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February 14, 2014

Sea Gals

Sea Gals during the ’70s on their 28th anniversary in Petaluma onboard Boog-a-loo.
Back row, l to r: Cathey Dawson, Myra Berkowitz, Aileen Terhune. Front row: Shirl Armor, Mercedes See, Nancy Rogers, Marilyn Berdan, Prentice Sack, Jean Malis, Louise Nelson

© Sally Taylor

For years, a group of ladies has been meeting regularly to sail on San Francisco Bay. The history of the Sea Gals began sometime after World War II. “Two groups of ladies, one in Marin and one in the East Bay, were sailing as crew on their husbands’ boats,” says Sally Taylor. “Eventually they decided that they wanted to learn how to sail the boats themselves — without the yelling. They would take the boats out once a week, together, while the husbands were working. Eventually the two groups merged and called themselves the Sea Gals.”

"Membership was by invitation and the only requirement was that you provide a boat to sail. And no yelling allowed. Those are still the only rules — besides no cell phones!"

Pauline Bunton, Julia Yost & Jeanne Lacy aboard Spirit.

© 2014 Sally Taylor

Yet as with any group of such longstanding, it’s been difficult to maintain membership, as many Sea Gals have either passed away or moved.

Taylor says the Sea Gals are facing a unique dilemma. "It is difficult to find women with boats who are free to sail midweek. This is why we are interested in publicity, for the first time in the history of the Sea Gals. But this isn’t a ladies’ social club. We sail together every Wednesday and that is all we do, except for three lunches a year to establish who will take which Wednesday, and one Christmas dinner where we bring along the Sea Pals."

Latitude 38 is planning a more in-depth story on the Gals in our March edition, but we’re also interested in hearing about other groups of diehard sailors who get out on the water religiously. For example, we’ve heard about a group of older guys who have been sailing out of Richmond YC midweek for a number of years as well, but we don’t know what they call themselves or how to contact them. Email us if you have info, as we’d like to acknowledge such sailors and celebrate their love of sailing and the Bay.

More Impounded Boats to be Released

Tere Grossman, owner of San Carlos Marina, reports that AGACE agents were back at San Carlos Marina on Tuesday, and that as a result she expected that most of the impounded boats in her marina would soon be "liberated." This would include 16 boats that had already been taken away by their owners. Can we get a ruling on the question if a government can truly "liberate" a boat that the owner has already fled with?

Marina San Carlos

latitude/Richard
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

So how many of the 338 mostly foreign boats impounded are still impounded? Nobody seems to know, but we’re thinking about 100. And how many of the 338 boats were in any kind of violation of Mexican law. We don’t know the answer to that question, but apparently not very many at all.

Grossman, who is president of the Mexican Marina Owner’s Association, reports that Hacienda (the Mexican IRS) is working on changing Temporary Import Permits (TIPs) "to make them easier and to avoid future problems." We sure hope this is true because the last thing Mexico needs is another fiasco that flies in the face of two of their big natural interests: filling marinas and anchorages to capacity and luring all kinds of tourists south of the border.

Following November’s seizing of 338 foreign-owned boats, and Latitude‘s admittedly endless hammering of this blunder, it’s almost hilarious that on Wednesday we received a special invitation from the Tourism Board of Puerto Vallarta for an all expenses paid trip to Vallarta to cover the MEXORC in late March. So we assume they aren’t holding a grudge against us for our editorials.

One indicator that the impounds have not done irreparable harm is the relatively strong entry roster for next month’s San Diego-to-Puerto Vallarta Race:

  • Pyewacket / Roy Disney / Andrews 68 / Waikiki YC
  • Condor / Lindy Thomas / Andrews 70 / SDYC
  • Invisible Hand / Frank Slootman / R/P 63 / Encinal YC
  • Resolute / Tim Fuller / J/125 / SDYC
  • Hamachi / Fritz Lanzinger / J/125 / CYC Seattle
  • Peligroso / Lorenzo Berho / Kernan 70 / Club Nautico Izar
  • Orion / Charlie Ogletree / MOD70 Tri / StFYC
  • Mighty Merloe / HL Enloe / Orma 60 / Silvergate (TX)
  • Vincitore / Ricardo Brockma/ nn R/P 52 / Club de Yates de Acapulco
  • Meanie / Thomas Akin / R/P 52 / San Francisco YC
  • Bretwalda 3 / Bob Pethick / Rogers 46 / Cal YC
  • J World’s Hula Girl / Wayne Zittel / Santa Cruz 50 / SDYC
  • Deception / Bill Helvestine / Santa Cruz 50 / StFYC
  • Horizon / Jack Taylor / Santa Cruz 50 / DPYC
  • Maverick / Chris Slagerman / Santa Cruz 70 / Cal YC
  • Grand Illusion / James McDowell / Santa Cruz 70 / Waikiki YC
  • Mirage / John DeLaura / Santa Cruz 70 / Shoreline YC
  • Holua / Brack Duker / Santa Cruz 70 / California YC
  • Velos / Kjeld Hestehave / Sloop / SDYC
  • Westward / Sam & Willie Bell / Sloop / LAYC
  • Bad Pak / Tom Holthus / STP65 / SDYC
  • Swazik / Sebastien de Halleux / Swan 45 / Golden Gate YC
  • Second Wind / Dean Fargo & John Chamberlain / Swan 651 CRA
  • Destroyer / Eduardo Saenz / TP 52 / Club de Yates de Acapulco
  • Distraxion / Jeffery Coyle / XP44 / NHYC

It’s also worth noting that at least six of those boats will stick around to compete in MEXORC, which is Mexico’s biggest ‘serious’ regatta. Look for coverage of both the PV Race and MEXORC here, and in the April edition of Latitude 38 magazine.

Tall Ships to Battle on the Bay

The Hawaiian Chieftan and the Lady Washington

© Ron Arel

The tall ships Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftan are returning to the Bay Area this weekend for bay excursions and hands-on educational programs for K-12 students. The highlight of their annual visit is always their mock sea battles, complete with canon fire and pirate costumes. 

The ships will be docked at San Francisco’s Pier 40 this weekend, February 15-19 and at Oakland’s Jack London Square February 21-24. Then they return to visit Sausalito’s Bay Model March 5-10 and its back to San Francisco April 1-6. 

You can learn more about the ships’ programs here or call 800-200-5239.

Note to ‘Classy’ Advertisers

Sellers make note: If you want your ad to appear in March edition, you have to submit it by 5 p.m. Saturday.

latitude/Annie
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

If you’re planning to submit a Classy Classified for the March issue of Latitude 38, be aware that the deadline is this Saturday. If the deadline falls on a weekend, we still hold to that cutoff time.

If your ad is not in by 5 p.m. Saturday, it will still go online next week, but then gets published in the April issue. So submit your ad ASAP! Monday will be too late for our upcoming edition. This holds true for renewals as well.

As you may have noticed, the current edition of Latitude 38 has a slightly new look, as we’ve changed printers.