The Baja Ha-Ha Fall Crew List Party Coming September 1
Who’s coming to the Baja Ha-Ha Latitude 38 Crew Party on Thursday, September 1? We have some great volunteer organizations, including host Spaulding Marine Center, plus volunteers from Island Yacht Club and San Francisco Sailing Science Center. Most important are the Baja Ha-Ha participants, plus other boat owners and crew from the almost 1,000 people signed up on Latitude 38‘s Crew List. Meeting online is one thing; meeting face to face is another.
For over 40 years the spring and fall crew list parties have been a good time and a good way to meet other sailors who want to crew or need crew. The Baja Ha-Ha Fall Crew List Party is ideal for those who are looking to sail south this fall on the Baja Ha-Ha, though it’s also good if you’re looking to sail anywhere, any time. The fall Baja Ha-Ha Crew List Party and Mexico Cruising Seminar are free to the captain and first mate of 2022 Baja Ha-Ha participants. Advance tickets for the party and the seminar are $10 each.
Neil Shroyer from Marina de La Paz and Rafael Alcantara from Marina Riviera Nayarit are two wise and experienced harbormasters from Mexico who will be giving the Mexico cruising seminar from 4-5:30 p.m. at Spaulding Marine Center before we clear out the space and shift gears to crew-party mode. If you’re planning to cruise Mexico this year or in future years, this seminar is a valuable source of planning information with tips on TIPS, fishing licenses and many other details worth knowing before you head south. The seminar is free to skippers and first mates, so if you’re thinking about heading south with the Ha-Ha this year make sure you’re signed up by party time.
We always look forward to seeing Baja Ha-Ha participants who are on their way south from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon as they pass through the Bay Area. We also encourage them not to rush but take some time to cruise the Bay and take in Petaluma, Napa and the California Delta. Bay Area sailors know you don’t have to go far to experience local cruising magic.
We’ll have our famous Latitude 38 crew-connection stickers on hand so you can identify crew and skippers looking to make connections for sailing to Mexico, sailing the Bay, or racing. We also have tables with sponsors who can answer questions about cruising Mexico, which will include representatives from the Baja Ha-Ha, Downwind Marine, the La Paz Tourism Association, Marina de La Paz, Marina Riviera Nayarit, Cabrales Marina, Health Insurance Services, Island Yacht Club, Science and Sailing, Spaulding Marine, United States Coast Guard (which rescued Andy Schwenk from the mid-Pacific) and, of course, Latitude 38.
We’ll be doing a raffle for Latitude 38 hats and beer koozies, plus capturing photos of you in all your cruising finery. Visiting Spaulding Boat Center is an insight into the traditional working waterfront of the past — the creaky wooden floors and large boat shed provide a fun venue as you meet and greet new friends and crew.
As an added bonus you’ll be one of the first to pick up the new September issue of Latitude 38, which, if all goes to plan, will be hot off the press. (It’s worked 542 times before!) Over 100 sailors are already signed up, plus the Latitude 38 crew and friends will be on hand and looking forward to meeting you live and in person. See you on Thursday, September 1, at Spaulding Marine Center. Find parking and other important party details here.
Doing the Double Damned — Backward!
Hood River Yacht Club’s Double Damned Race attracted sailors from all up and down the West Coast to race on the Columbia River on August 6. Sixteen boats entered, and 13 raced. Pacific Northwest Moore 24 fleet sailors Mark and Rachel Voropayev crewed in the Double Damned for the first time, sailing aboard a Moore formerly based in Ventura. Skipper Ian Sprenger moved to Gig Harbor earlier this year and joined the PNW fleet. Rachel filed this report.
“Mark and I were fortunate enough to be invited by Ian Sprenger on #73, Skosh, for this regatta. By the time we pulled the trigger there were very few lodging options available. We ended up finding lodging in Stevenson the first night (near the intended start) and The Dalles (near the intended finish) the second night, which would have worked out perfectly, if all had gone as planned. (Note: Next year find lodging earlier and pray for wind sooner).”
“A couple of days before the race, Ian let us know that the weather on the Columbia was looking really light and coming from the east. Mark and I were really ready to have the good old blasting-up-the-Columbia experience, but we would take whatever the wind gods gave us. The day before the regatta, the race committee made the decision to cut the course in half and flip it, going from Hood River to Cascade Locks. We were just stoked to have a race happen after a four-hour-plus drive. We rigged the boat and got to sailing.
“The start of the race was super-light, a drifter over the start line, with boats spread out all across the line. I wish I could deliver more tactical information, but I was in the front hatch trying to keep my ‘windage’ down.”
“We decided to play the deep water through the light stuff, staying in the middle of the river for perhaps more current. Some boats were hitting the right side pretty close, looking like they were catching eddies. There were multiple restarts until the breeze picked up some. We somehow made our way ahead of a pack of four Moores that stayed on the left for some time and fell into place behind Morjito. Once the breeze came, there were no big gains or losses, just a nice float down the river at around 8 knots. We were distanced from Morjito in front and the rest behind, but I’m sure there were some strategic moves happening behind us as the other four Moores looked pretty close together. This half course took us about four hours.”
“Arriving in Cascade Locks was a dash for the motor before being swept under the Bridge of the Gods. The current at the Cascade Locks Marine Park was pretty hairy until you got tied up. All of us on Skosh were pretty new to trailer launching/retrieval. It was nice to have the Morjito and Firefly crew there to help us, or at least let us know that’s it’s OK to just pray and try your best to get the boat out. It’s got to be a lot easier when the water is really clear and there isn’t a current. But I’m sure there’s a learning curve on the launching, and tricks to make the trailer a lot safer for retrieval.
“This race was not what we expected, but maybe that played to our advantage, as we were the new kids on the block. No broken masts (thank God), no ripped kites, but so nice to see some new faces and sail a new venue. Great job to Morjito for getting in the lead and staying there. Awesome work by HRYC for being so flexible and making the regatta happen.”
“Hope to see some of you all for the Chelan Regatta coming up September 9-10!”
The Chelan Regatta will be hosted by the Lake Chelan Sailing Association. Lake Chelan is a skinny, 55-mile-long lake in national forest between Seattle and Spokane. The Chelan Regatta isn’t on the Moore 24 Roadmasters Series, but could be a series counter if six or more boats race. The most recent event in that series was the Nationals, hosted by San Francisco YC last weekend. (We’ll include coverage of that in the October issue of Latitude 38, but in the meantime, congratulations to Joel Turmel and the crew of Firefly). The next event will be the Calvin Paige/Albert Simpson regatta hosted by St. Francis YC on October 1-2.
Tom Garnier and Taz McGee of the Melges 24 Mini Me won the 2022 Double Damned Race. Tyler Karaszewski’s J/70 Spitfire came in second; Ted Lohr’s J/70 Monster Express placed third. Morjito came in fourth, followed by Skosh in fifth. See complete results here.
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Good Jibes With Moe Roddy and Daniela Moroz on Formula Kiting to Victory
This week we’re casting off with host Moe Roddy and Daniela Moroz to chat about Daniela’s training regimen and life as a world-renowned kiteboarder. Daniela is a five-time Formula Kite World Champion and three-time US Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, and is campaigning to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris and Marseille.
Hear how Daniela fell in love with kiteboarding, about the learning curve from a regular kite to a foiling kite, about her training approach for the Olympics and other elite competitions, how to conquer intimidation in new surroundings, and whether she ever gets worried about sharks.
Here’s a small sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- What was the first time Daniela was ever on a windsurfer?
- How did she know she had a passion for kiteboarding?
- Does she feel as if she missed out on anything in high school?
- How much time per week is she putting into kiting?
- Are you allowed to change to another kite if the wind changes?
- How did Daniela get involved with SailGP?
- When did she know she wanted to compete in the Olympics?
- Short Tacks: What’s the most important lesson she has learned from kiteboarding?
Donate to Daniela’s Olympic campaign at DanielaMoroz.com and StFSF.org.
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!
The Resourceful Sailor Builds New Spreader Tips
While the Resourceful Sailor continues his passage from Anacortes, Washington, to Brittany, France, we thought we’d share another of his “resourceful” solutions — this time on replacing the old spreader tips on his 1985 Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 Sampaguita.
The re-rigging of Sampaguita presented many challenges. This installment of The Resourceful Sailor will focus on the molded urethane spreader tips used to encapsulate the 3/16-inch stainless steel wire shrouds. I suspected they were original, and while they were not in terrible shape, one retaining screw had stripped out, and they’d had 36 years of environmental exposure. They still seemed to function well, but I had been considering replacing them out of prudence. The decision was made for me when one broke while I attempted to remove it from the old wire for the new. The urethane had hardened and become inflexible, and split in half.
In consultation with my riggers, we considered purchasing new replacement tips, which are now nylon, or manufacturing our own. The replacements were inexpensive, but the vendor was a known wild card. They would capture the wire well but hold it directly against the outer end of the aluminum spreader, similar to the old urethane tips. The stainless steel wire under tension against the aluminum spreader, under compression, had begun to erode and corrode a groove in the spreader end. Evidence of this on Sampaguita was slight, but I have seen worse on other boats.
The riggers suggested we make our own spreader tips out of aluminum. We could make an insert with a tab that slid into each slotted end of the spreader. Then a cap would be fastened to it, encapsulating the wire shroud. I decided to go this route as it seemed like a more robust tip than the urethane or the nylon, and also addressed the harsh wire-to-spreader contact.
We found some scrap aluminum in the shop and cut four small rectangular pieces. Two would be the inserts, and two the caps. The rigger used a jig and circular saw to cut the tabs on the inserts for a precise fit. I took over from here, taping the would-be inserts to the would-be caps. I used a Sharpie to outline the profile of the spreader. The tracings would help guide where to drill and, later, sand. I used a drill press with a #25 bit to make two holes through the cap into the insert. I would thread these two holes with a 10-24 tap and countersink them to receive 10-24 x 3/8-inch stainless steel machine screws. Then, I turned it 90 degrees and drilled a 17/64-inch perpendicular hole through the center, where the two pieces met, to receive the cap shroud.
Keeping them assembled, I used a disc sander to shape the tip to match the spreader profile and round the edges. The friction of the disc sander quickly made the small pieces hot. I traded off working with each tip to keep them cool. Note: They will have different fits when they are hot and cold.
After I achieved the desired shape, securing them to the spreaders was next. The urethane tips used two screws that threaded through the spreader and into them. I decided that was a bit complicated to achieve with the new aluminum tips. Instead, I plugged the old holes with aluminum rivets and drilled a single hole through the top and bottom of the spreader and insert tab. I through-bolted this with a #10 machine screw and nyloc nut. For the final bit, I used some Scotch-Brite™ 7447 to fine-tune the fit, polish up the ends, and remove any rough edges.
On the rigging install, I discovered I needed to enlarge the shroud pass-through hole 1/64th of an inch for a better fit and to avoid wire kink at the tip. I used ample LanoCote® on all of the stainless steel fasteners to mitigate dissimilar metal corrosion of the aluminum in hopes I will be able to take them apart in the future. I do wonder if Loctite might have been a better choice. Adding rigging tape over the cap-to-insert screws to prevent their loss may give me peace of mind, and baggywrinkles will cover the spreader tips, but that will be another article.
The Resourceful Sailor had a choice to take a chance with non-returnable, superseded, new-old-stock, nylon replacement tips from a distant vendor or to manufacture his own. The vendor would be the easiest and most efficient route if it went well. However, the robustness of the aluminum, and the prevention of direct contact of the wire shroud against the spreader, were worth the minor extra work and expense. Plus, it was right up the Resourceful Sailor’s alley. Remember, keep your solutions prudent, and have a blast.
