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March 30, 2022

Kudos to Chuck Hawley, Winner of US Sailing’s Herreshoff Award

Among the winners at last week’s US Sailing Rolex awards at the St. Francis Yacht Club was another well-deserving recipient, Chuck Hawley. Chuck received the 2020 Herreshoff Trophy award, delayed by the pandemic, as a result of his endless efforts on behalf of sailing. The Herreshoff Trophy is US Sailing’s most prestigious award. It was originally donated in 1957 by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and is awarded annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in this country, in any associated activity.

Chuck-Hawley
Chuck Hawley addresses the crowd at the US Sailing Rolex awards.
© 2022 Latitude 38 Media LLC / John

The recipient is selected by the board of directors from nominations made by members of the board, division and committee chairs, past presidents, and counselors of honor.

Chuck has sailed over 40,000 miles and utilized his knowledge and years of experience with West Marine to upgrade the training and knowledge of other sailors. He has made numerous contributions to sail training, most notably by his chairing the US Sailing Safety at Sea Committee and his continued moderation of safety at sea training. If you haven’t heard Chuck speak in a while, you can hear him in our podcast recorded last fall. Congratulations to Santa Cruz Yacht Club member Chuck Hawley for this impressive recognition of his work on behalf of all sailors.

Catch the Good Jibes With Beau Vrolyk

Welcome back to Good Jibes! This week, host Moe Roddy is joined by Beau Vrolyk to chat about Beau’s top sailing lessons and experiences aboard his legendary schooner, Mayan. Beau is a member of the Cruising Club of America and is the 2022 vice commodore of St. Francis Yacht Club. Mayan is a John Alden schooner built in Belize in 1947, and was owned by David Crosby from 1969 to 2014.

Hear Beau’s thought’s on how to invite new people onto your boat, how to inspire people to be lifelong sailors, his modifications to Mayan, how close to shore to sail, and the true goal when racing.

Beau Vrolyk
At minute 23:50 Beau shares some of Mayan‘s history.
© 2022 Good Jibes Archives

This episode covers everything from famous boats to helpful modifications. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • Where did Beau grow up?
  • What was the first boat he sailed on?
  • How was his cruise to Panama?
  • What’s a story that shaped him about sailing?
  • How old were his children for their earliest cruise?
  • Does he prefer racing or cruising?
  • What was it like sailing with Sally Honey?
  • Short Tacks: Who’s inspired Beau the most in life?

Learn more about Beau here: https://medium.com/@beauvrolyk.

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!

This episode of Good Jibes is sponsored by Svendsen’s Bay Marine.

Boat Shows are officially back in the Bay Area. Come down to Svendsen’s in Alameda on April 9, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., for once-a-year deals from your favorite vendors. Stick around for a DJ, food truck, and a ton of raffle prizes. Get to know your favorite names in the industry and have a great day doing it. Entry and parking are free! Get all the info at svendsens.com/boatshow2022. We hope to see you there!

It’s Almost Time for Svendsen’s First Annual Spring Fling Show

How long has it been since we had a boat show in the Bay Area? Too long! Well, things are looking up. Although not technically a ‘boat show’, on Saturday, April 9, Svendsen’s Marine & Industrial Supply is hosting its first annual Spring Fling Show, a free, one-day-only event in Alameda. The Spring Fling is set to be a humdinger of a day with marine industry favorites, stalwarts and newcomers setting up their tents and exhibits for eight hours of boating specials and fun.

The vendors will include sailing schools, community sailing and educational organizations such as Alameda Community Sailing Center, Spaulding Marine Center’s Boatworks 101, Delta Sailing School, Ocean Planet Explorers, Summer Sailstice and others.

On the boat side there’ll be chandleries and service providers: engineering, repairs and electronics, sailmaking and bottom cleaning. Plus there’ll be representatives from almost 50 marine product manufacturers and distributors.

Of course there will also be food and entertainment — music and raffle giveaways all day long! And, from 3:00 p.m. on, Latitude 38 is hosting the after-party! Come to the booth, buy a Latitude 38 45-year commemorative cup, and we’ll fill it with beer for free.

Get your ticket now, and when you’re at the show, take it to the Svendsen’s ‘Welcome Booth’ to receive your raffle ticket! Additional raffle tickets will be given to those who donate to one of the nonprofit sailing organizations.

We’re excited to be there, and are looking forward to spending some salty time with readers and sailors from all over the Bay Area and beyond. So gather your family and friends, your neighbors, and their friends, and come on down to Svendsen’s Marine & Industrial Supply, 2900 Main Street #1900, Alameda.

Remember the date: April 9.

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: 2900 Main Street #1900, Alameda.

And did we mention entry is free? Click here for all the details.

Spring Into April Yacht Racing and Sailing

On San Francisco Bay

The Yacht Racing Association’s Shorthanded Sunday Series proved so popular during the pandemic that it’s back for another season, starting on April 3.

If you’re not racing on April 3, you may wish to just go sailing. Island Yacht Club will host a Get Out and Sail event on the Estuary that day. “Meet crew, meet skippers, dine, and head for the docks,” says Ros de Vries, IYC’s commodore. “It’s time we all just went sailing together!” Sign up at https://iyc.org/getout, then meet up at 11 a.m. at the Boathouse Tavern in Alameda (IYC’s de facto clubhouse these days).

On April 9-10, Berkeley Yacht Club will host the Rollo Wheeler Regatta. Saturday will be a two-buoy-race day; Sunday will feature one pursuit race. Enter now, so that BYC can make sure they have enough oysters for Friday and Saturday, and enough prizes for Saturday and Sunday!

Heart of Gold
Joan Byrne’s Olson 911S Heart of Gold, just ahead of an Etchells, racing in last year’s Wheeler Regatta.
© 2022 Glen Garfein

On the same weekend, San Francisco YC will run the Resin Regatta for Melges 24, Express 27, J/70, J/24, Cal 20, Folkboat and RS21 classes. The Folkboats, J/70s and J/24s will have to choose between that and St. Francis YC’s Spring Fest, for J/105, J/88, J/70, J/24, Knarr and Folkboat classes.

On April 16, Richmond YC will host the Big Dinghy Regatta.

The next race for the Singlehanded Sailing Society will be for solo sailors only, April 23’s Singlehanded No Trophy Race in the South Bay.

Also on April 23, Island YC will host the Sadie Hawkins Race for female skippers and full crews of all genders, with sailing on the Estuary. Sausalito YC will run the first in their Twin Island series, and also provide a launching pad for the El Toro sailors who will cross the Bay to San Francisco in the Bullship Race. Registration for the Bullship will be through RYC.

The YRA Great Vallejo Race will cap off the month in style on April 30-May 1. Race to Vallejo YC on Saturday, raft up, party, and race back on Sunday. See our post on Monday for a preview and history of the legendary season opener.

Many Beer Can Series begin in April; we’ll preview some of them in an upcoming edition of ‘Lectronic Latitude.

Lakes Welcome Back Racers

Konocti Sailing Club will present the Konocti Cup on April 23, with sailing on Clear Lake.

On Folsom Lake, the Camellia Cup will return to a two-day format on April 23-24, and the Trans-Folsom will happen the next Saturday, April 30.

Banshee downwind
Banshee sailing in FLYC’s Camellia Cup.
© 2022 John Poimiroo

On the Ocean

The gate to ocean racing will open in April, but, alas, IYC’s Doublehanded Lightship scheduled for April 2 has been canceled. So the ocean season will kick off with the Bay Area Multihull Association’s Doublehanded Farallones Race on April 9 (monohulls welcome). The OYRA will kick off its 2022 season with the Lightship Race on April 23.

Express 37 crew
Aboard Andy Schwenk’s Express 37 Spindrift V in last year’s OYRA Lightship Race.
© 2022 James Immer

Down south, NOSA’s Newport to Ensenada Race will depart Newport on April 22 with a choice of three destinations: Ensenada, San Diego or Dana Point.

Southern California

Speaking of Southern California races, on April 2 Silver Gate YC in San Diego will host the America’s Schooner Cup Charity Regatta.

Schooners racing
The boats are part of the scenery at the America’s Schooner Cup. These are America, Witchcraft and Lively.
© 2022 Dale Frost

Also in San Diego, SDYC will run the Etchells Midwinters West Regatta on April 8-10.

Long Beach YC will host the Ficker Cup match-racing regatta on April 13-16, a lead-up to the Congressional Cup on April 18-23.

San Diego YC will wrap up the month with the Yachting Cup on April 29-May 1. The regatta weekend will consist of a Ton Cup Bay Race on Friday and two days of competitive buoy and distance racing.

Find all these and much more in the Calendar section of Latitude 38’s April issue, coming out this Friday.

It’s Official — 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona

After much hand-wringing and speculation about a variety of possible venues, Emirates Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have announced they will host the next America’s Cup in Barcelona, Spain, in 2024. This is a huge disappointment to the many America’s Cup fans in New Zealand and to the local New Zealand marine and tourism trades. It’s not an unknown feeling to sailors in San Francisco, who watched Oracle Team USA win an amazing comeback victory on San Francisco Bay in 2013, only to have the team pack up the tents and move the event to Bermuda. Was it the lost ‘hometown advantage’ that allowed the Kiwis to wrest the Cup from the Americans? Barcelona is a beautiful sailing city and did host the Summer Olympics in 1992, so it should attract big European sailing audiences to excellent sailing conditions for the Cup.

America's-Cup-Barcelona
The backdrop to the 2024 America’s Cup will be Barcelona, Spain.
© 2022 America's Cup

Besides the possibility of defending the Cup on the home turf in Auckland, the other major destinations under consideration for hosting the Cup included Cork in Ireland, Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Malaga in Spain.

At present, there are four teams challenging Emirates Team New Zealand for the Cup: INEOS Britannia (GBR), Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI), Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA), and NYYC American Magic (USA). More teams could join the fray, as the entry period runs until July 31, 2022, though late entries for the 37th America’s Cup may be accepted until May 31, 2023.

Now all the weather homework done in New Zealand will be put back on the shelf as the teams move their weather and design gurus to study the conditions around Barcelona.

Thrills, Spills and a Wayward Whale
SailGP showcased its Season 2 finale and race for a million dollars in front of thousands of enthusiastic sailing fans who lined the shore from Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Yacht Club.
One of the Oldest Regattas on the Bay
This year's Great Vallejo Race promises to be bigger than in years past due to going back to its pre-pandemic normal dates of April 30-May 1 …