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Archive for June 2016

Four-Bridge Fiasco

June 22, 2016
Sailors, how is your backstroke? Only one of 11 skippers didn’t spend some time swimming on June 18 during the 2016 Sir Francis Chichester Race, the Laser fleet’s periodic circumnavigation of the island nation of Alameda. More »

Comanche Devours Newport-Bermuda

Comanche stormed across the St David’s Lighthouse finish line of the Newport Bermuda Race early on Sunday morning, smashing the race record. © Barry Pickthall / PPL At the Royal Bermuda YC docks last Sunday, the champagne flowed as freely as dark n’ stormies aboard Jim Clark’s Comanche. More »

Race to Alaska Begins Thursday

June 20, 2016
The big races to Hawaii — the Singlehanded TransPac, Vic-Maui Race, and Pacific Cup — don’t start until July, but this very Thursday a different kind of Pacific passage race will depart Port Townsend, WA. More »

The Good Cruising Life in Montenegro

Debbie pours the wine in "fairy-tale-like" Montenegro. Escapade
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC Two of the great things about cruising in Europe are the food and the wine. Just ask ‘the good life’ experts Greg Dorland and Debbie Macrorie of the Squaw Valley-based Catalina 52 Escapade. More »

The Final Plank Is In

When it came time to attach the whiskey plank, everybody wanted to get into the act. Who wouldn’t? latitude/JR
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC At least 350 supporters were on hand Saturday night to witness the attachment of the final plank — the so-called "whiskey plank" — onto the 100-ft brigantine Matthew Turner‘s hull. More »

What’s Your Summer Sailstice Plan?

June 17, 2016
What started out as a loosely conceived impetus for getting sailors out on the water has now grown into an international phenomenon. Of course, we’re referring to the annual Summer Sailstice events that will take place this weekend, timed with the annual summer solstice — the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. More »

Columbia 5.5 Meter Comeback

Columbia 5.5 Meters racing on the Estuary, left to right: Wings, Sonic Death Monkey, Slooperman and Italia. © Martha Blanchfield One-design action is happening Wednesday nights on the Alameda Estuary. Hosted by Oakland Yacht Club, the Columbia 5.5 Meter fleet counts eight on the start line — plus two more classic vessels currently being restored by a local team. More »

Photo of the Day

It’s hard to think of a boat more deserving of a rainbow’s end than Patsy ‘La Reina del Mar’ Verhoven’s Gulfstar 50 Talion. Once based out of Portland, for the last eight or so years she’s been based out of La Paz in Baja. More »

A Green Crossing of the Pacific

Have you cruised across the Pacific — West Coast to New Zealand — without using any fuel? Or do you know anybody who has? While doing some research for a response to a letter that will appear in the July Latitude, we came across a letter in which Randy Ramirez of Stockton and Jenny Haldiman reported sailing their Mariah 31 Mystic to New Zealand in 2011, during which time they only used 12 gallons of fuel. More »