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February 16, 2022

How to Crew Aboard a SailGP F50

The season finale SailGP event is just six weeks away. It’ll be held on the San Francisco Cityfront the weekend of March 26-27. Before you try out for the team or get out to watch, SailGP has put together a power-packed video on how you can be an expert crew or a less perplexed spectator.

After watching this, you’ll know exactly what to do if they call you up from the Latitude 38 Crew List.

In other foiling news, the Richmond Yacht Club will host the Waszp Americas event on March 16-20.

Waspz Americas
An aerial view of RYC, where the Waszp will be getting some air time.
© 2022 RYC

There are already 39 of the foiling Waszps signed up to sail in a growing and competitive local fleet that includes local Molly Carapiet and JP Lattanzi of Honolulu, who was here recently winning the iQFoil 8 fleet last summer.

Foiling Waspz
At least 39 of these fast, foiling Waszp waterbugs will be fun to watch racing off Richmond.
© 2022 Jesse Andrews

The summer season is coming soon, and a packed spring sailing calendar starts with a March Sailing Madness month.

Meet Margie Woods on Good Jibes Ep. #27

This week’s Good Jibes host, Ryan Foland, is joined by Margie Woods to chat about getting over your fears and finding that deep trust in yourself, thanks to sailing. Margie is a lifelong sailor who is passionate about supporting women to follow their sailing dreams. She is an ASA instructor, and she raced in the 2016 Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race.

In this episode, hear Margie’s thoughts on how to conquer your fears while sailing and find your inner strength, what she learned from doing the Singlehanded Transpacific Race, how to make friends in sailing communities, and whether it’s OK to talk to dolphins and waves on your voyage.

Margie Woods on Good Jibes
At minute 21:38 Margie shares her thoughts on how to overcome self-doubt and fear on the water.
© 2022 Margie Woods

Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • Does Margie challenge herself in life outside of sailing?
  • If the waves could talk, what would they say about her experience on the water?
  • What would she do differently if she were doing a Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race now?
  • How do you overcome self-doubt and fear on the water?
  • What’s stopping more women from getting involved in sailing?
  • How do you get involved?
  • Do you make friends in these classes?
  • Short Tacks: What’s Margie’s cruiser:racer ratio?

Learn more about Margie Woods and connect with her on the Sacred Horizons sailing blog and Instagram.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!

Can’t wait to hear from our next guest? Add your name to the list and you’ll get a notification when each new Good Jibes episode is launched.

Skippers Wanted: US Coast Guard-Licensed Captains for Charters and Private Lessons

Passage Nautical: Skippers Wanted

Wanted: US Coast Guard-licensed captains for charters and private lessons. For power and sail. Hourly rate from $50 up. Weekend and weekday work available.

1160 Brickyard Cove Road, Suite 21, Richmond, California 94801 • (510) 236-2633 • [email protected]

Spaulding Marine Center Hosts Apprentice Open House, and a Documentary

Spaulding Marine Center in Sausalito is taking advantage of the recent springlike weather and throwing open its doors to visitors. The first event on the agenda is an Open House to showcase the Boatworks 101 apprenticeship program. Anyone interested in the next intake of apprentices (or who knows someone who might be) is invited to join the crew for a tour of the facilities and an information session to learn about the features of the program. Apprentices will be on hand to show off their work and talk about what they’re learning, and what Boatworks 101 is really all about.

Apprentices in yard
The first intake of Boatworks 101 apprentices are more than halfway through their in-house training. In May they will commence a six-month-long rotation of placements with Bay Area marine businesses.
© 2022 Spaulding Marine Center

The Open House will run over two sessions, one in-person, the other virtual.
In-person:
Spaulding Marine Center, 600 Gate 5 Road, Sausalito.
Date: Saturday, Feb. 19.
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Reservations are required, so email [email protected] to register your attendance.

The virtual Open House is on Saturday, February 26, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. No bookings are required for this event; just use this link to join: Spaulding Open House Zoom.

Spaulding Marine Apprentices
Apprentices learn everything from woodworking to welding, and a boatload of skills in between.
© 2022 Spaulding Marine Center

Spaulding’s second upcoming event is the screening of A Tour of Sausalito’s Marinship — A Working Waterfront at Risk. The documentary, which was produced by the Sausalito Working Waterfront Coalition, is a point-in-time tour of Sausalito’s Marinship, as told by the fabricators, mariners, artists, educators and craftsmen. Inspired by the treasure of innovation and creativity that is hidden in plain sight at Sausalito’s working waterfront, the film introduces viewers to some of the people who make Sausalito a place like no other in the world.

The coalition is working toward its vision, which includes an expanded maritime/artist/industrial economic engine that leverages Marinship’s history of innovation and fabrication.
© 2022 Sausalito Working Waterfront Coalition

The screening is free, but seats are limited. Reserve your seat here.

Where and when:
Spaulding Marine Center, 600 Gate 5 Road, Sausalito.
Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

To ensure the film starts on time, viewers are requested to arrive 10 – 15 minutes early. Parking is available. Check this map for details.

You can read more about Spaulding Marine Center’s current happenings through the organization’s newsletter: Spaulding Waterfront Report. And at their website: SpauldingCenter.org.

More Olde Timey Images of Yacht Racing Past

A couple of weeks ago, we ran images of yacht racing coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle from back in the 1950s. That inspired John Dukat to send us these images from the archives of the Examiner and the Oakland Tribune from prewar days of yore.

The San Francisco Examiner Sunday sports section led with Bird Boat racing on May 17, 1936.
© 2022 San Francisco Examiner

“W.R. Hearst’s Examiner used to cover yachting quite decently (prewar to mid-1950s). Lots of front and center sailing with photos on the cover of their sporting section,” noted John.

Snipe photo on sports page
In this image from June 1, 1941, Dorothy Hollander appears to be singlehandedly wrangling a Snipe. Hearst apparently even sponsored a regatta back in the day,
© 2022 San Francisco Examiner

“There was a second reason yachting wasn’t covered pre-internet. Other sports get covered in the papers. The Bay Area has how many professional teams? How many college teams?

“Once when I called the sports desk trying to get a little yacht race snippet in, I was told in no uncertain terms: ‘The Monday after a 49ers win, the Chron sells [something like a quarter million] more papers’.”

Bear boats in Oakland Tribune
Bear Boat fleet racing led the sports section of the Oakland Tribune on Monday, June 2, 1941.
© 2022 Oakland Tribune

“Yachting coverage’s decline in the papers might start with professional teams coming west, and possibly the college football national rankings. Add to the mix that yachting also suffers from an undeserved hoity-toity tag.”

Bird Boat racing
Bird Boat racing on the front (sports) page in August 1941. This photo depicts Skylark, skippered by Harrold Decker of Richmond Yacht Club. We’ve observed that horse racing also enjoyed a heyday that has faded into the past. You know that fancy new stadium where they just put on Super Bowl LVI? It was built on the footprint of the old Hollywood Park racetrack.
© 2022 San Francisco Examiner
The World Famous L38
And now for something a little different … Welcome to February's Caption Contest(!).
CRUISE READY IN MEXICO
What a perfect day to be thinking about your beloved! We're talking about your beloved sailboat, of course. Tomorrow is the deadline for the March Classifieds.