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Marching Into Spring Sailboat Racing
News Flash! PV Race Canceled
The race from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta was scheduled to start on February 26-28. Yesterday, San Diego Yacht Club issued this statement: “Puerto Vallarta is currently experiencing an evolving, unstable, and unpredictable security situation. The US State Department has elevated the travel advisory level to Level 3 — ‘Reconsider Travel’ — and has advised US citizens to shelter in place in the state of Jalisco. Authorities have reported ongoing transportation disruptions, including curtailment of operations on certain toll roads and road blockages affecting travel access to and from Puerto Vallarta.
“Taking into consideration all the information available at this time, the San Diego Yacht Club Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2026 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta International Yacht Race. While we are disappointed to cancel, we intend to offer alternate racing on Friday, February 27; Saturday, February 28; and Sunday, March 1. We plan to host social events, including the traditional send-off party on Thursday, February 26.”
Very quickly following the above announcement from SDYC, NOSA issued the following statement: “In light of recent events in parts of Mexico and the cancellation of the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta race, we have received several inquiries regarding the status of the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race scheduled for April 24-26. We want to state clearly: The Newport to Ensenada Race has not been canceled.”
More Regattas South of the Border
Notwithstanding this week’s havoc in Puerto Vallarta, MEXORC is still on for March 7-11 as of this writing. The regatta will be based out of Marina Vallarta. See www.mexorc.com.mx and https://yachtscoring.com/emenu/50484.
Vallarta YC and Paradise Village in Riviera Nayarit will provide the venue for the Banderas Bay Regatta. This is an epic regatta for cruisers (and racers) that we recommend adding to your sailing bucket list. This year’s theme, Tales from Vallartaville, honors Jimmy Buffett. See www.banderasbayregatta.com.
On San Francisco Bay
Berkeley Yacht Club’s Midwinter Series will conclude on March 1 with a Champion of Champions Race. First, second and third-place finishers from the Saturday series and Sunday series can compete this Sunday. To see who’s invited, see the Jibeset page.
Richmond YC’s Big Daddy Regatta on March 7-8 will feature buoy racing on Saturday, a party on Saturday night, and a pursuit race on Sunday. The theme this year is Cherry Blossom Festival.
The Yacht Racing Association will run an introductory race for beginners on Saturday, March 14, “in protected waters.” The race will be the culmination of their Intro to Racing Series, featuring three online seminars. The first was on February 17; two more are coming up in March, on the 4th and 12th. See https://yra.org/into-to-racing-series.
Members of South Beach YC are promoting the inaugural Kasio Cup Regatta that the club will host on March 14-15. See our preview of the new event posted on Monday, and sign up at southbeachyachtclub.org/regatta/4t5QGFH0tb.
New this year, the YRA’s In the Bay Series will kick off with Oakland YC’s Rites of Spring on March 21.
Island YC invites women skippers and their crews to the Sadie Hawkins Race on Sunday, March 22, on the Estuary.
On March 28, the Singlehanded Sailing Society will continue their 2026 season with Round the Rocks.
In Southern California
Cal Poly Maritime and LAYC will host the Port of L.A. Harbor Cup collegiate regatta, to be sailed in Catalina 37s, on March 6-8.
Al Sargent, secretary of ILCA District 24, alerts us to the ILCA North America Masters Midwinters West on San Diego Bay March 6-8. “Coronado YC is a great location,” he notes. “It’s a quick sail to the racecourse, which means more racing. A full-day racing clinic will be held for $100 and will be taught by National and North American Champion, Doug Hart (who’s really quick in the light and lumpy) on Thursday, March 5. Also, this regatta comes with a special surprise for the winners in each fleet — automatic qualification for the Masters World Championships. Click here for more information and to register for Masters Midwinters West!”
Other Laser regattas in SoCal include the California Masters on March 14-15 at Mission Bay YC and the ILCA Midwinters West at Balboa YC in Corona del Mar on March 20-22.
The Etchells West Coast Spring Series will continue with the Etchells Midwinters West on March 27-29. San Diego YC hosts the entire series. See www.sdyc.org/web/pages/etchells-wcss.
Find many more fine and worthy races in our monthly Calendar. The latest edition will come out in the March issue this Friday, February 27. Plan further ahead with the aid of our 2026 Sailing Calendar.
Coyote Point Yacht Club Hosts Winter Sail #4
Eight boats came out to see what kind of story the Bay intended to tell. The forecast spoke confidently of southerlies bending from southeast to southwest. The water had other ideas. By day’s end we had sampled nearly every compass point — and misplaced a mark for good measure.
The course began ambitiously — 11 nautical miles by intention if not outcome — with Paradigm setting off as rabbit. Ventus struck first at 8, Sweet Grapes close astern, Paradigm in pursuit. Then the wind thinned to a rumor. Half the fleet stalled in flood current, sliding sideways while sails hung in quiet negotiation. Sirius and Pelican retired; the rest waited it out.
The breeze returned in cautious installments — first two-and-a-half knots, then six, then nine — never from where predicted. Positions reshuffled at Z, at A, and again when Mark D proved missing, sending the fleet to 8 instead. Through it all, Surprise! kept finding a way forward.
In the channel, with gusts and ghosts trading places, the finish felt earned. On corrected time: Surprise! first, Paradigm second, Chablis IV third, Ventus fourth, Will O’ The Wind fifth, Sweet Grapes sixth.
Winter does not promise fairness. It promises character.
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“Wish I Hadn’t Gone to the Latitude 38 Crew Party” — Said No One, Ever!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.” So begins the quote credited to author Mark Twain. We have strong feelings about this quote. Next week is the Latitude 38 Crew Party, and we imagine there might be some sailors who, on Friday morning next week, wake up to be disappointed that they hadn’t joined the crew party on March 5 – and they won’t even have had to wait 20 years for that regret to kick in! We don’t want that to happen to anyone, least of all sailors.
Twain’s quote continues: “So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” We wholeheartedly agree — cast off those dock lines and come on down to the Golden Gate Yacht Club for the biggest sailors’ shindig on the Bay. The crew party is the place to meet and get to know other sailors, and meet people who think they aren’t sailors, but would like to be. We know you’re sailors, because even just thinking about sailing makes you one of the crew — you might just be the crew with less or no experience. Which is perfectly fine, because everyone starts somewhere. And here’s a tip: Little or no experience is not a disadvantage. In some cases, inexperienced people may actually have a better chance of getting aboard a boat than someone with lots of experience because novice crew are happy to do things the way the skipper likes them done. Everyone wins!
If you own a boat, you can find crew here. If you don’t own a boat, you can meet people who do — boat owners are always looking for someone to go sailing with. Maybe you just want to find a nice group to go sailing with, or an adventurous group that wants to sail offshore, or maybe race. The possibilities are endless.
Here are the details.
The Party
6–9 p.m.
Hang out with skippers, sailors, and sponsors at the Golden Gate Yacht Club: 1 Yacht Rd., San Francisco
Admission
$10
Casablanca Mediterranean food truck will be onsite (These guys serve great food!)
No-host bar run by Golden Gate Yacht Club
Raffles, resources, and Bay Area sailing energy
This is a mostly outdoor event — please dress in layers.
Bonus
There will be door prizes along with access to the most vibrant sailing network in Northern California.
The Crew Party is all about making sailing connections in a relaxed, social setting. A good way to ensure you stand out from the crowd is to add your name to the crew list here ahead of the event, and then you can meet up at the party.
In the January issue of Latitude 38, we shared a story about local sailor Jon Price of the 32-ft S2 Adagio. Jon has found some great crew through the Latitude 38 crew parties and crew lists, including our new marketing manager, Maddy Garcia! (This occurred before Maddy joined the Latitude team.)
Now that you’ve read this far, we’re going to assume we’ll be seeing you next week — March 5, Golden Gate Yacht Club, 6–9 p.m.
Looking for the California History of ‘Grisette’
The Chantier du Guip boatyard in France sent us photos about the ongoing renovation of the cutter Grisette, which spent a portion of her long life in California. The builders are very interested in her history and are reaching out to learn more from anyone who remembers her time in California. She arrived here in the 1960s and spent lots of time sailing the Bay.
The boatyard knows of the American couple who owned Grisette and set off on a world cruise aboard her from England in the ’60s. Pierre Auboiroux mentioned this in his book Seul sur les Océans – le tour du monde du ‘Néo-Vent’ 1964-1966 (Alone on the Oceans: Neo-Vent’s World Tour). They believe the couple are the ones who brought Grisette to California. Chantier de Guip would love to know more about this next part of Grisette’s history. They’re looking for photos, yacht club memberships, local racing and cruising history and any other aspects of her West Coast sailing life.
Our prior story from Randall von Wedel included some local photos and the state of the restoration last fall. Lots of progress is being made.
If you have additional help or insights on the history of Grisette you can email Yann Mauffret at Chantier de Guip and/or add information to our comments section below. It will be beautiful to see her under sail again.
Join the Sail4Parkinsons Regatta at CYC
