Who Made Connections at ‘Latitude 38’s Fall Crew List Party?
Summers can be relaxing, but fall hits like a freight train, starting with Latitude 38’s Baja Ha-Ha Fall Crew Party. Last night’s event at the Spaulding Marine Center in Sausalito was a smashing success, beginning with the Mexico Cruising Seminar given by Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven at 4 p.m. The standing-room-only event was packed with people and useful information from Patsy’s dozen or so Baja Ha-Ha’s and 30 years of living aboard and singlehanding her Gulfstar 50 Talion. Besides the Poobah, she’s probably done more Ha-Ha’s than any other boat, and is noted for being the true “soul sailor” who has sailed the entire trip more than anyone.
Immediately following the seminar the venue switched to ‘Tinder for sailors.’ The Spaulding space was converted to party central after all seminar attendees quickly folded up their chairs to take them outside and open the floor for crew connections. The Latitude team was busy at the front entrance clicking QR codes, putting on wrist bands, filling out crew connection stickers, and entering attendees in a drawing for Latitude 38 hats. It was busy with over 250 sailors or soon-to-be sailors attending the event.
Our Fall Crew Party tilts toward cruising, though everyone is welcome. The crowd included people looking for midwinter racing crew and those who just want to do more local daysailing. We talked with Harrison and Katelyn, who moved here just three weeks ago after 10 years in Texas. They were both happy to have finally left the heat of Texas. And Harrison, a Texan sailor, had already found a way to get aboard boats as crew but was at the party looking for more Bay Area sailing opportunities. Katelyn, whose primary sailing role has been happy passenger, was glad to connect with Eileen Zedd from the Island Yacht Club’s Women’s Sailing Seminar so that she might move beyond the passenger role.
Beyond connecting with new crew and skippers there’s a lot of reconnecting with old friends and sailing buddies. Our dedicated Latitude 38 ambassador Gerry Gragg worked the front entrance, where he ran into lots of old sailing friends, including Afterguard Sailing Academy sailing instructor Angela, who teaches sailing and crews on boats around the Bay. Angela’s also working with Amy Bridge to help develop the first charity regatta on the Bay to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease. It will be held on April 11, 2026, at Corinthian Yacht Club. When you mingle in the sailing crowd, it turns out it’s full of good people.
We also saw our friend Ken Austin, who literally got home just this past weekend after sailing his J/40 Mimosa from San Francisco to New Caledonia. The boat is equipped and ready to continue on to Australia, or farther, with a new owner. Ken was there to see if that new owner might be at the Latitude 38 Crew Party. It’s an event built around making connections, so who knows?
The Sausalito fog lingered just on the Pacific side of the Marin headlands, making for a pretty perfect evening in the shelter of the Spaulding Marine Center. The Hot Clams played some quiet music outside by the Casablanca food truck, which has been a reliable hit for the crew parties for several years. It all makes for a spicy combination of sailors, food, drink and connections.
The Spaulding Marine Center operates the bar, and all proceeds from drink sales support scholarships for their maritime trades apprenticeships. In the rapidly shifting world of work, more people are looking for careers that won’t be eliminated by AI. Coincidentally, the skilled labor needed for the maritime trades is in short supply. Spaulding Marine Center has been helping fill the gap for several years with graduates of their program. We also thank this year’s apprentices for volunteering and cleaning up the yard to make way for the party.
Between 6:00 and 9:00 there were quite a few business cards exchanged, notes scribbled, QR codes clicked, and contacts synced so that more people can do more sailing. The crew parties have been core to Latitude 38’s mission for over 45 years. The Bay Area has this amazing Bay in the middle of it, yet so many people struggle to find a way to sail on it. The same is true up and down the California coast. If you didn’t make it to a Crew Party, you can still add your name to the Latitude Crew List to find rides for daysailing, cruising or racing.
How can we help more people have more fun sailing? We’re never quite sure, but we think about it every day. Judging from the attendees at the Crew Party most sailors do just fine. But if we can help connect you with your first Ha-Ha or your first sail, we think life will be better.
Thanks to all the attendees, Baja Ha-Ha participants, our hosts at Spaulding, Patsy for the seminar, and everyone who helps get the world sailing. If you made a connection or have a great photo or story from sailing the Bay or coast, send it to [email protected]. It’s always fun to hear where sailing has taken you.
The 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series Is (Almost) Here
We’re just under a week away from one of the most anticipated regattas of the annual racing calendar, the 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series (RBBS) hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club (StFYC). The four-day marathon regatta is set to feature 72 boats across six different classes (three one-design and three ORC classes), with seven races planned for each division.
Racing will start on Thursday, September 11, and wrap up on Sunday, September 14. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will each feature two races, with the first being a buoy race and the second a Bay tour race with the finish line in front of the iconic St. Francis race deck. Sunday will see only one race — the Bay tour. The popular classics division unfortunately will not be racing this year.
Off the water, the usual Big Boat Series shenanigans will be in full force, highlighted by the legendary Mt. Gay Rum party on Friday night.
J/105 Class: 27 Boats
The J/105 class is, as usual, the biggest fleet — one-design or ORC — that will be racing in this year’s Big Boat Series. The boat to beat going into the event is Ryan Simmons’ Blackhawk (SFYC), the defending champion. Blackhawk has featured almost the same team for years, and has won four of the past five Rolexes in the J/105 division. The 2022 champion, Randy Hecht’s Niuhi (SFYC), which might well have won last year were it not for a U-flag in one of the races, will not be competing.
While Blackhawk is the favorite and defending champion, they will have no shortage of competition for the Rolex. Tim Russel’s Ne*Ne (SFYC) is a perpetual contender, having finished second in four of the past six Big Boat Series, including last year’s. Rolf Kaiser and Justin Oberbauer’s Donkey Jack (StFYC) finished third at last year’s regatta, and beat Blackhawk to win the the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta, the unofficial tune-up event for RBBS. Jeff Littfin’s Mojo (SSC) is a regular contender, and won a Rolex in 2018. That makes Mojo the most recent non-Blackhawk J/105 Rolex winner competing in this year’s edition, with Niuhi out.
There is no shortage of other regular podium contenders in the J/105 fleet, including but not limited to Godot 2.0 (SSS), Peaches (StFYC), Arbitrage (StFYC), Beast of Burden (StFYC), Jabberwocky (StFYC), and more.
J/88 Class: Seven Boats
The J/88 class is a smaller but very fun fleet that has become a regular one-design class at Big Boat Series in recent years. Brice Dunwoodie’s Ravenette (StFYC) dominated the tune-up at Swiftsure, and comes into RBBS as the favorite. Last year’s J/88 winner, Split Water (RYC), won’t be racing. Speedwell (RYC) is another boat to watch.
Express 37: 10 Boats
The Express 37 class is twice as large as it was in last year’s RBBS. Loca Motion (MPYC), owned by Mark Chaffey and Heidi Hall, topped last year’s fleet and recorded a picket fence in the process.
One of the five boats that has joined the fleet this year will be the Cal Maritime team. The crew will be made up entirely of Cal Maritime students, with Owen Cuyler as the driver.
ORC A, B, and C: 22 Boats
RBBS will also serve as the 2025 ORC Pacific Coast Championship Regatta for the 22 ORCs, which will compete across three different fleets. Notably, Lucky Duck (StFYC) and Pacific Yankee (SDYC/NYYC/CalYC), the winners of last year’s ORC A and B fleets respectively, will not be racing.
Merlin (SPYC/DIYC), the legendary Bill Lee 68, is the highest finisher from last year’s ORC A class that will be returning. The ORC B class was dominated by the Cape 31s last year, with three of the top four finishers being the fast South African design, including Pacific Yankee. Two Cape 31s will race this year. Marc McMorris’s M2 (SDYC) returns from last year, and Ian Hill’s Sitella (Hampton Yacht Club) makes her RBBS debut.
The defending ORC C winner, Zach Berkowitz, with his J/100 Feather (StFYC), will return this year and looks to repeat in his division.
You can follow the live results of the 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series here.
Steering the Dream With Hydrovane
Hydrovane is your best crew member: an independent self-steering windvane and emergency rudder/steering system … ready to go!
The Resourceful Sailor Configures a Spinnaker Pole Holder
One of the two last active Thunderbird sailboat one-design racing fleets in the United States is in Port Townsend (P.T.), WA. The other is in Boston. A Thunderbird International Regatta took place in P.T. in September 2023, with an invitation extended for Boston sailors to come to the “Left Coast.” Certain local boats would be loaned to potential East Coast racers, with one team offered Corvo.
The visitors brought sails and were allowed to set up the boat to their comfort. One of these adjustments was to the spinnaker pole holder on the boom. It is standard T-bird practice to stow the pole alongside the boom for easy access by the foredeck crew when setting the kite upon the approach to the windward mark and stowing it again at the leeward mark.
After the regatta, when Corvo’s regular crew returned to their steed, The Resourceful Sailor was tasked with returning the spinnaker holder to its previous position and style. The Boston crew had moved its placement on the boom aft, discarding the original for two rigid PVC couplers (one on each side) to accommodate their needs. Corvo’s regular crew preferred having only one on the starboard side. The trimmer and pit crew also disliked the farther aft replacement of the holders. Their size, hardness, and placement proved not only undesirable but also a bit dangerous. After the pit crew’s first inadvertent and slightly bloody knock on the noggin, the owner wanted it gone.
Some T-birds have commercially manufactured holders, but most seem to create their own. In Corvo’s case, I replaced the more aft and rigid PVC couplers with a single four-inch segment of three-and-a-half-inch diameter, wire-reinforced wet exhaust hose farther forward. There were already two holes in the boom from the pre-regatta installation, so I had to drill matching holes only in the hose segment. (The original was long gone.)
After determining the best length of fasteners, I threaded them through the boom. I added nylon washers as a dissimilar-metals barrier between the aluminum spar and the stainless steel Nylocs capped on the ends.
And that’s all there is to it. I made sure the hose’s wire had its ends tucked into the rubber so as not to be a poking hazard. The wire is key because it keeps the hose rigid and prevents sagging under the pole’s weight. The pole is retrieved and replaced from a position forward of the mast. There is a U-bolt on the mast end of the boom that the spinnaker pole’s jaw clips to. A three-inch hose would have worked for the two-inch pole, but required more precision “threading the needle” when returning it. The slightly larger size makes it easier on a lively boat while the boom is sheeted in, the mainsail is in the way, the kite comes down, and the mark is rounded. I’ll take it.
This simple solution is economical and easy, and doesn’t require overthinking. Part of the appeal of the Thunderbird sailboat is its economy and, therefore, accessibility. Sure, any serious racer in a competitive field wants their boat to be fastest, and effort and money are applied. But pomp is kept in check by remembering, “It’s just a Thunderbird.” While a spinnaker holder needs to be functional, beyond that, it doesn’t win or lose the race.
Filmed at the dock, the video below demonstrates the retrieval and return of a boom-held spinnaker pole on the Thunderbird sailboat, Corvo. It focuses on the functionality of the wet exhaust hose holder.
Remember, keep your solutions prudent and safe, and have a blast.
‘Pi’ to the 50th — A Remembrance To Remember
A story of ingenuity and adventure, loss and survival, and one deeply tied to the beginnings of ULDBs and the history of ocean racing on the California Coast.
Steve Fennell grew up the eldest of five siblings in Alameda, California. Sailing was the center of the Fennell family, and with their going out every weekend, it seemed that everything revolved around sailing. After graduating from SDSU, Steve found his way to Capitola in the late ’60s and purchased the historical Van Sickle house on Cherry Avenue. He lived there with his wife and daughter, Serena, and offered cheap rents to friends in one of the many rooms and apartments on the property. Steve became a middle school math teacher and was a free thinker way ahead of his time. He invented a honeycomb aluminum building material, the Fennell Module. He held ecology classes for students and “was a safe harbor” for young people in his community. Students could be themselves around Steve and “never have to worry.”
Steve had become involved in the Santa Cruz sailing community as one of the originators of the SCYC SCORE series, and he was keen to build a boat out of composites, just as he had seen his neighbor Bill Lee do with Magic. The empty lot across the street became his boatyard. According to interviews, Steve and a friend first attempted to build a boat off the mold from George Olson’s Grendel.
Apparently, they got far enough along in the build to have laid fiberglass on one side of the mold before Steve realized he should work on his own design and they abandoned the project. “When Ron Moore rescued Grendel’s mold from certain destruction, a new partnership was born between Ron and John Moore, and George Olson. The next chapter of the story was the creation of the ultimate Wednesday-night boat for Monterey Bay — Summertime. The first thing the trio decided was that the new boat needed a little more beam than Grendel’s five feet and change. No problem. They just jammed a few 2x4s in the mold and pried it apart until it looked about right. A foot more beam looked pretty good, and the glass and resin started flowing.”
Some speculate that the fiberglass Steve had laid up created additional rigidity in the mold, causing uneven spreading when they widened the hull, with the result being the famed and endearing asymmetry of the Moore 24.
Steve began designing the hull for Pi, a 24-ft fiberglass ULDB, in 1971.
He documented the process in photos, often using his growing baby, Serena, as a marker of time passing as the boat materialized. In the family collection of slides, there is baby Serena with the stations cut out in sequence, Serena learning to walk around the lot when the fiberglass was being laid, and toddler Serena at the launch of Pi.
Steve included others in his build and would often let some of his young neighbors and students from the middle school, including Niels Kisling, help with sanding and painting.
How Do I Find a Back Issue of Latitude 38?
We recently received a note from reader Steven Klein asking if there’s a way to read the January 2025 issue of Latitude 38. Luckily for him (and maybe you), he can. All of our back issues dating back to 1977 are linked as PDFs on the Magazine page. Scroll down to “Back Issues” and you’ll find them all.
That’s 579 issues of Latitude 38 available to read. That might take a while, but it would be a lot more fun than many of today’s reading alternatives.
If you want to sit back with the real thing, you need to get out now and pick one up at our over 600 West Coast distribution points. It’s the most relaxing way to read.
Steven finished his note saying, “I’m a longtime reader. Always read Max Ebb first.”
Thanks for reading!
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Don’t Miss the 3rd Annual Sausalito Boat Show
Join us at Clipper Yacht Harbor on September 19-21 for the 3rd Annual Sausalito Boat Show. Use Code: L3825 for $5 off your tickets. Buy tickets here.