Today Is “Wear Your Lifejacket at Work Day” — Send Us Your Pics!
In Wednesday’s ‘Lectronic we talked about this year’s National Safe Boating Week. Along with tomorrow’s Water Safety Fair at the Fort Baker-based Coast Guard station, the week is being marked by today’s event, “Wear Your Lifejacket at Work Day.”
The day is part of the Safe Boating Campaign organized by the National Safe Boating Council, a nonprofit dedicated to helping create a safe boating experience for all boaters.
“The NSBC can’t wait to see the creative and fun ways boaters wear their life jacket at work for a chance to win a prize,” National Safe Boating Council’s communications director Yvonne Pentz said.
No matter where you’re working, you can join in the fun by wearing your life jacket and posting creative pictures on social media for a chance to win a prize.
Here’s how to participate:
- Wear a life jacket wherever you work.
- Snap a picture.
- Post the picture on social media with the hashtag #wearyourlifejacketatworkday.
- Tag the Safe Boating Campaign (@boatingcampaign).
Boaters will be randomly selected to win prizes from the Safe Boating Campaign throughout the day.
Make sure you’re in the know by following @boatingcampaign on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest updates.
National Safe Boating Week will be held from May 20–26, 2023, reminding all boaters to brush up on boating safety skills and prepare for the boating season. This observance week is the annual kickoff of the Safe Boating Campaign, a global awareness effort that encourages boaters to make the most of their boating adventure by being responsible.
We’ve shown you ours … It’s your turn. You can also send your pics to us at [email protected].
2018 Baja Ha-Ha Sailors — Where Are They Now?
Ten days ago the 2023 Baja Ha-Ha opened its cabin doors to registrations, and with 64 boats now joining the southbound rally later this year, we’re coming back to our earlier post, “Five Years On: Where are the 2018 Baja Ha-Ha Sailors Now?”
Ha-Ha Poobah Richard Spindler emailed the 2018 fleet to ask where they are now and what they have been doing since arriving in Mexico all those years ago. Here’s part two of their responses.
Steve Schafer, Shooting Star, Hylas 42, Napa:
“After the Ha-Ha I crossed over to Mazatlán and headed down to La Cruz for New Year’s. I departed the Puerto Vallarta area in March 2019 and headed to La Paz for a month. Then we went up the eastern coast of Baja, finally crossing over to San Carlos, where we left the boat for the summer.
“In November 2019 we crossed back over the Sea of Cortez to Agua Verde, then worked our way down to Cabo. From Cabo we motored north to San Diego, passing the 2019 Ha-Ha fleet as it headed south. I was upgrading Shooting Star for the Pacific Puddle Jump when COVID hit, and ended up selling the boat to a young couple. I now live in Prescott, Arizona. But I miss the ocean and Mexico.”
Eddie Harrison, Harizon, Dufour 310, Chicago:
“Both our 2017 and 2018 Ha-Ha’s were great. We continued south after 2018, through the Panama Canal, to Providencia, Roatán, Mexico again, Cuba, into Miami and trucked the boat back to San Francisco. The Ha-Ha was fabulous and set it all up.”
David Hostvedt, Severance, Wauquiez 43, Seattle:
“Although we planned to go farther, we fell in love with the people, the food, the weather, the beaches, the culture, and the community of Mexico. We got as far as Barra de Navidad, Mexico, and decided to make it our home. We moved off the boat in 2021, rented for awhile, then bought a house here on the water in 2022. Barra is our forever home.
“Many thanks to the Ha-Ha for helping us make it down here. We wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it without you.”
Marshall Peabody, Tenacity, Roughwater 33, Seattle:
“I enjoyed the Ha-Ha very much. My boat has remained in Mexico — La Paz or Nuevo Vallarta — ever since. I spent a season doing the mainland coast to Zihua, another doing Baja to Bahia Concepción, and spent the COVID year in Paradise Marina. In the meantime, I have loved exploring Mexico, taken many trips inland, found crewing opportunities that took me to Nicaragua, did the ‘Bash’ on a boat returning to San Diego, and last season ‘Puddle Jumped’ with another Ha-Ha boat, Aldabra, to the Marquesas and Tuamotus.
“The Ha-Ha launched me into the sailing lifestyle that I’d dreamed about for decades! Thanks for helping get me where I’ve always wanted to be!”
Donald and Roz Franks, Ramble on Rose, Caliber 40 LRC, San Francisco:
“We are still cruising. We spent the COVID years in Mexico, then left Chiapas in November this year. We’ve stopped at El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and just arrived in Panama. We will most likely go through the Canal next year to begin exploring the Caribbean side.
“My advice to cruisers is to get Starlink, it’s a game-changer. It makes so many things easier, even for those of us who don’t work. Good luck with the Ha-Ha 29.”
Kent and Cathy Powley, Coquette, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45, Seattle:
“We continued cruising all the way to Panama, then west to the Galápagos, French Polynesia and Tonga. We’re now in Hawaii and will head to Alaska next.
“Cruising Mexico and Latin America is great. We particularly enjoyed Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. Learn at least a few words of Spanish and use them, as it goes a long way with the locals.”
Derick and Barb Sindell, Stray Cat 2, Lagoon 380, Vancouver, BC:
“We’re still out cruising aboard Stray Cat. After three seasons in Mexico and a year off due to COVID, we decided to head for Panama. We left Puerto Peñasco in October ’22 and we just arrived in Vista Mar Marina in Panama a couple of days ago. We plan to transit the Canal in early May so we’ve got a few weeks to explore the islands and Panama City. We will leave the boat on the hard in Shelter Bay and go home to Vancouver for five months.”
Steven and Karen Kittle, Parrot Head, Beneteau Oceanis 35.1, Point Richmond:
“We had a blast on the Ha-Ha!
“We are now in the process of selling our home and moving out of the Bay Area to San Diego. We plan to sail out of San Diego and explore farther south, and maybe even do another Ha-Ha.”
By the way our neighbors up the hill took off with the 2021 Ha-Ha fleet. ‘Just a few months,’ they said. They still haven’t come back!
Sign-ups and all the details can be found here: Baja Ha-Ha XXIX
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23 Years of Summer Sailstice Celebrations of Sailing
Are you ready for summer? In Maine they’re pulling tarps off and getting ready to put boats back into the water. In California we’re lucky, because the boats are always ready to go so they’re just waiting for us. Summer kicks off with the summer solstice on June 21 and is quickly followed by the 23rd annual Summer Sailstice on the weekend of June 24. Sailstice sailors are joining in, from the Cross 46 trimaran Migration in the Fakarava Atoll in French Polynesia, to a NauticEd flotilla of seven boats in Sardinia that will be starting their cruise of the Maddalena Archipelago on June 24.
Why #raiseyoursails on Summer Sailstice weekend? It’s a once-a-year chance to join the whole world sailing. Summer Sailstice is dedicated to helping the world see who, how, what and where people sail. Sailors create their own celebration to build their fleet, get club members off the docks, or just relax and go sailing with friends and family. Some, like Truls Mykelbust, will join by competing in BAMA’s Doublehanded Farallones Race, while others, like Brendan Huffman, will be starting the Singlehanded Transpacific Race.
For 23 years, Summer Sailstice has been inspiring sailors to “get out the boat” and hoist the sails. There are only so many weekends, so many summers, and only so much time to go sailing with your kids or friends. Connecting on the water under sail is why we have a boat, and why Summer Sailstice wants to encourage all sailors to get together and start their summer sailing.
Greg in San Diego is signed up, saying, “I will be sailing three-hour tours around the bay and on the ocean sharing the religion of sailing.” In Newport Beach the Women’s Sailing Association of Orange County says, “Our 127+ member club will be flying our burgees as we set sail in Newport Harbor (CA) to celebrate Summer Sailstice! We typically have a half dozen or more boats participating, along with a dock party post-sail!”
You don’t have to do much to be part of Summer Sailstice. Find something that floats, haul up a white triangle of sailcloth, push off the dock all by yourself or loaded up with crew, join a race as crew or skipper, or find a quiet cove. Whatever you do, put it on the map so we all know who’s sailing with us on Summer Sailstice. We can’t all be in one place, but we can all start the summer sailing “together” wherever we are.
Catching Cal Maritime’s ‘Golden Bear’ Coming and Going
What are the chances that a sailor might spot a well-known local vessel making its annual transit of the Bay not once, but twice in a year? Pretty good, as it turns out.
Taking a break from the screen last week, I walked onto my balcony above San Quentin Point Village to stretch my legs, and saw a ship just south of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge that made me do a double take. “Is that the Golden Bear?” I wondered.
It most certainly was.
Serendipitous sightings abound.
Last year, I walked out onto the deck just as Golden Bear was returning from its 2022 summer cruise. Please forgive me, reader, but I need to take a moment to contemplate the extraordinary luck of stumbling outside just as a well-known Bay Area vessel steams across the Bay in its biannual Bay crossing. Both encounters were pure chance, and I hope you think this is as cool as I do.
Coolness abounds. Cal Maritime Academy is a unique and pretty cool college experience, at least for those of us watching from a distance who don’t have to take 25 units a semester.
Last year, CMA added the TP52 Heather to its fleet of vessels. The boat — renamed after CMA President Thomas Cropper’s wife Heather, who passed away in 2019 — was the result of donations from a “very generous anonymous donor.”
Cal Maritime will be the only collegiate team competing in this year’s Transpac; CMA also sailed in the famed L.A. to Hawaii race in 2019. The “Keelhaulers” won’t be sailing their TP52, but rather their Andrews 77.
Another pretty cool college experience is having a school ship, and taking it on a summer cruise.
We here at Latitude 38 are always pleased to see Golden Bear go globetrotting, training a new generation of merchant mariners. The training ship’s departure was ushered in with much parental fanfare.
From the Bay, Golden Bear headed south down the West Coast, stopping in Long Beach before steaming for Cabo San Lucas. From Baja, it’s across the Pacific to Apia, the capital of Samoa, in early June, then back east to Hilo, Hawaii, in late June. From there, Golden Bear heads back to the West Coast and Astoria, Oregon, in early July, before returning to Vallejo on July 7. (You can follow the Golden Bear’s voyage here.)
As it turns out, Monday, May 22, will mark the 90th observance of National Maritime Day, which recognizes “one of our country’s most important industries,” according to the US Department of Transportation.
“Congress declared National Maritime Day to commemorate the American steamship Savannah’s voyage from the United States to England, marking the first successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean with steam propulsion,” the Department of Transportation said.
“During World War II more than 250,000 members of the American Merchant Marine served their country, with more than 6,700 giving their lives, hundreds being detained as prisoners of war and more than 800 US merchant ships being sunk or damaged.”
The Tuna 22 and the Bridge — May 2005
Looking at our past, online issues of Latitude 38, we found one of many miraculous stories that appeared in the May 2005 issue. It started when Joe Schmidt and Dan Brazelton went for a simple spring daysail out of Gashouse Cove aboard Joe’s Santana 22 Yachtsea. It was a great day until, on the way home, they decided to sail the Tuna 22 between Fort Point and the South Tower.
The story noted the pilot’s mantra: “A good landing is any one you can walk away from.” Some surfing photographers caught the action on film. 2005 was before the iPhone was invented, when Kodak was still producing Kodachrome film and “moving pictures” were captured on VHS tape.
The first Gary Mull-designed Santana 22 was built in 1966, and many are still racing or taking their crews out for spring sails today. It’s a colorful fleet that’s outlived Kodak film. There’s a 1975 Santana 22 with a trailer currently available in our Classy Classifieds for $3,400.
You can see all the photos and read the whole story, titled “White Boats Can’t Surf,” online in our May 2005 issue. You can read all 551 issues of Latitude 38 back to April 1977 when you scroll down our magazine page.
Spaulding’s Youth Summer Sea Camps
