Easy Breezy and Sail Cargo
In the December issue, we featured local artist, sailor, fisherman and merchant marine Martin Machado. Among the many hats that he wears, Machado is working on a project called “Easy Breezy,” a proposed forum centered around clean, green shipping.
Machado sees Easy Breezy as a “gathering of crazy water people to learn about and discuss sail/cargo operations and innovative industrial design happening around the world.” Among the project elements is “cargo delivery,” where the forum will look at sail-shipping sustainable agricultural products and seafood.
Martin says that at this point, the project is in its “dream” phase, but he’s been applying for grants and has a team brainstorming on how to get the nascent venture off the ground. If you’re interested, you can contact Machdo at [email protected]. (We provided the wrong email address in our  December story — the first mistake in the history of Latitude 38!)
Shipping by sail power is not unprecedented. Sailingdog.org, a Seattle-based startup focused on providing sustainable distribution in Washington State, listed a number of sail freight projects around the world, including the 105-ft schooner Tres Hombres, which “focuses on moving Caribbean rum, fair-trade chocolate, and coffee.”
The S/V Kwai has been operating since 2006,moving goods between Hawaii and the Cook islands. In 2013, the Vermont Sail Freight Project delivered 12 tons of food from 30 Vermont farms down the Hudson River aboard Ceres, a 30-ft flat-bottom sailing vessel. “Ceres became the first sailboat since the 1950s to land in New York City with goods. The cargo was destined for the New Amsterdam Market, restaurants, and customers who had placed orders online,” according to National Geographic.
These are just a few of the many small-scale sail-cargo projects in operation. With 90% of all goods transported by ships — and 4% of all greenhouse gases coming from the dirty fuel they burn — sail freight is a niche, a drop in a drop in the bucket in terms of global commerce. But new movements start small, and we’re excited to see an upstart in the Bay Area grab the torch.
There are also a number of sail-assisted technologies being tested on commercial ships around the world. One local company hopes to revolutionize the Bay Area’s fleet of passenger ferries. We’ll bring you this story in the coming months.
The Do-It-Yourself Check-In
Latitude Nation — It’s been a while since we’ve asked any DIY questions, and with the weather going all gray and wintry, we’re wondering if anyone out there is working on a rainy-day project or projects.
Is your DIY mojo seasonal? Do you find that certain weather either gets you fired up to fix that thing you’ve been meaning to fix forever — or does the opposite happen? Do you shelve all repairs until the weather goes decent and sunny again?
We’d like to know. You can either comment on this story below, or email us pictures, anecdotes, stories and tales of near-meltdowns here. Please be sure to include your boat name, make and port of call, or just tell us where you’re from.
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The Transpac and the America’s Cup
What do the Transpac and the America’s Cup have in common? Read on to find out.
A California America’s Cup Team?
In Monday’s CupExperience newsletter, Jack Griffin passes along the rumor that a new proposed America’s Cup team hails from Long Beach Yacht Club. The New Zealand Herald speculates that Taylor Canfield’s USA 21 challenge has been accepted. The 29-year-old US Virgin Islands sailor currently tops the US match-racing rankings (he’s #8 on the world list). We’ll of course let you know when the team makes an official announcement.
The late-entry deadline of November 30 has passed. The late fee? A mere one million dollars. The next milestone in the America’s Cup 36 odyssey will be March 31’s announcement of 2019 America’s Cup World Series venues and dates. That is also the date when teams are allowed to launch their first boat. Auckland, New Zealand, will host the actual America’s Cup in 2021. See www.americascup.com.
Record Entries in 50th Transpac
A record 82 teams have signed up to race from Los Angeles to Honolulu in the 50th edition of the Transpacific Yacht Race, coming up in July 2019. The previous record of 80 entries was set way back in 1979!
The connection with the news item above? Among the entries is the 139-ft schooner America, a replica of 1851’s original winner of the silver ewer that henceforth became known as the America’s Cup. (The ‘Auld Mug’s original name was the Hundred Guinea Cup.) America sails out of San Diego; her skipper, Troy Sears, offers charters aboard the beautiful yacht.
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