The 2025 Baja Ha-Ha Fleet Is Ready to Roll … uh, Sail
In just over 10 days’ time, the 2025 Baja Ha-Ha fleet will be leaving San Diego and heading to Mexico. Presuming everyone makes the start line, this year’s rally, the 31st iteration, will be setting off with 136 boats sailing out of the Bay to the sounds of music, horns and cheering (and tears of those who aren’t going) on November 3. If you’re among the participants and you’re reading this, have a blast! If you’re not going, sorry. One of our team, our marketing manager Nicki Bennett, will be aboard the Ha-Ha mothership Profligate. Throughout the cruise south, Nicki will touch base and send us snippets of life aboard the Ha-Ha. Stay tuned for details.
In the meantime, there will be scores of sailors on the Pacific making their way to Mexico with the fleet, and again, we’d like to give you a brief introduction to a few of them.
Bruce Afton, from Gamble Bay, WA/Kingston, WA, will be aboard the Burns 45 Sagata. Bruce, 70, is a retired physician’s assistant. His crew will be daughter Katlian, 29, a high school science teacher; Jared Burreece, 28, a student; and Ericka Bremer, 27.
Bruce has been sailing for over 40 years, during which time he’s owned four boats. What’s unusual about Sagata, which he’s owned for four years, is 1) that she is built of wood, and 2) that she was built in New Zealand.
While Bruce hasn’t done a Ha-Ha yet, he’s sailed from Alaska to the Sea of Cortez, as well as from Hawaii to Seattle. After the Ha-Ha he plans to do a circumnavigation or a loop of the South Pacific, which would include a stop at the Tuamotus, his dream destination.
Stephen Ronk and Madeline Fontillas from Marina del Rey/Los Angeles will sail aboard Marisol, a Hunter 410. Stephen, 60, is a lawyer, while spouse Madeline didn’t list an occupation. Their crew will be daughter Marisol Fontillas Ronk, 24, a law clerk; Doug Estill, 62, a fire department captain; Julia Estill, 31; and Ron Bossert, 59, occupation not provided.
“We’ve been sailing for 20 years and have owned three boats,” report the couple. “We have owned Marisol since 2007 and have made many trips into Mexico on her, including 20 to Ensenada. While we haven’t done a Ha-Ha, we have made the trip down to Cabo on the Ha-Ha route, then continued on to Mazatlán, San Blas, La Cruz, and Manzanillo, with all the usual stops along the way. After the Ha-Ha, we plan to continue down to La Cruz for the winter.
Siblings Jo and David Sandry from Sausalito/Boulder Creek [and Ha-Ha vets from 2021 and 2022] will sail aboard their Dehler 39 Josie. Jo and David are co-owners and will be co-captains of Josie. Jo is a therapist, while brother David, 51, is an auditor. “Be audit you can be.” Their crew this year will be Ha-Ha first-timers Eliza Karlson and Lindsay Guetschow, two adventurers who are silly and salty to the core.
Jo and David have been sailing since they were kids on the south coast of Devon in the United Kingdom. They tease their parents that they often risked their lives crossing the English Channel, and have many sea stories from those times. Since living in the Bay Area for 20+ years, they’ve both primarily sailed smaller boats. Jo owned a Pacific Seacraft 25 for many years, while David owns and frequently races the classic wood Bear Boat Puff.
Jo has made bluewater deliveries across the Atlantic and in the Pacific Northwest. David taught sailing at Cass’ Marina in Sausalito; “Initially did it to pick up women.” But before long he was to meet his partner and eventual baby mama. These days he gets his adrenaline pumping by practicing public accounting.
Right after doing their first Ha-Ha, David and Jo Bashed back up to the Bay. “It was tough with just two people,” they remember, “but we did it again, so it couldn’t have been that bad. Or maybe we have amnesia.” True to form, they’ll be sticking with their turn-and-burn tradition this year. Ouch!
If you’d like to see more of the boats and crews heading south next month, see here, and here.
We’ll share more Ha-Ha stories over the coming weeks, and, of course, some photos from the Baja Ha-Ha XXXI Kick-Off Costume Party and BBQ on Sunday, November 2, and the Baja Ha-Ha Kick-Off Parade on Monday, November 3.
Good Jibes #214: Stephen and Kristen Van Dyck on Cruising the Pacific as a Family
Welcome to Good Jibes! In this week’s episode we meet Stephen and Kristen Van Dyck and one of their sons, Paul, to chat about their yearlong sailing sabbatical as a family. They’re living a sailing story that blends history, adventure, and family togetherness aboard their 2019 Boréal 44 Flyer.
Tune in as the Van Dycks share with Good Jibes host Moe Roddy their experiences of how to take the family sailing trip of your dreams, how to plan and structure a long sailing sabbatical, how an extended cruising trip changes your perspective on life and sailing, why it’s such a valuable experience for all involved, and how to make sure the kids keep learning while on the water.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- Living with low expectations and embracing uncertainty
- Taking a year sabbatical with kids aged 11 and 13
- Online school aboard: navigating education with Starlink
- Kristen’s architecture career and the decision to pause
- How COVID changed their priorities and sparked the trip
Follow the Van Dyck family’s adventures at SVFlyer.com
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!
Set Sail This Fall With Cruising Yachts
Oakland Yacht Club Hosts 2025 Oktoberfest Regatta
Oakland Yacht Club’s (OYC) 2025 Oktoberfest race was sailed last weekend on Saturday, October 18. Oktoberfest is always a fun way to wrap up the OYC race season; a good race whether you’re a seasoned racer or just beginning to race. The course featured a South Bay start at the entrance channel to the Alameda Naval Air Station, a circumnavigation of Treasure Island (either way), and a finish down the Estuary in front of the Oakland Yacht Club.
To encourage creativity in costumes, three seconds per mile were be added for each crew member wearing Bavarian lederhosen or a dirndl, and creative license was allowed, as long as it was in the “spirit of lederhosen,” as determined by the race committee. And there were some great costumes! A couple of examples: Flying Fish (OYC) and Tramp Boat (IYC).
It was rather a low number of signups, 14 boats, but all showed up. These days that doesn’t happen often. The regatta featured four fleets: multihull, non-spinnaker; and two spinnaker fleets. There was a 10-minute start delay to let the wind fill to four to six knots, and then the racers were off. Racers worked their way through some good wind, and some not-so-good wind. Multiple times some finesse sailing was required to get through the lulls. As the fleets came down the Estuary, the wind filled a bit more, and all were back to OYC by 1630, give or take, so right on time!
All were invited up to the club, where the bar was open, results were announced, and prizes were selected. Top prize to the Overall Winner was a gift certificate to Brotzeit Lokal, which was awarded to Justis Fennell, skipper of Good and Plenty (IYC), who completed the course in two hours 11 minutes and five seconds.
OYC member Jes Wang was PRO. It was her first time at the position, but you would never know it. She and her committee were a great team and did an excellent job managing the race. If you haven’t done it, you probably have no idea of all that goes into managing a race, so give it some thought and maybe hop off your boat now and then and help out running a race.
A good time was had by all!
You can find the full results of the 2025 Oktoberfest Regatta here.
Congratulations if you were able to read the photo captions without the help of a translator. – Ed.
Larry Ellison: Richest Sailor in the World and Media Mogul
Larry Ellison is one of the local sailors we’ve covered over the last 48 years. He’s also the richest sailor we’ve covered, because it’s impossible to find a wealthier sailor anywhere. He’s currently the second-richest person in the world, and was recently the richest person when he briefly surpassed Elon Musk, whose wealth seems to vary depending on what he posts on X. Apparently, Musk doesn’t sail. Ellison is a quieter soul who’s had immense success in business and sailing, along with uttering one of our favorite quotes: “I had all the disadvantages necessary for success.”
We now find it gratifying to see that, after all these years of appearing in the pages of Latitude 38, Larry (and his son David) have decided to follow in Latitude’s footsteps and get into the media business. We’ve always loved the business (at least when covering sailors and sailing) and we hope he’ll add to sailing’s visibility with his foray into media. He certainly did it with the America’s Cup and SailGP.
Of course, it’s on a different scale than Latitude 38. Larry’s son, David Ellison, through his company Skydance Media, has built up a production business (films, television, animation, games). Then in 2024/25, Skydance Media (backed by Larry Ellison) merged with Paramount Global, which is the parent of the CBS network and many other media properties. This gives control of Paramount’s assets (including CBS) to the Ellison/Skydance consortium. Larry now holds about 35% of the voting interest of the company. They may soon add TikTok in some kind of US spinoff deal.
Ellison was quoted in the New York Times: “’We aim to do our part in helping rebuild a society where our shared humanity unites us, and where our differences become a source of strength rather than division,’ Mr. Ellison wrote.”
Larry Ellison’s spectacular rise in business was paralleled by his amazing ascent in sailing. Beyond the Lido 14, his sailing exploits are considerable, including an ocean racing career aboard his Farr-designed Sayonara, managed by Bill and Melinda Erkelens. Inshore, Sayonara won the 1996 Big Boat Series with straight bullets. He competed very successfully in the RC44 class while also pursuing his America’s Cup ambitions.
Ellison started pursuing the America’s Cup in 2003 and won the Cup in 2010, so he could bring it to San Francisco Bay to win it again, nine to eight against the Kiwis. This was the “greatest comeback” in sports moment with recently inducted America’s Cup Hall of Famer Jimmy Spithill at the helm. Other boating interests have included his 184-ft Perini Navi ketch and 452-ft megayacht Rising Sun. We’re just scratching the surface.
It turns out that six of the 10 wealthiest people in the world are sailors, and five of those six are from the world of West Coast sailing. Here are the top 10 billionaires, with asterisks for those who sail:
Elon Musk ~$422 billion (non-sailor); sailor Larry Ellison* ~$287 billion; sailor Mark Zuckerberg* ~$257 billion; sailor Jeff Bezos* ~$243 billion (has a 417-ft sailboat with a 246-ft “follow boat”); kiteboarder Larry Page* ~$177 billion; kiteboarder Sergey Brin* ~$165 billion; Jensen Huang ~$156 billion (non-sailor); Bernard Arnault and family* ~$155 billion (333-ft superyacht, and funds Louis Vuitton Cup); Steve Ballmer ~$153.9 billion (powerboater); and Warren Buffett ~$149 billion (sailing history unknown).
Five of the billionaires are West Coast sailors just like the rest of us. One of the primary challenges this presents for sailing is the general public’s believing we are all billionaires. It keeps many possible sailors away because they believe sailing is too expensive. They should visit their local community sailing centers, like these folks at Cal Sailing Club. There are a few more exceptionally wealthy sailors, but if you put the other 99.9% of sailors together, they probably couldn’t scrape together another billion among them all.
Another thing that makes this interesting to Latitude 38 is that a common interest of advertisers is the average net worth of the readership. If we assume that the five West Coast billionaire sailors are readers of Latitude 38 (why wouldn’t they be?), then the average net worth of our readers is over $225 billion — if we add in the net worth of all the rest of you.
Larry Ellison’s first sailing experiences in the Lido 14 on the Berkeley waterfront show how small boats remain at the foundation of sailing and how far sailing can take you! If you love sailing, have a good idea, work hard, and have all the necessary disadvantages, you too might become a billionaire. After that, you might be able to join Latitude 38 in the media industry.
Beyond becoming a billionaire, we believe that if you sail, you’ll have a rich life.
Give the Gift of Latitude this Holiday Season
