Bay Area Sailor Starts Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race on Boxing Day
On December 26, Boxing Day (AEDT), one of the world’s great ocean races will start in Sydney, Australia, with one American boat in the fleet.
The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, a 628-mile race from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania, is a “bucket-list” event for many ocean racers, with many from the USA’s West Coast having taken up the challenge through the years. This has included Roy Disney on Pyewacket, Stan Honey racing with Jim Clark aboard Jim’s Comanche, Matt Brooks with Dorade, and Larry Ellison, who won the storm-tossed 1998 race aboard Sayonara when six lives were lost in the event. Last year, West Coast Beneteau dealer Charles Devanneaux did the Sydney Hobart aboard his Beneteau First 44 Lenny.
This year, Corinthian Yacht Club racer Ron Epstein will join that list by racing his recently launched 39-ft JPK 11.80 Bacchanal, which was built in Australia. Epstein started as a recreational sailor, growing up in Southern California. Just a few years ago he decided to get back into sailing with the purchase of a J/133, also called Bacchanal. He started recreational sailing on the Bay, but soon found himself in the CYC Friday night races and then stepping up to more competitive YRA racing and the Rolex Big Boat Series. In 2024 he finished second in ORC C in the RBBS.
It was while racing his J/133 that he decided to build a race-purposed boat. Bay Area-based Australian sailor Keiran Searle was his key crew member and led the effort to build the JPK 11.80 in Australia. Searle will join Epstein for this year’s race.
.There are 105 boats entered in this year’s 79th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, with Ron Epstein and his new JPK 11.80 Bacchanal the only American boat entered. Following the race, the boat will be shipped back to the West Coast, where Epstein will resume his transition from casual daysailing to competing on the West Coast racing circuit.
Over the past 78 years the race has been known as featuring one of the most challenging courses in the world. The often-grueling conditions have forced many boats to retire, and others have been lost at sea. Looking ahead on Windy, this year’s conditions look more benign.
Oakland resident Rodney Daniel will also be back for another run in the Sydney Hobart aboard the 100-ft LawConnect. Last year Rodney sailed on LawConnect with US navigator Chris Lewis aboard, covering the 628 miles in 1 day 19 hours 3 minutes 58 seconds, just 51 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Andoo Comanche.
Best wishes to Ron Epstein and his crew aboard Bacchanal. You can follow the event on the Sydney Hobart tracker here. (And don’t forget, Australia is a day ahead of us, so for us West Coasters, the race will be starting 6:00 p.m. on Christmas Day.)
New Maritime Career Trade School Opens on Mare Island
A new maritime trade school has come to life on Mare Island in Vallejo. The first class just graduated, and they’re now recruiting for the second intake to start in January. The recently formed Working Waterfront Coalition opened the maritime training school to help recruit and train new tradespeople for maritime careers.
We spoke with Bill Elliott, owner of Svendsen’s Bay Marine and founder of Bay Ship & Yacht, and Working Waterfront Coalition (WWC) project director Sal Vaca, who relayed the massive need for skilled hands in both the commercial and recreational maritime industries. For Bay Area sailors, this initiative hopes to reduce the worker shortage that has made it difficult to find the skilled tradespeople necessary for work on recreational sailboats. They also hope to find people who grew up sailing, who’d like to roll up their sleeves and find careers in the marine trades.
Local shipyards, ports and ferry companies have all expressed a need for trained workers as older workers retire. The school was founded by Bobby Winston, a founder of the WETA ferry system, with the support of local marine businesses.
The WWC started recruiting students in July last year. The first class of 25 students started in the fall and has now graduated. The graduates are currently being placed in local waterfront jobs.
The school offers tracks for both shipyard work and transportation jobs such as onboard deckhands, mates and ship’s officers. The school is also working with the Inlandboatman’s Union, founded in 1918 to represent West Coast marine workers, to help fill the shoreside and on-the-water transportation positions. Between transportation and boatyard work they are training for roles in plumbing, electrical, painting, and welding, and as deckhands, mates and other transportation service workers.
Project director Sal Vaca said, “The training is provided to students at no cost through grants and fundraising for workforce development programs. Students also receive a stipend and help with transportation.”
Bill Elliott said, “The hands-on program gets workers up to speed quickly, allowing them to join the workforce in as little as six months. We already have a couple of graduates working in the shipyard.”
The school is hosting information sessions on Friday, January 3, for anyone interested in learning more about maritime careers.
Haven Boatworks: Full Service Boatyard in Port Townsend
A Tour of Sausalito’s Marinship — A Working Waterfront at Risk
A Tour of Sausalito’s Marinship — A Working Waterfront at Risk is a film about the mariners, artists, fabricators, craftspeople and educators who spend their time and energy working along Sausalito’s historic waterfront. Told in their words, it is a point-in-time tour, a window into the treasure of innovation and creativity that is hidden in plain sight at our working waterfront.
In 2022, the Sausalito Working Waterfront Coalition (SWWC) invited us to a screening of the film’s first edition — a preview of what was to come. We rolled up to Spaulding Marine Center to share the evening with dozens of supporters, and we weren’t disappointed. The film was both informative and inspiring.
The film is now presented as a full-length documentary. The SWWC website introduces the film. “Sausalito’s Working Waterfront is an Ecosystem of maritime craftsmen, technology innovators, industrial fabricators, artists, artisans and educators. It is our city’s economic heart and cultural heritage.
”We feature many in this documentary to highlight what a special place we have that is hidden here in plain view. Watch this documentary to understand why our community is so special. Let’s fight to save this special place and help to attract more companies to join our ecosystem.”
We’re probably all aware of the slow but obvious creep of gentrification across the Bay Area’s waterfront regions. Watch the film, and get an idea of the value held in the hands of these creative, innovative and energetic businesspeople. Get to know some of the people who make Sausalito a place like no other in the world!
The Marinship is a viable hub of industry, innovation and creativity, and the film delves into many of the various businesses and organizations that are the life force of the historic waterfront district. We encourage you to take a look behind the scenes.
Racing into New Year’s 2025
New Year’s Day Events
In keeping with tradition, the Master Mariners’ New Year’s Day Regatta will race to Point San Pablo YC in Richmond for a chili cook-off potluck.
Coyote Point YC’s monthly regatta series will ring in the New Year with Brrr Rabbit.
San Diego YC’s massive New Year’s Day Race will take over San Diego Bay on January 1. SDYC says, “For many years the New Year’s Day race was an opportunity for local Juniors to race with adults on the big boats. Please consider helping us resurrect this tradition by including Junior sailors on your crew.” It’s free to enter, but you must register no later than Sunday, December 29.
It’s not a race but a fun cruising alternative for welcoming the new year: a circumnavigation of Alameda. The Single Sailors Association explains the tradition: “People take to their boats and visit all of the yacht clubs while causing the multiple bridges to raise and lower, thus fulfilling one government requirement of the use of the bridges. Some of us traverse the Island in our land yachts. RSVP not required and the only costs are the beverages and the food offered at the clubs. In general we begin at Aeolian YC because their location definitely depends on the tides.” Some venues list 9 a.m. as the start time; others 11 or noon.
Bay Area Midwinters
Most midwinter series that started in November and December continue into the new year. They’ll be joined by several more, including:
- Oakland YC’s seven-race Sunday Brunch Series will kick off on January 5.
- Richmond YC’s Small Boat Midwinters, which normally begin in December, will sail on four Sundays starting on January 5.
- Coyote Point YC’s bimonthly Winter Sails will start on January 12.
- The popular Corinthian Yacht Club Midwinters will take place over two weekends on January 18-19 and February 15-16.
Three Bridge Fiasco
The Singlehanded Sailing Society will continue bringing America’s largest keelboat regatta to San Francisco Bay on January 25. But don’t bother making a boatload of sandwiches — this crazy pursuit race is for singlehanders and doublehanders only. With the race more than a month out, 71 boats had signed up as of this morning.
For 2025, the SSS is bringing back in-person skippers’ meetings and awards presentations at Oakland YC in Alameda. The skippers’ meeting for the TBF will be on Wednesday, January 22, at 7 p.m. (There might be prizes at the skippers’ meeting, but you must be present to win!) Register on Jibeset. A complete 2025 SSS calendar is now available at https://sfbaysss.org/calendar.
In Southern California
Del Rey YC will kick off 2025’s Berger/Stein Series with the Malibu/Topanga & Return Race on January 4.
Long Beach YC is accepting entries for the 2025 Two Gates Pursuit Series. The series will consist of three 13-mile-plus reverse handicap races on Sundays in January and February. This regatta series is open to all monohull and multihull sailboats over 20 feet LOA with a valid PHRF RLC rating of under 229. Any member of a yacht club affiliated with US Sailing or other National Authority is invited to enter.
- Early Bird Discount: Register by December 25.
- Entry Deadline: The Thursday prior to each race day.
- First race: January 5.
Southern California racers should renew their PHRF certificates here: Performance Handicap Racing Fleet of Southern California.
Hosted by SDYC, Etchells will compete for the Bill Bennett Cup on January 18-19. This will be the first event in the Etchells West Coast Spring Series.
The four-event California Dreamin’ match-racing series will start in San Diego on January 25-26, with SDYC hosting.
Newport Harbor YC has opened invitation applications for the Baldwin Cup Team Race. The 2×2 format will sail in Harbor 20s on April 10-12. and serve as a qualifying event for the 2025 Team Race World Championship on May 28-June 1 in Newport, RI. Interested teams must submit their request form no later than January 31, 2025.
Be sure to pick up the January issue of Latitude 38 on Monday, December 30, and turn to the Calendar on page 10-14 for many more events. And look for the 2025 Northern California Sailing Calendar & YRA Schedule, coming out the same day.
The 30th Annual Baja Ha-Ha — Champagne Sailing
The 30th edition of the Baja Ha-Ha cruising rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas was one of the finest, smoothest two-week runs in its history. On a glassy, calm, sunny Monday, November 4, the fleet gathered at the starting line in San Diego to embark upon an unforgettable experience that would include great fishing, sightings of a SpaceX rocket launch, and smooth seas, all under clear skies and a waxing moon.
Since starting in 1994, the Baja Ha-Ha has launched thousands of cruising dreams in a huge variety of boats. This year’s fleet ranged from 27-ft sloops to a luxurious 70-ft yacht, and included many multihulls and a few powerboats. The Grand Poobah stated, “The boats keep getting better and better, a little bigger, but they are more late-model boats. Plus, there are always some boats from the ’60s and ’70s, like the Cal 46, an Islander 36 and an Ericson 32, so it’s a good event for all kinds of boats.”
Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven gave us some more details on the fleet. Of the 131 boats that signed up, 100 boats started from San Diego and 98 finished; four were powerboats and 14 were multihulls. The average boat length: 43-ft. Eleven were built before 1980, 30 between 1980 and 2000, and 54 in the last 25 years. A total of 398 people on all boats. Of those, 118 were female. The average age of participants (skippers, crew and kids) 53, average skippers’ age 68. There were 27 kids under 16 on 12 boats. She added, “This was an excellent group of people. It takes a good group to adjust to the changes and deal with the uncertainty.”
The fleet is always a mix of experienced sailors who’ve made many trips both north and south, plus first-timers who are looking to become future, experienced “old-timers.” Now that they’ve all made it, they have the experience to share, too. The kids’ boundless enthusiasm added energy to the very family-friendly event. They participated in numerous activities like the “Little Kids Olympics,” diving, flipping, and flopping off the mothership Profligate, and creating memories that will last long past the sting of the last belly flop.
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