Marching, er, Sailing Into the Spring Regatta Season
Bay Area Regattas & Spring Classics
The big daddy of classic spring regattas is, well, the Big Daddy Regatta. Richmond Yacht Club will organize three buoy races on Saturday, March 8. A dinner party will follow, with dancing to the tunes of Shark Sandwich. Sunday will feature the usual pursuit race. This year’s theme is Mardi Gras (the actual holiday of Mardi Gras will have already happened on March 4). Remember to set your clocks forward an hour when you tuck into your bunk on Saturday night (if all your clocks don’t automatically reset anyway).
The California Dreamin’ match-racing series will make its San Francisco stop at St. Francis YC on March 8-9.
In advance of the vernal equinox on March 22, Oakland YC will celebrate with their Rites of Spring race on March 15.
Sausalito YC will host a J/105 and J/88 Invitational on March 15-16.
ILCA 6 and 7 Lasers and 5O5s are invited to sign up for Alameda Community Sailing Center’s Spring Dinghy Regatta coming up on March 15-16.
Island YC’s full-crew women’s skipper regatta, the Sadie Hawkins, will be on March 23, with sailing on the Estuary.
The next Bay Tour race in the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s season will be Round the Rocks on March 29. Doublehanders are welcome too.
With Daylight Saving Time starting on the second Sunday in March, beer-can racing won’t be far behind. We’ll preview the early-starting beer cans in an upcoming ‘Lectronic Latitude edition.
Southern California Regattas
Ocean racers will sail into March in the Islands Race, starting in Long Beach this Friday, February 28, and winding up in San Diego on March 1. Newport Harbor YC and San Diego YC will share organizing duties.
The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup keelboat collegiate regatta, hosted by the Cal Maritime Academy Keelhaulers, will happen on March 7-9.
NHYC will host another offshore race, the Channel Islands 500, on March 14-16.
Mission Bay YC north of San Diego will host the ILCA California Masters on March 15-16. That same weekend, SDYC will preside over a three-ring circus: the Beneteau 36.7 Midwinters, the Spring Keelboat One Design Weekend, and the J/105 Wings Cup.
Alamitos Bay YC in Long Beach will host the ILCA, 29er and I420 Midwinters West Regatta on March 21-23.
Coronado YC and San Diego YC will host a Spring Dinghy Regatta for a long list of dinghies and small keelboats, with racing on San Diego Bay and land-based activities at Coronado YC on March 22-23.
The Etchells Midwinters West will sail out of SDYC on March 28-30. The entry deadline is March 14 at 4 p.m.
Even Farther South
The Banderas Bay Regatta north of Puerto Vallarta is well known for amazing sailing for cruising boats and performance racer-cruisers. We deem it to be bucket-list-worthy. Vallarta YC will run the regatta out of Paradise Village in Riviera Nayarit on March 18-22.
Improving Skills and Knowledge
Rules guru Dave Perry is visiting the Bay Area to update us on the new Racing Rules of Sailing. Perry is the chair of the US Sailing Appeals Committee. He’ll visit Richmond YC on Tuesday, March 4, in a fundraiser for the RYC Foundation’s J/22 programs ($30 or $15 for Juniors). Then he’ll visit San Francisco YC in Belvedere on Wednesday the 5th. He’ll hit St. Francis YC on Thursday evening, March 6, with a free session for club members ($25 for guests of members).
Encinal Yacht Club will host Dave Perry at their clubhouse in Alameda on Friday, March 7, for a two-part presentation, “What’s New in the New Racing Rules for 2025-2028” and “Ask Dave.” In Part 1, Dave will explain all the significant changes in the 2025-2028 Racing Rules of Sailing that went into effect on January 1, 2025. In Part 2, Dave will open up the session to all rules/tactical questions from the audience, and will have some interesting situations to ask the audience their opinions. Register at www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0949ABA82DAAF49-54650488-2025.
The Olson 25 fleet will hold a speed clinic out of Berkeley YC on March 22. Register for just $10 at www.jibeset.net/BYC000.php?RG=T005119557. The day will begin with a chalk talk at the club followed by on-the-water tuning with coaching and some short racing, then a debrief at the club. Seadon Wijsen of North Sails and fleet champion Dave Gruver of Sketch will lead the clinic.
When Sailing Is a Spectator Sport
Sail Grand Prix will offer thrills to spectators in California on consecutive weekends. Sir Russell’s traveling road show will stop in Los Angeles on March 15-16, and in San Francisco on March 22-23. See www.sailgp.com for info and tickets.
As usual, the events calendar is packed with maritime activities on and off the water. As we look forward to spring, it only gets busier. So see the Calendar section of Latitude 38 for much more. The March edition will come out this Friday, February 28. Also see the 2025 Northern California Sailing Calendar and YRA Schedule for more advance planning.
Good Jibes #180: Ron Rosenberg on Learning To Sail Together
What a fun episode! This week we chat with Ron Rosenberg about learning to sail with family and friends, and his lifetime of coaching sailing. Ron has won five world titles, two 5.5 Meter Class Gold Cups, one European championship, and more than 50 national titles, and has competed in Olympic trials, been team captain and/or coached in almost every Olympics since 1984.
Tune in as Ron shares with Good Jibes host John Arndt the moments that changed the trajectory of his sailing career, why sailing is a master class in self-improvement, how to become a sailing coach or hire a sailing coach, his sailing success with the J/Pod fleet of J/70s in the Pacific NW and coaching concept others can replicate, and how to help people create healthy habits on the water.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- The story behind the boat name Skookum.
- Are there parallels between mountain time and sailing time?
- How prepared is Josh for his journey to Antigua?
- What does he plan to eat?
- What communication devices will he use?
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!
Connect with Ron at [email protected].
Spaulding Marine Center, Full-Service Boat Yard and Education Center
Stolen Boat Reported
Reader Carl King reports on a friend’s boat recently stolen from South Beach Harbor. He asks, “Kindly be on the lookout for my friend’s stolen Cascade 34, stolen from South Beach Harbor between the 14th and today, the 25th (of February). It was lettered with the name of the boat Kinship, but sometimes thieves will paint over or remove those. It is unique in that it has a canoe stern and dark-blue stripe. Apparently there was another boat stolen from that harbor recently as well. A takeaway may be to hide an AirTag on your vessel; friends had a Boston Whaler stolen and were able to recover it from Antioch.”
Photos of the missing vessel here:
If you have information on the missing boat please contact the owner, AJ Cohen, at [email protected].

The Resourceful Sailor’s Odyssey Aboard ‘Sampaguita’
From resourceful sailor to public speaker? Turns out our favorite sailing MacGyver is both! Joshua (Josh) Wheeler, aka The Resourceful Sailor, has been honing his storytelling skills and delivering them to audiences in the PNW. His first talk, hosted by the Bluewater Cruising Association, Vancouver, B.C., took place earlier this month at Vancouver’s Scottish Cultural Centre. Next month, on March 12, Joshua will present “Sailing With Josh & The Resourceful Sailor: A Flicka 20’s Pacific Odyssey” in Port Townsend.
Josh looked to Encyclopedia Britannica for the meaning of “odyssey.” This is what he found:
1. literary: a long journey full of adventures.
2. a series of experiences that give knowledge or understanding to someone.
Joshua Wheeler’s most recent odyssey began in August 2023, aboard his 1985 Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 Sampaguita. The solo sailor embarked on an epic Pacific Ocean voyage beginning and ending in Port Townsend, WA. Josh journeyed down the North American West Coast to Baja, Mexico, followed the trade winds to the Marquesas, and returned via Hawaii (sort of). His tale will include stories of places visited, wildlife encountered, psychological “research,” and equipment he used during his singlehanded voyage in “a tiny boat across a big ocean.”
Josh holds a USCG Master license, and has lived and sailed on small craft for over 15 years, covering 25,000 miles including a 2019 transit of the Northwest Passage, two solo circumnavigations of Vancouver Island in 2018 and 2023, the Inside Passage to Alaska in 2022, and a Pacific tour in 2023–24. His other claim to fame is his series of regular stories shared in ‘Lectronic Latitude, authored by The Resourceful Sailor. You’ll find some of his stories here.
Details of the event are as follows:
“Sailing With Josh & The Resourceful Sailor: A Flicka 20’s Pacific Odyssey”
When: Wednesday, March 12. The talk is from 6:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m. Come early and stay afterward for a fun social evening including drinks, snacks and mingling with fellow sailors and other guests. Beverages provided by Admiral Ship Supply.
Where: The Port Townsend Sailing Association Clubhouse — Nomura Building, 385 Benedict St. (facing the Boat Haven parking lot).
Entry is FREE TO ALL
We hope you can make it!
Crossing Tacks With SS ‘United States’, Soon To Become a Reef
The SS United States is in the news as it is being towed from Philadelphia to Alabama, where it will become the world’s largest artificial reef when it’s sunk in that gulf to the south of the country. At the time of its launch, the SS United States was the fastest ocean liner ever built, and set the transatlantic record in 1952. A decade later, local sailor Bob Hanelt was on a training voyage from Vallejo to Rio de Janeiro and back aboard Cal Maritime’s training ship Golden Bear when they crossed tracks with the SS United States.
Bob sent us the photo above, which he took as the Golden Bear was en route to Panama. As he relayed the current news, “[It] brings to my mind a day in 1963 when the Queen overtook California Maritime Academy’s Training Ship Golden Bear as the training ship was westbound to the Panama Canal from Brazil. At daybreak SS United States was hull down astern with only her bright red funnels appearing above the eastern horizon and, by nightfall, she had passed us and disappeared over the western horizon. Off-watch midshipmen crowded the training ship’s rails to watch her overtake and pass us. Hail to the Queen!”
After graduating from Cal Maritime Bob had a long career in the local shipping industry, but he and his wife Kristi also found time to circumnavigate from 1972–74 aboard their 53-ft Sparkman & Stephens yawl Skylark. You can learn more about Bob and Kristi’s circumnavigation in our Good Jibes Episode #136 with host Moe Roddy.
Skylark has moved on and continues to be well cared for in her new home in Monaco. For many years Bob and Kristi also owned the wooden 40-ft Schock cutter Lydia, which participated in numerous Master Mariners regattas over the years. Crossing paths with the SS United States is just one of the many stories Bob has accumulated over his lifetime on the water.
Sign Up for the Great Vallejo Race
