Two Boats Burn at Marina Village Yacht Harbor, Alameda
Two docked boats caught fire at Marina Village Yacht Harbor in Alameda early this morning, leaving one boat sunk and the other badly damaged. Alameda Fire Department (AFD) responded to a call at approximately 3:30 a.m. to find the two boats alight and threatening nearby vessels.
According to AFD‘s social media channel, one person had been aboard one of the vessels but was able to escape uninjured.
Sixteen firefighters were involved in the operation, with shore crews running hoses approximately 400 feet to reach the boats, and AFD Fire Boat 1 assisting from the water. The crews were able to contain the fires and prevent damage to nearby boats.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Meanwhile AFD, USCG, and Oakland Fire Department have coordinated to deploy a floating boom to contain fluids and debris.
The following video of the incident was shared on AFD’s Instagram account.
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Good Jibes #184: Larry Haynie on Deliveries and Teaching Sailing
Welcome to Good Jibes, where we share stories and tips from the West Coast sailing community on cruising, racing and just plain sailing. This week we chat with boat captain, delivery skipper, sailing instructor and Bay Area sailor Larry Haynie, who shares his stories from over 30 years teaching sailing and delivering boats.
Hear the myths that hold people back from sailing, why racing makes you a better sailor, the most memorable deliveries Larry’s ever done, the most difficult sailing concepts for people to learn, and what sailing instructors can learn from ski instructors.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- What’s the surprising activity that a lot of women who learn to sail used to do?
- What’s the most challenging part of sailing the North Sea?
- Why did Larry retire from being a sailing instructor?
- What kinds of boats did he teach in?
- What can sailing instructors learn from ski instructors?
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!
Learn more about Larry here: https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/larry-buys-boat-europe/
Latitude 38’s Spring Crew List Party Is Back!
Join us for our first spring crew list party in 5 years!
Bay View Boat Club, Thursday April 3, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets and info can be found here.
NorCal High School Sailing League Championship on This Weekend
Bragging rights are on the line this coming Saturday and Sunday when high school teams square off for their Northern League Championship. Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation (call it PY) will host the sailing in Redwood City in their fleet of Flying Juniors — no towing boats to this one — with A and B teams in rotation from each school.
In 2024, 18 schools raced these “NorCals.” Redwood High in Larkspur came away with a historic trophy, and they have kept it under the roof for a year, locked in a glass display case. Now trophy and title are back in play. With some of Redwood’s stars from 2024 opting to race instead in the San Francisco Cup, a rivalry event between the San Francisco YC and St. Francis YC, and with some of (2024 second-place) Bay School’s sailors also pulled away for that event, the odds are scrambled. Encinal showed last year. The list goes on. Nobody’s toast. First warning is at 1045.
Connect with Pacific Coast High School sailing here.
(Yacht) Racing Into April With Some Spring Classic Regattas
Northern California Races
St. Francis Yacht Club will host Spring Fest on April 5-6. Alerion 28, Express 37, Folkboat, J/22, J/24, J/70, J/88, J/105, Knarr and Moore 24 classes and ORC- or PHRF-rated boats are welcome. Enter by April 2.
Berkeley YC will host the Wheeler Regatta on April 12-13, with buoy racing on Saturday and a pursuit race on Sunday. Folsom Lake YC’s Camellia Cup will sail on the same weekend.
The YRA will kick off their 2025 Offshore Series with the Lightship Race on April 19.
San Francisco YC invites women sailors to compete in the Anne McCormack Invitational Cup on April 19, with racing in the Knox area west of Angel Island, and divisions for spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats. All skippers and crew must be female.
El Toro sailors ages 18 and older can test their mettle crossing the Bay from Sausalito to the San Francisco Marina in the Bullship on April 26. Racers should recruit a “Cowship” to herd them across (actually they’re just there for safety’s sake).
Laird Henkel writes, “The ILCA NorCals (allegedly the second-longest running ILCA regatta in the world, originating in 1973) will be at SCYC on April 26-27. After several years on the mid-summer calendar, we’re switching back to spring, which was traditional for many years. Similar to last year, the regatta will be combined with a Spring 5O5 regatta.” See https://scyc.org/club-regattas.
Shorthanded Sailing
Santa Cruz sailors can enjoy their own version of the Three Bridge Fiasco on April 5 at the Doublehanded Buoy Fiasco. See https://scyc.org/club-regattas.
“The 46th running of the Doublehanded Farallones Race is coming up on Saturday, April 5,” writes Truls Myklebust, commodore of the Bay Area Multihull Association. “This year’s edition follows the format from the last several years, with the start and the finish at the Golden Gate Yacht Club and the option to round the island in either direction. We have awards for best mixed-gender and best all-female crews. Also note that AIS transponders are required this year, and they must be transmitting throughout the race.” See https://sfbama.org/double-handed-farallones and register at www.jibeset.net/BAMA000.php?RG=T00980021. “We can be reached at [email protected].” This race welcomes monohulls as well as multihulls.
Registration is open for the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s Sort of Singlehanded North Bay Race on April 26. The SSS race chair advises us: “This is a new-singlehander-welcoming race where all boats sail ‘singlehanded.’ But for this one race, we let the skipper have an emergency backup person aboard as a ‘ghost.’ (The ghost cannot touch any control while racing, but they can help when the boat is not racing.) I’ve asked many people for suggestions on a course, and gotten many conflicting opinions. The comment that really resonated was ‘the best SSS races go somewhere.’ So I’m leaning toward a simple, ‘go sail around an island’ kind of a course that will be beginner-friendly even if that means it is not very challenging for the more experienced singlehanders. We’ll start and finish somewhere near Richmond and/or Southampton Shoal. Register at https://jibeset.net/JACKY000.php?RG=T005638297.”
In other SSS news, registration for March 29’s Round the Rocks Race will close today, Wednesday, March 26, at 11:59 p.m. See https://jibeset.net/JACKY000.php?RG=T001739020 to sign up. The awards meeting for the SSS Corinthian Race and the competitors’ meeting for Round the Rocks will be in-person tonight, starting at 7 p.m. “The swag team on the SSS board, [email protected], informs me they have SSS Corinthian shirts to hand out to people who show up to the meeting, but will not mail shirts for people that do not attend.”
Some Southern California Regattas
For our preview of the America’s Schooner Cup on April 5 in San Diego, see our post on March 12.
The California Dreamin’ match-racing series will conclude in Long Beach on April 5-6. LBYC will take their turn at hosting duties. Then they’ll host the Ficker Cup on April 24-27. It’s a Grade 2 event on the World Match Racing Tour. The first- and second-place finishers will receive invitations to the Congressional Cup. The 60th Congressional Cup will follow on April 29-May 4. The Congo Cup is Grade “WC” (for World Championship). LBYC will use Catalina 37s for all three match-racing regattas.
NOSA’s 77th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race will start on April 25. Enter by April 6 to avoid a late fee. Registration will close on April 10. Running concurrently will be the 7th edition of the Newport to San Diego Race.
The Etchells West Coast Spring Series at San Diego YC will conclude with the Orca Bowl on April 26-27. The deadline to enter is April 12 at 4 p.m.
But wait, there’s more! You’ll find a more complete list in the Calendar coming out in the April issue of Latitude 38. Look for that on Tuesday the 1st. For advance planning, see the 2025 YRA Calendar and Master Schedule.
Living the Dream Aboard the Saga 43 ‘Stella Blue’
Mike Kalil and Stephanie Propp from Dillon, CO, and Nanaimo, BC, share tales of Stella Blue’s first voyage to Mexico.
We began our journey in the Pacific Northwest in September 2024, and joined up with the Baja Ha-Ha in November. Since parting ways with the rally in Cabo, we have been living the dream!!
We love exploring Mexico, and have had such a great experience here. When we left Cabo, we hightailed it up to La Paz in order to avoid the big-wind event that canceled the final parties in Cabo. We weathered that Norther in La Paz, and really enjoyed the town. From there, it was on to Isla Espiritu Santo, where we enjoyed our first experience snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez. We were (and continue to be) amazed by the variety of fish and other sea life!
After enjoying several days in the area, we sailed north into the Sea of Cortez, determined to see as much of the northern coast of Baja as we could handle. We had heard how intense the Northers can be this time of year, and made a pact to try to “tough it out” in order to see as many places as possible. We are so glad that we persevered, as it has truly been a special experience.
As we pushed north, at times bashing into large, short-period waves, we were rewarded with picturesque islands and bays with endless beaches. We saw countless dolphins, and caught fish that made for some delicious meals on board!
We loved Isla San Francisco and Agua Verde, and had Elephant Rock Cove on Isla Catalina all to ourselves. Here the fish were afraid of us, suggesting snorkelers are not frequent here, and we saw our first shark while snorkeling — a small black-tip reef shark.
When the forecast called for another strong Norther to pass through, we sought shelter in Puerto Escondido for a week. We hiked Tabor Canyon and rented a car to explore the nearby town of Loreto. When the wind abated, we made the decision to continue pushing north into the Sea, and visited such gorgeous places as Islas Carmen and Coronado, Caleta San Juanito and Bahia Concepcion. We enjoyed these spots immensely, and particularly enjoyed meeting fellow sailors in the anchorages and getting together to share our experiences!
As the mild conditions continued, we pushed farther north to Santa Rosalía and San Francisquito. Here we decided we were satisfied with how much we had seen, and were craving warmer water, so we set out across the Sea of Cortez. We departed San Francisquito and stayed at Isla Tiburon for one night, then continued on to our first mainland Mexico anchorage of Las Cocinas. After another stop at Bahia San Pedro, we stayed in the marina in San Carlos for a week to refresh and celebrate our crossing. After that, we continued south for three days, straight down to Mazatlán.
After another week there enjoying the markets and good food, it was an overnight sail to Isla Isabel. So far this has been our favorite spot.