Seen here during a recent practice session, LRC and ETNZ will go at it for real Saturday unless the wind pipes up over 20 knots. © 2013 Gilles Martin-Raget The International Jury has ruled that America’s Cup Regatta Director Iain Murray, as respected a sailor as he might be, overstepped his authority when he changed some of the regatta rules recently, even though he believed he had done so in the interests of participant safety. More »

No matter how fast a racing boat you have, there’s a big element of luck in doing well for overall honors in the Los Angeles to Honolulu TransPac. If you get away from the coast in a rare great breeze — as did divisions 7 and 8 — you can be golden compared to those who start in light and variable winds — which happened to yesterday’s starters. More »

Jeanne Socrates sailed the bottom paint off Nereida during her solo nonstop trip around. © Jak Mang On October 24, Jeanne Socrates set sail from Victoria, B.C. aboard her Najad 380 Nereida bound for…Victoria. More »

The mighty Dorade, restored by StFYC’s Matt Brooks, looking fine at the start of the 2013 TransPac Race. © Trans Pacific YC Fourteen boats from Divisions 7 and 8 of the 47th TransPac Race from San Pedro to 2,225-mile distant Honolulu got away on Monday in ideal conditions. More »

Sadly, the hottest action in this America’s Cup isn’t here. . . © Gilles Martin-Raget / ACEA It wasn’t too surprising that Emirates New Zealand won their second straight Louis Vuitton Series race yesterday, as for the second time in a row, theirs was the only boat on the course. More »

The schooner Niña in New Zealand prior to setting sail for Australia. © Steve Darden "My wife Dorothy and I are optimists," Steve Darden told Latitude in a telephone interview. "We believe that the pessimists will be proven wrong, and that the crew of the schooner Niña will be found safe, despite not being heard from in more than a month." More »

Hayden Brown designed and built Aldebaran, starting her in 1971. Aldebaran
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC Local sailors will be familiar with the sight of the beautiful 70-ft ‘pirate ship’ Aldebaran plying the waters of San Francisco Bay — she won last year’s Great San Francisco Schooner Race and is the official pirate boat of the Vallejo Pirate Festival — but the merry 4th of July fireworks cruise aboard the schooner came to a tragic end when she ran up on the Richmond Jetty. More »

"Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second," is supposedly the response given to Queen Victoria on August 22, 1851, when the schooner America beat 15 other yachts around the Isle of Wight to claim the first America’s Cup. More »

And then there was one. Five Mini 6.50s were set to race to Hawaii from Marina del Rey in the inaugural Mini 650 Pacific Challenge on Saturday but shortly before the start, two — Charlie Calkins on C’s Folly and Luiz Eduardo on ARG 842 — failed to qualify while Przemyslaw Karwasiecki on Libra bowed out just after the start. More »