.

No problem; I can do this. I assessed the situation, gathered up the necessary materials and tools, and set to work.

As it happened, I decided to keep track of how long this project would take — and I did. After it was done, I was having a cocktail with my wife, and I said to her, "Yeah, that

As long as we're talking about Sailagram, here are a few sailors who got out on the Bay this fall and early winter. Crediting the photogs from left: Dive Master Harland; Paul Hollenbach and friends.

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LETTERS

repair required lots of skill and ingenuity, and took 20 hours, but it needed doing and it's working great."

My lovely wife looked at me and her face became blank. "Is that so?" she said. "Well, I'd like to see you spend 20 hours applying skill and ingenuity working on this house!"

That was the last time I kept track of time spent working on the boat, and I never mentioned anything about it to my wife again.

Larry Watkins SoCal

⇑⇓ TTLY

You've captured my feeling of doing jobs on the boat perfectly, Latitude. I'm almost always in a better mood after working on the boat than before.

Ben Shaw

Host, Out The Gate Sailing podcast

⇑⇓ REVISITING THE OVER-VALUATION OF PROPERTY TAXES ON BOATS

The taxing system is using average-market value to allocate the tax price to all boat owners. Allowing this builds in an unfair bias against older boats by increasing their taxes to that of recently purchased boats. If the old boat purchase price were adjusted using present-value calculations, one could then subtract this from the current-market value to calculate the increase or decrease in roll value, which should not be allowed.

Simply stated, a $100,000 boat purchased 10 years ago would be on the tax rolls at $130,000 in today's averagemarket-value dollars, while $100,000 would be a present value of $121,899. The fact is older boats end up paying taxes on a gain that has not been realized.

We are not being taxed fairly.

George Derry, CPA

George — We 100% agree with the total current value of what you've just said. Bottom line: It's unfair.

⇑⇓ REVISITING FLARES

Thanks, Latitude 38 and community, for all of the great information. [Eric's letter, An Issue That Constantly Flares Up, led the December issue's Letters.]

It's pretty amazing to me that flare exercises and disposal aren't better understood. I mean, I've been sailing for decades, and this info just isn't readily available.

On the topic of flare disposal, this week [in November] there was a presentation hosted by the California Clean Boating Network about voluntary flare-disposal events. According to the presenters, there are only three facilities in the US that handle flares, and the cost of disposal is really significant. For example, a recent event in Wilmington [in L.A. County] brought in 1,396 flares and cost $23,095, or almost $20 per flare, covered by a grant from

Want to get rid of your old fares? It's easy! Just do some kind of world-record circumnavigation, and fre them up upon your triumphant return. That's what François Gabart did back in late 2017, when he made the fastest singlehanded circumnavigation of the world in 42 days aboard the 100-ft trimaran 'Macif'.

YVAN ZED D A / A LE A /MACIF

LETTERS

CalRecycle.

It's all further reason to replace your nifty pyrotechnics with the new electronic flares when the time comes.

Eric Spross Terral, Swan 431 Sausalito

⇑⇓ FLARING EXERCISES

This flare exercise [that Eric Spross had commented on] was part of the San Francisco Yacht Club safety at sea training week. Since 2012, we have done four to six courses per year where participants receive the World Sailing certification, which requires hands-on training exercises.

Using pyrotechnics can be hazardous to your health.

As was pointed out, participants wear leather gloves and safety glasses, and the exercise is pre-organized with the Coast Guard. I would not suggest that individuals start doing their own exercises. I would suggest that anyone who is cruising does not replace their expired flares and instead purchases an electronic flare, distress flag, and possibly an orange smoke flare. The fewer pyrotechnics on board vessels, in my opinion, the better for the environment, and for people's health and safety.

Ashley Perrin Mill Valley

OF WARNINGS AND A LITTLE SHELL SHOCK

Some years ago, a Coast Guard officer advised us to make call announcing that we were going to conduct a flare exercise, and to give our location. They asked us to 10 minutes before we started, five minutes before we started, and when we started — and to make another call when we fin-

, I gave it a shot when I was 100+ miles west of Ensenada. There was a bit of confusion because USCG San Diego heard my call, but it was somewhat garbled, so they were concerned that I was actually in trouble. But we got that straightened out and I commenced the drill.

One problem I've had both times I've participated in flare exercises is that the SOLAS flares are quite intense in terms of their noise and power. Maybe it's different if you're accustomed to firearms, but after launching a couple of rocket flares, my nerves were frazzled.

I haven't come close to firing of f all my expired flares.

Max Crittenden Iniscaw, Martin 32 San Diego

This image doesn't necessarily illustrate any well-known salty phrases, but it does illustrate the graphic 1930 version of 'Moby Dick' — specifcally chapter 48, "The First Lowering." And we quote: "Cutting the lashing of the waterproof match keg, after many failures Starbuck contrived to ignite the lamp in the lantern; then stretching it on a waif pole, handed it to Queequeg as the standard-bearer of this forlorn hope. There, then, he sat, holding up that imbecile candle in the heart of that almighty forlornness." This edition of Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick' was illustrated by American artist Rockwell Kent, 1882-1971.

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LETTERS

⇑⇓ WHAT COLOR GOES BEST WITH RESCUE?

The comment highlighting the importance of orange smoke flares is exactly why we carry those flares on our safety boats. When I was in the CG reserves and doing safety presentations for the Singlehanded Sailing Society, I encouraged sailors to carry orange smoke flares, as they are more easily seen in the day.

Jane Piereth

Her Third Letter These Letters

⇑⇓ SOME SALTY PHRASES AND ETYMOLOGY

I was taught that the "devil" was the lowest seam next to the keel. Boats were often repaired by going aground and letting the tide go out to reveal the damaged seam caulking. The devil was the last seam exposed and the first one covered by the incoming tide and hence the most difficult, because you had the least amount of time.

David Hume Hawaii

David — The devil, or the seam between the keel timber and the garboard strake, is what I have always heard as well. The Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge (Cornell Maritime Press, 1953) defines "devil" as "Any planking seam difficult to access in caulking when vessels were careened on a beach for bottom repairs, [such as the] seam between the garboard strake and the keel."

They report the original phrase as "the devil to pay and no pitch hot," meaning a situation "unsurpassed for serious trouble."

Gordon Worley

⇑⇓ GONE WITH THE WIND, OR SAILING BY IT?

I thought "sailing by the wind" meant keeping the sail in trim by altering course rather then re-trimming to stay on a specific bearing. So "by and large" would seem to mean sail "large" by the wind.

Tom Carr

⇑⇓ DORY BUT NOT FOR FISHING

Here is one you may not know: Hunky Dory is an abbreviated version of a street name in Japan known for the services provided to the sailors who visited there.

It is meant to mean all is well, or perfect.

Craig Russell Aquarius, 40-ft Jeanneau Emeryville

This thread stems from the November 28, 2022, 'LL: Here Are Some Salty Phrases To Start Your Week.

⇑⇓

BEWARE THE VOYAGE TO THE ANTIPODE!

Greetings from Down Under, L38 peeps!

I was just reading Latitude 38's November '22 story by Drew Smith

We're pretty sure that Drew Smith and his 1974 Islander 34 'X-Wing' will know what they're getting into as they approach the "antipode," or the geographic polar opposite of Drew's home in eastern Canada. If you can think up a voyage like that, then sail around the Pacifc, bound for Australia, you've probably earned the right to consider whether you want to explore some dicey waters.

DREW SMITH

THE BEST SAILCLOTH

Great Job Randall on the Figure Eight Voyage. Sixty thousand miles in the world's toughest oceans with Hood Sails.

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LETTERS

about his Far Other Side of the World — Voyage to the Antipode goal: a speck on the ocean 1,000 miles southwest of Perth, WA. (That's Western Australia for you PNW-ites, not Washington state!)

I don't know if he's realized it, but those are some dicey waters, with almost constant westerly gales. He'd be better off trying to reach it from South Africa, or from 'over the top' via the Indian Ocean, perhaps sailing via Mauritius and Diego Garcia, then turning left to get to Australia and his "Far Other Side" point.

And if that doesn't complicate the issue enough, does he realize his boat's moniker [X-Wing] requires him to arrive there on Star Wars Day? May the 4th be with him on his journey!

Mark Walker Sericius, Farrier TT720 Kempsey,

New South Wales, Australia

⇑⇓ TWO OPPOSING VIEWS OF THE BLUE ANGELS, THE MILITARY, AND WHAT WE WANT TO SEE IN THIS SAILING MAGAZINE

Readers — Latitude ran two articles that were different in topic and tone, but ultimately critiqued the exorbitant budget and overarching mission of the US military.

The articles — the September 28, 2022, 'Lectronic Latitude: Why Does the US Rescue Sailors for Free? Because We Can, and the October 21, 2022, 'Lectronic: Note to the Blue Angels: Real Angels Don't Drop Bombs — ignited dramatically different reactions from our readers.

In Why Does the US Rescue Sailors for Free?, we addressed readers' reoccurring concerns that rescues of mariners at sea were a misappropriation of taxpayer money. "The United States spends more than 10% of its federal budget, and nearly half of its discretionary spending, on the military, and one of the apparent benefits of this staggering investment is the humanitarian component," the 'LL said. "We have bought and paid for the most elite ocean-patrolling force in the world; we have invested in the infrastructure and personnel to carry out rescues on the ocean.

"Some of us here at Latitude are less than enthusiastic when Fleet Week comes rolling through town. We fully support members of the military and their families (one of our staff used to teach sailing for the Navy), and feel nothing but gratitude for the people who risk their lives to save sailors, but we're wary of the policy-makers wielding this awesome force with its immense budget.

"For peaceniks like us, using the armed services for humanitarian purposes is a consolation prize for what we see as dramatic imbalance in our national fiscal priorities." We even quoted President Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell speech from 1961, in which he warned against the growing influence of the military-industrial complex.

Here are the comments from that article:

The August 2022 rescue of a Pac Cup sailor put the enormity of the US military into perspective. The helicopter that ultimately plucked the sailor off a merchant ship had to be refueled en route over the Pacifc. We salute the service members involved in this and all rescues, and felt good about where our taxpayer dollars were going on that day.

LETTERS

⇑⇓ HAIL THE USCG AND A PEACEFUL MISSION

I've spoken with Search and Rescue leaders more than a few times, and their refrain is consistent: "If there were risk of financial fine/payment for the very large cost of our rescue operations, we worry that people will wait longer, until things are worse and we are less likely to make a successful rescue, or to put our heroes in even more risk."

Your points about the military-industrial complex are on target. We are unlikely, with so many bad actors in the world, to make progress on shaking loose from its grip anytime soon; in the meantime, hail to the USCG, and, yes, the military, but mostly with a peaceful mission.

Richard Jepsen President, US Sailing Alameda

⇑⇓ PRACTICING SAVING HUMAN LIFE

Sea rescues are good practice for the forces involved, and the skills honed in doing so can and will be used in saving their own personnel in other instances.

Also, if there were no budget for sea rescues of civilians, the savings would probably be, at least somewhat, offset by increased training budgets. All of this is in addition to the value that we, as Americans, put on human life.

Leonard 'Greg' Jones

⇑⇓ A GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN MISSION

The US military gets involved with SAR activities worldwide. Recently, a B-52 located a sailing canoe that had been lost for a week in the Guam area. The lost canoe was located by the crew from the B-52H after it was compared to a similar one that appeared in a Disney cartoon.

Mike Sowers

⇑⇓ MANIFESTLY UNSAFE VOYAGE

Back in the 1970s, the USCG could terminate a "manifestly unsafe voyage" after determining the vessel couldn't make the proposed voyage. Judgment was not based on the sailors' lack of skill.

Regarding assistance to mariners in ill health, those cases loom large before the local yachting public. Perhaps these cases should be considered along with the assistance provided all merchant ships and fishing vessels.

John C. Dukat Richmond Yacht Club

⇑⇓ VOTE BETTER, DEMAND BETTER

In 40-plus years of sailing and boating, we have had nothing but positive interactions with the Coast Guard.

We heard a VHF 16 call on February 7, 2022: "All vessels in the vicinity are requested to keep a lookout and assist if possible." A fisherman had gone into the water off the Muir Beach overlook. We were getting our crab gear wet a few miles offshore, so we responded. We retrieved our gear, burned our own fuel, and stayed in the search for a couple of hours until we started to run out of daylight. The USCG had a helicopter and a 40-ish-ft motorboat there, but what impressed me most were the jet ski teams. They were right there in the surf between the rocks and jagged coastline.

Let me tell you, those Coasties earn their money!

Now, we can talk about how the fisherman got into the water in the first place, and we can cry about tax dollars, but if it were my friend in the water, that is the response I hope would be there. My plan is to be part of the rescue attempt, and not the one needing rescue. A

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LETTERS

(to me) is one who uses his superior judgment to stay out of situations requiring his superior skills.

In my opinion the USCG is worth every freaking penny they get, and really should get more tax dollars. I understand non-boaters who feel the money should go to schools instead, and non-parents who resent tax dollars spent on education. I understand non-scientists who think the cubic dollars spent on space exploration are a colossal waste of tax monies, and wealthy folks who do not understand why "entitlements" (I paid into my entire working life) are important to honor.

In my 63 years of experience, it is the people who do not want to pay for services who are also the loudest voices complaining when a service they need is not properly equipped or funded. Let's work on government accountability and transparency. I am a full believer that we can do better. Vote better. Demand better from our representatives. But seriously, "Defund the Coast Guard"?

Mark Wieber

The October 21, 2022, 'Lectronic: Note to the Blue Angels: Real Angels Don't Drop Bombs, said that the planes featured during Fleet Week are ultimately "designed to intimidate, destroy, and kill," and that the "US military is one of the largest global contributors to carbon emissions.

"Even when not dropping bombs or decimating thousands of lives and destroying infrastructure, [military aircraft] frighten people and animals with their noise. Also, the purpose of Fleet Week is to glamorize war and entice our youth to join the military, a decision many later regret."

Here are comments from that 'LL: ⇑⇓ POLITICS ARE OUT OF YOUR PURVIEW

So precisely what is your point here? Pollution issues, with the obvious carbon discharge from the planes? The terrible noise pollution? Or an overarching (and entirely out of your purvey) anti-war message?

I'm no supporter of air shows such as the Blue Angels, but prefer that my leisure reading of a recreational pastime (sailing) magazine give me a respite from political points of view! I don't need Latitude to use its forum to proselytize.

Kanusee

commentary is not welcome for me at Latitude. Of course, I can stop reading

Jose

Bill

REBEKAH BOWMAN

LETTERS

If you are going to go woke, I'm out of here. You've screwed what was once the most beautiful city in the US. Don't bring it into a sport I've loved my whole life.

Peter Ogilvie

Latitude 38 — You are a sailing magazine. Not, I repeat not a political forum!

Don Scott

Note Latitude 38: Real sailors want to read about sailing.

Todd Broussard

Keep your personal opinions out of Latitude 38. The article is totally political, with no relevance to sailing. You need to consider "What is the mission of Latitude 38?" before publishing this junk.

Daniel Haynes

Latitude 38 is for sailing, not politics! Why polarize a sport/pastime with politics? There is enough of that everywhere else!

Lawrence Snow SV Ladyhawke Morro Bay

⇑⇓ A VESTIGE OF THE '60S?

This stuff was de rigueur in the '60s, but I think most of us have grown up since then. There are people in the world who hate us, who want to destroy us, who want to kill us. Our military protects us from those people. I am for peace but not for peace at any and all cost.

I am proud of our country, proud and grateful for those who serve our country.

To Latitude 38: Really? Politics has no place in your magazine. I sincerely hope you get the message from 90% of these comments. We sailors understand Mother Earth perhaps more than any other group. We do our part to support the environment that we all love. This is not the way to get that message across.

Jim Willis

These protests remind me of the Vietnam War demonstrations on the Bay organized by Bob Heifetz's Peace Navy, where we picketed the aircraft carrier Enterprise with my Cal 20 and other small boats. Same vision, different wars!

Mike Herz

⇑⇓ FLYING INTO THE EXTREMES

It's no wonder the MAGA Cult (which I abhor) keeps getting stronger, because it gets so extreme on the other side. I couldn't care less about seeing the Blue Angels, but I don't come to Latitude to see this stuff.

PS: Just because some of us have stated we don't want L38 to go down this path, in no way means we're "apolitical." That is a lot of our problem today: people thinking they know everything about everything.

Ed Hughes

The Blue Angels fy in formation over the Bay, as seen from SV 'Avocet'.

LATITUDE / NICKI

LETTERS

⇑⇓ WE ARE NOT GUN-TOTING COWBOYS

Growing up on a sailboat in Sausalito gave me a front-row seat to air shows, and inspired me to become a naval aviator and fly the Super Hornet.

I respect the intent of this article, but let us not forget about a metric that is rarely considered and hard to capture; the lives, property and infrastructure saved by having a superior military force. The primary mission of the US Navy (including these jets) is deterrence and maintaining freedom of the seas. Employment of weaponry is the final act of the failed diplomacy of your elected officials.

Let us not forget that.

Your article also fails to address the highly trained human in the box tasked with making split-second, life-altering decisions, and paints them as gun-toting cowboys. Please know that the number-one priority of the men and women piloting these aircraft is a deliberate, precision strike in order to avoid any and all collateral damage. We can all agree that war isn't glamorous.

In my 18 years of service I've never met anyone who regretted serving their country.

Ian Sprenger Skosh, Moore 24 Gig Harbor, WA

⇑⇓ PRIVILEGE

To those who have said that politics has no place in a sailing journal: The privilege to avert one's gaze from unpleasant realities and the suppression of alternate views is quintessentially political insofar as they reinforce the status quo. Also, refusing to look at pollution will impact us all regardless of our level of denial.

Hadas Rivera-Weiss

⇑⇓ LET'S NOT FORGET ABOUT THE EVENT ITSELF

Our guests love Fleet Week.

This year, Karl the Fog stole the show, but our guests had a great time sailing, watching some of the air show on Thursday through Saturday, and enjoying the ever-changing views of the iconic S.F. Bay. Smiles all around to report from the deck of Schooner Freda B!

Schooner Freda B Sausalito

⇑⇓ JIM DEWITT, BAY AREA RENAISSANCE MAN AND MASTER ARTIST, PASSES AT 92

Many thanks to Latitude for the wonderful tribute for Jim DeWitt. Like many artists, sailors, and nautical-art lovers, I was a lifelong admirer of Jim DeWitt and his art.

I had the good fortune of meeting him once in person at a boat show at the Balboa Yacht Club in Corona del Mar, where he was exhibiting his art. We spent some time just B.S-ing (chatting) over coffee about our love of "painting" boats. To this day his art continues to inspire me.

I wish I had known him better.

Ron Bartczak

Ron was commenting on the November 23 'Lectronic Latitude with the same name as this letter

⇑⇓ A NEIGHBOR, A RAFFLE AND A BOAT SHOW

My neighbor and good friend Sallie DeWitt called me and told me how much she appreciated the post about Jim in 'Lectronic, and wanted to extend her gratitude for the story.

Sallie loved the photo I took of Jim at the last boat show

LETTERS

in Richmond. I actually gave her an 8x10 print of that photo last year when I was trying to persuade Jim to paint the Matthew Turner using a photo I'd taken of the boat in May 2021. Jim was our neighbor at Brickyard Landing, and I made several visits to their condo to talk with Jim and Sallie about painting Matthew Turner, and many other subjects. Jim had such a great sense of humor, and was an incredible artist, as we all know.

You will remember that Jim did the painting of kids in a dinghy [above] as a fundraiser for a youth sailing program.

That's the kind of person he was.

And you'll remember the painting attracted a lot of interest and attention at the Latitude 38 booth, so much so that one attendee bought what seemed like 100 tickets, just to increase his chances of winning it. That's a testament to how in-demand Jim's paintings were. Unfortunately, that attendee did not have the winning ticket, but at least the hopeful contestant made a great contribution to youth sailing!

John 'Woody' Skoriak Longtime Latitude contributor Point Richmond

Readers — We actually gave that eager, 100-ticket-buying attendee (a gentleman from the Vallejo Yacht Club, if memory serves) a print of another DeWitt painting.

Please see our Jim DeWitt remembrance on page 46 of Sightings.

⇑⇓ EIGHT BELLS, WILLIAM 'BILL' AUSTIN

Bill and I had a brief relationship and longer friendship when I moved to Santa Monica three and a half years ago. He was incredibly smart and passionate about his family and life in Marina del Rey with the bars, live music and dancing.

I hoped to catch up with him when he got back from his winter in Mexico. I thought he was just busy and did not respond to my texts. How stupid I feel now! I know he was treasured by many. RIP, Bill. I am so sorry to hear this news.

Irene Koegel

Irene was commenting on the March 23, 2022, 'LL: Missing California Sailor Found Dead in Sea of Cortez.

⇑⇓

EIGHT BELLS, FRANZ BAICHL

Sudden and sad news about Franz Baichl, head shipwright for the Matthew Turner project. I don't have any details about the passing, but I know he was having some health issues for quite a while.

This is from Marinship Currentz Newsletter: "Sausalito's Marinship was fortunate to have Franz pass through our

Jim DeWitt at the 2019 boat show in Richmond.

J OHN 'WOO DY SKO R IAK

waterfront for a few years. Franz was a master shipwright, and his leadership in building Matthew Turner was a key reason for its success.

"But Franz was more than that. He had a spirit of generosity that he shared with so many in our community. Franz's father flew to Sausalito to see Matthew Turner launch — he was so proud of Franz. There was something about Franz; people wanted to be around him, and he became a member of our community. After he finished his work on Matthew Turner, Franz was unable to find a space for his shop in Sausalito, and moved to Sonoma."

John 'Woody' Skoriak

⇑⇓ EIGHT BELLS FOR RC KEEFE

Robert Cotter 'RC' Keefe passed through the Golden Gate for the last time on December 4, 2022. Bob was 90 years old and the senior staff commodore of the St. Francis YC, where he had been a member since 1950. RC's life was dedicated to the St. Francis and sailing; he lived and breathed everything that ever floated. He was the club historian for over 30 years, writing monthly articles in the club's Mainsheet magazine.

Bob joined the Barient Winch Company in the 1960s, growing it into the most prominent winch company in the world. While at Barient, RC oversaw the development of the self-tailing winch, the same basic design we use today, which was tested on the Keefe family yacht Shillelagh. After Barient, RC founded the Keefe Pacific company, where he developed and built anchor windlasses. Not surprisingly, the license plate on his car was "WINCH."

RC was part of the golden years of sailboat racing on S.F. Bay. He raced aboard Bolero with Denny Jordan, then on Baruna with Jim Michael. It was during this time that RC had the idea for a large sailboat racing event on S.F. Bay. The idea of the Big Boat Series started with the first event in 1964, and RC is credited as the father of the BBS. As the boats traveled up from Southern California, they would call RC at home via the ship-to-shore radio. RC would meet them at the club's guest docks and welcome them in for a drink in the grill room, no matter the hour. In 1966, Bob was awarded the club's Yachtsman of the Year award for his efforts with the Big Boat Series.

Bob was blessed to sail with the great yachtsmen of his era. In 1967, he was aboard the California 32 Andale with Bill Stewart, winning the inaugural San Francisco Cup. With his beloved Big Boat Series, RC ran the bow team on

Franz Baichl, master shipwright, aboard the 'Matthew Turner'. Baichl passed away in October.

MARINSHIP CURRENTZ

Robert 'RC' Keefe at the helm of 'Dorade' in 1981.

COURTESY THE KEEFE FAMILY

LETTERS

Baruna. It took three attempts, but finally in 1966, they won the St. Francis Perpetual Trophy. With Theo Stephens, RC raced on the first aluminum sailboats on S.F. Bay, the great S&S-designed Alpha and Lightning. Both boats were built at Stephens Marine in Stockton, and both boats went on to win the Big Boat Series.

Bob Keefe's life was about giving back to our sport and the St. Francis YC. His legacy includes bringing 6-Meter racing back to life on San Francisco Bay. RC helped raise money to purchase a used 6-Meter, renamed St. Francis IV, which started a resurgence. RC supported Tom Blackaller's efforts for more than 10 years in 6-Meter racing, and new boats were designed and built for Tom and his crew. Tom and RC would go on to amass a record from 1970 to 1979 of 16 wins and no losses in the American-Australian Challenge Cup.

In 1980, RC handed over the 6-Meter program to the Juniors of StFYC. John Bertrand was the skipper, with Paul Cayard, Craig Healy, Ken Keefe and Steve Jeppesen as the crew for the 1981 World Championships in Switzerland, and the 1982 American-Australian Challenge Cup in Sydney, Australia. It was Bob Keefe's vision and foresight that allowed the StFYC junior program to grow to prominence in the USA through 6-Meter racing.

A remembrance of life is being planned for RC Keefe at StFYC early next year.

Ken Keefe

Teacher, mentor and friend, RC was a San Francisco treasure. You can't stand in the St. Francis YC without seeing his imprint. All the history he made, recorded, acquired, and drew (often on lunch napkins!) is a gift to us all. When you see it, please thank him. Miss you, Bob.

Heather Flick Melanson

RC was a great part of the institution of sailing and an amazing contributor to the StFYC. His attention to our history and guidance to the newcomers over the last five decades is much appreciated. I miss RC. Our disagreements were only outpaced by our laughter and love for things that float. RIP, my friend.

Jim Fisher

RC will be greatly missed, but he will also be remembered for his contributions to not only StFYC, but the sailing community!

Charles Hart

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LOOSE LIPS

Ithappens; hopefully not often. But we know some have seen it before. Greg Dyer wrote: "Another J/24 hoist incident. I have had to grab the shoelaces of a crew member who got launched on a similar adventure!" And Mark Leigh wrote, "Been there done that ya. Oh, and thanks to the guy yelling, 'You're in a peculiar situation' over and over; that helped." Just a hint of sarcasm, Mark? As we understand it, the cause of the boat's precarious situation was that "One leg of the hoisting bridle broke;" this was Robert Johnson's guess, confirmed by Mays Dickey, the sailor who captured the photo. Mays also confirmed that everyone, human and boat, was OK. So with that settled, we can now move on to the captions. Below you'll find our number-one pick, and the next top 10.

The winner: "My diver said he'd charge $50 less if he didn't have to don his scuba gear." — @seayamark.

"Who forgot to raise the anchor?" — Robert Ward.

"Uh, Bill? Say… could you come back over here to the stern for a minute? We really need ya buddy." — Kelvin D. Meeks.

"After millions spent raising it from the ocean depths, the salvage experts found it wasn't the Titanic after all." — Rob Falconer.

"Not the usual side tie, nor the end tie: introducing the new bow tie; perfect for use at the marina that charges by the waterline foot." — Dave Peterson.

"I told him to secure the beer amidships." — @ patrickorleman.

"Dart boating." — @ pyrat_dave.

"Say you're new here without saying you're new here." — David Harrison.

"It's the driver's fault. Ask the bow guy." — Kimberly Paternoster.

"Just testing the water before I go in." — @quest38tsnj.

"Pitchpole practice on the last day of training." — Rob Sesar.

"Don't pull on her nose. She'll straighten out when she's finished getting a drink." — Roger W Briggs.

hate storms, but calms undermine my spirits."

— Bernard Moitessier, The Long Way.

eight bells for jim dewitt

On November 19, 2022, Bay Area sailmaker, sailboat designer and artist extraordinaire Jim DeWitt passed away at home in Point Richmond under the care of hospice. He was 92 years old and had suffered a stroke a couple of weeks before.

James Harden DeWitt was born in Oakland on February 13, 1930. Jim became fascinated by sailboats and art at an early age. When he was 7, he drew pictures of sailboats while watching his dad build a 19-ft sloop in their backyard. He built his own first boat, El Toro #216, when he was 19.

Jim graduated from Oakland High School, but he didn't enjoy school — turns out he was dyslexic at a time when no one understood what that was. But he did well in his art class, and his mom got him into art school. He attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, then the Los Angeles Art Center in Pasadena.

To save money while going to school, he started making his own dinghy racing sails, building the first, for his El Toro, in 1959. "I was my first customer," he said.

Jim married his first wife, Dorothy May Swinson, in 1950. (They married and divorced twice!)

In 1960, Jim returned to the Bay Area with his young family and opened DeWitt Sails in a Quonset hut in Richmond.

In 1980, he moved the business into a new building in Brickyard Cove, which included his art studio. In 1983, Jim sold the sail loft to Sobstad in order to focus on his art career. (Sobstad later sold to Quantum, which is still there in the same building.)

Parallel to his professional careers was his yacht racing career. In 1961, he won the Bullship Race, in which El Toros sail across the Golden Gate from Sausalito to San Francisco. In 1963, he won the North American Men's Championship in Annapolis, with the daringly mixed-gender crew of Jocelyn Nash and Jake van Heeckeren. Jim thus became the first West Coast skipper to bring home the Mallory Cup. From 1969 to 1977, Jim had a series of successes in the Lipton Cup. He won the 1992 International Masters Regatta, sailed in J/24s in San Francisco.

In the 1990s, Jim designed the roto-molded plastic DeWitt Dinghy. Fleets of the little yellow boats were ubiquitous at yacht clubs with junior programs. Some later models were made from fiberglass. "I never made any money off those," he told us.

But Jim is best known in today's sailing community for his paintings. His exuberant colors and bold shapes burst of f the canvas. His subjects range from people to pets to flowers, but especially sailboats and yacht racing. His canvases adorn the walls of many a yacht club and other maritime enterprises. You can even spot his murals if you stroll around Point Richmond.

In 1992, the America's Cup gallery in San Diego named him Top Marine Artist. In 2012, the Golden Gate Yacht Club, host and Defender of the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco, named him Artist in Residence. Renderings of that edition of the Cup figure large among his 21st-century work. In 2013, Jim was the featured artist at the Sausalito Art Festival, which

it's a whole

You can't plan ahead at the last minute, which is why we work with Laura Muñoz and the Yacht Racing Association to put a full year of racing options together in one comprehensive book at the beginning of each year. With this January issue of Latitude 38, the 2023 Northern California Sailing Calendar has been delivered to our Northern California magazine distributors. If you pick it up now, you can plan your sailing menu for the year and have no excuse to miss any of the great events on the Bay.

Don't delay, since you want to make sure you're signed up for the Bay Area's biggest race, the Three Bridge Fiasco, happening on January 28. Typically more than 300 boats

ALL PAINTINGS BY JIM DEWITT

dewitt — continued new year!

sign up for one of the most challenging riddles on the Bay. You've never done it? Make this your year.

Most clubs, race fleets, events and onedesign classes would love to see more boats join them. The OYRA has offshore races, and the summer season is filled with beer can races. By signing up for any of them, you'll find you sail more and make more friends. Some of the races can be terrifyingly competitive, while others are much more balanced. Well-known Bay classics such as the Great Vallejo Race, the Jazz Cup and three Farallones races are ready to challenge new participants. With a May 27 start, California Offshore Race Week will

jim

attracts an international caliber of exhibitors. Jim's ads have appeared in Latitude 38 continuously for decades. His paintings adorned a couple of Latitude 38 covers,

Jim is survived by Sallie, his wife of 50 years; his daughter Pam; sons Steve and Timothy (known as Chip); and numerous grandchildren, stepgrandchildren and great-grandchildren, some of whom are graduates of or current students in Richmond's junior program.

Jim was a member of Richmond and St. Francis YCs, and both clubs plan to honor him with remembrances in February. When we receive the details, we'll post them on 'Lectronic Latitude at www.latitude38.com.

For much more about Jim DeWitt, see our the February 2021 issue of Latitude 38 (online at www.latitude38.com/issues/february-2021/#62). If you're interested in his painting process, see the videos Jim DeWitt's Sailing Art at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jta2M5nHaOw, Jim DeWitt Painting Lulu at www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt34d0usZEM, and Lessons on Perspective for Artists at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdBtX_KgQ44

— chris

Left page, inset: A Jim DeWitt self-portrait. The old and the new — 'Freda' and America's Cup cats. This page: Sallie and Jim DeWitt circa 1980, with the new sail loft under construction in Point Richmond's Brickyard Cove. Inset: The cover of the 2023 calendar.

COURTESY THE DEWITT FAMILY

SIGHTINGS

baja barely-a-bash

Vanadium, a 2019 Beneteau 41.1 sloop, had just completed the 2022 Baja Ha-Ha, captained by owner Mike Brost and crewed by his wife Kitti Brown, friend Steve Cauffman, and Crew Lister Jim Immer. The journey was a test for Mike and Kitti to see if they'd enjoy an extended voyage before investing in a cruising catamaran.

The southward Ha-Ha trip was a resounding success, with lots of fleet camaraderie and daily natural spectacles including sublime sunsets and performances by whales, dolphins and rays. But after three nights in Cabo San Lucas, it was time to return Vanadium to her responsibilities with the Sailtime fleet in Newport Beach. Steve had already flown home to his microwave physicist job, so the return crew would consist only of Mike, Kitti and Jim.

The northward Baja Bash has a notorious reputation for testing boats and crew morale, especially during the typical May/June time frame, when insurers coax cruisers clear of potential hurricanes. However, Captain Jim Elfer's Baja Bash II book includes the surprising revelation that November and July northward deliveries can be an easier experience, as long as weather systems are avoided.

We had refilled the water and diesel tanks upon arrival in Cabo. A Walmart provisioning run provided all the goods needed to continue our gourmet cruise, facilitated by a free-standing 80-quart AC/DC Bodega freezer strapped into the aft cockpit to augment Vanadium's built-in refrigerator.

On the mor ning of Sunday, November 13, Vanadium raised anchor, exiting the pleasantly noisy Cabo beachside anchorage just as the massive Disney Wonder loomed into view.

Vanadium (named for the 23rd element in the periodic table and a key catalyst for the evolution of oceanic life) motored in flat seas with almost no wind around the oft-feared headland of Cabo Falso. It was a cakewalk in shorts and tank tops rather than foulies. We had easy motoring until evening, when the wind filled in at 10 knots on the beam for some fine, warm sailing. With three crew, we rotated through two three-hour watch cycles at night and morning, and then used a two-hour evening watch, which gave everyone plenty of sleep and a social time at dinner.

We bypassed the Ha-Ha stop at Bahia Santa Maria on the way north, since we were anxious to spend the Thanksgiving holiday week with our families. Though the common salutation is "fair winds and following seas," we were instead blessed with fair seas and following winds due to glassy seas and often light wind, good for fast motoring. Though itching to sail, we were happy to be spared the typical headwinds and swells that make the Bash infamous.

After mostly motorsailing through three straight nights, we reached Turtle Bay on Wednesday morning. Underway it had been necessary to add 15 gallons of fuel from our jerry cans, so we were keen to refuel and spend a restful night at anchor before continuing northward. Enrique, world-famous throughout Turtle Bay, brought his diesel fuel boat to us so we could top off our tank at $8.90/gallon, and he was also able to procure two large frozen lobsters for $20. We enjoyed the life-filled bay, with barking sea lions swimming all about, and squadrons of pelicans busily transiting the bay. Dinner at rest was excellent: grilled steak and lobster with some well-deserved wine.

Throughout the trip, we were amazed that our new SpaceX Starlink ($500 and $135/month) provided high-speed internet along the entire Baja coast, even underway, in all but the heaviest seas. To keep the

it's a new year

give you a chance to compete as you race to Southern California. There are almost 1,000 races to choose from.

The calendar includes other helpful information, such as the form you need to submit to get a proper PHRF rating. It has a list of the YRA-sponsoring yacht clubs, important contact info, and charts of the marks on the Bay, plus directories for Youth Sailing, Midwinter Racing, the Women's Circuit and Summer Beer Can racing. Also, thanks to Forrest Gay of the San Francisco Yacht Club, it now has a more accurate signal flag page. We couldn't fit them all, but it's handy when you need it.

Is crew a problem? There are a couple

continued in middle column of next sightings page

continued

of solutions. The Latitude 38 website (www. latitude38.com) has a Crew List with more than 1,000 entries of eager sailors looking to connect to more sailing. If you have a boat, add it to the list so that crew can find you, or browse the racing crew list to find your mates.

Or, sail single- or doublehanded. There are lots of shorthanded events from the Singlehanded Sailing Society, the YRA and some of the yacht clubs for which you need only one crewmember maximum.

Grab the calendar to plot out your year of racing. We're blessed with a 12-month season, so the racing begins as soon as the calendar hits the docks.

— john

barely-a-bash — continued

wattage drain low, we turned off the snow-melt heater feature, which we found enabled by default. Gorilla tape kept the dish in position for its inaugural trip under the dodger, but an aftermarket flagpole mount would've been more elegant.

Well before dawn on Thursday, we resumed motoring northward, encountering blustery and rolly conditions. Past Cedros Island, we were able to sail and conserve fuel. During the night though, our speed dropped by half with no change in wind. We discovered a heavy beard of kelp hanging off the stern, so we backed it off and were soon cruising normally again.

Vanadium arrived in San Diego Harbor at 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 19, six and a half days after leaving Cabo. That night, after showers and dinner at the Silver Gate Yacht Club, we made the final dash home to Newport Beach and celebrated the completion of a journey that, thanks to relatively calm seas and light winds, was hardly the slog we had braced for.

In the end, it was a Homeward Ha-Ha and Barely-a-Bash!

See https://youtu.be/ynSmHZ3MI_M for a slideshow of the voyage.

— jim immer & steve cauffman

Insets: It was calm enough for Kitti and Mike to play backgammon in the cockpit; 'Vanadium' is a Beneteau 41.1 monohull. Spread: Leaving Cabo San Lucas after the Baja Ha-Ha in November.

IMMER

time to lobby for our piece of paradise tisc adjusts

They paved paradise, put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got till it's gone…

As Joni Mitchell sang these words on her Ladies of the Canyon album in 1970, Lin and Larry Pardey were launching Seraffyn to begin their epic cruising life, Costa Mesa was the epicenter of fiberglass boat building, and Hobie Alter was transforming the dinghy sailing world with the soon-to-be ubiquitous Hobie Cats.

It was the golden era of middle-class sailing. But everything has changed.

As the world's population passed 8 billion this year, the planet has never felt smaller, especially the West Coast's shrinking waterfront. Marinas and boatyards offer that ever-growing population access to bays and oceans, regardless of where they live. But once the waterfront is converted to housing or biotech office parks, the access becomes exclusive to private owners, or simply prices people and businesses out. Once they're gone, working waterfronts disappear forever.

The waterfront is a commons deserving of protection to ensure access for all.

Latitude 38 and its readers and customers are increasingly concerned about the ongoing destruction of the working waterfront. The vast majority of recent Bay Area waterfront developments are failing to include even small slivers of critical maritime infrastructure, such as the boatyards and marinas that allow access to the natural wonders of the Bay itself. Will the Bay Area's working waterfront — and shoreline communities everywhere, especially in California — continue to prioritize space for maritime businesses? If long-term trends continue, the short answer is no.

We recognize that this is no longer the golden era of boating on the West Coast. Gone are the days of Joni Mitchell folk songs and the intoxicating smell of resin floating over Costa Mesa. We recognize the urgent need for housing for that ever-growing population. But housing shortages and development pressures are threatening the livelihoods of maritime businesses, the recreation industry, and marine workers along all US shorelines.

We also recognize that the recreational boating industry is an economic powerhouse unto itself and not some nostalgic relic. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), the recreational boating industry delivers $13 billion in economic impact to California each year, contributing $2 billion to the state's GDP. Boating supports 41,125 jobs and 2,820 businesses with annual retail sales of new boats, engines and marine accessories of $819 million. Despite the positive economic reality, there is still much work to do. We can never stop lobbying for those slices of shrinking waterfront.

What can you do?

First, let us know what's going on near you. Knowledge is power: We need to gather information, and recognize and understand the scope of change currently underway. Second, we need to help our waterfrontcontinued on outside column of next sightings page

For more than 20 years, Treasure Island Sailing Center has been serving youth and adults with sailing lessons from its base on Treasure Island, at the edge of Clipper Cove. With steady breezes and protected waters, it's an ideal venue for sailing instruction and race training.

Yet even ideal venues face their challenges. Treasure Island is in the midst of a major redevelopment that's supposed to bring 8,000 housing units to the island. That's a lot of potential sailors, but in the meantime, it's also a lot of construction. To make way for the redevelopment, the base is reconfiguring to stretch its facilities along a narrow

Inset left: A sign of the times. A plaque in front of this condo leasing offce reminds visitors it used to be the thriving home of Kettenburg Marine in San Diego. Spread: The condos at Alameda Marina replaced the once-active marine business tenants.

continued in middle column of next sightings page

its sails

corridor above the riprap on the eastern corner of the island. This temporary adjustment will last about two years before TISC can reoccupy the land slated for a magnificent new home base.

We spoke with TISC board member Paul Heineken for a future Good Jibes podcast, and he relayed, "It's really the best location in San Francisco for kids to sail. It's protected from the currents. It's a little bit warmer, the winds are moderate, and it has a beach up at the top. Kids can just play there, which is why we fought so hard to keep it."

As Paul described, now with a 66-year continued in middle column of next sightings page

piece of paradise — continued

community residents and governments understand the critical infrastructure they may lose, and make them aware of the jobs and economic benefits marine recreation provides. We also need to highlight the value waterfront access and activity has for the social and mental health of Bay Area residents. It is one of the prime reasons many people choose to live here!

In short, we need to lobby for our interests and for the health and vitality of our businesses. Latitude has been reporting on developments around the Bay Area and beyond, including Sausalito's historical Marinship, Berkeley Marina, San Francisco's municipal piers, the Oakland-Alameda Estuary, Richmond, San Leandro and Redwood City. Local and national organizations addressing these concerns include the National Working Waterfront Coalition, the Marina Recreation Association, the Recreational Boaters of California, the Sausalito Working Waterfront Coalition, the San Diego Port Tenants Association, and many more.

At the same time, dedicated volunteers at community sailing programs

BOTH POHTOS LATITUDE / JOHN

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piece of paradise — continued

like Treasure Island Sailing Center, Alameda Community Sailing Center, Sausalito Community Boating, and Sailing Education Adventures in San Rafael work tirelessly to secure small corners of the Bay to give youth the opportunity to sail where Jack London used to roam freely in his teens, and where generations of sailors and maritime workers have been forged.

We are happy to report a little good news. In May 2021, the federal government recognized the fragility of the remaining waterfront with the introduction of bill H.R.3160, Keep America's Waterfronts Working Act. After tireless work, the Sausalito Working Waterfront Coalition recently received a boost in November when Sausalito's voters elected city supervisors who are friendlier to waterfront preservation.

Still, there is much work to be done. We can never take our hand off the throttle.

Here's another bit of good news: The majority of people love to be on the water. People are drawn to the Bay. Recreational boating has broad appeal.

If we can help gover nments and planners understand this, and see the big picture that is both recreational and economic, we can stave off paving over these little pieces of paradise.

— latitude

tisc adjusts its sails

lease and architectural designs already drafted, TISC can begin to tackle the largescale fundraising necessary to make the vision a reality.

While the redevelopment is underway, the sailing center will continue its Set Sail Learn program, which has already given more than 10,000 fourth graders a sailing experience on the Bay. After a day of sailing, thank-you notes flood in from the kids, with remarks such as "Thank you for letting us touch the water," and "Thanks for the fun sailing." The Treasure Island Sailing Center is one of San Francisco's treasures, and they'll be looking for your help as they weather the conditions on the island and maintain the programs that have served Bay Area kids for the past two decades.

— john

— continued

albin vega 27 mahina's paint project

In our last account we naively stated, "No more waffling" on paint color. Well… never say never.

A project of this magnitude can entail many decisions and changes, even in the best of times. During a pandemic of uncertain duration, all bets are off and difficulties increase exponentially. Evidently, among many other supply-chain issues, there exists a paint pigment shortage. Marine paint, in particular, seems to be in short supply — if you can find it at all. We have now changed the paint color plan no fewer than three times!

After spending weeks looking for paint online, as well as calling every supplier we knew from Vancouver to Portland, we finally found two quarts of Hatteras Off White in Olympia. We spoke with the store manager, who had only this color in stock because it was the color of the store owners' own boat. After convincing them to let us pay for it over the phone and put it aside, we left our Shaw Island home (in the San Juans) the next morning at 8 a.m. to catch the ferry for the seven-hour trek to Olympia. Traffic through the Seattle area was horrible. Returning late, we missed the last ferry, and it became clear to us why the traffic had been so bad. It was Labor Day weekend! We were lucky to find a place to stay for the night and enjoyed a nice dinner in town.

While walking the harbor, we happened to stop in at the West Marine store, where we found, to our delight, two quarts of Kingston Gray, an alternate color we decided would work well for the hull. Returning home at 4:30 the next afternoon, we were very happy to have paint in hand, and probably the most expensive paint we would ever buy.

The next five to six weeks were spent painting and sanding the topsides and cockpit areas, then installing new windows (thank you, Mark Plastics) and refitting hardware all around. What a difference installing all those shiny stainless parts made! She perked up considerably. Then, after several days of more taping and finishing the hull area, at last it was time to pull off the final tape. Ugh! The seafoam boot stripe we had originally painted before our color-scheme change looked awful against the Kingston Gray. Another decision to be made.

Jeff was due to leave in two days for a long-overdue break in Mexico with friends. He hoped to find some sunshine and do some longboard surfing. He wanted the paint to be finished before he left, as the weather was cooling fast and paint can be fickle in changing weather conditions. He was not to be deterred and went into production mode. He tactfully taped off the boot stripe (again), then mixed up a batch of white paint from his storeroom reserves. Within 24 hours, he had slapped on three consecutive coats of white over the teal color with a fire going in the wood stove in the shop, for it had begun to snow. At 4 p.m., the day before he was to leave (and not even packed yet), he pulled off the tape. And what a beautiful result it was! Stunningly classic. Simple. Clean. Finished!

We could now both relax, knowing the painting chapter was behind us, and take a break before the next challenge — the rigging. Cowabunga!

With new paint and Jeff's return, we've completed a couple more projects, which include adding her name back onto the transom and mounting a new Windpilot windvane to her transom.

— debra taylor

TISC

TISC kids having a blast sailing in Clipper Cove.

Spread: 'Mahina's repainted boot stripe pulled her looks together again. Inset: With Windpilot windvane installed and the name on the transom, 'Mahina' is getting ready to sail.

a first sail — los angeles to cabo

Despite not being a sailor, the author of this piece, Laure de Rivieres, managed more than an afternoon when she scored a nice ride for her first sail. She joined a crew delivering a Lagoon 52 from Marina del Rey to San José del Cabo in mid-November. It was an opportunity she couldn't refuse. Laure described some of the scenes that captivated a new sailor heading offshore to the Mexico sun. — ed.

The seals of the marina greeted the five of us under a fresh November sun, and we took to the sea, headed for Ensenada.

All sails were set with the wind at 15-18 knots, and already, for me, the magic was happening — the sound of the water rushing past the hulls, the pull of the sails, the lines running through the blocks. The captain remained peaceful at the helm. A few pelicans flew over us; a school of dolphins surrounded us, then just the wind in the sails again.

As the wind rose a little more, we put on our oilskins and hats while the sun set. In this unheard-of tranquility, we prepared our meals in the galley almost without realizing that all around was the open sea, with whales and sea life just below.

Our first and only stop was in Ensenada to pass through customs, with the administrative papers taking a good half day. We filled up, and there began the real departure. Four straight nights without touching land. Four fiery sunsets, four dazzling sunrises, five days of rolling, sailing, stories, wind, sea and swell.

On the second day, taking advantage of a lull, the captain finally cast his fishing lines. It wasn't long before we heard the sound of the line hissing out. Slowing the engines, we reeled aboard a yellowtail of 16 pounds. The next day, it would be a bigeye tuna at least as large. The fish were cleaned on the spot, and then we froze them. In the following days, they would be eaten as sashimi and steak, fresh from the sea.

At night, the boat continued along. We organized the night watches. One started after dinner, the easiest because it left us almost the whole night to sleep afterward. The second one was the hardest, because we had to wake up at 1 a.m. and hold on until 4 a.m., eyes riveted on the radar screen, on the lookout for a liner or a boat that would cross our path. The silence in the cockpit that nothing seems to break, the thickness of the night, the shooting stars, the moon — it's magic beyond words. Time stands still, except that we have to sleep. The last watch is the most beautiful one, because it is then that we see the sun rising, the sky turning pink, the birds coming back.

After five days at sea, San José del Cabo appeared; we saw it almost with regret. At that point we felt we would have liked the trip to last a lifetime. Now I am a slightly experienced sailor who will miss the sea as I travel back to reality.

— laure de rivieres

a pedestrian bridge over the estuary?

In late November, the City of Alameda held the first of what will be many, many meetings for a proposed pedestrian bridge spanning the Estuary, between Oakland and Alameda, and they've asked for sailors' input.

Plans for the bridge have been under study since 2009, though many of us hadn't heard about the project until a few months ago, and the reception was less than enthusiastic. How tall will the bridge be? How will it affect boats sailing on the Estuary? How often does the city expect the drawbridge section to be opened on a typical high-water-traffic day (aka the weekend)?

At the November Zoom meeting we asked these very questions. The height of the bridge has not yet been determined, but there will definitely be a drawbridge section to accommodate the cutters stationed at Coast Guard Island. "We're working closely with the Coast Guard," said an Alameda city planner.

So how tall might the bridge be? We've been wondering what an ideal height is so that the majority of boats can pass under on most tides without

new land sailing

America's Cup holder Emirates Team New Zealand and pilot Glenn Ashby have sailed Horonuku, their wind-powered landspeed world-record craft, faster than any previous records. Horonuku — the name is Maori for "gliding swiftly across the land" — did exactly that. She achieved 222.4 km/h (138.2 mph) in 22 knots of wind on Lake Gairdner, a large salt lake in South Australia.

Ashby asserts that Horonuku can go much faster. "The team and I are obviously buzzing to have sailed Horonuku at a speed

speed record

faster than anyone has ever before, powered only by the wind. But … we know Horonuku has a lot more speed in it when we get more wind and better conditions. So, for sure, there is a cause for a celebration, but this isn't the end."

Measured on a two-second average speed, the result compares to the standing record of 202.9 km/h (126.1 mph) set on March 29, 2009. The previous record holder was Richard Jenkins, CEO of Saildrone in Alameda.

The new record has not yet been ratified. — john

pedestrian bridge — continued

having to wait for the bridge to be raised. Would that be about 70 feet?

"There's going to be a ton of trade-offs," a city of Alameda employee said, admitting that a lower height was more desirable for bikers to avoid steep inclines at either end of the bridge, and that a larger height was more desirable for sailors to avoid needing to wait for the drawbridge."We have to figure this thing out together," the city employee said. Latitude Nation, please help the City of Alameda understand the needs of sailors, who would be most affected by a bridge.

We cannot stress enough the need for organized advocacy, nor can Latitude carry that particular torch entirely on our own. If you're a sailor on the Estuary, please contact City of Alameda employee Rochelle Wheeler at rwheeler@alamedaca.gov, or the consultant Frank Ponciano at frank@ winterconsultants.com

— tim henry

Left to right: Why fy when you can sail? The crew, Sabine lGemayel, the captain, Laure de Rivieres, Thomas, and Marc G. First sunsets at sea are memorable.

NAOS YACHTS

SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART II —

In our December 2022 issue, we visited with several Bay Area one-design fleets and the Bay Area Multihull Association, and we heard from their season champions.

For January's Part II of this three-part series, we launch with the YRA's 2023 season winners, and then pick up where we left off, visiting with local one-design fleets.

YRA Shorthanded Sunday Series

During the chopped-up 2020 racing season, the YRA instigated some doublehanded races. These proved immensely popular with event-starved racers, so in 2021 the YRA expanded the standalone races into a series, scheduled for Sundays, when the racing calendar is usually sparser than on Saturdays. The new series attracted 104 entries in 2021. In 2022, with a full slate of regattas available once again, the Shorthanded Sunday Series drew 49 registrations.

Sc ott Easom's J/100 Eight Ball topped the Spinnaker 1 division. "This is the kind of racing I created this boat for! This is the most cutting-edge shorthanded boat I've ever seen," says Scott. "Yes, we've won the Rolex Big Boat Series two years in a row, but fully crewed racing is not what I built Eight Ball to do. The fact that we're successful in that type of racing speaks to the greatness of a properly rigged and tuned J/100.

"My real enjoyment comes from getting around the course either single- or doublehanded and the different tactics you need to employ to get sails up and down safely shorthanded. We pride ourselves in getting our spinnaker up first and taking it down last. The whole boat is a validation of what I believe will keep people racing and just sailing far longer than they ever thought possible.

"Of all the boats that I've owned, this Eight Ball is my favorite. It's just a great sailing boat that's up to the riggers of the Bay. That's a joke. I'd like thank my crew Ben Mercer and Haydon Stapleton."

For the second year in a row, James Fair won the Spinnaker 2 division with the Merit 25 Chesapeake. "First of all let me thank the YRA for having a Shorthanded Series," commented Jim. "It's maybe the one positive thing to come from the COVID pandemic. Without COVID, there would be no Shorthanded Series. I just hope that interest continues and it survives.

"I think the biggest reason for success in any series is just showing up for all the races. Once there, just do your best and accept no excuses. The same is true for a fully crewed series.

"Having a good crew is unbelievably important. For the first part of the series, I had Cindy Surdez, who is my usual

crew, until she broke her arm and leg in a motorcycle accident mid-season. That really puts a dent in your sailing! BJ Price stepped in and took over for her. I have been sailing together with both of them for more than 30 years."

Jim bought Chesapeake new in 1984 and has been racing her ever since — 38 years. "May we sail together for another 38 years!"

The shorthanded for mat has proved to be a winner for the YRA. They're currently on their second season of their Shorthanded Sunday Midwinter Series, and they plan on another Shorthanded Sunday Series this summer.

YRA SHORTHANDED SUNDAY SERIES (5r, 1t)

SPINNAKER 1 — 1) Eight Ball, J/100, Scott Easom/Ben Mercer, SFYC, 6 points; 2) Raven, C&C 115, John Kernot/Dave Hodges, RYC, 6; 3) Invictus, Jeanneau SF 3600, Nico Popp/Jacques Benkoski, SBYC, 12. (7 boats)

SPINNAKER 2 — 1) Chesapeake, Merit 25, James Fair, BYC, 5 points; 2) Free, S&S 30, Jim Carlsen/Mike Bilafer, KBSC, 7; 3) Zeehond, Newport 30 MkII, Donn Guay/Ed Paul, SSS, 12. (5 boats)

NON-SPINNAKER 1 — 1) Mintaka 4, Farr 38, Gerry Brown/Gari Ruggles, BYC, 7 points; 2) Angel, J/130, John Kerslake, SFYC, 7; 3) Bullet, Express 37, Larry & Miriam Baskin, SSS, 10. (4 boats)

NON-SPINNAKER 2 — 1) Iolani, Hughes 48, Barry & Sylvia Stompe, SSS, 8 points; 2) Zephyr, Catalina 36 Mk1.5, Taylor Miller/Kim Benninghoven, ZYC, 13. 3) Friday Harbor, Beneteau 323, Ryle Radke/Howard Curtis, SFYC, 18. (5 boats)

ALERION 28 — 1) Zenaida, Fred Paxton, RYC, 7 points; 2) Allegro Non Troppo, Bill Claussen/Jim Titus, RYC, 8 points; 3) Mil Besos, Ralf Morgan/Debra Clark, RYC, 11. (9 boats)

YRA Summer Series

The YRA's more traditional Summer Series drew 46 boats, almost as many as their upstart Shorthanded Sunday Series. This series was sailed on four Saturdays, May through September, with two races scheduled on

"It's maybe the one positive thing to come from the COVID pandemic."

each day.

John Arens , of the Tiburon-based J/109 Reverie, writes, "For us, the key to success is having fun. Aside from safety, having fun is our main objective. As we've done that, the results have taken care of themselves (yes, sails and a clean bottom are critical too). But we have a cohesive team that's been sailing together for a few years now, and everyone seems to like hanging out afterward. We keep a ton of beer/rum on hand at the dock."

John's favorite Summer Series races are the buoy races in the South Bay. "We haven't sailed too much down in that section of the Bay, and we enjoyed the pleasant 'SoCal' conditions: warm weather and moderate, consistent breeze."

John's crew for the Summer Series were Jim Coburn, Randall Lesley, Paul DeMers, Ben Burbridge, John Duys, Gregg Golembeski, Erik Breedlove and Ed Conti.

Berkeley's John Clauser of the 1D48 Bodacious+ had the best excuse ever for a late response to our request for a quote. "Sorry for the tardy reply — we

THE YRA AND ONE DESIGNS

1D48 'Bodacious+'

just got back from rather hectic trips to Washington DC and Stockholm."

You see, John was busy accepting the Nobel Prize for Physics!

"Our keys to success were the usual ones: clean, smooth bottom, decent sails, and showing up for the starts.

"The last two races were a tune-up for Rolex Big Boat Series. That's when the 'hairy/scary moments' all hit with a vengeance. Nonetheless — it was fun."

Bodacious+'s crew for the YRA Summer Series included Mark Bird, Andrew Brady, Duane Brumm, Rose Cano, Tim Collins, Tibu de la Carcova, Sage Dillemuth, Sarah Chérif Gambin, Drake Hughes, Neil Lawson, Matthew Osborn, Tim Pilegard, David Reese, Jason Shaeffer, Jennifer Thornton, Josh Wilkie and Reiko

YRA SUMMER SERIES (8r, 1t)

PHRF 1 — 1) Bodacious+ , 1D48, John Clauser, BYC, 15 points; 2) Zamazaan, Farr 52, Greg Mullins, StFYC, 18; 3) Nuckelavee, Melges 32, Mark Kennedy, SBYC, 19. (3 boats)

PHRF 2 — 1) Reverie, J/109, John Arens, CYC, 7 points; 2) Ahi, Santana 35, Andy Newell, RYC, 17; 3) Mintaka 4, Farr 38, Gerry Brown, BYC, 18. (7 boats)

PHRF 3 — 1) Tchoupitoulas, Santana 22, Steven Meyers/Stephen Bruer, SSS, 15 points; 2) Anemone, Santana 22, Hank Lindemann, AeoYC, 23. (2 boats)

ALERION 28 — 1) Eagle, Chuck Eaton, StFYC, 9 points; 2) Zenaida, Fred Paxton/Arnie Quan, RYC, 14; 3) Resilience, Michael & Alex Quinn, RYC, 17. (4 boats)

OLSON 25 — 1) Sketch, David Gruver, SFYC, 7 points; 2) O'mar, David Scott, BYC, 17; 3) Synchronicity, Steve Smith, HMBYC, 21. (5 boats)

YRA OYRA Series

John Arens, who also won his division in the aforementioned YRA Summer Series, liked the Half Moon Bay Race the best of all the OYRA races Reverie sailed in 2022 — even though they didn't finish.

"We sailed through a restricted area and had to forfeit, but the sail down was great. I feel like we finally got some real value out of the damn code zero. And the

Yamamoto.

That's John Clauser in the yellow helmet.

Santana 35 'Ahi' in the OYRA Lightship

ERIK SIMONSON / WWW.PRESSURE-

D ROP.US

ERIK SIMONSON / WWW .PRESSURED ROP.US

SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART II —

night out in Half Moon Bay was crazy fun. HMBYC were lovely hosts, the bars and restaurants were all friendly and welcoming, and our neighbors at the dock joined in on the sea chanteys at midnight.

"Aside from a round-up or two at the South Tower, the hairiest moment of the year was our foolish effort to carry the kite across the finish line during Jr. Waterhouse."

Richmond YC runs the Jr. Waterhouse race, and the finish line is between the race platform on their harbor's breakwater and channel buoy #7 (aka Killer Green).

"We managed to stay just high enough to cross the line and leave some room to douse, but not without a crash jibe in front of the jetty while a tug was pulling out. Not one of our finer moments."

John's crew for the OYRA series were John Duys, Gregg Golembeski, Erik Breedlove, Ed Conti, John Kearny, Molie Malone, Marci Duys, Tom Graves and Gary Simmons.

"Woody Allen was quoted as saying '80% of success in life is just showing up,' or something like that. This describes Ahi's 2022 OYRA season," says Andy Newell, the skipper of the Santana 35 Ahi. Andy is also the long-serving president of the OYRA Series.

"Our fleet (PHRO 3, also known as the old and the slow) started the season with just four boats. Two of them were planning the Pacific Cup and a third is skippered by the Pac Cup YC commodore at the time. We were pretty sure we'd be lonely at some point, and we were right.

"That said, it was a delightful season without any real 'gear-buster' races, and we managed to start eight and finish seven of the nine races for the season. The crew was great at making the most of the tactics of short-tacking the Marin shoreline and keeping the boat moving in light wind.

"Crew who made multiple races were Alexey Sobolev, Ian Kallen (who missed a couple for the Chicago-Mac race), Jason Cater, Jeff Raby, Joe Dick, Mauricio Diaz, Mike Lyman, Oded Haner, Tony Barker and Valerie Suzawa (who missed a few to do the Pac Cup and an attempted return). Several others hopped aboard for a single race.

"Hopefully in 2023, more PHRF 100+ boats will join the party, and whoever wins the season will have to actually earn it."

There had been a lot pent-up demand for the Pacific Cup — the last one was in 2018 — and sailors were itching for the longed-for and long-prepped-for voyage to Hawaii. In non-Pac Cup years (odd years), the OYRA should have a more robust and consistent turnout.

YRA OYRA SERIES (9r, 1t)

PHRO 1 — 1) Leading Lady, 1D35, Andy Lindstrom, OYC, 23 points; 2) Swift Ness, J/111, Nesrin Basoz, RYC, 24; 3) Pegasus, Newland 36, Stephen Lewis, RYC, 25. (9 boats)

PHRO 2 — 1) Reverie, J/109, John Arens, CYC, 13 points; 2) Elan, Express 37, Jack Peurach, EYC, 19; 3) Basic Instinct, Elliott 1050, Memo Gidley, Cass' Marina, 21. (7 boats)

PHRO 3 — 1) Ahi, Santana 35, Andy Newell, RYC, 10 points; 2) Sea Star, Cal 39, Bob Walden, RYC, 18; 3) Green Buffalo, Cal 40, Jim Quanci, RYC, 22. (4 boats)

SHS — 1) Nancy, Wyliecat 30, Pat Broderick/ Joseph Duri, SSS, 12 points; 2) Plus Sixteen, Olson 911, Paul Disario/Liam McNamara, RYC, 18; 3) Riff Rider, Cal 40, Charles Casey, SSS, 19. (3 boats)

MULTIHULL — 1) Bottle Rocket, SeaCart 30, David Schumann, SFYC, 12 points; 2) 'Round Midnight, Explorer 44, Rick Waltonsmith, BAMA, 13; 3) Caliente, Explorer 44, Truls Myklebust, BAMA, 29. (5 boats)

Full results at www.jibeset.net

At the YRA end-of-year party at Richmond YC on November 17, the YRA's executive director Laura Muñoz said that 124 boats won prizes in 2022. Chairman of the board Don Ahrens announced a couple of new awards. Kame Richards received an award for a Lifetime of Service, and Jeff Zarwell for PRO of the Year.

We covered many Bay Area one-design fleets in the December issue of Latitude 38, and we have more to report on here.

International 110 — Smart Shoes

Skip Allan, InvYC

Skip Allan of Capitola was driving past Inverness YC, on Marin County's Point Reyes peninsula, in late 2021. He stopped in to take a look. "A good friend, Bill Barton, had a 110 at IYC named Smart Shoes in which Bill won the 2019 National Championships. Bill moved east and sold the boat to Bryan Lee of Bolinas, who kindly loaned Smart Shoes to me for the 2022 season on Bill Barton's and

Andy Newell 'Ahi'

John Clauser 'Bodacious+'

Andy Lindstrom 'Leading Lady'

Barry Stompe 'Iolani'

Jim Fair

'Chesapeake'

John Arens 'Reverie'

Milly Biller's recommendations." Milly is the local fleet captain.

"I spent the spring of 2022 commuting from Capitola and re-rigging Smart Shoes to simplify handling. Early April 2022 was the first time I sailed on Tomales Bay, the first time sailing a 110, and the first time meeting my crew, Sean Callagy, who was recommended as a good local Laser sailor.

THE YRA AND ONE DESIGNS

"Sean proved smart, strong and agile, with local knowledge. Despite our steep learning curve, Sean and I committed to sailing Smart Shoes in practice regattas and being competitive in time for the National Championships in August.

"At the time, early April, I did not belong to any yacht clubs, but was encouraged to join Inverness YC by members of the local 110 fleet. Everyone I met

was welcoming, InvYC was a fun place to visit, and sailing on Tomales Bay was challenging, with good competition, so it was an easy decision to jump in and join the fun despite having been out of small-boat sailing for 60 years."

Skip and Sean won InvYC's Bender Trophy in the I-110 Class. Another Skip, Skip Shapiro, won the Bender Trophy Open Class championship sailing a 17-ft Day Sailer.

Skip (Shapiro, that is) explains that the Bender season championship spanned four multi-weekend events from mid-March through mid-November. "The yacht club's signature class — the International 110 — completed 20 races, and the Portsmouth Handicap Open Class held 19 races." They used a high-point scoring system.

Thirteen 110s competed. "Skip [Allan] and Sean also won the National Championship regatta in August," added Skip (Shapiro).

INTERNATIONAL 110 BENDER TROPHY (20r)

1) Smart Shoes, 90 points; 2) Ladybug, Bren Meyer, InvYC/RYC, 88. 3) Big Pink, Milly Biller, InvYC, 66. (13 boats)

More info at www.invernessyachtclub.com/racing

J/105 — Blackhawk

Ryan Simmons, SFYC

"We are very honored to be crowned the J/105 Fleet #1 season champs — it

is a seriously competitive fleet and hard to get to the top," says Ryan Simmons of Blackhawk.

R yan was the champion in 2017, 2015 and 2014, in the top standings the years in between, and crewed with his dad, Scooter, when the elder Simmons won the fleet championship. But he was really looking forward to 2022. "2022 has been circled on our calendars for three years, ever since the announcement that the North American Championships were going to be in San Francisco following the Rolex Big Boat Series.

"Along with the NAs being held locally, there was also a rule change in the class increasing the weight limit, so we put together a crew in 2020 that we felt gave us a chance to win the North Americans and planned all boat work and sail purchases to try and maximize that opportunity. We replaced our mast and rigging over the winter, so the season started with a lot of learning, but we steadily improved our performance throughout the year and peaked in the final few regattas.

"Our favorite races are always the

Fred Paxton

'Zenaida'

Gari Ruggles and Gerry Brown 'Mintaka 4'

Scott Easom 'Eight Ball'

David Schumann 'Bottle Rocket'

John Collins and Dave Gruver 'Sketch'

Pat Broderick 'Nancy'

The Skips at Inverness YC: Skip Shapiro (left) and Skip Allan

"With the boom broken, the main fogging a 15-ft hunk of aluminum wildly across the cockpit, spinnaker completely overpowered…"

MILLY

BILLER

COURTESY SCOTT EASOM BAMA

SEASON CHAMPIONS, PART II —

most tightly sailed and competitive, which is usually during the Big Boat Series when everyone steps up their game another level. This year the NAs were the tightest racing we have consistently experienced in the local fleet, which was so much fun to be a part of! We also participated in the Great Vallejo Race and got to take our 3-year-old son on his first sailboat race. It was a really special and memorable experience."

During a failed jibe, Blackhawk broke their boom sailing downwind in 20+ knots. They were racing in Sausalito YC's J/105 Invitational on July 16. "With the boom broken, the main flogging a 15-ft hunk of aluminum wildly across the cockpit, and the spinnaker completely overpowered, it was definitely

Brent Draney (main), Nico Colomb (trim), Kristin Simmons (pit), Jon Rosen (mast) and Collette Zaro (bow), with guest appearances and support from Scooter Simmons, Hannah Weymuller, McKenzie Wilson, Steve Prince, Jay Palace, Philip Laby and Lindsay Browne.

"We love being included in Latitude 38, and the fleet much appreciates all the photos and articles this year — it has really helped us attract new boats and members to our fleet!"

J/105 FLEET #1 (52r/13t)

1) Blackhawk, 91 points; 2) Arbitrage, Bruce Stone, StFYC, 119. 3) Akula, Doug Bailey, NoYC, 185. (35 boats)

More info at www.sfj105.org

Claire Pratt won the Cup this year with 59 points."

For her success, Claire credits preparation, physical conditioning (a lot of time in the gym), and great communication in the boat.

"I've been sailing V15s on and of f since 1999, so muscle memory is not a problem — it's all about making sure the boat and my back won't break," said Claire. "Sailing with Steve Kleha is a crew's dream come true — we're totally on the same page regarding prep and competitiveness, and we have a lot of fun sailing together.

"Race 2 of Nationals, which I sailed with Steve, was memorable. After taking a throwout in Race 1, the breeze picked up (we always feel faster in big breeze), and we were dialed in and got a bullet. That got our spirits up and shook out the nerves.

the hairiest moment of sailing for us this season. Luckily we have a strong and experienced crew and were able to get the sails down without anyone getting injured — it was a great showing of seamanship.

"Unknown to us at the time, it would lead to one of the more cohesive moments for our fleet. I left the 5-ft broken section of boom on the table of one of our main competitors — only to have it returned to me at the North Americans completely refurbished and turned into a BoomSki! Complete with shot glasses installed on the track and a beer funnel running through from end to end and Blackhawk proudly displayed on the side. It was really popular at the afterparties. Thank you, John Claude, for your vision!"

Blackhawk's core crew in 2022 were

Vanguard 15 Founders Cup

Claire Pratt, TISC/Seattle YC

"The Founders Cup is our annual award based on aggregate performance in weekend and other one-off races," explained Sam Wheeler, the outgoing Vanguard 15 Fleet 53 captain. "This year those consisted of the Round-the-Island Race (the winners were Dan Altreuter and Claire Pratt), Nationals (winners: Steve Kleha and Claire Pratt), Fleet Champs (winners: Sam Wheeler and Danielle Ryan), and the Season Closeout Regatta (winners: Sam Reynolds and Ayaka Okawa), with one throwout. We score skippers and crews separately for this one, since people don't always sail with the same pairs across these events.

"Our A boat started taking on water the week before Nationals, which was a huge bummer — it had just been in the shop and there was no time to fix it. Luckily, Steve is prepared, and we had a B boat. Then, when we were launching to sail out to the course for Day 1 of Nationals, our jib cleat sheared off, and we had to jerry-rig it on the main halyard cleat — not optimal for adjusting rig tension on the water, which we do a lot. It had happened to us before, so we didn't totally panic, but it was a tense moment getting off the dock.

"Round-the-Island [T reasure Island], which I sailed with Dan Altreuter, was a lot of fun — I think we were blastreaching fully hiked out the whole western side of TI. Nothing more fun than reaching in a V15 in breeze.

"Skippers and crews are scored separately for Founders Cup, as teams often mix it up for weekend events. As it happens, Steve couldn't make Round-theIsland at the last minute, but Dan (who I previously sailed with for a decade) was available last minute.

"S ailing with Dan is like riding a bike — we were all good despite not having hopped in together for a couple of

BLACKHAWK

'Blackhawk' crew and their repurposed boom.

seasons, and we pulled off the win."

The Treasure Island-based San Francisco Vanguard 15 fleet sails on Tuesday nights (team races) and

THE YRA AND ONE DESIGNS

Thursday nights in Clipper Cove. "There was a pretty clear divide in votes for the elected awards between the Tuesday and Thursday crowds this year, so we're giving out one each for sailors who primarily race in each series," reported Sam Wheeler. The Sportsmanship award went to Steve Kleha (Thursdays) and Ty Ingram (Tuesdays). Most Improved went to Andrea Ciccardi (Thursdays) and Thomas Samuels (Tuesdays). The Social Chair award went to Cappy Pratt (Thursdays) and Kristin Altreuter (Tuesdays). Steve Kleha will serve as fleet captain in 2023.

VANGUARD 15 FOUNDERS CUP (4 regattas, 1t) 1) Claire Pratt, 59 points; 2) Ty Ingram, 54. 3) Kristin Altreuter, 50. (70 sailors)

More info at http://vanguard15.org

If we didn't cover your Bay Area one-design fleet in this or the December issue, please reach out to us at racing@ latitude38.com by January 13.

On December 17, we attended the year-end meeting of the Singlehanded Sailing Society, at which the outgoing commodore, Joe Balderrama, handed out the season champion trophies. We'll report on those champs in the February issue.

To help fl eets and individuals organize their seasons, we continue to publish the Northern California Sailing Calendar and YRA Schedule, distributed with this issue and mailed in December to YRA racers. If you didn't get yours in the mail already, check for a free copy at your yacht club, marina or marine business, or access it online at www. latitude38.com.

— latitude/chris

Claire Pratt with the V15 Fleet 53 Founders Cup trophy at Bay View Boat Club at the feet's end-of-season party on ovember 16.

SAM WHEELER

In the summer of 2022, we set sail on our voyage of more than 5,000 nautical miles across the North Pacific on our Hallberg-Rassy 38 named Rägeboge. Our journey took us to Hawaii, Kodiak, the Gulf of Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula.

Our adventure started with our participation in the Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kane'ohe on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Our crew of four consisted of Karin, Andrea, Raffi and myself. On July 4, we started in a light northwesterly breeze in front of the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and headed under the Golden Gate Bridge into the Pacific Ocean. It was a frustrating start, with three days of unusual, calm weather, wind speed at around 5 knots, and making only 50 nautical miles in 36 hours. Fortunately, we had many hours to watch whales gently swimming alongside our boat.

Finally, on Day Three, after we found ourselves way too far south of our ideal course, the wind started picking up, so we were able to carry the spinnaker and begin logging the expected 140-170 nautical miles per day. From here on out, we had our hands full with handling sails, boat duties and navigation. The trade winds challenged us with a very strong breeze and gusts in the upper 30s. It made for a fast but bumpy passage. All of this didn't prevent us from having fun. Every evening around the watch shift, we enjoyed a good meal during our daily crew gathering. This kept the crew in high spirits despite everyone's hard work.

In the early mor ning of our 16th day at sea, we heard a message from a naval officer on the nearby US Navy ship alerting all vessels of maneuvers off the coast of Oahu. The excitement started to build among the crew at the prospect of crossing the finish line and stepping ashore in Kane'ohe. And sure enough, at 1714

HST, after 2,400 nautical miles at sea, we crossed the finish line! An hour later we made fast at Kane'ohe Yacht Club to a warm welcome of about a hundred other Pacific Cup participants, families and staff members. Quite an overwhelming welcome!

After celebrating our successful passage to Hawaii and getting some wellearned rest, we set out to do repairs, reprovision, and prepare the boat for our 2,400-mile passage north to Kodiak, AK. Karin left us to return to Switzerland. We continued our adventures as a crew of three.

On July 29 at 1500 HST, we left the Hawaiian island of Oahu behind us with only blue water ahead for the next 16 days. Again we faced strong trade winds from 15 to 30 knots with seas up to 16-20 feet. Since the trade winds blow from the east and we were heading due north, we sailed at a comfortable angle to the wind. We shortened sails, first from the genoa to the jib, and then we reefed our main. A day later we set the second reef, and finally the headsail was changed to our 80% jib. Even with the smallest sails (before switching to storm sails), we screamed north between 7, 8 and sometimes 9 knots on average. Our Hallberg-Rassy 38 loved it, gently heeling over about 12-15 degrees, taking on each wave as if this were the easiest thing to do. We made steady progress toward Kodiak, the biggest island in the Gulf of Alaska.

Despite the constant heel to port, life on board was becoming kind of normal. We continued our proven routine with a warm dinner in the evening with all crew members up to check in among everyone

Left: Plowing through the waves while heading north. Right: Hein , left, and Raff staying warm and protected in Alaska.

and have some quality social time. We continued cooking delicious meals for dinner. Raffi surprised us a couple of times with fine Mexican burritos; we had good risotto with sausages and a nice variety of different potato dishes.

After a few days at sea, the crew craved some fresh bread. Easily done: We have a gimbaled oven on board and had brought flour, yeast and salt. Off we went to make bread. It was a luxurious, welcome addition to our regular boat routine.

The days flew by quickly. The temperature started to fall as we crossed one after another latitudinal meridian. It reminded us that we were getting closer to our destination. Shorts and T-shirts changed to pullovers, long pants and foul weather gear. The sightings of freighters and fishing vessels increased.

We kept a very close watch on the weather. On Day 13 we noticed a strong depression, with winds in the 40s, coming in from the Bering Sea, heading to the Aleutian Islands and Kodiak in about three to four days. It was pushing the remainder of a diminishing high pressure system ahead of it to the east. This called for lighter winds in our path. We needed to decide whether to wait it out at sea or motor through the high and push for Kodiak before the depression hit. It was obvious weathering it out at sea was not an option, so on Day 14 we dropped sails and started motoring to Kodiak. As we got closer, the warm front ahead of the storm brought light rain. We sighted several fishing vessels on their way into either Kodiak or one of its neighboring islands.

It was a foggy approach to Kodiak. The rain drizzle added to our poor visibility. Instead of seeing the mountains on the island, we saw only some contours of the land in the dense fog. Magically, as we got within 10 miles of the island, the drizzle stopped and the fog lifted. Behind it we saw the Kodiak inlet, the airport, and the US Coast Guard station to the left and the town with its harbor to the right. So we approached St. Paul Harbor on Kodiak sland with good visibility. At 1700 we made fast at a guest slip, sitting between two large fishing vessels. St. Paul Harbor mainly serves the local fishing industry, so our sailboat looked a little bit lost amid the fishing fleet. Nevertheless, we got a warm welcome from the harbormaster and the fishermen on the vessel next to us. Overall it was a pretty smooth 2,400-mile sail north.

PHOTOS KARIN FANKHAUSER, ANDREA GEISINGER AND HEINZ BAUMANN

IN THE NORTH PACIFIC AND ALASKA

We planned to stay in Kodiak for a few days and then start to explore some of the bays on Kodiak and its neighboring islands after waiting for several storm fronts to pass. The day after our arrival, heavy winds and rainfall kept us below deck resting, reading and planning our next few days.

Raffi left us in Kodiak to race in the Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco. So we started cruising doublehanded around Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula. After sitting out two storm fronts, we left Kodiak with a course for Kitoi Bay, a small bay on the neighboring island, Afognak, north of Kodiak. We motored with an outgoing tide alongside a couple of fishing vessels until we reached the open waters. With increasing wind we set the mainsail and the jib for a pleasant sail across the small stretch of open water to Izhut Bay to anchor for the night tucked on the left side in Kitoi Bay. We anchored beside a few fishing vessels that had made camp for the night there as well. The anchorage was quiet, the water still; the only sound was the wind gently brushing on the trees ashore.

The weather forecast showed continuous unstable weather for the coming days, so we decided to shorten our exploration of Afognak Island and quickly head across the Gulf of Alaska. Our next stop was picturesque Phoenix Bay, one of the many arms in Perenosa Bay. Arriving early gave us plenty of time to kayak around the bay. Sea otters were posing for pictures, but dove whenever the camera was pointed at them. A seal decided my kayak would make a good toy and tried to play with it, so we paddled back to our boat, leaving it behind.

We then left Discovery Bay on the Kodiak Archipelago to sail across the treacherous Gulf of Alaska. It showed its prettier side. A nice breeze blew us across, between the Barren Islands and

Paddling by the Aialik lacier.

farther toward the Kenai Peninsula. We set our anchor in Port Chatham, an inlet on the northwest of the peninsula. The scenery was spectacular, with high mountains and steep slopes reaching all the way down and into the water. The small fog banks that formed just a little over the water transformed our anchorage into an idyllic fairyland. The next

Anchored in front of the Aialik lacier. Inset: n oying the Pacifc, l to r: Karin Fankhauser, Raff Baumann, Hein Baumann and Andrea eisinger.

SAILING TO 60° NORTH — OUR JOURNEY

morning we hoisted anchor early to catch the slack current at Chugach Passage, a narrow channel between the mainland and Elizabeth Island. We had dense fog with poor visibility as we carefully navigated, with help from our electronic instruments and a lookout on the bow, out of Port Chatham and through the narrows. We motored along the shoreline to Tonsina Bay, about 20 nautical miles to the northeast. The fog had lifted by that time, and sunshine warmed up our surroundings and made for a pleasant afternoon at anchor.

During the next few days, we anchored in many wonderful bays and inlets, rugged from the exposure to the elements and untouched by civilization. We heard eagles cry in the distance, sea otters swimming alongside, and saw thunderous waterfalls, to list a few of the wonders this part of the world has in store.

We progressed more to the northeast and ventured into Harris Inlet. We raised anchor in Thunder Bay early one morning for the 60-mile sail to Seward, AK. The weather forecast had winds out of the southeast at 15 knots. The high peaks and narrows surrounding the different fjords caused the wind to be a lot stronger. Reaching Aialik Point, we had winds up to 30 knots, with heavy rain. Sailing with double reef and half rolled-in jib toward Seward, we arrived in the evening hours, cold and wet but safe.

We spent a few days getting to know Seward and making many new friends.

Seward is the hub for the glacier tours on Kenai Peninsula. There is at least one cruise ship per day bringing tourists, changing the small boat harbor and its surroundings into a madhouse for a few hours before the ships head back out to their next destination.

We set out again to explore Aialik Fjord and its glaciers. We cruised down Resurrection Bay toward Aialik Bay on a spectacular, sunny day. We peeked into Bear Glacier Bay. The glacier doesn't reach

the water, but we could see it above the shoreline along with large blocks of ice that float down the river into the bay.

After rounding the Aialik Cape, we crossed the Aialik Inlet and set anchor for the night in a small bay behind Verdant Island. The next morning we went to the Aialik Glacier before motoring past Holgate Arm and its glacier towering far inside the inlet. A couple of hours later, we entered the ice field ahead of the Aialik Glacier carefully steering around

Left: Raff, Andrea and Hein l to r , arrive in Kodiak, St. Paul Harbor. Right: ur sights are on the Aialik lacier.

The course from Hawaii to Alaska. Inset: The cruise within Alaska.

IN THE NORTH PACIFIC AND ALASKA

small ice blocks as we followed local tour boats headed in the same direction. About two miles before the glacier, the water was ice-free. After anchoring in 80 feet of water, we launched our kayak to explore the glacier close up. The next stop was Coleman Bay, with its numerous and magnificent waterfalls. We were

visiting in autumn and thinking how spectacular these waterfalls would be in spring, when the meltwater feeds them all. Something to explore next year…

Heading back toward Seward, we passed within one mile of Holgate Glacier's glacial moraine. Another spectacular sight. Arriving in Seward Harbor, we

prepared our boat for a long winter at 60° north. We will be back in spring 2023 to explore more of this beautiful and untouched wilderness.

If you are interested in joining us, contact us or visit our website: www.swissadventures.com

— heinz baumann

Left: Hein at the helm sailing out of Kane'ohe on ahu Island, Hawaii. Center: Barren Islands Passage near Kodiak and Seaward. Right: Magical sailing aboard 'R geboge'.

The Hull

In the early 1970s, Moore Sailboats was busy building 5O5s for the run-up to the 1971 Santa Cruz Worlds. There was no paved dry storage at Santa Cruz Yacht Club, and the weight limit on the club hoist was 2,000 pounds.

Both Phil Vandenberg and I had ordered new 5O5s, and I spent a lot of time at 'The Reef', the nickname for the Moore shop. George Olson (who would become Ron Moore's partner and the namesake designer of the Olson 25, 29, 30, 34 and 40) shaped our foils.

The Moor es knew they needed a product with broader market appeal, and were entertaining the idea of a small keelboat. But until spring 1971, the only action was a lot of head scratching and ideas coming in off the street. Finally, I think it might have been John Moore who said, "What about that old Grendel plug out back?"

George Olson had designed Grendel for MORA racing around three things he already had: a Cal 20 rig (which he was familiar with from the turboed Cal 20 Sopwith Camel), a Newport 20 ballast keel, and a copy of Skene's Elements of Yacht Design.

However, although Grendel was quite successful racing MORA on the Bay, George knew she was too narrow and tender. This became a central topic in discussions with Ron and John. Thus, "the day the plug was spread" came about. It was a weekend, and I remember

it was hot. Very hot.

I was rigging my Proctor D mast on the bench along the wall. Grendel's plug had been freed from the mass of weeds, vines, snail tracks and spider webs that covered it, lugged into the shop, and chocked upright. A lot of beer was being consumed, but it didn't take long before the athwartships stations were cut and it was being spread. It was just

built of lath with a thin skin, but even so, a certain amount of pressure, involving bottle jacks and shims, was required.

By this time, the corrugated iron Reef was well over 100 degrees. Finally, Ron was squatting inside the plug, measuring and gesturing, when George walked across to the scrap pile behind the wood stove near my mast, grabbed a two-byfour, walked back, and handed it to Ron. Then, after a bit more jacking and wedging, George cut a short chunk off with a saw, and they jammed it in place athwartships at the gunwale. George stepped back and said, "That looks about right." And, it was. Almost.

As the plug was spread, the sheer amidships was forced downward, to the point that its curve became extreme and the hull depth too shallow. In spite of this, what would become Summertime's hull was laid up over the rebraced and inverted plug. Then, once it was popped off, about eight inches of freeboard was added and the sheer straightened. This was done by constructing a Masonite mold surface along the hull's exterior at the sheer.

Glass was added between the original sheer of the modified plug and Summertime's actual sheer. If you observed the faint line of the bottom edge of laminate overlap, or the line forward of the bulkhead extending aft, that line originally curved up to the corner of the transom. That line came to show how distorted

the

That's the famed 'Summertime' in the foreground, which would become the Moore 24 prototype. Note the more modern, fush-deck Moore 24 in the background. And note the fames on the waterline.

That's Ron Moore, right, standing in front of one of the fastest and most stylish crafts of the 1970s. o, we're not talking about the Porsche, but the Moore 24, considered one of the frst "ultralight" sailboats before that term became part of the sailing lexicon.

THE BIRTH OF THE ULTRALIGHT BOAT

PHOTOS MOORE SAILBOATS ASSOCIATION

to Grendel's , but not identical, since the sheer lines of the two boats' actual hulls (where the rubbing strake usually is) are different. The rudder is quite different from today's class standard.

I can't remember if that came from Summertime's original rudder or not, but it is remarkably similar to the one currently on #2, in Hawaii, and to some of the Un-30s.

The Rig

Geor ge Olson did not design the Moore 24 rig. If anybody deserves credit, it's Bill Lapworth, Jensen Marine's designer of the Cal 2-24.

plug's actual sheer was after spreading.

With her long cockpit, small bubble cabin, and cramped interior, Summertime predated modern sportboats by decades. By 1972, she was sailing off Santa Cruz with a masthead rig. It was soon obvious that she was fast. It was also obvious to the Moores that a boat with no interior had little market appeal, and that a real hull mold was needed.

So after her sea trials (wher e just about every sailor in Santa Cruz sailed her over the summer), she was brought back to the shop, the ballast removed, the stubby added (the keel was moved forward slightly to correct for lee helm), and a female mold constructed.

T o help accomplish this, Ron and John hired Bruce Clayton as their first employee. Dave Roberts and Dave Engels also contributed their labor in exchange for hull kits. Bruce worked under Ron's tutelage and later went on to develop the "Un-30" (LOA 29' 11 3/8") based on scaling up Summertime's lines plan, which I had drawn for Ron. Bruce got the idea for the name from 7Up marketing itself as the "Uncola."

The hull later became the Wilderness 30, built by Gary Caballero's The Hull Works with a different sheer and deck. As Summertime's hull mold was being finished, Ron began thinking about the deck. Ron knew I did some drafting on the side, and asked me to make some sketches of different concepts. These ranged from Grendel's original

r everse-sheer flush deck, to a Cal 20-style raised foredeck, to a Santana 22-style cabin.

They were all very rough, because even at this point, there were no lines of the boat on paper. She had just sort of morphed into being. By early 1973, there was a real need for a lines drawing of the new hull.

As it happened, shortly after the '71 5O5 Worlds, my girlfriend Ruth (who would eventually become Karl Robrock's aunt) and I started racing my 5O5. We were too small for the boat, but we were competitive, and we really wanted a new jibing centerboard. So we agreed to a linesfor-centerboard swap, and spent many evenings sliding around the hull mold in our stocking feet with plumb bobs, levels, string and a ridiculous amount of masking tape.

Because Grendel's plug had spread asymmetrically, we had a terrible time reconciling the port and starboard offsets, and finally just had to average some of the curves to make a few points reconcile into a more or less idealized shape. I believe this lines plan, drawn at 1" = 1' in July 1973, is the basis for most of the half models that have been made.

The lines plan produced an accurate sheer line that led to the current deck profile of the boat, which I drew. The profile is similar

Summertime's per formance had attracted quite a bit of attention during her summer of sea trials. Several people were interested in purchasing a hull as a kit once they became available. Two of these were Dr. Robert (Bob) Wade and his son Rob. They were campaigning their family's Cal 2-24 Tootsie Roll in MBYRA (Monterey Bay Yacht Racing Association.) and wanted a faster boat. By 1974, the first Moore 24 kits were appearing, and I think #5, Relma, was the original.

These were all narrow-cockpit boats that were rigged with recycled Proctor Tempest or Soling masts; #3, Quicksilver, was owned by Andy Anderson.

Andy and I were friends, and Ruth Ron Moore, as seen in the original 'The Reef' shop in Santa Cruz.

Ron Moore, left, and Walter Olivieri, the original owner of the Moore 24 #5 'Relma', which he still has at Santa Cruz Yacht Club.

ALL

EXCEPT AS NOTED

and I often sailed with him on the boat along with Rob and Jack Halterman, who had just won the National Intercollegiate Sloop Championship sailing for UCSC in Shields sloops on the East Coast. They were very competitive.

By then, Rob had convinced his father that if you wanted to win races in a 24-ft boat, the Moore 24 — as it was starting to be called — was the way to go.

But what to use for a rig?

At that point, the Moores were not producing rigged boats. There was no

class, so anything that would fit was eligible. Although Summertime sailed well with her masthead rig, the kit boats' Proctor rigs were too flexible to support adequate rig tension. More importantly, Rob had a real affinity for the 15/16th rig on the Cal 2-24. It didn't sacrifice too much spinnaker area, didn't require jumpers or runners to get adequate headstay tension, but still allowed some control of the mainsail.

So we borrowed Andy's boat, stepped Tootsie Roll's huge rig on her, and went Wednesday-night sailing. This was not a setup that tolerated too many crew on the same side of the deck at the dock. But in spite of being tender and overpowered, the boat proved remarkably fast. Wednesdays don't feature long beats, and feathering like crazy, we often rounded the weather mark with much bigger boats. I remember one race where we rounded overlapped with Xanthippe,

the Simpkins' Columbia 50, and left her behind on the run. Rob and Jack wanted to enter Quicksilver in that year's Santa Barbara Race, but she didn't go.

Andy was on vacation and had left me responsible. I felt that although the extra weight aloft of the 2-24 rig wasn't much of a factor screwing around on Wednesdays, it would make the boat unseaworthy offshore. As it turned out, there was very little wind that year.

By this time it was pretty clear that the new boat would have a scaled-down version of the 2-24's 15/16 rig. More importantly, Rob's dad, Bob, also liked that rig — and he had the checkbook. I had the lines plan and my own copy of Skenes, and knew how to make the necessary calculations.

In consultation with the Moor es, Rob and Jack, I drew the sail plan for #7, Poltergeist, as the new boat was to be called. Since the Wades could afford professionally made spars, they went straight to Niels Ericsson in Sausalito. I believe he built two rigs, one for Poltergeist and one for #6, Ruby, which was the first wide-cockpit, fully rigged Moore the shop turned out. She became the "shop boat" and the prototype for all the stock boats to follow.

But with North sails by Larry Herbig, Poltergeist was sailing earlier, because she had a race date to make.

Early Races, and the Boat That

Established the Benchmark

Rob and Bob Wade's goal all along was the 1975 Año Nuevo Race, the opener in the MBYRA series. Back then, that race started and finished in Monterey, encompassing a 40-mile beat and return. Poltergeist was finished in time, but barely. After a few shakedowns, Rob, Jack and I sailed her across to Monterey on a Friday afternoon for the Saturday morning start.

There had been a spring storm the week before, and as the front passed, a strong northwesterly filled behind. We did the 20-plus miles across to Monterey in two hours and change with a reef and the #3. We slept aboard Friday night in Monterey Marina, convinced by the roar of gusts through nearby rigs that we were embarked on a fool's errand. But by the time Dr. Wade arrived the next morning with the victuals, the front was in Utah, and wind had died to a whisper.

As one of smallest boats in the fleet, we knew the race was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. But the light-air start favored us; on the long port tack

The famed 'Summertime' in Santa Cruz Harbor, during Made in Santa Cruz Race Week in May 2013.

A Moore 24 feet party. That's a young Morgan Larson in the yellow boots up front. Morgan's family owned and raced Moore 24 88 'Tonopah Low'. He later went on to own the Moore 24 'Bru er'.

LATITUDE

/ CHRIS

THE BIRTH OF THE ULTRALIGHT BOAT

back across to Santa Cruz, we paced a well-sailed Cal 3-30 and Ranger 33. There were a lot of tacks between Santa Cruz and Año Nuevo buoy, most of which I spent below, shifting sails and wedging myself up into the weather jump seat. Often overlooked today is the fact that once a boat with lifelines is heeled, due to the hull's tumblehome (when a hull grows narrower above the waterline than its beam), a crew member perched in the weather jump seat exerts virtually the same righting moment as on the rail.

We rounded Año Nuevo buoy after dark in about 25 knots of cold northerly. Rob and Jack had helmed the whole way, with Dr. Wade hunkered down in his gear on the rail. He was tough and quite fit for his age. He had boxed in college and, as

a doctor, he knew the importance of pacing. This was good because, by the time we rounded, Rob and Jack both looked like they had just scaled K-2 during a solar flare.

But we had a fresh helmsman who

was also an experienced 5O5 skipper, and a little red North star-cut, heavy-air kite. We set. Control was fingertip. The speedo went to 10+ and never dropped until Monterey's lights were well within view. We passed more than a few of the bigger boats that had rounded ahead of us, and we easily won on corrected time.

Poltergeist went on to win that year's MBYRA season championship and the Santa Barbara Race. (I was unable to make that race, but I sailed in the next Año Nuevo Race, which she also won.)

Poltergeist's victory the second time around was largely due to an unforced navigational error on the part of her main competition. This was a new, very well set up Santa Cruz 27 named Kurzwiele, owned by Randy Parker. This race was

That's 'Grendel', left and green, considered the original Moore 24.

LATITUDE / CHRIS

MOORE MEMORIES

the Santa Cruz 27 design's competitive debut, and she was crewed to win.

Shortly after the start — which was considerably windier than the previous year's — we watched with dismay as she powered away upwind with six people on the rail. We followed the same game plan as before, but by the time we rounded, they were long gone. We pretty much rhumb-lined it back to Monterey while they went offshore in search of more breeze. Way offshore.

The fog moved in, and the breeze died away. We spent probably the last two hours slatting to finally finish around 2:30 a.m. As we moped across the line, we were greeted with almost hysterical giddiness by Ruth, and Rob and Jack's girlfriends, all three of whom were perched on the very end of Wharf No. 2.

"Guess who won!" they shrieked.

"Kurzwiele," Rob replied.

"No, you did! She hasn't finished yet!"

This was long before GPS. The RDF bearing from Año Nuevo to Monterey virtually lines up with the axis of the Monterey Peninsula. But when approaching

from offshore, the signal travels over it. Kurzwiele followed that bearing in, and ended up off Carmel. Because of the fog, by the time she realized her error, it was too late. While we were slatting, she was slowly beating back up around Point Pinos.

In the space of one year, Poltergeist had won two Año Nuevo races, the MBYRA series, and the Santa Barbara Race. Ruby may have preceded Poltergeist out of the mold, but it was the latter's early successes that ensured she would become the basis for the fleet that exists today.

— paul tara

"Last year, I bought eorge lson's original prototype for the Moore 24, ' rendel'," lenn Shinn, pictured above standing in front of a completely reftted version of a legendary boat, wrote us in 2017. "She'd been sitting in a slip for at least 10 years and was in sorry shape. There were soft spots in the deck, and the main support beam down the middle of her plywood deck was broken. I'm fnishing a complete top-to-bottom, inside-and-out reft. I even took her to Ron Moore's shop in Watsonville and had him remove and re-bed the keel. By the way, ' rendel' — maybe the very frst LDB ultralight displacement boat from Santa Cru ever built — is 47 years old!"

COURTESY GLENN SHINN

In June and July last year, 69-year-old Ben Lindner became the latest singlehander to sail the Pacific Puddle Jump, aboard one of its smallest boats, his Oregon-based Pacific Seacraft 27 Orion, Dawn. Thanks to today's technology, he kept an almost constant stream of updates going to folks back home. He did such a good job of it — including some "Sailing 101" for the nonsailors among his contacts — that we thought readers would enjoy getting "looped in."

the fuse was my error.) All easily fixed, but you need to have the tools and parts to deal with these minor issues. The AIS (Automatic Identification System) has been a wonderful asset; the ability to identify traffic 36 miles away with all of their information is great. The addition of transmitting this same information about me to that traffic is a big help to a solo sailor. Also having onboard weather is another big plus. It's possible to sail without this equipment, and some feel it is best not to rely on it, but I, for one, am glad I can.

une 14, 2022 (Marina Coral, Ensenada, Mexico) — Hello friends and family. I'm about to embark on a voyage that I have dreamt of taking since I was 16. I invite you to follow along.

A little about the passage: It is approximately 3,000 nautical miles (3,450 statute miles). My goal is to sail about 125 nautical miles in a 24-hour period; however that will vary depending on weather. I will be sailing 24 hours a day and there will be no stops along the way. There is only ocean between Ensenada and the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, my first landfall. I am exceptionally wellequipped with a complete electronics suite, and conveniences such as a watermaker and refrigeration. If the weather is not too bad it should be a great voyage.

June 16 — Today finds me in good sailing conditions, winds NNW at 9-12 kts. Sea state is easy swell and modest wave height. The sky is overcast and hazy, with the weather forecast indicating similar conditions for almost a week. I'm on a beam reach and comfortable. I will be transitioning to a broad reach in a few days as the wind backs somewhat. If I were to sail a rhumb-line course to the Marquesas, I would be steering 201 degrees magnetic; however the winds are slightly better north of the rhumb line and I'm being set south by an approximately 1kt current. As a result, I am steering about 20 degees north of the direct-course line.

People wonder why boats are so much work. It's because stuff breaks out here all of the time! Since I left Ensenada just two days ago, a shackle on my traveler has come apart, my BBQ grill mounts came loose, and I have blown a fuse! (OK,

JJune, 18 (450 nm from Ensenada) — Just after I wrote to you on Thursday afternoon, the winds piped up. I made several sail reductions, finally setting a storm jib alone as night approached. I'm taking a conservative approach because I want to avoid foredeck work at night in heavy weather. The seas also built, and by reducing sail I reduced speed and made for a more comfortable ride. Winds rose to mid- then high 20s and stayed that way until this morning. Anxious to get my speed back up as things moderated, I added sail and had a comfortable ride at 6+ kts after spending 36 hours at 3.5. I'm now in winds in the high teens and making decent speed. Skies have cleared and it is beautiful in the Pacific!

In attempting to make a hot meal late last night, I spilled the soup three times before getting it to the stove, then once more on the stove. My stove is gimbaled and swinging to the stops. That's cooking on a small boat in rough weather! What I didn't spill was a joy. The weather routing computers — programs provided by PredictWind with my satellite communications system — are telling me to steer farther north to stay in moderate winds. They are anticipating the winds will be lighter closer to the rhumb line. For my part, I'm not sure it's worth adding significant mileage for added speed. On the other hand, going slow is a bummer and I anticipate that I will have plenty of that crossing the ITCZ.

June 22 (900 nm miles SW of Ensenada) — Wow, what fantastic sailing! Winds mid-teens from the north, beam reaching and seeing 6+ kts. Sea state calmest of the trip. And it's warmer! Winds shifted overnight by about 25 degrees. As a result I have altered my point of sail to continue in the direction the routing plan is

recommending — more west than the rhumb line to the Marquesas. In several days I will make a significant change in course and jibe to almost due south. This course will line me up to cross the Convergence Zone at approximately right angles, and with maybe no loss of wind. I would then continue SSW to Nuku Hiva.

The ITCZ, or Intertropical Convergence Zone, is an area where the weather systems of the Northern and the Southern hemispheres meet. It's an area of unstable winds, with no prevailing direction, strength or reliability. Its size and shape can vary significantly both seasonally and daily. Oddly, in this part of the Pacific, the zone is not at the equator; it's north of it by 5-10° of latitude. If I were to cross the Convergence Zone in the wrong place, I could encounter hundreds of miles of no wind. In a good location, the crossing may hardly be noticeable. The location of a good point to cross moves constantly.

Currents are another factor. The ITCZ can have westerly currents of up to 2.5

DAWN

It took 50 years, but Ben Lindner fnally got to live the dream.

DAWN

JUMPING THE PUDDLE SINGLEHANDED

attention, or a big and expensive mess can result! Fortunately, the spinnaker I have came with a sleeve, a long, funnellike bag over the sail. You raise the whole thing, and when you're ready, you hoist the sleeve and the spinnaker "inflates."

As I write this, the chute — as spinnakers are called — has been up for 48 hours straight and doing brilliantly. I have seen over 6 kts in 15 kts of breeze. However the winds have been more in the range of 7-10 kts with a pretty wide range of directions, swinging from time to time as much as 45 degrees. I'm not flying any other sails, as the main would partially blanket the spinnaker. This particular spinnaker is conservatively sized and works best in a beam reach to broad reach. Buying this sail was sort of an iffy call for me. Did I really need it? I can answer that question with an absolute "Yes!" A voyager is many times more likely to encounter light winds than heavy. Having efficient sails to use in those situations is really important. I'm currently sailing about 100 miles a day. If I didn't have the right sail it could be half that.

June 28 (1,450 nm from Ensenada — and 1,450 nm from Nuku Hiva) — Halfway! Before me is the Convergence Zone, its transit an unknown, and then 650750 miles of strong and exciting sailing into Nuku Hiva. I hope the more challenging conditions were closer to the beginning of the trip.

kts! So you could be becalmed attempting to head south, yet moving west at 2.5 knots. This happened to an experienced friend of mine and he cautioned me to studiously avoid that situation. I'm keeping a close eye on this and will fine-tune my approach to match the most advantageous location.

I've been hoping my onboard navigation and satellite weather reporting system will pay off big-time on this part of the passage. But I've become increasingly concerned that the recommendations I was receiving were flawed. I altered course to due south at about 9 a.m., and shortly after that the winds became very light and variable. This was the price I would have to pay to avoid a potentially much more difficult situation south of the equator, where the winds are strong and predominantly from the SSE. If I were trying to approach

Hiva from the north, as the routers would have me do, I would be unable to make it directly because I would be heading almost into the wind. You need to be at least 45 degrees off the wind to sail, and more angle is better. This can be overcome with tacking; however it will add countless miles to a passage and you will be sailing on an undesirable and uncomfortable point of sail for all of it.

At 11 a.m. I received a new weather report, and guess what? They came to

The last few days have entailed raising and lowering the spinnaker on a regular basis. When the winds or sea state get too boisterous, I drop the spinnaker and sail under genoa. Above 15 knots, or when the boat is getting pushed around a lot by opposing wave and swell action, the spinnaker can be too much. It can overpower the wind vane so that it can't control the boat, and sometimes even overpower the helm when I'm trying to steer. To avoid those situations, you must be proactive and get the chute down before you have a rodeo! Unfortunately, the motion and sound of the boat when you switch back to the genoa is annoying and nothing to compare with the smooth ride the spinnaker provides.

their senses and agreed that heading farther west was a bad idea!

The winds remained light and I experimented with a number of different "white sail" combinations, none of which I particularly liked for performance or ride quality. The only option left was my asymmetrical spinnaker. It takes quite an effort to set up a spinnaker singlehanded, And once it's up, it requires

My bilge pump has — on occasion, not all the time — been coming on several times an hour, but perhaps for just 30 seconds each cycle. Today I spent an hour in the bilge trying to locate any source of water getting into the boat and found none. I'm perplexed, but it is not an issue to cause concern as there are no leaks that I can find.

July 3 (1,100 nm from Nuku Hiva) — Forgive the absence. It's not for lack of

Nuku

Above: Taiohae Bay, uku Hiva. Left: 'Dawn' fnally at rest after a long passage. The boat averaged 100 miles a day for the 3,400-mile trip.

desire to be in touch, but the demands of the boat. I've had the most difficult portion of the voyage so far. The ITCZ has lived up to its reputation!

My visions of the zone were dead calm, glassy water, blazing sun and, of course, hot. Maybe occasional thunderstorms would punctuate the day with happy showers for me in warm rain. NOT! For this voyage, and up until this minute, I have had the strongest wind of the trip — 37 kts yesterday — and numerous thunderstorms, one on top of another. The seas have on occasion been big, with three-meter swell, waves from multiple directions, and current of up to 2.7 kts on the nose! The biggest issue is the wind direction, and how it can change dramatically in very short order. I've found that the accuracy of the forecasts in this area is not high, so routing is really a guess.

A few days ago, before all this, I went on deck before dawn as I have become accustomed to doing. The sail trim and point of sail were perfect — just as I had set them before getting a few hours of sleep. However, my course had changed 60°! Welcome to the yin and yang of selfsteering with a wind vane.

To explain this as simply as possible, self-steering gear or wind vanes are designed to maintain the boat in the same relationship to the wind — not the compass — as you set them. They do not use electronics or electricity to do this. They are entirely mechanical and rely on the wind and the power of the boat moving through the water.

There are several different types of systems, the most popular of which is a "servo pendulum," which is what I have. Mine works by having a light plastic air vane sticking up vertically behind the boat. Once you're on your desired point of sail, you align the forward edge of the vane directly into the wind. As the boat moves in relation to the wind, more pressure is placed on one side or the other of the vane, which is connected to an airfoilshaped paddle in the water. Input from the vane causes the paddle to turn, then pivot from one side to the other, like a pendulum. The vane is attached by lines to the tiller, which turns the boat and keeps it on the same course relative to the wind. To clarify, the wind vane does not care about a compass course, and you can't set it to follow one. It steers only to the wind angle.

And though the boat had been going the "wrong way" while I took my nap, this surprise was much preferable to what would have happened had an autopilot

— which does steer a compass course — been on duty. A wind change of 60 degrees could have caused damage to the boat, the rig, or the skipper!

That's one of the reasons I do not use an autopilot. The other two are: They break absolutely always (at least in my experience), and they require substantial battery power. Even though my solar panels work well, I still prefer a wind vane to an autopilot.

July 7 (900 nm from Nuku Hiva) — Since I last wrote, I was becalmed in classic Convergence Zone conditions: glassy water, little to no wind, sporadic thunderstorms, and hot. I'd anticipated this weather pattern and decided to motor, given the very strong current running at 2.5+ knots against me. At about 9:30 p.m., after I'd motored for about 18 hours, the winds turned back on as if someone had flipped a switch. Within minutes, I had 14 kts — unfortunately from the wrong direction, approximately SSE, and my destination was SSW.

During my numerous sail adjustments for the changing wind conditions, I experienced a malfunction with my roller furling gear. I've had problems with this equipment several times before, and fix-it times have varied. I decided not to tackle the repair job in the dark, and sailed with the genoa more unfurled than I would've desired overnight. I compensated by reefing the main, but this created an unbalanced helm, and the vane was unable to cope with it. It was necessary to steer a bit off course until I could bring the sail plan back into balance.

The following mor ning, I sat on the bowsprit and unwound the line that had jumped off the furling drum, then rewound it, in between getting dunked into the Pacific with every wave as the bow plunged up and down. Fortunately, the water was warm!

Once everything was working again, I did the best I could getting back to my

route, sailing close-hauled (but still 30° off rhumb line). I'd been on that course and point of sail for three days with winds forecast to gradually shift to my advantage, and maybe even let me sail a rhumb line course to the island.

July 10 — Big news! Today I learned that the government of French Polynesia has reopened their customs and immigration office on Hiva Oa. This will allow me to enter the country on that island instead of Nuku Hiva. The advantage of this is that Hiva Oa is southeast of Nuku Hiva. The winds are predominantly from that direction, so to get from Nuku Hiva to Hiva Oa is an upwind journey and it would take much more time to get there. This way I could have an easy, one-day downwind sail between the islands.

July 11 (About 6 miles north of the equator) — One minute I was sailing along in 14 knots, the next I was slammed with extremely high winds and rain. I had been sailing fairly aggressively, so had plenty of canvas up. The next 45 minutes were a rodeo of trying to get the boat back under control. A fun addition was that one of my winches seized as I was using it to furl the genoa. This was the first time on the trip that I would have been grateful to have a second hand. No damage occurred, but below was a mess, with a good amount of water having come in, much of it from the sink drain "backflushing." Eventually the winds abated and I began the cleanup. Sometime during the melee, I crossed the equator and didn't even know it.

July 12 (561 miles from Hiva Oa) — I have traced my leak to the teak cap on the starboard bulwark. When I'm heeled in the 15-20-degree range, I get water into the boat. My solution for the moment is to reduce my heel angle when possible. This means carrying less sail and going slower. But it will also make for more comfortable sleeping in my portside berth.

All of my charts are electronic. My chartplotter has a base map of the world, but it's not detailed. You have to purchase detailed electronic charts for each region that you wish to sail. I just switched out my Western North America charts for the South Pacific region charts as I approach Hiva Oa.

Electronics — I love ‘em! I'm fascinated with the displays and all of the data. Perhaps it's my training as an instrument pilot, where you must be able to navigate without reference to anything outside the

'Dawn' on fnal approach to uku Hiva. There's nothing quite like making landfall after a long ocean voyage.

DAWN

cockpit of the plane. Nowadays, navigation systems for boats have become almost as sophisticated as those found on planes. My instruments are able to compute current and what course correction I need to make to compensate for it. I'm currently getting a nice boost from the current that has (finally!) turned favorable for me in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, there is one fly in the ointment: After more than a month at sea, my boatspeed sensor is fouled with marine growth in this 85° water.

While the speed-sensing end of this unit is in the water under the boat, the main part of it is mounted in a thru-hull inside. It's made so I can remove the sensor, clean it, and return it to service. However, I'm reluctant to essentially open up a hole in the boat while sailing hundreds of miles from land, plus it makes a mess, with water briefly flooding into the boat. So I think I'll live with inaccurate data for a few more days before I pull the plug, so to speak.

July 13 — At 4 a.m., I was awakened by a sudden increase in the wind. It was already 25 kts. I didn't want to get caught in a second fire drill, so as the winds continued to build, I kept reducing sail until I was under stormsail only. This was not a squall, as I had thought. It continued all day, and I have only now been able to add sail back 36 hours later as winds have dropped back down to 20.

I decided to change my destination back to Nuku Hiva because the harbor is easier to maneuver in than the small one at Hiva Oa.

July 21 (Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia) — On Tuesday, July 19, at dawn, I made landfall at Cap Martin, the southeastern point of Nuku Hiva. I am currently anchored in beautiful Baie de Taiohae, about 10 miles west of the point.

As I got closer to land, I was overwhelmed by the fragrance. I've heard stories of sailors smelling land for the first time after long voyages, and I can confirm

it is intoxicating. In this case, the tropical aroma was more sensual than any perfume!

Besides getting used to walking on sur faces that don't move, one of the hardest things at first was the time zone change. The US West Coast is GMT-7 (meaning 7 hours before Greenwich Mean Time). The time zone here is GMT-9.5, which is a half hour different than Tahiti at GMT-10. Yes, half an hour. The other thing is, I departed North America during the longest days of the year, and arrived at the shortest. It gets dark here at 6 p.m. — ben lindner

Dawn is currently on a mooring in Papeete, where a caretaker is looking after the boat. After his 90-day visa expired, Ben returned to Mexico, where he has been staying until he can return after another 90 days. That happens on January 20. Once back aboard Dawn, he looks forward to exploring the Society Islands group before heading to Hawaii… or maybe Fiji.

latitude/jr

Iwas almost asleep in the starboard pilot berth when I felt the boat tack, putting me on the high side of the cabin. This was not good. I had been comfortably wedged between the outboard edge of the berth and the side of the hull, but now I rolled over to port as the sails filled on the new tack and the boat heeled over to port. The lee cloth was set, but most of my weight landed on the hard top edge of the low fiddle rail that held the thin foam mattress in place.

This race was billed as a downhill slide, but unseasonable southerlies had turned it into a hard beat to windward. I usually don't get any sleep during my first two off-watches, but by the third off-watch, I'm tired enough to nod off anywhere. Except in this pilot berth, which now felt like sleeping on one rail of a railroad track.

Lee Helm was also of f watch, and she was in the port pilot berth on the other side of the main cabin.

"Like, good luck with that lee cloth," she said across the dark cabin, "if it's

rigged like the one on my side."

"Needs a little more vertical tension," I said as I fumbled in the darkness to find the adjustable buckles on the straps that held up the cloth.

But the adjustments were already as tight as I could set them, and they did not prevent the cloth from sagging out over the low side of the bunk.

"Remember the first rule of thumb for positioning jib sheet leads?" asked Lee.

I was not in the mood to discuss sail trim; I needed sleep during my all-tooshort off-watch.

"The sheet should, like, bisect the angle made by the foot and the leech," she continued without waiting to see if I was interested. "Same with lee cloth tricing lines. If they're horizontal, like on this boat, you can't get any vertical tension. If they're vertical, you can't get enough horizontal tension. Either way, the middle ends up sagging, and there you are, sleeping on the edge of a wooden plank instead of on the mattress."

I heard winch pawls clicking overhead and a muffled voice from the cockpit that I think said, "another two inches," and the boat heeled over even more, then slammed into a head sea. The wave angle made starboard tack a more bumpy ride than when we'd been on port.

"Maybe I can re-rig this quickly," I thought, noting the unused grommets in the middle of the top edge of the cloth. I squirmed around to reach my sea bag at the foot of the bunk so I could fish out a small flashlight and a spare length of light Dyneema. That's when the boat slammed into another wave, and I was hurled into the pocket

Much better. The lee cloth is shorter and lower to allow crew to go around or over it. The tricing lines produce vertical and horizontal tension, and the mid-berth lines protect the crew in an extreme 90-degree knockdown.

"How can anyone sleep in this berth when it's on the high side?"

Wrong! The tricing lines cannot provide any vertical tension.

Wrong! The tricing lines cannot provide any horizontal tension.

The most common problem with lee cloths: sag over the edge of the bunk.

Attaching the lee cloth away from the edge of the berth keeps the crew away from the hard spot.

ALL IMAGES MAX EBB EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

A HARD DAY'S OFF-WATCH

made by the slack lee cloth. One of the plastic buckles slipped a few inches.

"And I don't trust those little plastic buckles any farther than I can throw the liferaft," I complained.

"Put an overhand hitch in the tail of those straps," Lee advised. "No slip. You can't relax unless you have, like, total confidence that the lee cloth will hold you in the bunk no matter what. I mean, like, you won't be able to adjust them easily, but you'll sleep better."

"Needs a pair of good spinnaker sheet shackles, quick release and reattachment under load, so you can get in and out fast without losing the adjustment. And solid hardware you can trust."

I found my spare flashlight and line, but unfortunately, there was no obvious place to secure a mid-bunk tricing line. I did manage to put extra knots in

the strap tails coming out of the plastic buckles, so they were not going to slip again. A quick scan with the flashlight showed that on Lee's side, she had rigged a mid-bunk line going right to the hand rail on the overhead, so even in a 90-degree knockdown she was not going to go over the sagging middle of the lee cloth and fly across the cabin.

length only needs to be enough to go from thigh to shoulder, not almost the whole length of the berth. And they're also too high to just climb over to get in and out."

But I was on the side with the dinette: no handrail attachment point over this bunk.

"These lee cloths are also, like, way too long," she added. "Especially with the safety knots in the buckles, I have to crawl around the front or back where there's not enough room. I mean, the

I was beginning to wonder which newbie crew had been put in charge of rigging these lee cloths. It seemed as if everything had been done wrong. I got back under my sleeping bag — it was too warm to get inside — and tried again to sleep with the tighter adjustment. But it was still no good, I was landing right on the hard edge of the bunk.

Lee was not done with her critique. "The fatal flaw in this rigging," she said, "is that the bottom edge of the lee cloth is attached right along the edge of the bunk. And the overhead attachment is

It can all be comfortable when level or sleeping to leeward, but that can all change after the tack.

LATITUDE / JOHN

"Take your sea bag and put it between you and the lee cloth. That will keep you off the hard edge."

HOW TO RIG PROPER LEE CLOTHS

1) Tricing lines should bisect the lee-cloth edge angles, to control vertical and horizontal tension.

2) Use good, reliable shackles that open and close under load, but never open or slip by accident. Cheapskates: These can also be spares for running rigging.

3) No wood screws on the attachment points! A lee cloth needs very strong attachments that a heavy crew can trust. You can't sleep if you instinctively reach for something to grab every time there's a big gust.

4) Add a mid-berth tricing line or two, lee cloth to overhead, so even in a 90-degree knockdown there's something to prevent a flight across the cabin.

5) Attach the bottom edge of the cloth a few inches in from the edge of the berth, to keep the crew off the hard edge when the lee cloth sags. Attachment points on the bulkheads or overhead should match.

6) Don't make the lee cloth too high or too long. Crew should be able to scramble around or over.

7) No sticky Naugahyde. If the mattress foam is covered in something slick, it needs a soft top sheet.

8) For adjustable pipe berths: Final pull on the tackle should be down, not up. Pop quiz: Explain why.

9) More on pipe berths: They can be very hot if made with foam. Open-weave fabric that lets air through is better.

EXTENDED CRUISING ACROSS THE PACIFIC

What is it really like to liveaboard and cruise for years? This true story reads like a good novel, is inspirational, and will captivate any Sailor, Dreamer, or Armchair Adventurer. The Ebook is now on sale $2.99.

“Highly recommended”– Latitude 38

directly above that edge of the bunk. All wrong. The attachments should be inboard by about six inches from the edge."

"You mean outboard from the edge?" I said, a little confused.

"Inboard in the berth coordinates, outboard in the boat coordinates, if that makes it clear. But like, not right at the edge, where the sag puts your body on that hard edge. If it's in a few inches, it wraps around the mattress and pulls in, so it, like, keeps the crew off the hard spot."

"I shall send a sternly-worded email to the crew who set this up," I said through a yawn. "How can anyone sleep in this berth when it's on the high side?"

"Almost forgot to mention," said Lee. "There's a work-around. Take your sea bag and put it between you and the lee cloth. That will keep you off the hard edge."

It was simple and obvious, and made all the difference. I was out before we hit the next wave. Next thing I knew, Lee was shouting in my ear. "Aloha, Max! You're on watch in 15!"

— max ebb

THE RACING

Yacht racing slowed down a bit in late November and in December. No shocker there. But here we visit the scenic and silly Half Pint-o-Rum Regatta, midwinter series at Golden Gate YC, Sausalito YC and Berkeley YC, RegattaPRO Winter One Design, and Alamitos Bay YC's Turkey Day Regatta. Then we learn of a documentary about the Race to Alaska, and Box Scores goes on a diet.

Half Pint-o-Rum Race

San Diego's Ancient Mariners Sailing Society (AMSS) was established in 1975 to preserve and promote interest in sail and power vessels of vintage or classic design. Their Half Pint-o-Rum Race provides a silly end to the season.

This year's race was sailed on December 10, a bluebird day. The water was glass and full of reflections.

Among the unique features of this race is the method of payment. Rather than making an online payment at the time of registration, each boat pays her entry fee on the water, in the starting area. The commodore of AMSS was

also the race chair. Jeff Woods made the rounds via ski boat collecting fifths (not half pints or even pints!) of "quality" rum. We put "quality" in quotation marks because it's verbatim out of the sailing instructions. (That's Jeff in the funny hat and tails — reminds us of Emperor Norton.)

Another unique feature of this race is the beach start. The starting area is

in San Diego's South Bay, within 200 yards of the beach just southeast of the Navy housing and just north of Fiddler’s Cove. Yachts must be fully anchored, with sails down, no engine running, by noon. Dinghies (or paddleboards) must be on the beach no more than 50 yards from the race committee.

Each boat in the Racing Class must anchor of f the beach. A representative from each boat dashes from the beach to the boat, by swimming, paddling or

Clockwise from top left: Jeff Woods, commodore of AMSS, collects the entry fee. He used to run the tall ship 'Lynx' on the East Coast — hence the 30-lb jacket. 'Butcher Boy' is the most recently restored project of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. CF Koehler's 10-Meter 'Sally' and Tim and Sarah Fleming's 1930 Kettenburg PC 'La Cucaracha'. Tots of rum and the gun is fired — race on! (But first, swim, paddle or row from the beach to your anchored boat.) Many thanks to Janie Noon for collecting and sending the photos and information.

JAMES WARD EXCEPT AS NOTED

JANIE NOON

rowing. According to the SIs, "all owners, or approved designate, racing under the Traditional Format are to be present on the beach. Yachts entering the Racing Class may request to designate a crewmember other than the owner to represent that yacht at the start if the owner is physically unable to row or swim ashore. Proposed designee must be approved by the race committee."

On this particular day, the fastest beach designate to reach his boat was a swimmer, Chimaera's Ty Aweau. He's a regular crewmember as well as a secret weapon: a recently retired lead Coast Guard rescue swimmer.

The water temperature in San Diego Bay in December averages about 59-60° — not as cold as San Francisco Bay, but not exactly comfortable either.

The crews on the waiting boats are

not allowed to raise sails or anchors until the swimmer/paddler has come aboard. Teams using dinghies or SUPs must hoist their landing craft aboard or take it in tow before sailing away to start the race.

Janie Noon, who sent us the photos and info for this piece, sails aboard John Driscoll's Chimaera. The S&S 46 sails every AMSS race, including their Guinea Cup Regatta Series, the Yesteryear and Kettenburg and Classic regattas, and the Half Pint-o-Rum. She made a good start and went on to win the race, with her finish swimmer, Fernando Caceres, the first to reach shore.

Dauntless, the fabulous and racy-fast 1930 Alden staysail schooner that used to come up to San Francisco to race in the Master Mariners Regatta every other year, has a new owner. Her previous caretaker, Paul Plotts, passed away, and she had been for sale for several years. Jim Mason of Berkeley has purchased her, and even as we write this has taken her down to Ensenada for some boat work. But before that, he sailed her in the Half Pint race.

"We really wanted her there," said Janie, "and her skipper was working hard." We'll have more on Dauntless in a future issue.

Janie adds that, "It is also a swimmer/row boat/paddleboard finish, with

the vessel required to wing inside shallow beach waters to launch their representative and then sail 'out of the box'. Sometimes one boat cuts another off and gets between the swimmer and the shore, and other shenanigans. The vessel then swings back in to pick up their landing party — a bit of a trick, being under sail with a ladder out and your crew trying to haul up your swimmer. This year was no exception in having the trunks of one male swimmer show a little 'coin slot'. The swimmer or representative must also carry their own shot glass with them, which can involve ingenious methods of securement or placement."

— chris / latitude

AMSS HALF PINT-O-RUM RACE, 12/10

RACING CLASS/BEACH START — 1) Chimaera, S&S 46, John Driscoll; 2) Sally, 10-Meter, C.F. Koehler; 3) Lola, New Zealand 37, Morgan Spriggs. (8 boats)

SAILING CLASS/NON-BEACH START — 1) Witchcraft, 37-ft staysail schooner, Brian Eichenlaub; 2) La Cucaracha, Kettenburg PC, Tim Fleming; 3) Sprig, 6-Meter, Greg Stewart. (5 boats)

PLASTIC CLASSIC/NON-BEACH START — No fnishers. (1 boat)

Full results at www.amss.us

Chilly and Sticky at GGYC

The Golden Gate YC Midwinters on December 3 was a cold, drizzly race in

Left to right: The 1902 'Butcher Boy', owned and restored by the San Diego Maritime Museum, is original to San Diego, having been built to be a fast workboat delivering provisions between San Diego and ships anchored outside the bay; Morgan and Jehanne Spriggs' 1967 New Zealand 37 'Lola'; Everett and Susan Diehl and Arnie Brokling's 1982 Bristol Channel Cutter 'Kotura', a new AMSS member, sailed alone in the classic (plastic) class, with no beach start.

JAMES WARD

strong ebb and about 4 knots of wind from the north, with some east in the mix. Crews shivered, their fingers and toes went numb, they struggled to see through rain-spotted eyeglasses, and, in one case, waded in chest-deep saltwater.

The race committee sent the first two classes up-curr ent to Blossom Rock, then Blackaller Buoy, then Fort Mason, with a westbound finish. Some were able to fly spinnakers on the final leg from Fort Mason to the finish. The remaining classes also went to Blossom, then Blackaller, and finished eastbound. Many never got downwind enough to give their crews a chance to warm up with spinnaker work.

Starts lasted 25 minutes from PHRF 1 to Folkboats. Even with slower boats getting the shorter course, finishes were spread out, with more than two hours between the first fast boat and the last Folkboat.

Most boats made it ar ound OK, if slowly, but other boats struggled to move up-current at all. The competitors really spread out on the course, and it was a good example of how trimming skills, driving skills, and current-navigation skills are important to success in San Francisco Bay racing. Light-air midwinter series on the Cityfront are the perfect opportunity to learn those lessons without the stress and strains of the blustery summer blow.

In the cold and the rain, only 26 of the 53 boats entered finished. Seven boats DNF'd [Did Not Finish] in the light air and strong ebb, and the remaining 20 crews stayed warm and dry at home.

Wind built toward the end as another line of rain came through, but even then it was still only around 8 knots.

Two of the boats, both with drafts around 5 feet, went aground.

One boat that had done a horizon job on their class was coming up close along shore for current relief, maybe a boatlength from the seawall in front of GGYC. They grounded hard about two boatlengths from finishing. After watching them struggle for a while, which included a crewmember jumping overboard in chest-high water and pushing, as well as trying to kedge with an anchor, RIBs from both Golden Gate YC and St. Francis YC came out to help. This was fortunate, because they'd stuck so hard that the GGYC RIB did not have enough power to move them; the StFYC boat at full throttle was required. Even with all that, when they were finally pulled free it was still another 20 minutes before their next competitor got there.

The other grounding was post-race at the wave organ. That boat decided to cut the corner of the spit to get back into the harbor marginally faster, on a course to cross through the north side of the channel markers rather than line up outside to pass south of all of them. The GGYC RIB went back out to free them, and was able to get them off the sandy bottom without issue.

To check the standings or to enter the series, officially named the Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup Regatta, go to www.jibeset.net

— richard reitmeyer & latitude / chris

Chili Midwinters in Sausalito

Sausalito Yacht Club's Chili Midwinter racers got weather-lucky for their second race of the season on December 4. Racers sailing Saturday midwinters on December 3 saw light wind, rain and heavy ebb, but Sunday's SYC racers had nice southwesterly wind, no rain, and enough breeze to overcome the ebb. Spinnaker fleets sailed a 9.6-mile course from Angel Island's Point Knox to Blackaller, to Blossom Rock, to Little Harding, and back to Point Knox. The

GGYC Midwinters on December 3, clockwise from top left: the International One Design 'La Paloma' flies too close to the sun (er, shore) and grounds her full keel in the sand. A crewmember jumped off and tried to give the IOD a push. 'Heart of Gold', 'Serenade' and 'Arcadia' raced in PHRF 3; code zeroes were an asset. 'Sapphire' passes 'Zamazaan' as the latter finishes with spinnaker flying. Back to 'La Paloma', tossing out the anchor. Only two boats in her division, PHRF 4, would finish.

non-spinnaker fleet sailed a shorter, dropped-mark course between Knox and Yellow Bluff.

The spinnaker boats enjoyed a beat into the southwest wind with a short tack before rounding Blackaller and beginning a run along the San Francisco shoreline toward Blossom. Staying in, but not in enough to risk grounding along the Cityfront, the sailors' major decision of the day was when to jump out into the ebb toward the Blossom Rock buoy, which was leaning hard to the left in the ebb coming through the Bay Bridge from the South Bay.

The Blossom-Little Harding reaching leg, assisted by the strong ebb, provided double-digit-over-the-bottom boatspeeds.

The non-spinnaker boats' windwardleeward dropped-mark course sped boats from the Knox startline to Yellow Bluff on a beat, assisted by the 3.9-knot ebb. The run back to the turning mark and finish line at Point Knox against that ebb was slower and called for ebb tactics.

Chuck Cihak's J/105 Hazardous Waste topped Glen Isaacson's Schumacher 40 daysailer Q in a closely fought two-boat Spinnaker I Division duel. Pat Broderick's Wyliecat 30 Nancy placed first in the seven-boat Spinnaker II Division. Rich Lauman and Sally Clapper's Alerion Express 28 Mistral won the fiveboat Non-Spinnaker Division.

Latitude' at www.latitude38.com.

Back at the club for post-race chili bowls, everyone agreed it was a beautiful race around the Central Bay.

The next SYC Chili Midwinter Race is scheduled for January 8, since January 1 is New Year's Day. Full results and sign-up information is available on SYC's website at www.sausalitoyachtclub.org

—

pat broderick

Stormy Berkeley Midwinters

The December installment of the Berkeley Midwinters started with an abandonment due to weather. Saturday’s race on December 10 was called off the night before (slightly ahead of the gun), as the National Weather Service had a gale warning in effect, and they were not wrong. Only one racer complained about the early cancellation. Ironically, this racer skippers a rather small boat.

Sunday’s racing tur ned out to be rather fabulous. It was Christmas in July on San Francisco Bay, with steady winds out of the WSW in the mid-teens and very little rain. Twenty-five of the 43 registered boats showed up, along with a couple of unregistered boats.

Starts were on time and, with good wind, the twice-around 8-mile course was completed in a little over an hour. The fast boats were fast, and even the slow boats were kinda fast. Conspicuously heavy rain showers moved past the racecourse to the northwest over Raccoon Strait and Tiburon, but we only got a few sprinkles at the Olympic Circle. The race gods were good to us.

There were six fleets battling to get back to the bar first, with Andy Dippel of the J/70 Spirit taking first in the Superfreakyfast Division (PHRF <126). In the Fast for Gov’t Work Division (PHRF 129-168) was Randall Rasicott skippering the Express 27 Tequila Mockingbird to the win. In the Alerion 28 Division, Fred Paxton and Arnie Quan, who do a lot of racing together, sailed Zenaida to first place. It was Larry Telford on the Islander 30-II Antares taking first place in the Cruisin' for a Bruisin' division.

Ethan Peterson, skippering the Wylie Wabbit Hare-O-Dymanic, won first-place honors in the Double Your Trouble Doublehanded Division. And finally, in the I Like Things My Way Singlehanded

Berkeley YC Midwinters on still-stormy Sunday, December 11. Clockwise from left: Randall Rasicot's Express 27 'Tequila Mockingbird' floats the spinny; Megan Dwyer and Mariane Ferme's Santana 22 'Mad Max'; a triplet of competitive Alerion 28s (four out of the six registered went out to race). All of the boats that ventured out were able to complete the twice-around windward-leeward course. Saturday's race was canceled due to gale warnings. See more in December 14's 'Lectronic

THE RACING SHEET

Division, Envolée, a Figaro 2 skippered (and everything else) by Nathalie Criou, won first-place honors.

For the standings and more info, see www.jibeset.net. For many more of Ira Potekhina's excellent photos, see her collection at https://tinyurl.com/ycx2ny86 — mark bird

RegattaPRO Winter One Design

Sailing a bit to the west of the Berkeley Midwinters, the RegattaPRO Winter One Design series had two races scheduled on Saturday, December 10. On Friday, PRO Forrest Gay posted this notice: "The scheduled first warning signal for Saturday, December 10, is changed to 1300," from 11:30.

"We have been monitoring the approaching winter storm for three days now, and all of the most reliable forecasts are currently lined up, indicating that the dangerous wind in the over-25-knot range should be clear of the race area right around late morning to noon, allowing for one or two afternoon races. There will still be plenty of rain and wind likely throughout the afternoon, and the National Weather Service has a gale warning in place until 3 p.m., so please use caution and make the best decisions about sailing and racing amongst your crew. Reminder: RRS Rule 3 states, 'The responsibility for a boat's decision to participate in a race or to continue racing is hers alone.' The sailing instructions do not allow for signals to be made ashore, so any further postponements deemed necessary after 1300 will be made on the water."

Forrest was filling in for the usual PRO of the series, Jeff Zarwell. "Forrest was acting PRO and made a great call to change the starting time to 1 p.m.," commented Tim Russell, skipper of the J/105 Ne*Ne. "The storm passed through and winds died, and we had two short races in 15-20 knots of breeze and a couple of showers. Five J/105s showed up and one Moore 24. We were back at the dock by 4:15." Joel Turmel's Richmond-based Firefly was the lonely-

We loved this photo of kids having fun while learning to sail on an RS21. The adult in the blue jacket sent it to us. "I get to teach kids to be skippers!" said Berkeley Green. He sent this with an announcement about a Super Bowl Charity Regatta on February 4 on Santa Monica Bay. For more about the regatta, see http://smwyc.info/Juniors/index.php/super-bowl-regatta.

only Moore.

The Moores have nine boats registered; the J/105s have 20. Six each from the J/88 and J/24 fleets are signed up, plus five J/70s.

You can find the standings and more info about this series through the Sausalito YC's website at www. sausalitoyachtclub.org/On_the_Water/ Race_at_SYC/Race_Calendar. (SYC provides assets and race committee volunteers for this series as well as their Chili Midwinters Series the previous Sunday.)

November's edition was a bust due to lack of wind, so only the two December races have been scored so far.

With the trans-Sierra highways mostly closed and/or extremely treacherous, the Lake Tahoe contingent of sailors didn't venture over the blizzardy passes to sail.

— latitude / chris

RYC Road Warriors Migrate South

A cohort of junior sailors (Xylia Kowalski, Jenna Englehart, Abby Mitchell, Evan Sullivan and Cooper HershfieldCohen), and adults from Richmond YC made the trek south to compete in

Alamitos Bay YC's Turkey Day Regatta on November 19-20 in Long Beach.

Joining a slew of competitors from various SoCal clubs were first- and second-place finishers in the International 14 fleet James Clarkson and Joshua Leihe on Low and Angry, with 10 points in six races, and John Clarkand Hoel Menard on Pros & Cons with 12 points. Another RYC I-14 crew, Michael Lazzaro and DeVonn Zink, placed fourth. See www.abyc.org for the complete results.

— latitude / chris

Race to Alaska Star of the Screen

The Race to Alaska (fr om Port Townsend, WA, to Victoria, BC, to Ketchikan, AK) is the star of a new movie. Ryan Davis writes, "Folks can pre-order the film now, or be directed to their streaming option of choice, from here: https://r2akthemovie.com." Ian Morland, Zach Carver and Liv von Oelreich are the Race to Alaska documentary filmmakers.

The next edition of the adventure will start on June 5, and registration is open. See www.r2ak.com.

— latitude / chris

CYC THANKSGIVING PURSUIT

RACE, 11/26

PHRF — 1) Eight Ball, J/100, Scott Easom; 2) Streaker, J/105, Greg Arkus; 3) Son of a Son, J/70, David Fried. (9 boats)

2 — 1) Liquid Asset, Ranger 33, John Rook, 4; 2) Moonlight, Express 27, Jim Gibbs, 7; 3) #53 Grandad, Catalina 34 MkII, Toby Marion, 8. (4 boats)

NON-SPINNAKER 1 — 1) Katester, Sabre Spirit, Byron Reeves, 3; 2) Lindo, J/109, John Kalucki, 7; 3) Q, Schumacher 40, Glenn Isaac-

son, 7. (3 boats)

NON-SPINNAKER 2 — 1) Bella, Alerion 33, Aidan Collins, 4; 2) Topgallant, Tartan Ten, Carl Flemming, 4. (2 boats)

Full results at www.cyc.org

NON-SPINNAKER — 1) Q, Schumacher 40, Glenn Isaacson; 2) Jarlen, J/35, Greg Winters; 3) Finistere, Sabre 38 MkII, John Arndt. (5 boats)

MULTIHULL — 1) Bottle Rocket, SeaCart 30, David Schumann; 2) Whoopee, Corsair 760, Glenn Howell; 3) LookinGood 3, F-28R, Raf Yahalom. (3 boats)

Full results at www.cyc.org

S ALEN S TUART

SAN DIEGO 2832 Cañon St, San Diego 619.226.2422 sandiego@quantumsails.com

SAN FRANCISCO 1230 Brickyard Cove Rd, #200, Pt. Richmond 510.234.4334 pacific@quantumsails.com

LONG BEACH 5122 Bolsa Ave #110, Huntington Beach 562.799.7444 nwheatley@quantumsails.com

BEACON MARINE 3695 Harbor Blvd, Ste 305, Ventura 805.232.1513 splomteaux@quantumsails.com

CHANGES

With reports this month from Dogfish's return to cruising after a long stay in the yard; the 'can-do' Rigney family getting Kandu back to sailing condition; a visit to Costa Rica in the fifth installment of Taliesin Rose's guide to off-the-beatentrack post-Ha-Ha destinations; a visit with the crew of Silver Linings on their just-completed Ha-Ha; a catch-up with 2022 contributors in the first part of our annual 'Where Are They Now?' feature — and a seabag full of Cruise Notes

Dogfish — Kelly Peterson 44 Marga Pretorius Life Under the Baja Stars (Part 2) Oakland

where a bunch of cruisers pitched in to get lots of work done on each other's boats by day, and forged many enduring friendships around fire pits in the evenings. Just before departing for more cruising, Marga did a complete rerig job on Dogfish. . .

Over the course of six days, I replaced Dogfish's standing rigging stay by stay, with my friend Scott helping haul me up the mast on my purchase system. It was a never-ending up-and-down dance, with some cursing, some sunburn, some "oh, crap!" moments, and lots of Coors Light. But at the end of the six days, Dogfish once again had a rig I could rely on. And then, finally, finally, I pointed the bow on a course due south, on a several-hundredmile straight shot to Bahia Concepcion.

Marga

have come a long way in the past couple of years.

Marga and Dogfish have come a long way since they first appeared in the magazine back in 2018. She became the boat's sole skipper in 2020, and with the help of friends and other sailors, now confidently sails Dogfish herself, as well as doing most of the work on the boat. In late 2020, she put the boat on the hard and headed back to the US to complete the NAMS (National Association of Marine Surveyors) course. She is now a certified marine surveyor, building her business and serving clients (mostly cruisers) all around Mexico. In last month's Changes, she detailed the rest of Dogfish's long stay in the Cabrales Boatyard in Puerto Peñasco,

A group of cruisers all cleaned up for a fancy dress dinner in Puerto Pe asco. Included in this photo are Mark and Laura from 'Liquid', Mike and Katie from 'Alegria', Pete from 'Ma u', Pati and Dave from 'Milagros', Dave and Marla from 'Cavu', and Barry from 'Boomerang.' Marga is third from right in second row, holding the mug.

From June to September I lived it up, sailing a ton, surveying and consulting a little, helping fix some fellow cruisers' boats, and generally carrying on in my wonderfully adrift sea life. I sailed to meet up with Alegria and Milagros. Pati and Dave had to leave for a trip back home to Switzerland, but Mike and Katie and I continued to buddy-boat for the whole summer.

We had a grand time racing each other from bay to bay, sailing onto and off anchor, and cooking epic dinners eaten under the Baja stars. We were lucky when our good friends Brad and Sarah on the Kelly Peterson 46 Perspective joined us. Together we weathered nighttime Chubascos and soaked up the slightly cooler sea breezes of the Midriff Islands for several weeks. I was lucky enough to enjoy an overabundance of very cool folks this summer, including Kirby and Jodi on Lodos, ex-coffee company owners who hosted coffee mornings; my dear friends Jody and Randy on Free Luff, whom I've known for so many years; Marvin and Laurie on GenM; Max and Karen on Lusty; and so many other great folks. I even met two other singlehanding women, Ruby on Makani, and Sarra on Ikigai

My new standing rigging was thoroughly tested (and finally tuned as I like it after lots of tweaks). I sailed close-hauled through a daytime Chubasco one day on my way out to Isla Partida. As the spray was flying over Dogfish's heavily reefed sails, and as she stood up after every puff, I was so happy to have confidence in her rig.

I rode out my first hurricane singlehanded. At La Mona, Dogfish saw a bit over 50 knots during Hurricane Kay, but her anchor held and ship and crew emerged unscathed. I started flying the spinnaker singlhanded after some great coaching from Katie on Alegria. I made new friends in the village of Bahia de los Ángeles and took them sailing; and had the kids' program at the Vermillion Sea Institute aboard Dogfish for the afternoon. My dad and younger sister came out to the boat for a week or two of sailing, and the time with them was just magical.

The new lithium batteries were a delightful addition, and did well powering my Starlink satellite internet connection.

DOGFISH

and 'Dogfsh'

IN LATITUDES

Below, 'Dogfsh' at anchor somewhere in Me ico. Bottom left: Chef Marga threw a fancy dress three-course dinner party to celebrate friends' birthdays in the northern Sea of Corte . Left middle: Making repairs to a client's gelcoat. Left: "Racing" buddy boats 'Free Luff' and 'Alegria'. "Lots of our cruiser races ended with ghosting into anchorages like this," says Marga. Right: To celebrate another birthday, a bunch of cruisers rented side-by-sides and drove into the dunes at La Cholla.

It was the first season in Mexico cruising where Starlink internet was available, and by the end of the summer, most cruising boats had it installed aboard. Suddenly having high-speed internet in all the places that used to be remote anchorages is definitely a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I was able to continue doing remote consults and video chats for my business, and there were many more cruisers, especially young cruisers with remote jobs, out in remote spots, which makes for fun community. But on the other hand, it felt as if something was lost — that wonderful isolation of cruising through remote anchorages cut off from the world has been pierced.

In late September, I sailed back north to Puerto Peñasco, where I'm hauled out once again and am completing another big work stint, including a last-minute travel survey in La Paz. The yard in Peñasco is once again packed with so many friends new and old, and cruisers from all over the world, including folks fresh in from Patagonia and the South Pacific, and several well-known circumnavigators, including Totem and Delos

When I left to go cruising in December 2016 from the Bay Area, I had plans for a two-year Pacific loop with my partner, after which I figured I might finally settle down a bit and get that "real job" and all its trappings. I remember hoping that my

ALL PHOTOS DOGFISH

time traveling at sea would give me some kind of perspective, some kind of wisdom or clarity, that seemed always beyond my reach in my Bay Area life. Never did I imagine that six years from my departure date I would still be cruising, that I would still be in my first "foreign" country, that I would be by myself, running my own mobile business, drinking those really mediocre Coors Lights all the time. But in singlehanded cruising, I think I've finally found what I've been looking for: the space to grow my abilities and broaden my comfort zones, to live a life surrounded by fellow inspired sailors in motion, carving out sea lives on our own terms.

— Marga 11/4/22 (www.dogfishboatworks.com)

Kandu — Tayana 42 Rigney Family What's Old Is New Ventura

A circumnavigation by sailboat is a big deal. People spend years of preparation before casting off the first dockline. Once underway, the learning curve never ends, especially for a family of four with two growing boys.

But what happens when they return home?

By the time the Rigney family — Eric Leslie, Bryce and Trent — completed their four-and-a-half-year circumnavigation aboard Kandu in 2019, they had sailed more than 37,000 miles, visited 41 countries on six continents, and sailed on three oceans, 10 seas, four straits, three canals, three rivers, one bay and two pirate zones — all with no serious injuries, theft, or at-sea breakages.

Then, writes Eric, "We stepped off Kandu and haven't sailed her since."

Until recently, that is.

First, a bit of catch-up.

When Kandu took off, Bryce was 11 and Trent was 13. Leslie and Eric had planned to homeschool the boys with extensive and expensive materials they'd packed aboard. But when they reached the South Seas, they enrolled both sons in French public schools in French Polynesia — two academic school years on two different islands, Nuku Hiva and Raiatea.

CHANGES

Upon leaving French Polynesia, Eric and Leslie took up the slack, focusing the boys' education on sailing experiences and cultural immersion. In every country, the family would visit museums, parks, geological sites, and cultural events —

Following a long break after their circumnavigation, the Rigney family — Trent, Bryce, Leslie and ric — are getting back into sailing. Well, most of them.

even hiring local guides at times. This, combined with work responsibilities, was the boys' education.

Eric and Leslie wondered how the boys would fare in high school back home.

Having missed most of middle school, and concer ned that he might get too far behind academically, Trent asked to leave the boat in Nice to live with an uncle in Calabasas so that he could attend an American high school for a full four years. He graduated with terrific grades and multiple awards. He recently started Cal Lutheran University as an undeclared freshman and coaches beach volleyball for his former high school team.

Older brother Bryce missed high school, but having seen American teenagers in movies, television series, Instagram, and YouTube — looked forward to experiencing "American" culture, no more the foreigner. After returning home, he completed his GED in three weeks and enrolled in the spring semester of community college.

The pandemic and its restrictions hit everyone hard, but Bryce particularly so. "Having spent most of his teenage years surrounded by adults, he desperately craved youthful camaraderie — and now he again felt isolated," writes Eric. (Oddly, both boys were "hampered" by their liveaboard experiences. For whatever reason, peers were either uninterested or perceived the boys as "outsiders" and were less likely to engage with them. So they stopped mentioning their travels.) "He grew depressed, his grades declined, and we discovered he was one medical exam away from entering the Marines," says Eric. "We suggested teaching sailing at Club Med: They have more locations with better food and accommodations than the Marines, and he could quit whenever he

wanted." As a result, Bryce just recently finished his 10 months with Club Med and is now focused on completing his AA degree.

As for Mom and Dad, Leslie restarted her private music instruction business and worked as a US census taker, and later with CORE, administering COVID testing and vaccinations to underserved neighborhoods during the pandemic. Most recently, she acquired a substitute teaching certificate and now works frequently as a substitute teacher for grades K-12.

On his return, Eric was more sure of what he didn't want to do than what he wanted to do. Previously an executive at Sony Pictures, he ended up starting two new businesses: a marine parts provider servicing sailors in remote locations

(www.globalmarinesuppliers.com), and a motion picture industry consultant and technologist.

During all this, Kandu sat in her slip.

It was Bryce, arriving back home from Club Med, who suggested they start using the boat again. And soon, says Dad, "The excitement of getting her back up to cruising snuff has returned and the family is getting her back to cruise-ready condition… minus the cruise."

Among the work in progress and planned: The custom hard dodger has been re-gelcoated; deck dings filled and gelcoated; and the forest-green top stripe restored. All aluminum hatch frames have been repainted with LP, and their sundamaged inserts replaced. All 11 solar vents have been refurbished, as have

KANDU

'Kandu outtakes,' then and now. Above left: Transiting reece's Corinth Canal. Top left: At a Pou in the Marquesas. Top right: Bryce installs new acrylic in the forward hatch. Center: isiting the pyramids was an uplifting e perience. Bottom right: With the dragons of Komodo Island.

both manual toilet pumps. Cleaning and greasing all the winches is next on the list, as is new bottom paint when the boat gets hauled soon.

Interestingly, during their circumnavigation, whenever the boat was stopped for longer than 10 days, Eric wrapped the prop with a large black plastic trash bag to protect it against growth and electrolysis. He's kept up the practice since Kandu has been home. So the prop has stayed in good shape. Plus, during her long hibernation, Eric "hired" the boys to keep

the bottom clean, and periodically ran the engine and other systems to keep them functioning properly.

When the work is finished, Bryce looks forward to sailing the boat and possibly cruising her out to the Channel Islands off Ventura — a trip Eric and Leslie are also looking forward to. As for Trent, says Dad, "He has had no interest. He's done with Kandu and sailing larger boats."

Taliesin Rose — Bavaria 46E

Fennell Family

The Route Less T raveled (Part 5 — Nicaragua)

Port Townsend

Most times, a tenet of cruising is to "go where the wind blows." When negotiating the Papagayo winds on the southern

coast of Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica, the rule should be to go when the winds don't blow. The "gap winds" (also known as the Christmas winds) can blow up to 30 knots — sustained — and have been recorded up to 70 knots. And they blow pretty much all winter. The way NASA describes the meteorological mechanism that creates these winds is that cold high-pressure systems moving southward from North America over the Gulf of Mexico create strong pressure gradients between the Gulf and the warmer, moister air over the Pacific Ocean. Just as a river flows from higher elevations to lower elevations, the air in the high-pressure system will "flow" downhill toward lower pressure. But the mountains block much of the flow, channeling it through the gaps: Chivela Pass in Mexico, the lake district in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the Gaillard Cut in Panama.

We patiently bided our time, checking the forecast numerous times a day. Thankfully, Nicaragua had plenty to keep us diverted as we waited for a weather window between the blows. There were other boats that had gotten the jitters and tried their luck a few weeks before, only to spend three weeks ducking into and out of rolly roadstead anchorages: getting a few miles down the way in the early mornings, and then scurrying back in the afternoons when the seas started getting too uncomfortable. It took one of them 17 days to traverse less than 200 miles.

During our time in Nicaragua, we had reconnected with our friends Pati and Eric on Shearwater, and planned to travel together to Costa Rica. It was Eric who spotted a break in the wind events where the breeze was forecast to be light and variable. Even if we had to motor, we would make it to the protected anchorages of northern Costa Rica after an overnight passage. So after months of making ourselves at home on the docks of Puesta del Sol, we got the boat shipshape and made a break for it.

The weather could not have cooperated better: clear skies, gentle seas, and the wind a steady 5-10 knots as we trimmed the sails for a comfortable heel on a quick beam reach. Our reward for being so choosy was some of our most pleasant saiing along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua.

The trip was entirely tranquil — until sometime in the middle of the night, when Rowan began screaming my name from the helm. I clambered out of bed and popped my head out of the companionway just in time to see a huge, black, gangling creature sliding uncontrollably down the face of the mainsail toward the deck! When they say that birds are

ALL PHOTOS KANDU

related to dinosaurs, the frigate bird seems the prime example, as it looks like a modern-day pterodactyl. Frigate birds can fly nonstop for hundreds of miles, but they can't land in the water because they don't have waterproofing oils on their wings like other seabirds. This frigate must have been running out of steam because he had been attempting to land on the top of the mast for a rest. Once on deck, the prehistoric-looking bird proceeded to stumble helter skelter into the cockpit, and we watched and backed away in disbelief as it then fell down the companionway into the salon! At this point we were both shouting at the bird and each other frantically and hilariously. I somehow managed to swipe a throw blanket off the settee and cover the poor bird, wrap my arms around the disoriented bundle, and toss the whole thing up on deck. Rowan then managed to scoop up the bird, and tossed it as high up in the air as he could. The bird was able to take flight, and we felt relief and a bit of shell shock as we watched it disappear into the black of night.

Early the next mor ning, we found our way into the beautiful and secluded anchorage at Bahia Santa Elena. We would have loved to stay and explore, but technically we needed to check into the country before stepping ashore, and the gusts from the renewed Papagayo winds were ripping through the bay, fishtailing us about and straining the anchor.

We had stopped to rest, but weren't getting much, and the "sporty" wind didn't do much to encourage staying. So we poked our head out of the bay and around the corner into Bahia Culebra. After rounding Islas Murciélagos, we were treated to a bit of shelter from the breeze and gently cruised our way toward the port of entry. We hooked a gorgeous dorado on the way, and while cleaning it, Rowan took the opportunity for a teaching moment, dissecting the eyeball and showing the kids the spherical lens. We hailed Shearwater to invite our buddies over for a fresh sushi dinner together when we got in.

We arrived at Playas del Coco as the sun was setting and tucked ourselves into the corner to hide from the breeze. The next morning we took the dinghy in, locked it to the old cement pier, and walked just up the malecón to the conveniently located port captain. A short walk up the main road to immigration to get our passports stamped, a taxi for Rowan

to check in with customs at the airport, and we were official! We celebrated with Chinese food.

Coco is a gringo paradise for mostly Canadian snowbirds. After months of rural living, we enjoyed every moment of the panaderías, gelaterias, pizzerias, cafeterias, ristorantes, and cervecerias within walking distance of our dinghy landing.

My folks flew into close-by Liberia Airport and we all visited the nearby national parks. We got our hearts pumping with ziplining, horseback riding and river tubing, and visited the otherworldly colors of Rio Celeste. Before we knew it, we'd burned three weeks in Guanacaste and had to motivate to get south.

Tamarindo had a similar touristy vibe, and though it was still very breezy, we managed to get in some surfing and the requisite sampling of the local ice cream.

On our passage to Samara, we started the day in stif f breezes, and as we made our way into the lee of the Nicoya Peninsula, it was as if someone had turned off a switch — suddenly we were drifting along in warm, gentle winds as we meandered past the coconut palm-lined beaches.

Samara is a quintessential beach

town, not as busy as the snowbird havens we had just come from, but still featuring gorgeous beach bars, a craft brewery (in a garage), and an artisan food court; shoes and shirt optional. Horses walked freely along the beach and the kids delighted in the millions of hermit crabs, the family of iguanas, and the howler monkeys swinging from the trees.

Bahia Ballena is a protected bay at the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. We spent a long weekend watching as the vibrant red and green macaws flew in pairs overhead and screeched to one another, a sound only a mother or mate would find appealing. We took a walk and had a lazy lunch at the relaxed Tambor Bay Resort, then woke up early the next day to get fresh local veggies at the Saturday market at the old Ballena Bay Yacht Club. Across the bay, a veteran cruising couple has planted their feet in the sand for good. They invited us to their beach for sundowners, and the bioluminescence was bright even in the twilight. We spent the evening swimming with the girls in the water as they squealed with delight, creating sparkles as they splashed in the sea. An indelible memory and proof

positive that magic does exist.

We found that most cruisers who venture to Costa Rica often skip the part in the middle, so of course we had to go see what they were missing. There is a cluster of islands in the Gulf of Nicoya that each possess their own unique treasures. Isla Tortuga is a tourist spot for locals, and the joy of watching Costa Ricans have so much fun was infectious. We explored the hiking trails on the island with our Shearwater friends, and treated ourselves to piña coladas and pipa fria — straight out of the coconut.

We had gotten a tip from a local friend who grew up in the area to anchor near Isla Jesusita and look for the glamping hostel. The anchorage was completely protected and we got our best sleep in a long while. Next day we hopped into the dinghy to find the hostel and were rewarded with a warm welcome by staff and a wonderful lunch overlooking the water at their restaurant.

Farther into the gulf is Isla San Lucas National Park. Like Alcatraz, San Lucas was the site of a penal colony for the worst criminals in Costa Rica for over a hundred years. A sentence to San Marcos reportedly involved torture and physical abuse. The site was decommissioned in 1991 and now is preserved as a site of cultural importance. At the dock we met a park ranger who told us we could take a self-guided tour of the island. It was somber exploring the ruined buildings and graffiti left by prisoners. As we made our way back to the dinghy, the tide had receded, and in the muck there was evidence of the old trash heap. Among the litter, I spied a bit of colored glass, and then another and another. Diamonds in the rough! For a beach collector, trash truly can be treasure.

All through the trip we had looked for ways to volunteer, and one opportunity was to help rig and test-sail some boats for a sailing program. We spent a week

IN LATITUDES

in Caldera with a Canadian expat family who'd started the program from scratch, including building the Snipes by hand in their garage. The goal for the program is to provide sailing opportunities to Costa Rican children at low cost in boats that they can build affordably with materials that are easy to source. Rowan helped fine-tune the rigging on the boats, and we went test-sailing in the bay, getting to know the conditions and brainstorming on what a program with kids might look like. We were asked to stay and run the program, but we hadn't planned a move to Costa Rica as part of our cruising adventure, and had to say our goodbyes.

We ran out the remainder of our tourist visa in the calm waters of Golfo Dulce and the protected natural bay of Golfito. On the way into the gulf, we anchored off the beach and surfed from the boat.

The hospitality at Banana Bay was above and beyond, and we spent weeks anchored just in front of the docks. The marina staff were so helpful with any official paperwork, laundry and advice on where to get supplies. The open-air bar and restaurant had Wi-Fi and felt a lot like an extended living room after a while.

Our friends on Secret Water sailed into town on their way back north, and for a time there were four kid boats, plus some new expat friends and their kids. Stephanie on Roundabout is a teacher and did STEM classes for the kids, complete with coding, robots and chemistry.

A number of Panama Posse boats had congregated in the Bahia, and we had an end-of-season celebration with crews we had met along the way. We celebrated Easter with egg dyeing and a brunch at the Fishhook. Birthdays were celebrated at Casa Roland, playing in the pool and watching the planes fly over as they took off from the airport. We adventured to the rustic beach bars at the mouth of the bay and spent lazy days at the river with new friends, surrounded by the lush jungle.

Costa Rica was rich with treasured friends and experiences and, as with the other places where we had felt at home, leaving was a little heavier on the heart. As another rainy season approached, we pulled anchor and had a boat parade with our buddies for a farewell sushi dinner in Jiménez before we parted ways en route to Panama.

— Vikki 12/5/22

Silver Linings — Jeanneau 45.2 William Pryor The Rigger's Joyride Oxnard

There is no greater pleasure than renting a small hotel room and going on

Above: 'Taliesin Rose' underway. ear left: After they'd served as tropical drink cups, the bartender hacked off the husks of these coconuts with a machete and created edible "fowers" for the girls. Far left: Helping rig newly built Snipes for the Caldera youth sailing program. Left center: All set for iplining. mmy and Lucy are in blue, ikki and Rowan on the ends. In the middle are Marilyn and Ian, ikki's mom and dad. Top left: Beachcombing treasures. Top center: Horses wander the beach at Samara.

ALL PHOTOS TALIESIN ROSE

CHANGES

a two-week vacation with six strangers… said no one ever!

The Baja Ha-Ha, on the other hand, is the dreamy warmweather getaway that sailors along the Pacific Coast put at the top of their bucket lists.

The crew of Silver Linings navigated through these highs and lows while sailing 1,000 miles from home port in Channel Islands Harbor to San Diego and the southern reaches of mystical Baja California.

Crewman Scott Nordeng of Ventura said the 2022 Baja Ha-Ha was the rigger's joyride — "Finally, a boat I don't have to work on." When the wind blew up on the leg from Bahía Santa Maria to Cabo, however, he found the seas "rougher than a cob." Turns out Scott is an entire peanut gallery stuffed into one baggy T-shirt.

Yosh Han, a perfumer whose home port is Marina del Rey, loves a good dessert. She listed receiving a manhole-cover-sized pumpkin pie from the Poobah as one of the highs of the trip. Her low point? Moldy pumpkin pie three days later. Fortunately, she got a real kick when William Pryor spilled the entire moldy pie onto his lap when departing Dark n' Stormy, our dinghy, onto the fishing pier ladder at Bahia Tortuga.

A highlight for San Francisco-based William was getting the boat to 11 knots on the back side of a wave during the great sail into Cabo.

If Instagram likes were a tidal gauge, the clear high point for Melanie Kemmann of Port Hueneme was a humpback whale breaching 200 yards from the boat just after leaving Bahía Santa Maria — which she caught on video. In another life, Melanie believes she was a whale, as depicted in a beautiful tattoo on her back. The very fires of Hades brought Mel's low point, when William made pasta dinner with "a shake or two" of red pepper flakes.

Jed Needle of Thousand Oaks traded his surfboard for the adventure-ready Jeanneau on this trip. Watching the disco-like rainbow flashes of the star Canopus warmed Jed's jubblies on long night watches. After all, "All I need is a tall ship and a star to sail her by," is what Jed said. He doesn't eat raw fish, and definitely not the beautiful yellowfin tuna reeled in just after our dumping the macerator.

Skipper Mark LaFevers of Carpenteria was truly in his happy place when, at the fleet's second anchorage, he replaced the zinc on his new Max-Prop — combining

two of Mark's great loves, free diving and wrenching. You would think that when a bird landed atop Silver Linings' mast on Mark's breezy night watch — and stole the Windex! — it would be a low point, but we knew Mark was grateful for the opportunity to go up the mast on his 4-to1 and replace it.

We couldn't think of another circumstance where these six humans would have self-selected to cook every meal together, do each other's laundry, sleep and snore together, or coordinate to pump water down a bathroom vent line to clean a clog. (There was only minor splashback.) For that we are grateful to have this shared love of sailing, of adventure, of giving up the niceties of land life to go to sea — to find the good life, to challenge ourselves, and soak it all up.

— William Pryor 11/13/22

Where Are They Now?

It's that time of the year when we reach out to 2022 contributors to see where they are now and what they're up to. The response was so great that we're going to

have to spread out our updates over several issues. Here are the first three.

Changes features we did last year was Kelsey Farber's account of three generations of family cruising aboard her parents' Alaska-based Beneteau 47.7 Chaos. Despite the boat's name, life seemed pretty harmonious aboard for Kelsey, hubby Stephen, their two young daughters Emerson and Everly, and of course Grandma Karen and "Papa" Mark.

As last season wound down, the boat ended up in San Carlos and, as Kelsey puts it, "Our return to the land of the midnight sun for an epic few months of adventure in cooler climates!"

About the time her parents were planning to return to the boat this past fall, Kelsey and Stephen decided to purchase their first home in a small rural town

'Silver Linings' southbound. Another drone'seye view was our December cover. Inset l to r : Mark LaFevers, Melanie Kemmann, Scott ordeng, Jed eedle, William Pryor and Yosh Han

CHAOS

PHOTOS SILVER LININGS

Kelsey and Stephen with m and vie are getting in some northern e posure before returning to 'Chaos'.

called Hope. "While it was an exciting milestone, it was also bittersweet knowing it would mean our cruising plans would likely change."

At this writing, Chaos was in Banderas Bay. Kelsey and family plan to join the boat again at the end of January for a few more months of cruising before Karen and Mark take off on a Pacific crossing.

Volaré had a great summer in the Loreto area," says Jason Hite in one of the understatements of the year. Among his "amazing adventures with friends" was a "Mermaid Sail" — which he describes as "three weeks of super-fun ladies doing mermaid photoshoots, mermaid videos, aerial silks, and scuba diving." The fun themes continued with the "Cicerone Sail," "where we drank and discussed the merits of the locally available Mexican microbrews." That was followed by another modeling sail.

Jason also became a member of the "200-ft" club, scuba diving to that depth under the tutelage of legendary diver Terry Kennedy and wife Dawn, after which he spent some time as a dive guide with Terry.

Above: We always knew they were real! Right: Jason left celebrates induction into the '200-ft Club' with Dawn and Terry Kennedy.

In the coming year, Jason will be headed in another direction. "I'm ready for a break," he says. "I've been on the boat, nonstop, for seven years. That's seven summers of heat and hurricanes and Chubascos. I've decided to sell Volaré, and sell other yachts as well! That's right, I'm going to be a yacht broker! See you in Banderas Bay!"

Repass's Wylie 65 cat ketch Convergence is currently in the boatyard at La Cruz getting some work done. "Our last haulout was in Panama in 2020, and we were due for a new bottom job and the classic 100-item project list that any sailor worth their salt is all too familiar with," says Sally-Christine.

But there's more to life for these long-

time cruisers than making long passages and taking care of their "main" ride. (With the new year, the couple are beginning their 19th year of a circumnavigation, sailing a few months a year, that started from Santa Cruz in 2004.) For the past several summers, they've been enjoying the simplicity of their "classic, seaworthy, deceptively fast and stable" 15-ft Marshall Catboat.

"My earliest sailing memories are on a gaff rigged John Hannah-designed Tahiti Ketch," says Sally-Christine. "Randy grew up sailing on the Eastern Seaboard and was introduced as a child to the traditional catboat designs that plied the waters of New England."

Longtime admirers of the line of catboats designed and built at Marshall

CHANGES

From 'Marguerite' to Margaritaville, Sally-Christine and Randy are going where the wind blows.

Marine in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Sally-Christine and Randy first visited the facility with Randy's mother, Peggy Repass — a longtime sailor in her own right — who was 98 at the time. Years later, they found a good used 15-ft Marshall Sandpiper in San Diego and trailered her home to Santa Cruz. The boat, named Marguerite after Randy's mom, has since made another trailer trek to Olympia, Washington, where well-known boatbuilder Sam Devlin spruced her up with fresh paint and varnish. She now sports a dark green hull and red sail, and Sally-Christine says they enjoy her exceptional sailing attributes

almost daily on the Salish Sea of British Columbia during the summers when they're off the big boat. But for now, "We'll be finishing up the project list on Convergence and having those midwinter margaritas here in La Cruz."

Cruise Notes

son learned to sail on the Bay five or six years ago. In 2018, they bought their first boat, Tiamat, a Fountaine Pajot 44 catamaran. Although some might think this was a lot of boat for newbie sailors, Stephanie says she and Owen — and their kids, Archer, 5, and Olivia, 9 — have been very happy with the boat. After fitting out and sailing a lot on the Bay, they moved aboard in 2022. Their first "cruise" was to the Delta; followed by a trip to Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands and San Diego; followed by the 2022 Baja Ha-Ha. "It was a wonderful

The Andersons really like their cat, and the IST C Parasailor spinnaker they bought used. "Such a nice ride downwind!" says Stephanie. Top left l to r : livia, wen, Stephanie and Archer.

experience of friendship and camaraderie to sail down the coast of Mexico," says Stephanie. Unlike many Ha-Ha'ers who head up into the Sea after the rally, the Andersons headed for Mazatlán. If all went as planned, they will have moved south to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle by the time you read this. "We are now full-time cruisers

PHOTOS

TIAMAT

with no end in sight," says Stephanie. "Here's to a great start, and hopefully more adventures to come!"

ning to do a Ha-Ha ever since they acquired their Jeanneau 42 Touché 11 years ago. In addition to prepping and sailing the boat out of their Alameda homeport, Pip worked as a Club Nautique instructor and SF Sailing Science board member, and has long emphasized the importance of knowledge, safety and crew. "The planning, crew preparations and logistics of this trip allowed me to apply what I teach and gain more real-life experiences to share with my students," he says.

But the most important aspect was making sure that the adventure was a positive experience for both him and Jill. As it turned out, "our relationship flourished under the cruising lifestyle!" Another pleasant surprise was the welcoming and supportive La Paz cruising

-

community. "They embody the essence of what sailing is all about by looking out for the safety, networking and joy of every participant," says Pip.

in December to be with their pregnant daughter. They'll return to Mexico in the new year to explore its beautiful landscapes and people for a while before bashing back to California in February.

down. The usual bluebird color of the sky was no longer above the horizon, but below. I turn a full circle in the cockpit of our 1981 Valiant 40, Sonrisa, scanning the horizon to the west, then north, east, and south. I find no end to the soft blue light emanating from below." What Leslie and Andrew Godfrey saw that night in the Indian Ocean last year was a rare and unpredictable event called a "milky sea." These are different from phosphorescence events — the light is not just in disturbed water; it's everywhere, glowing from the depths. Read more about their experience, and a little about the science of it, in next month's Changes

Satellite image of a milky sea in the nglish Channel in 1999.

latitude/jr

DINGHIES, LIFERAFTS & ROWBOATS

Hand-

crafted lightweight wood and epoxy dinghy. Low draft. Oars, sail, and daggerboard included. No trailer. Currently dry stored in garage. $2,500. San Jose, CA. maywood623@gmail.com

Brand-new. Epoxy/wood construction. Arch Davis design. Includes trailer, sail, cover & oars. $10,000 OBO. Carpinteria. carpdory@ gmail.com (720) 250-8060

SAILBOATS

24 FEET & UNDER

Beautiful one-of-a-kind pocket cruiser. VHF, depthsounder, and compass. Teak bowsprit and rub rails. New running rigging, new forestay with roller furler. Main, jib and spinnaker. New Mercury Sail Power four-stroke. With trailer, new tires. $9,000. Richmond, CA. Destry.workshop@gmail. com (916) 546-6212

Hull #1109. Excellent shape. 2017 Triad trailer with spare tire. 2.3 Honda. (3) suits of North Sails. Crosssheeting cam cleats. New companion cover. Harken boat cover. J/70 spinnaker launch bag. Welded aluminum mast bunk. J/70 Third Hands with Keepers. $39,960. Sandpoint, ID. rimar@turbonet.com (208) 290-6544

The 18-ft 10-in ‘Helen Mae’ is handmade with eight kinds of wood, fiberglass, epoxy, lots of varnish. Four-oz. tanbark sails, oars, outboard motor mount (motor not included) and custom trailer. $10,000. Sebastopol, CA. jerrykermode@gmail.com (707) 824-9893 tinyurl.com/3vkdcfh2

All glass hull,

large sail inventory, trailer with up-to-date license and CG registration — all in good condition. FREE to qualified sailor. To qualify, email list of skills and experience. FREE. Richmond, CA. stefroche916@ gmail.com

Lyle Hess design, seaworthy rare sloop. LOA 23-ft, LWL 21-ft 10-in, beam 8-ft, draft 2-ft 8-in. Lapstrake hull, dual-axle trailer, 8hp outboard recently overhauled. Lots of sails. Good headroom. Various improvements. Downsized to smaller boat. $8,000. Phoenix, AZ. (602) 938-0711

Home built by my brother-in-law. Finished in 2001. All marine plywood on the exterior covered with fiberglass. We had it redone last year. Shoal draft boat with a cat ketch rig designed by Bruce Kirby. Sails are basically brand-new. Tohatsu motor has barely been used. Rebuilt carburetor two years ago and haven’t used it since. Trailer comes with it. Link for description. $12,500 OBO. Camas, WA. flylady21@icloud.com (503) 720-0096 www.tinyurl.com/3z8c58as

Gaff-rigged sloop, strip plank Atlantic white cedar and steam bent oak frames. Bronze fastened. Built by internationally recognized violin builder, Scott Hershey. $15,000. San Diego. scarpy47@gmail. com (619) 694-7696

25 – 28 FEET SAILBOATS

This is a great Bay boat. New set of sails used in one regatta. Second owner. Original engine with parts engines. Needs some love from a new owner. $6,500 OBO. RYC. tim.logan63@gmail.com (510) 219-7550

Radar

Sail #387. Hull in good shape, galvanized trailer in good shape. 2 mainsails, 2 jibs, one set in nearly new condition. More photos upon request. All proceeds go to Morro Bay Youth Sailing Foundation. $1,800. Morro Bay, CA. mcclishmb@gmail.com

PHRF racer and comfortable cruiser. Interior and exterior maintained in excellent condition by meticulous owner. Yanmar 1gm10 diesel with very low hrs. Garmin chartplotter, Raymarine VHF radio, emergency beacon and many other items. $10,000. Alameda. Jnovie@aol.com (415) 271-3441

29 – 31 FEET SAILBOATS

Autopilot, GPS. 3-cylinder Universal diesel engine. 150% genoa. Boat hauled November 2021 — two coats bottom paint, third coat at waterline. Updated rigging. Brick Yard Cove Marina. $24,650. Brick Yard Cove Marina. jbward59@aol. com (916) 985-2647 or (916) 508-7144

Two mains — Doyle Dacron, one never used. Foil track headstay. #1 Pineapple carbon, #3 Pineapple carbon. Symmetrical spinnaker in great condition, and other sails. Six-hp Tohatsu recently serviced. Bottom job Micron 2019. New sail cover. Clean interior. Recently varnished deck teak and tiller. Garmin GPS, VHF/stereo. CA registration up to date. Must sell. $10,000 OBO. San Francisco, CA. tlarocca@gmail.com (347) 406-4238

Well-maintained race boat. Has won more races than it has lost. New racing instruments: wind, speed etc. 10hp Farymann diesel engine. Fully reinforced reverse-turn strengthening members. 3 jibs, 2 spinnakers. Full Delta cockpit awning/dodger. 8ft Avon w/8hp Mercury. Best race record over the last 20 years on the Oakland Estuary. $12,000 OBO. Alameda. marinesurveyor32@att. net (510) 769-6753

‘En-

core’ is a beauty. Recent out-of-water survey. Check out Wooden Boat issue 12 for more build info. I would prefer that both boats go to the same buyer, but they have been apart before. By far the fastest boat I have ever sailed. Mylar main and jib, spare Mylar jib and a #3 Dacron jib. 2 spinnakers. $20,000. Treasure Island, CA. sawinery2004@yahoo.com (925) 219-2279

Wing keel, 4-ft 3-in draft. Great well-sailed boat. Ten-year-old sails and canvas (except the bimini-only the stainless frame). 2740 hours on a Yanmar diesel. Standard 320 layout. Interior a little worn. Replaced Autohelm two years ago. Hauled out and bottom painted two years ago. Selling because the 320 is a two-person sailboat and my co-captain is ill. $35,000 OBO. South Beach Marina. SloopK9@gmail. com (415) 305-6917 2019 survey and refit for Mexico cruising. New electrical, solar, wind vane, windlass, 3 anchors, new opening portlights, 2017 standing rigging and lifelines, propane stove/oven, refrigeration, main, jib and genoa good condition, refurbished Westerbeke, 2022 bottom. $30,000. Owl Harbor, Delta. paulasunn@gmail.com (530) 514-1584

New standing rigging, bottom, topsides, and non-skid deck paint. Included equipment: new — deck hardware, furlers, Anderson winches, Harken pulleys, sails, water tanks, bilge pumps, battery, electronics. Some interior work and fittings needing completion. Lots of extras included. Hard dinghy available if required. $17,000 neg. Sausalito. jaygrant11383@gmail. com 4154136707

Well maintained throughout its life. We purchased in 2019; since then it has had many upgrades including: swim platform, cutdown transom rail, new bimini with solar panel, new anchor rode (30-ft chain, 200-ft rode), furler, water lines, raw water pump to sink, prop, three house batteries 180 Ah each, intake thru-hull, heat exchanger, alternator, mainsheet, main halyard and single-line reef run to cabintop winch with new clutches, stainless mast base plate, mast wiring and all new LED lighting in mast, wind and depth instruments, black water system and rebuilt head. Has full winter cover. May be available with buoy. Call for additional information. $25,000 OBO. West Shore Lake Tahoe. ridgecowee@gmail.com (410) 714-0007

WATERCRAFT MOBILE MARINE PROS

Specializing in: Stem to Stern Mechanical and Electrical Repair and Installation for Most Marine Watercraft (510) 367-8537 Watercraftmobile@gmail.com

VESSEL MOVING

No ocean too big, no trip too small, no ship too large, no mast too tall. Sail or power, we move them all! When you are ready give us a call.

Professional Service • cappytom@aol.com • (206) 390-1596

‘Legacy’ is a beauiful racing boat, and so is ‘Encore’. Want to own a pair of dueling pistols? Check out Wooden Boat issue 12 for all the details. Recent survey out of water. Send an email and I will forward it to you. $20,000. Treasure Island, CA. sha32015@outlook.com (925) 219-2279

Bird Boat 1932. Alden-designed #22. Many recent updates, including major restoration 2001 and 2022. Call for details and pics. $20,000. Sausalito. pjpillsbury@icloud.com (415) 444-6180

Hull #382. Excellent condition, must see, turnkey and ready to go. A great example of a “low-mileage” J/105. Extremely clean. Includes racing and cruising/daysailing gear. Brand-new standing and running rigging, brand-new sails in 2022, full updated modern electronics and communications, clean interior, all canvas, recent re-fit. Nonskid decks in great condition. Sailed regularly and gear is upgraded or replaced as needed. Deck and hull core are dry. Information and photos at website. $68,500. Alameda. cjackson2191@gmail.com (925) 487-6847 www.cjackson2191.wixsite.com/my-site-2

Dick

Carter-designed Olympic sloop. Westerbeke 50hp diesel, dual steering, 12.75-ft beam. Lines run below deck. Full standing headroom. Lewmar winches. Fast cruiser. $12,000. Oakland. cattail1956@yahoo. com (510) 537-9689

Great coastal cruiser. New gelcoat – decks & inside. Yanmar diesel. Danforth anchor. Roller furling. VHF, AM/FM/CD stereo with Bose speakers. EZ Jacks. Onboard head. Adjustable backstay. $25,600. San Francisco South Beach Harbor. cameronkane@gmail.com (415) 307-5805

A Westsail-like boat, 11-ft beam, 5.3-ft draft, 41.3-ft LOA, 20,000+lb dis, Volvo MD3B frozen — needs replacing, sails old, dodger newer, very stout boat, polyester resin/fiberglass hull, wood deck 1.5-in thick. $7,000 OBO. ghenry1102@ yahoo.com (510) 501-4927

Price Reduced!

Racing- and cruising-ready, ‘Big Buoys’ (FKA Ultimatum) is hull #153 and the winner of several regattas. Been regularly maintained and has many sails including recent jib, main and kite. $45,000. South Beach Harbor, San Francisco. colingmiller@sbcglobal.net (415) 3705675

This is your dream sailboat! New dodger, hand rail canvas and mainsail cover, three jibs, and spinnaker. New interior cushions, recently replaced head and stove. A BUY. $38,000. South Beach Harbor. (408) 446-1160

36 – 39 FEET SAILBOATS

One of only 3 JPKs in North America, two-yr waitlist for a new one. If you know JPKs then you know! Exceptional build & design quality. JPKs routinely place at the top of every major regatta in Europe. One of the best “do everything” boats ever. Planing hull, offshore or inshore, long-distance racing or family weekend cruising: the 1080 comes with few compromises. See JPK website 1080 info: www.jpk.fr/en/gamme/jpk-1080/. More info & pictures available. $249,000. Sausalito. jng7000@gmail.com (916) 7195225 www.tinyurl.com/4a823ebk

Beautiful, strong cruising cutter Herreshoff designed, bowsprit and boomkin, cedar cold-molded hull, full lead keel, spruce spars, sails in great condition (mainsail with 3 reefs; stays’l, jib; 120% Dacron; 120% 1.5 oz. nylon; storm sail; trys’l); Aries wind vane self-steering; 10-ft fiberglass dinghy; sails beautifully; no engine; sail into and out of upwind Berkeley berth or use 16 ft oar; 4 anchors (45# 35# 25# CQR, fisherman); windlass. $39,500. Berkeley. kennoble40@gmail.com (925) 786-7878

This J/36 is a bigger brother of the J/24 and J/30. The fractional rig sails well under the modern 7/8 rig. Cruise with two or race with five crew. The small jib and the larger mainsail are the key. Has 10 bags of sails, Yanmar diesel, boat cover, new oven, Raymarine instruments, Martec folding prop. Engine mounted over the keel gives brilliant balance. Price reduced. Call or email. $32,500. Stockton Sailing Club. bonitamarine@gmail.com (209) 772-9695

Great cruiser. Outfitted for offshore. Custom interior. Totally self-sufficient with solar-operated watermaker and FrigOBOat. Too much to list — get in touch for details. See YouTube video at URL. $59,900 OBO. San Carlos, Sonora, MX. ALINDYROSEN@CYBERMESA.COM (360) 758-7452 www.tinyurl. com/2yrz4rzh

‘Anna Salen’, with a traditional galley/dinette, 2-cabin, single-head layout and a separate V-berth and aft cabin, is perfect for families and friends, with some privacy. ‘Anna Salen’s sail plan provides good performance in most wind conditions. The Ericson 34-2 is designed by Bruce King, as a racer/cruiser, with a traditional look and interior design. They have healthy sail area:displacement:ballast ratios, a moderate fin keel, and a semibalanced shallow spade rudder; combined, they make ‘Anna Salen’ comfortable and fast With a fiberglass hull-to-deck joint, keel-stepped mast, and lead ballast keel, ‘Anna Salen’ will address your needs for performance cruising in a classic sailboat design. $34,900. Alameda, CA. t.reigelman@ gmail.com (925) 683-0425

This

Bristol-condition boat is being offered with a possible liveaboard slip in the bay area. She is a comfortable fast cruiser, liveaboard, and competitive racer with a great sail inventory and many upgrades performed in the last 9 years. Twelve feet of beam and clever use of space give her an amazing and practical interior. Possible trade for a motorhome or van + or – value. $29,500 OBO. San Francisco. driente@aol.com (650) 714-7777 www. schocksantana35.com/

Great family and Bay boat. Replaced main and roller jib eight yrs ago. The stainless standing rigging was inspected five yrs ago. Fitted with autopilot and radar. Great start boat to get out on the Bay and sail. $15,000 OBO. Berkeley Marina. kh.weisenberger@gmail.com

This Tayana 37 is a project boat although she looks in good condition (photos) she will need work done to her motor and some electrical as she is an older vessel. Batteries are in good shape, all new thru hull fittings. She is a proven cruising boat with a full keel, plenty of head room and storage. The standing rigging is new as of this past year along with the electrical wiring and LED lights, VHF antenna. She was brought overland from the east coast so her life lines, stations and bow sprit were removed and will need to be reinstalled (all are included). She comes with stainless frames for both dodger and Bimini but no canvas. Sails and covers are in fair condition. Interior cushions are in good condition. She has a nice interior layout and well suited for someone with time and a little experience to complete the projects mentioned. Price we believe reflects her engine and other work to be completed. $25,000 neg. Sausalito. jaygrant11383@gmail.com (415) 413-6707

Con-

dition: 9.5 of 10 Totally equipped for cruising Mexico- watermaker, solar. Super electronics, new canvas, solid sails, rocna anchor, all chain. Really clean Catalina. Marina slip included! $68,000. Marina Palmira, La Paz, MX. davidjvidmar@gmail.com (541) 727-1409

The

Blackwatch 37 is a predecessor of the Tartan 37 and is ready to be out on the water. She used to be a racing boat and was recently outfitted to go cruising. New in last 2 years: Autopilot, watermaker, electric toilet, windlass, anchor & rode, solar. $25,000. Tiburon. ilchianti@gmail. com (916) 995-7853

‘Candide’ is a Hawaii, Australia and Mexico vet. Yanmar diesel, ProFurl, Monitor windvane, IC-710 SSB, new Spectra watermaker, etc. Selling as is. $30,000 OBO. Brisbane. hogancanoes@aol.com (650) 728-9528 or (650) 773-3834

40 – 50 FEET SAILBOATS

The J/120 S/V ‘Hijinx’ is now for sale. She has a sprayed race bottom (Trinidad Pro w/carbon). The keel and rudder have been templated and faired. New Ullman black Kevlar main and an older but large sail inventory. We’ve actively raced in Monterey Bay and podiumed in almost every regatta entered, including 1st SCYC Champion of Champions, 1st MPYC 2017 Año Nuevo race, 1st EYC Double Angle x 2, etc. Call Brad if interested. $129,500. Alameda, Sail California docks. sompy@yahoo.com (831) 239-2602

‘Nimbus’ is an excellent racing and cruising family sailboat for San Francisco Bay. Fiberglass hull and deck, varnished mahogany interior with teak and holly sole. Accommodations: Large “V” berth forward with head to port. Hanging lockers to starboard. Main salon: two settee berths, center table stows out of the way. Double quarter berth to port aft of the navigation station. Galley: Stainless steel sink, icebox, stove/ oven. Mast and boom aluminum with stainless steel rigging. Manual jib furling system. Mainsail with two reefs. Jib and spinnaker. Engine: Westerbeke 38. Nimbus sits in a 40-ft slip in the West Basin of the San Francisco Marina. Slip rights available, additional cost. $20,000. West Basin, San Francisco Marina. daphnej@ pacbell.net (415) 385-4157

1973, refit ’89.

Must sell d/t health. Great 50-ft liveaboard cruising sailboat with Perkins 4-236 diesel. Large king V-berth fwd and queen berth with settee aft, each with enclosed head and shower. Large storage, tankage and headroom. Midships engine room with work bench; salon with galley and table seating eight. Price reduced to allow for completing last survey recommendations while living aboard at the gateway to the Sea of Cortez and beyond. $30,950 OBO. San Carlos, Sonora, MX. ebinz@earthlink.net

‘Endeavor’ is a strong, sea-kindly vessel, designed by Henk Tingen and built in Holland in 1958. Purchased 1987 and brought back from near-extinction. We had 13 years cruising about the world; maybe now it’s your turn. Fall in love with your dream boat. Lots of good kit included, can be ready to sail to Norway in 2023! Contact C. Masters for complete list. $100,000. Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. svendeavor1958@gmail.com (206) 9603793

Price drop!

PPJ veteran, ‘Mandolin’, our seaworthy home 14+ yrs. Equipped for cruising, stable at sea, custom Hasse sails, meticulously maintained. Galley renovated, rebuilt shower, refinished floors, many upgrades. See boattrader link for specs & photos. $127,900. San Diego, CA. loriserocki@yahoo.com www.tinyurl. com/2p8pu38k

Sloop. Single Universal Diesel engine, 3-cyl, 4-cycle. Refrigerator. Double SS sink. Microwave. Toilet. Shower. Engine-mounted alternator. Titan VHF transceiver. Autohelm 4000 autopilot. Depthfinder. Threecabin layout. U-shaped dinette. V-berth. Dinghy. Stereo. $39,900. Redwood City, CA. iamerv@gmail.com (916) 792-6389 www.tinyurl.com/2tfm96d8

Roomy, solid sailer in good shape with lots of equipment including: 75 hp Yanmar diesel with less than 800 hrs. Onan generator. New standing rig in 2020. New Harken roller furler in 2020. New headsail in 2020. Radar. Two heads, one with holding tank. Very spacious and comfortable cabin due to wide beam. Aft berth a double bed with adjacent head. Ketch rig with 110 genoa makes it feel comfortable, even in heavy air on the Bay. Great protected slip in Berkeley Marina possibly available. $50,000. Berkeley Marina. Suncoasttrans@yahoo.com (415) 960-8414

Sun Odyssey 440 fully loaded, option to continue in CN charter fleet/tax shelter. No sales tax on purchase via Assignment of LLC. Teak decks, radar, liferaft, bow thruster, EPRIB, 415hrs on 57Hp engine. $475,000 OBO. Sausalito. jkrensavage@gmail.com (650) 906-1713

‘Upside’ was built in Santa Cruz. She is an ocean racer/ cruiser. Masthead sloop with rod rigging. This boat is an amazing sailer: It’s very nimble and super-responsive, can do 360 almost on the spot. She is well maintained and ready for weekend club racing and longer trips to the islands today. It is a true turnkey. $61,900. San Diego, CA. nadav59@gmail.com (949) 554-9841 www.tinyurl.com/4znhuu9e

Lovely ocean-sailing vessel. Needs TLC. Excellent deal as a fixer project. Now in Emeryville, CA. Three cabins, two baths. Complete details and photos on website. All serious offers considered. $49,000 OBO make offer. Emeryville, CA. gmeader@gmail.com (415) 987-3948 www.maxfx.biz

She combines style, handling and safety, and is an exceptional example of Hunter design and engineering with new rigging, electronics, two electric heads. Can deliver West Coast. $88,000 OBO. Port Angeles, WA. toad35692@gmail.com (360) 584-4051

Doug Peterson-designed IOR racer/cruiser for sale in Mexico. Circumnavigator, cruise-equipped: Wind vane, windlass, furling. Two spinnakers, two mains, three headsails. New canvas. Dinghy and outboard. Please call. $59,500. Barra de Navidad, MX. geneosier@yahoo.com (951) 219-5596

Cal 40 #66, ‘Shaman’ modernized sistership to Bermuda Race winner ‘Illusion,’ with all major upgrades. New Ballenger rig 2007, B&G instruments, autopilot, Zeus 10 (2012), Gori Race prop (2021), Waterrat carbon rudder, full set of racing sails. Won her class in 2008 Pac Cup and 2012 Santa Barbara Race, second in class 2016 Singlehanded TransPac. Beautiful interior with premium woodwork, AGM batteries (450Ah 2016), Xantrex sine inverter, Newport watermaker. Much more! Contact Tom for specs. $70,000. Point Richmond. tomburden1@gmail.com (831) 331-8737 https://tinyurl.com/kde8ws42

Hull #73. Classic racer/cruiser. If a Cal 40 is on your bucket list this is very clean and mostly original example! Perkins 4108, electric head w/ macerator and tank. Smart charger, 2 batteries. Original “vintage” Tillermaster autopilot and Signet instruments. Harken furling w/cruising yankee 138% and lightly used racing Dacron 150%. Kevlar #3, tallboy. Removable carbon sprit w/2 asymm kites, all original spin gear, poles, 4 kites included. Successful PHRF racer in SoCal. Harken primary self-tailers, halyards led aft w/clutches to cockpit. Stainless cabin top handrails, eyebrows shaved, teak toerail cap. Nice clean updated look. Nice interior foam and cushions. newly recovered cockpit cushions. $34,700. Dana Point, CA. defsailor@gmail.com (949) 510-7353

Type of vessel: ketch. Estimated speed: 10 kt power, 6-8 kt sail. Built Netherlands 1980. Time of lay-up: fall 2012. Hull: length 48-ft, beam 15-ft, draft 7-ft. Frames: varied dimensional steel. Topsides single skin steel plate, 1/4 thick estimated; bottom single skin steel plate, 1/4 thick estimated; deck and bulkheads steel plate. Hull layout: V-berth, forward head, forward triple berth, settee/ berth, chart station, galley, captain’s berth, engine/machinery/maintenance room, after master bath, after head, straight inboard diesel engine auxiliary powered. New bow thruster (2010), electronics, autopilot, forward underwater sonar. Six-cyl Leyland diesel, midline, 350 gal water, 250 gal fuel. Pictures at website. $54,900. Cleveland, OH. maudeij@yahoo.com.au (954) 2352527 www.guapasailboat.com

51 & OVER SAILBOATS

MULTIHULLS

Refurbished and repainted. High-performance multihull, ready to move. Email to set appointment to view. $29,000 OBO. Los Angeles, CA. davidcollins@mindspring.com (310) 310-4914

Looking for

an ocean view every day? Want the best sleep of your life and to live a lifestyle that feels like you are on vacation? Amazing waterfront home with 3 bedrooms for just under $250K in the Bay Area (San Francisco or anywhere else you’d like to take it). We have enjoyed these very things for almost five years and now it is your turn. $249,000. Alameda, CA. (702) 875-3144 www.sailingtevega.com

The Extreme 40 is a super-fast high-performance catamaran. Simple to maintain and affordable to run. Sailed with a crew of 4 or 5 or shorthanded with 2 she is ready to sail today and comes with an extensive inventory of sails, spare parts and a 40-ft workshop container. $69,000. Sausalito, CA. kylegundersen@gmail.com (415) 3417787 www.tinyurl.com/yc44abx3

Extensive refit in 2000 — Lefiell mast, standing rigging, Yanmar 50hp, custom hard dodger, new fuel tanks, LP water heater, BBQ, windlass, roller furling main and jib, MPS, etc. Winner best maintained at SGYC 4 years. New house and start batteries, dinghy. See pictures info at website. Strong cruising boat and great liveaboard. Call Ron. $119,000. San Diego. ron@griffinformation.com (619) 226-6071 www.tinyurl.com/yc7r4p8m

Selling my loved Newport, 30 hrs on rebuilt engine, recent bottom job. New shaft, refrig, diesel heater, self taling winchs, lots of sails,rod rigging,new glass in dodger,she is in good shape and sail ready $30,000 OBO. Emeryville. Thepaintgod@yahoo. com (415) 233-2845

PRICE REDUCED: ‘HIgh Five’: Cookson-built Farr 40 / Kevlar hull. Volvo Penta 40 hp; 250 hrs on engine and saildrive. Includes multiple sails. Extremely well maintained. Call to get more details. $43,000. Morro Bay, CA. goldconcept@sbcglobal.net (805) 5501118 Cutter rig, New Zealand Yachts, center cockpit, aft cabin, cold molded kauri pine, Dynel cloth, Epiglass design: Jim Young N.A. Re-rigged 2018, New standing and running rigging, North main and jib, lazy jacks, Harken mechanical backstay tensioner, B&G wind and depth instrumentation, Simrad radar, Yanmar 4HJ, 50hp, ZF Trans, Fireboy auto fire extinguisher system, slipstream Aust. Feathering prop, toerails, handrails, caprail, companionway hatches, forward cabin top hatch varnished. Steering: mechanical, hydraulic. Natural gas stove/oven. New 300-ft 5/16 high-test chain, stainless plow anchor, Engel refrigeration, Lavac manual heads. $100,000 Reduced. Long Beach, CA. jimwaide@gmail.com (949) 838-5880

‘Vela’ is fully outfitted for the 2023 Transpac with updated sail inventory and rigging. She has successfully competed in several offshore events including a podium finish in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race in 2022. ‘Vela’ is turnkey and ready to fulfill your dream of sailing across the Pacific in both comfort and style. Check out her YachtWorld listing. $299,000. Cabrillo Way Marina, San Pedro, CA. stevedd@ pacbell.net (213) 925-7895

Light, fast cat built at Delta Marine in Seattle. Roomy, 2 full staterooms, galley up, Spectra watermaker, large spillover freezer, 10 Lewmar hatches, solar, SSB, spinnaker, Rocnas. Cruised Zihua to Peñasco last 6 seasons. $100,000 OBO. Puerto Peñasco, MX. svepiccat@gmail.com

CLASSIC BOATS

Low hrs

Yanmar diesel. NEW: worm drive steering, SS fuel tanks, solar panels, air head, Simrad plotter and more. Completed extensive boatyard overhaul. Master Mariner race winner, Transpac vet. $11,000. Owl Harbor. sagieber@gmail.com (206) 384-1175

PARTNERSHIPS

Fully

loaded in mint condition — This boat was truly loved on! She is ready to take you anywhere in the world with safety, class and style. Please call for extensive inventory list. Must see her! $425,000. Alameda, CA. lrtravioli@hotmail.com (559) 269-7669

Dehler 34, 1986, tiller, Yanmar. An established non-equity sailing partnership: $275/ month includes fuel, insurance, two pre-assigned weekend days, four weekdays per month. No charge for vacant days. Maintenance fee $1000/year. For details call/text. South Beach Harbor. valtaft@gmail.com (650) 670-5300

Looking for partnership on 30-50-ft sailboat, preferably East Bay. Equity and non-equity considered. Have 20+ years of experience sailing on the Bay and chartering internationally. I have partnered successfully on a 31-ft Beneteau for five years. Now I have a small sailing dog that I want to sail with me and the others are allergic. Looking for a clean boat in good condition that is sailed regularly, and responsible, nice sail partners. Berkeley. ddodgesf@gmail.com

BERTHS & SLIPS

Newly refurbished marina. Possible liveaboard. Close to parking. Easy access to the Bay and just 20 min. commute time to the City. $49,500. Pollock Pines. gts1938@gmail.com (530) 412-3958

Galilee Harbor is a low-income cooperative community in a marine service harbor. Applicant must own the vessel and meet requirements for membership. Please see our website for information and to get an application. Sausalito, CA. applyGHCA@ gmail.com (415) 332-8554 www.tinyurl. com/2fc24m3y

I no longer need my 36-ft slip (#B28) at Pier 39. The slip has about 10 years left. Pay XFER fee ($1,200) and it’s yours. No text, just call or email. $1,200. Pier 39 S.F., CA. rwnicho@ hotmail.com (415) 648-7960

Many attractions on the Pier, clean private restrooms with showers and laundry facilities. Discounted secure parking available. $4,400. San Francisco. sailingfearless@gmail.com (415) 745-2292

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 www.redwoodcityport.com/marina

BUSINESS

OPPORTUNITIES

PROPERTY FOR SALE OR RENT

360-degree S.F. city views from the thirdfloor eagle’s nest and perfectly framed Estuary views from the dining, kitchen, and living rooms with wraparound deck and 50-ft deep-water dock. The 2,351 sq ft tri-level floor plan features beam and wainscoting detail that connect the chef’s kitchen with breakfast nook to the formal dining, optional third bedroom and glass-walled living room on the main floor, while the second floor features two generous en suite rooms with updated baths and bonus office space and oversized closets. Two-car garage includes two Tesla chargers and two power walls with the latest solar tech. Minutes to Richmond Yacht Club, ferry, miles of trails at Miller/ Knox Park and 580/80 fwys. $1,795,000. Point Richmond, CA. (510) 220-4714 nathan@jinesrealestategroup.com www.1303Sanderling.com

Enjoy breathtaking sunsets from this lovely 3BR, 1BA home perched above the gentle shore of Beal’s Cove, perfect for kayaking adventures, watching wildlife, and relaxing by the sea as the afternoon light floods the windows. You’ll love exploring all the islands have to offer during the day and retreating to the cottage in the evenings to catch the gorgeous pink, purple and orange hues of a Harpswell sunset. marcia@homesandharbors.com 866-835-0500 www.tinyurl.com/43475rkj

CREW

I have some ocean experience, some racing experience and some Spanish. I can help with expenses, sail changes, driving, and cooking. Thanks, Michael. S.F. Bay. michael.s.121@att.net (707) 354-4326

Join us for

an ocean passage in 2023. andy@ sailingbiz.com (707) 953-0434 www.sailingbiz.com

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Are you someone who is skilled in boating and interested in providing patrol and public support to maintain safety on the Richardson Bay waters? Are you a self-starter who excels at working with others to provide excellent customer service to the general public? Are you looking for a workplace with flexibility and a range of career opportunities? RGS is seeking a skilled Technical Advisor to fulfill our commitment and provide services of 20 hours per week to Richardson Bay Regional Agency as a Deputy Harbormaster. $35.00 – 50.00 hourly. Bay Area, CA. kharapan@rgs.ca.gov www.bit.ly/DepHarbormasterRGS

Berkeley Marine Center is looking for a new member of the team! We are currently looking for someone to work in our chandlery and boatyard office. Experience in retail or customer service is key, as the position involves communication with boatyard clients and chandlery customers. We are looking for a friendly and detail-oriented person who is interested in boats and ready for the fastpaced boatyard bustle. Work schedule is Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm, start date ASAP. Email us for details and to apply. office@ berkeleymarine.com

Love to sail? Make a great living in the Pacific Northwest running a fantastic charter business! After 34 years it is time to sell our dream job. We have already done the hard work for you. Dedicated client base, beautiful website, five-star reviews. Outstanding modern 55-ft sloop with moorage. USCG Coastwise trade endorsement. Great income if you are ready to take the helm of the best job in the world!. San Juan Islands, WA. islandsailor600@gmail.com

As mentioned on Calaverashistory.org., this property is rich in history, dating back to the late 1800s. Located right on Hwy 12, this property has unlimited potential for a multitude of uses. The property boasts an impressive 46.24 acres, with a charming barn, cozy main home, and ample parking. This could be your next vineyard or wine tasting. Put in an orchard or an amazing wedding venue. Currently there are between 200-300 established olive trees; the rest is being used as pasture. Two natural ponds, three wells, and speckled with beautiful oak trees. $1,250,000. Valley Springs, CA. cindy@cindyborgerding.com (209) 3040952 www.tinyurl.com/5n73v3y7

Dramatic waterfront Alameda 3BR/2.5 BA townhome with a private 44-ft deep-water slip attached to the property. An impressive 2,054 sq ft with multiple living spaces all designed to overlook the glistening Ballena Bay. $1,249,000. leah@leahtounger.com (510) 701-6497 www.tinyurl.com/3wdmepyu

The

Oakland Yacht Club is currently looking for an Assistant Harbormaster for our 200-slip marina. The ideal candidate will have 1–2 years experience, possess a current California Boating Card, and be competent in electrical, carpentry, plumbing and other mechanical skills. We are looking for candidates that enjoy providing exceptional member/guest service and value working for an organization that appreciates their employees and provides a nurturing and supportive work environment for them to flourish. The position is a full-time position with medical benefits. The work environment is 80% outdoors and 20% indoors. If you are interested in the position, please email a cover letter and résumé. Alameda, CA. gm@ Oaklandyachtclub.com (510) 522-6868

Custom canvas business ISO sewers! More sewing/making experience the better and willing to train for the right cando attitude! Quickly growing company looking for another great fit in our team. Great benefits and culture. PT/FT. Point Richmond. david@compass-canvas. com (415) 299-3415 www.compasscanvas.com

Latitude 38 has a position for a passionate sailor to support our key mission of serving the West Coast sailing community as the source of news, entertainment, inspiration and connection. The position will support Latitude 38’s growth along with the health of the local sailing community. To achieve this we are looking for a creative, inspired individual who will support our editorial, sales and production teams. Visit URL for more info. editorial@latitude38.com www.latitude38.com/job-opportunities/

The Canvas Works, on the water in Sausalito, specializing in custom canvas fabrication for marine and other applications, is seeking to fill a field and in-house technician position. This job is full time, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Responsibilities: Install canvas covers and structures on boats, homes, and commercial buildings. Oversee and organize shop mechanical areas, supplies and equipment. Demonstrate proficient operation of hand and power tools. Safely operate company vehicles. Qualified candidates must have solid mechanical skills, be proficient using hand and power tools. Training available for job specifics. Contact Lisa for more details. lisa@ thecanvasworks.com (415) 331-6527 www.tinyurl.com/2p8dd8ae

We are seeking licensed captains for private charters on our three boats in Sausalito and Alameda. Our motto is “Best Day Ever” because we emphasize providing our guests with great customer service. Check out our reviews on Yelp/ Google. We train our team and maintain our boats to high standards for safety and comfort. Part- or full-time possible. Please send résumé to email below. Thanks!. joe@sfbaysail.com www.sfbaysail.com

Inspire Sailing Berkeley is looking for sailing instructors to join our growing team!

USCG OUPV License is required, though if you are interested in getting your captain’s license we can help out there too. We have opportunities to teach aboard both tiller- and wheel-steered sportboats as well as larger cruising boats. We focus on the education of adults in a fun, welcoming and safety-oriented environment. Located in the heart of SF Bay, we are just minutes from the best sailing grounds, not miles! Do you enjoy racing? Our performance program is going strong and we need racing- and spinnaker-experienced captains as well. US Sailing and ASA Instructors welcome! Competitive pay! Free boat use! Fun! Berkeley, CA. careers@ inspiresailing.com (510) 831-1800 www. tinyurl.com/bdhdzn6c

Volunteer docents wanted to staff educational science exhibitions. Volunteer or contract graphic designer wanted. Photographers and photography wanted. Ask about other volunteer positions. info@sailingscience.org (510) 390-5727 www.sailingscience.org/

Rubi-

con Yachts is seeking a professional yacht broker/salesperson for its new Alameda, CA office. Yacht sales experience required, must be a self-starter, membership in CYBA is a plus. Contact owner/broker Mark Miner. Alameda, CA. mark@rubiconyachts.com www.rubiconyachts.com

This is a matched pair of 30-inch Nebline propellers. 1.75-inch shaft. 28-inch pitch. Both are undamaged, moderately cleaned. Sold as a pair. $1,000. Napa. trevor-steel@hotmail.com (707) 637-3140 West Marine dinghy (Avon) 280 Air w/6hp Mercury 4-stroke engine. Under 20 hours, Oars, pump, boat cover included. Garaged 95% time. Selden gennaker pole, 99/99 10-ft, 5-in w/bow ring. Excellent. $2,999. Redwood City. sprocket@cupertinobikeshop. com (408) 888-6120

MISCELLANEOUS

Posi-

tions available! Two Harbors Harbor Department, on the west end of Catalina Island. Looking for experienced boat operators for seasonal harbor patrol positions (March – October). Harbor patrol assigns and facilitates the use of 700+ moorings on the west end of Catalina Island and assists with transporting passengers to and from shore. USCG license required for passenger transport, seasonal mooring included for patrol personnel with liveaboard vessels. Inquire at website. Jrconner@scico.com (310) 510-4254 www.tinyurl.com/wheb7kvn

SLO Sail and Canvas is hiring for multiple positions in our busy sail loft in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California. We specialize in building boat covers, trampolines, and sails for sailing dinghies, one-designs, and beach catamarans. The following job opportunities are open for immediate fulfillment: Sailmaking Department Manager, Manufacturing Assistant — Industrial Department, Production Sewing & Prep — Trampoline or Boat Cover Department, and Office Assistant. To learn more about each job opening, visit website. erik@ slosailandcanvas.com (805) 479-6122 ext.9 www.tinyurl.com/fpdkrmt

Join the captains at Club Nautique and start teaching US Sailing’s most comprehensive curriculum of sail and power courses, both offshore and inshore, in the nation. We have openings now for USCG-licensed captains who exhibit exceptional communication and boating skills, and the willingness to train and work in a professional environment. Full-time and parttime positions available. schooldirector@ clubnautique.net (510) 865-4700 x313 www.clubnautique.net

(925) 382-4422 www.vesselassistsanfrancisco.com

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

40-ft double-spreader, tapered mast section #4430 with running and standing rigging. Four North Sails, four Barient winches. Lots of hardware and much more! $2,500. cblair1015@ yahoo.com (209) 704-4982

TRYING TO LOCATE

Club Nautique has an opening for a full-time Fleet Service Staff in Sausalito. No experience necessary. We will train the right candidate. Job responsibilities include: Cleaning both the interior and exterior of sailboats and powerboats. Fueling and pumping out boats, which requires driving them to and from the fuel docks. Working with the standing and running rigging. Inspecting the vessel and its systems to ensure all are in good working order before and after charters. Assisting members with questions and troubleshooting issues before charters. Sausalito. jnassoiy@ clubnautique.net (415) 332-8001 www. clubnautique.net

Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City is looking for someone to assist in the maintenance and repair of our fleet of 30 sailboats. Should be familiar with sailboat rigging, ship’s systems, outboard motors, light electrical, plumbing and diesel engine service. Consider either part time or full time. Pay rate commensurate to experience. Call or email Rich. Redwood City, CA. rich@spinnakersailing.com (650) 363-1390 www.Spinnakersailing.com

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) 363-1390 www.spinnakersailing.com

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 fiveminute 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.

NON PROFIT

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) 532-9831

Wanted:

Licensed Captain with towing endorsement for TowBoatUS./Vessel Assist on the San Francisco Bay and Delta. Preferred if you live by SF waterfront, Alameda or Bethel Island areas. Philipdelano@gmail.com

ISO owner of a Lake Union Dreamboat bought at auction from Oyster Point Marina after she sank. I have fittings that I want to return. Peninsula. Sheilaholmes@ mac.com

Happy New Year

DeWitt Art Gallery & Framing (510) 236-1401 pam@jimdewitt.com Online Stores: www.jimdewitt.com www.DeWittAmericasCupArt.com

ADVERTISERS' INDEX

ATN 34 www.atninc.com

Bay Area Marine Services 78 www.bayareamarineservices.com

Bay Maritime Group 17 www.bay-ship.com

Berkeley Marina 12 www.cityofberkeley.info/Marina_Home

Berkeley Marine Center 42 www.berkeleymarine.com

Boat Yard at Grand Marina, The 10 www.boatyardgm.com

Brisbane Marina 79 www.brisbaneca.org/marina

Canvas Services 42 www.canvasservices.com/

Canvas Works 65 www.thecanvasworks.com

Club Nautique 16 www.clubnautique.net

Compass Canvas 36 www.compass-canvas.com

Cruising Specialists 18 www.boats.network/cruisingspecialists/

Cruising Yachts 21 www.cruisingyachts.net

Defender Industries 11 www.defenderus.com

Denison Yachting 107 www.denisonyachtsales.com

DeWitt Studio...........................104 www.jimdewitt.com

Doyle Sails 70 www.doylesails.com

Dream Yacht Charters 31 www.dreamyachtsales.com

Emery Cove Yacht Harbor 39 www.emerycove.com

Etheric Networks 78 www.ethericnetworks.com

Finco Fabrications 103 www.fincofab.com/

Fisheries Supply Co. 69 www.fisheriessupply.com

FlopStopper 78 www.flopstopper.com

Gianola Canvas Products 85 www.gianolacanvas.com

Grand Marina 2 www.grandmarina.com

H&M Marine / Beta Marine Engines / Hirschfeld Yachts 79 www.betamarinewest.com

Helmut’s Marine Service 34 www.helmutsmarine.com

Heritage Marine Insurance 44 www.heritagemarineinsurance.com/

Hood Sails 33 www.hoodsails.de/en

Hotel Coral & Marina 93 www.surfnet.com/coral/ Hydrovane 40 www.hydrovane.com

Keenan Filters.............................26 www.ktisystems.com

KKMI - Full Service Boatyard 3,108 www.kkmi.com

Lind Marine 37 www.lindmarine.com

List Marine Enterprises 39 www.listmarine.com

Makela Boatworks 103 www.makelaboatworks.com

Marina Bay Yacht Harbor 40 www.marinabayyachtharbor.com

Marina de La Paz 103 www.marinadelapaz.com

Marina El Cid 103 www.elcid.com

Marina Village 20 www.marinavillageharbor.com

Mariners Insurance 32 www.marinersins.com

The Moorings 27 www.moorings.com

Modern Sailing School & Club 38 www.modernsailing.com

NAOS Yachts 13,14,15 www.naosyachts.com

ADVERTISERS' INDEX – cont'd

Napa Valley Marina 24 www.napavalleymarina.com

Navtec Hydraulics 61 www.navtechydraulics.com/

Outboard Motor Shop 38 www.outboardmotorshop.com

Passage Nautical 5 www.passagenautical.com

Punta Mita Beachfront Condos 105 www.latitude38.com

Quantum Pacific 85 www.quantum.com

Raiatea Carenage Services 75 www.raiateacarenage.com/

Richard Boland Yacht Sales 106 www.richardbolandyachts.com

Richardson Bay Marina 85 www.richardsonbaymarina.com

Richmond Boardwalk 36 www.richmondboardwalk.com

Sailing Services 45 www.sailingservices.com/

Sailrite Kits 35 www.sailrite.com

San Francisco Boat Works ........... 71 www.sfboatworks.com/

San Francisco on the Bay 41 www.sfonthebay.com/list-38

San Juan Sailing 45 www.sanjuansailing.com

Schaefer Marine 39 www.schaefermarine.com

Seattle Yachts 29 www.seattleyachts.com

Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors/SAMS 71 www.marinesurvey.org

South Beach Harbor 28 www.sfport.com/southbeachharbor

Spaulding Marine Center 22 www.spauldingcenter.org

Spectra Watermakers 94 www.spectrawatermakers.com/us/us

Sunsail Charters 23 www.sunsail.com

Svendsen’s Bay Maritime Group 19 www.bay-ship.com

Swedish Marine 44 www.swedishmarine.com/

Swiftsure Yachts 25 www.swiftsureyachts.com

TMM Yacht Charters 43 www.sailtmm.com

Trident Funding 4 www.tridentfunding.com

Ullman Sails San Francisco & Monterey Bay 30 www.ullmansails.com/

Vallejo Marina 71 www.vallejomarina.com

Ventura Harbor Boatyard 103 www.vhby.com

West Coast Multihulls .................. 43 www.westcoastmultihulls.com

Westwind Precision Details 79 www.boatdetailing.com

Whale Point Marine Supply 6 www.aceretailer.com/whalepoint

Whiting and Associates 103 www.norcalmarinesurveyors.com

Workaholics Adrift 78 www.amazon.com

Yachtfinders/Windseakers .......... 95 www.yachtworld.com/yachtfinders

2021 DUFOUR 390 EXCESS 11 37' EXCESS CATAMARAN 2022 | CALIFORNIA $CALL FOR PRICING

SOLD

COME SEE IT! Alameda, CA 2020 LAGOON 42 $659,000 2006 CATALINA 36 $99,500 2020 EXCESS II $499,900 2006 LEOPARD 43 $299,000 2017 LAGOON 450 $699,000 2003 ISLAND PACKET 48 $435,000

San Diego, CA Newport Beach, CA Long Beach, CA Marina del Rey, CA San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA 619.822.2715 DUFOUR 530 54' DUFOUR 2023 | CALIFORNIA $CALL FOR PRICING

510.469. 206.686. 5400 DUFOUR 360 36' DUFOUR 2023 | CALIFORNIA $CALL FOR PRICING

San Diego, CA Newport Beach, CA Long Beach, CA Marina del Rey, CA

949.791.4220 562.594.9716 310.821.5883 510.469. 206.686. 5400 DUFOUR 390 $39' DUFOUR 2023 | CALIFORNIA $CALL FOR PRICING EXCESS 15 48' EXCESS CATAMARAN 2023 | CALIFORNIA $CALL FOR PRICING