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Don’t Be a Nigel No-Friends, Join Tomorrow’s Latitude 38 Crew Party
Let’s face it, sometimes you just want to stay home and be a hermit. Maybe you think all the sailors already have crew. Maybe you think no one will pick you (flashback to high school gym class). But here’s the thing … sailors are an indulgent lot. We always want more. More wind, more sail, more sunshine, and more crew. Rarely have we come across anyone who says, “I have way too many crew!” Even if they do, they still come to the Latitude 38 Crew Parties, because “you never know when you’re going to want another crew.” And we haven’t even started on the sailors who don’t have their own boat and are always ready and willing to hop aboard OPBs (other people’s boats). Overall, there’s a pretty good balance of boat owners looking for crew, and crew looking for boats to join. That’s why each spring (almost) we throw a party and bring together the sailing community from all across the Bay Area, and sometimes beyond!
Tomorrow night, March 5, we’re hosting this year’s spring shindig at the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco. Scores of sailors have RSVP’d and are keen as mustard to mingle with their salty kinfolk. Are you among them? And are you a serial crew-party attendee who has forged many new friendships through these biannual gatherings? Latitude’s newest team member, Maddy Garcia, found herself sailing with Jon Price, a crew-party regular who has found many of his boat crew through the crew parties, and through Latitude’s online crew list.
Summer is upon us, folks, and if you’re not rugged up, rigged up and crewed up, you’ll be missing out on some of the West Coast’s greatest fun. Come join us at 6 p.m. for winter/spring’s best sailing get-together at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Oh, and as you’re adding this date to your calendar, put your name on the crew list too — that way you can easily build on the connections you make.
The Party
6–9 p.m.
Hang out with skippers, sailors and sponsors at the Golden Gate Yacht Club on the San Francisco Bay waterfront.
Casablanca Mediterranean food truck onsite
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.
Admission: $10
Bonus: There will be door prizes along with access to the most vibrant sailing network in Northern California.
See you at the party!
Good Jibes #233: Maddy Garcia on Vikings, FJs, and Joining Latitude 38, With Host Ryan Foland
This week in Good Jibes, host Ryan Foland chats with Maddy Garcia about Vikings, FJs, and joining the Latitude 38 family. Maddy is Latitude‘s new sales and marketing manager, and brings along her true Viking blood and an energizing passion for getting more people on the water.
Hear how Maddy’s first time sailing changed her life, what excites her most about working with Latitude 38, why we should all spend more time jumping into the ocean, what makes Latitude 38 appealing for advertisers, and why it may be time to go fly a kite.
Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:
- What’s Maddy’s connection to Vikings?
- What boats did Maddy sail on after UCLA?
- How did she discover Latitude 38 sailing magazine?
- Is she more a cruiser or a racer?
- Why did she move to San Francisco?
- What message does she have for potential advertisers of Latitude 38 sailing magazine?
Email [email protected] and connect with her on Instagram @MGarrr and on LinkedIn, and learn more about Ryan at Ryan.Online.
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!
Visit Antioch Marina, the Gateway to the Delta
Tales From the Can — SSS Corinthian: The Exquisite Torture Sandwich
Having gone the wrong way in January’s SSS Three Bridge Fiasco, crew Rachel Porter and I were hell bound to redeem our name in Saturday’s SSS Corinthian Race. After the start was postponed, attempted, postponed, and then went into sequence (to the applause of the racers; one radio input was, “You don’t have to apologize for doing the right thing”), the doublehanded fleets got down to business.
The doublehanded course, S–YRA 17p–YRA 16s–YRA Bob Klein (just west-northwest of Southampton Shoal)–YRA 12s–F, in doable, but sketchy winds of 8 to 12 out of 180 to 210ish. We started with a Murderers’ Row in our division: Gordie Nash, Brendan Meyer, the entire Wylie 30 fleet. PHRF 123+. A full-moon high tide at max, fittin’ to drop more than seven feet during the race. Ebb City. Deal with it.
Coming off YRA 7, tricky to get to, with the South Bay emptying toward Red Rock, offered us an interesting option. Go to the Cityfront with the crowd, pushing water in hope of reaching the Promised Land, or port toward the North Tower at 7.5+ knots upwind, in a Cal 20. We tacked a couple of times to prove our theory was working, and proceeded to a layline we thought would fetch us up east of Blackaller. Looked good; we had closed quite nicely with Arcadia and the Wylies.
I looked to our escape plan for the next leg, as it was clear the ebb-ola was in full effect, Bonita beckoning. The spin gear would have to come around for a port-tack grind to Point Blunt. Oops! The wind pooped, and a beat turned to a reach, to a run, to a jibe set and jibe, as we oozed west toward the South Tower. Sailing in place for nearly 15 minutes(!), we bled out our third-leg brilliance, as boats came up under 16, tacked, and took our wind as they passed to weather on port. Ugly stuff.
But, we ground down Tom’s mark, tacked the kite, and pointed to Angel Island. The boats that had passed us largely drifted toward Sausalito, except for Jay McCutchen’s SH Santa Cruz 27 Surf Rat, and Gregory Towers’ up-and-coming Ranger 23 Evenstar. We oozed, and I mean oozed, toward Point Knox, where a new decision awaited. As the oozing progressed, and the SFYC RC boat Victory hove into clear view, we noted that there were no boats near her.
No E27s, who’d started half an hour before us. No Moore 24s. No DH Division A or B speedsters. Nada. They had mostly taken to Blunt. There must have been dragons lurking east of there.
So. We hit the West Garrison, jibed to Point Stuart, jibed again, and did our now-routine “rock climb” up Raccoon Strait, never straying more than 10 yards from Angel Island. Some of our companions tried Point Belvedere, and parked. Surf Rat tried the center route, and parked, as we scooted along the rocks, beaches, and points, working the shifty but consistent puffs coming over the island, punching through the hydraulics west of Ayala Cove to the big bow-wake hydraulics at AI’s north corner.
There, the tableau revealed itself. As in a Ken Burns documentary, where a pan over a still photo makes it seem as if characters are 3D, we crabbed north toward Richmond, and the some 60+ boats pointed forlornly at the Klein buoy seemed frozen in time. Some with kites up, some beating, some coming into the half-mile-long gaggle and sticking in place, like animals in a tar pit.
A few good, or lucky, sailors eked out a rounding; Pete Schoen’s Mooretician, Gordie, Julia Paxton’s Motorcycle Irene, a few others. They mostly headed back west up the Strait. The bulk stayed parked. We vectored in like Jim Lovell rendezvousing with a Gemini capsule, sometimes pointing 45 degrees north of our course, but on the express line to success. We didn’t mind getting gassed by bigs and speedies, as we blasted southwest to and through Raccoon. We even shrugged off my error of jibing too close to Little Harding in the turn to the finish and taking home a little green lipstick.
The moral of the story is, it was a very technical race, and sometimes the usual approaches to a course do not pan out. Sometimes you fall down a rabbit hole. Sometimes, persistence is the key to a good day. Fifth overall DH, and a Division first, is the proof in the pudding.
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Short Sightings — Cayard, Peninsula Youth Sailing and More
Cayard and Kleen Go Two for Two at the 99th Bacardi Cup
Rum and sailing have been together since the British navy discovered sugar cane. Possibly the oldest rum sponsorship in sailing started with Bacardi’s sponsorship of the Star class 99 years ago.
Tuesday’s race in the 99th Bacardi Cup delivered classic Biscayne Bay breezes with steady 13- to 15-knot winds from the east, powering the fleet of 75 boats through race two of six. At the front once again, Paul Cayard and Frithjof Kleen (USA) converted an early strategic separation into their second consecutive race win, finishing ahead of Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Bruno Prada (POL), with Robert Scheidt and Austin Sperry (BRA) third.
After the race Cayard commented, “Can’t start Bacardi much better than that, but it was very tough racing out there with Mateusz and Robert: very physical in 15 knots. It’s a two-hour nonstop physical exertion.”
The racing is being held March 1–7 on Biscayne Bay, Florida.
The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup
The Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup, co-hosted by Cal Poly Maritime in Vallejo and the Port of Los Angeles, is one of the preeminent intercollegiate sailing events in the nation. The event will again be held by the Los Angeles Yacht Club in the Port of Los Angeles this coming weekend, March 6, 7 and 8. Last year’s winners, the University of Southern California Trojans, will return to defend their 2025 title. With several returning crew members, and having won seven of the 10 races last year, they promise challenging competition to the nine other contenders. The other nine teams are: Cal Poly Maritime, Cal Poly SLO, College of Charleston, University of Hawaii, Maine Maritime Academy, US Merchant Marine Academy, US Naval Academy, US Coast Guard Academy, and University of Victoria.
Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation Named Official Waszp Hub
The one-design foiling, one-person Waszp has announced that the Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation (PYSF) is an official Waszp Hub for the 2026 season.
Based in Redwood City, PYSF has built one of Northern California’s most respected youth-sailing programs. The Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation has transitioned from longtime executive director Molly Vandemoer to new executive director John Vandemoer, her husband, as Molly moves to become the director of the US Sailing Olympic Sailing Team ahead of the 2028 L.A. Olympics.
Since foiling went mainstream after the 2013 America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay, dozens of new foiling classes have been developed to tap the excitement and potential of foiling. There are already several Waszps sailing on the Bay, though PYSF’s program will be the first concentrated program to develop local, foiling youth sailors.
Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship
Changes on the California waterfront continue. Orange Coast College’s Mariner Training Programs announced the retirement of two of their dedicated and renowned career staff members with the departure of Karen Prioleau, who was the faculty lead for the Professional Mariner Academic Program, led the Adventure Sailing program with many miles sailing the Alaska Eagle, and is also a US Sailing instructor trainer and leader in the Safety at Sea Seminars. Also retiring is Mette Segerblom, who was the coordinator of the School of Sailing and Seamanship, which kept the docks busy with youth and adult sailing and ran numerous programs, including their annual Summer Sailstice event that brought many new sailors to Newport Harbor.
We’ve had the pleasure of working with both of them over the past 25 years and know they’re leaving the program in good hands.
Team USA Wins SailGP Sydney
Finally. Taylor Canfield and the crew on Team USA chalked up a win at SailGP in Sydney. Sydney served up a light-wind tactical match on Sydney Harbour. Light-air tactics were key to the win during Team USA’s first appearance in the three-boat final match in over a year.
Once qualifying for the three-boat final, Canfield and crew led all around the course to reach the winner’s circle. They took on Emirates GBR and Spain’s Los Gallos in the final and kept control to take the win.
SailGP now heads to Rio de Janeiro for the next event before moving on to Bermuda and then New York at the end of May. See the full calendar here.
Why Sail?
Is it luxury? Speed? Or what is it? During hundreds of interviews, podcasts, and discussions about why people sail, reader and Golden Ticket winner Jamie Rosen expressed the sentiments we hear so often when he responded to our questions about his recent win. When asked about what he likes about sailing, he responded, “I love how it slows you down, keeps you in the moment, connects you to nature, and always teaches you something new, no matter how long you have been at it.” We couldn’t agree more. We thought about this on a flight when we saw the earphone package below. For most sailors, sailing is about tuning in, not tuning out. It’s not about speed or luxury. It’s about connecting to people and the planet.
The common threads we find among sailors are adventure, exploration, challenge and connecting with friends, family and nature. Josh Kali said, “The most amazing part for me, as many solo sailors who have done long ocean passages can attest, has been the tranquility and solitude of the open ocean,” and added, “Finding a deeper connection with this incredible planet we inhabit by learning to live in harmony with the ever-changing sea, making friends (and sometimes enemies) with innumerable clouds, waves and every gust of wind, has borne in me an insight into the dynamic, often capricious nature of our environment. Seemingly countless days of immaculate azure skies, breathtaking tangerine sunsets, and a blanket of nearly infinite stars, glittering on the indigo sea like a king’s ransom of diamonds, [have] helped me to understand how truly lucky we are to be here.”
One thing we’ve never heard is anyone saying, “I love sailing because of the luxury.” Really, does anyone sail because of luxury? Judging by much of the world’s marketing these days, you’d believe luxury is one of the most important aspects of life and sailing. Luxury is boring. Hearing Commodore Tompkins’ stories about sailing on Wander Bird or Flashgirl is far more interesting and completely devoid of luxury. Read the story on “Why I Sail” from Webb Chiles, or our recent story on Josh Kali, who has been sailing around the world on a 19-ft plywood boat.
We recently heard a story from someone describing her first sailing experience. It went like this: “I was invited to go out for a sail on the Bay, and being new, I showed up at South Beach Yacht Club in my jeans and best cotton summer sailing apparel. It turned out my first sail was going to be a race on a J/105 on Berkeley Circle. During a very windy, cold, wet race, a halyard went up the mast. I was asked to ride up in the bosun’s chair to retrieve it, and up I went. While [I was] up there, we took a knockdown, almost putting me in the water. We recovered, finished, and I made it back to the docks. I loved it all and was hooked!” That experience may not thrill everyone, but between the excitement, solitude, nature and slowing down, people find many good reasons to sail.
Despite the foiling frenzy and the spectacles of SailGP and the America’s Cup, we think most people see sailing as an opportunity to slow down. Racing is a ton of fun, but most sailors are cruisers or daysailors. The weekend sail with family and friends is a time to disconnect from devices and be in the moment. It’s also amazing how exciting it can be racing at 4.5 knots during a close rounding in the Mercury, Snipe or Knarr class. Anchoring out in Clipper Cove, Horseshoe Cove or Aquatic Park dramatically shifts your perspective on life in the Bay Area.
The America’s Cup and SailGP believe speed is the secret to getting an audience and more sailors. But why do people watch curling in the Olympics? Why do people watch golf on TV? In fact, you can watch people play darts, poker or chess on the screen. They’re all incredibly slow activities. We think speed is irrelevant, and it’s the human dimension that makes any competition compelling. As SailGP and the America’s Cup have increased the role of technology and reduced the role and visibility of humans, they have lost human connection.
Connection is the other great reason people sail. The sailing community is full of fun and interesting people. They are people with a passion for the act of sailing, the connection built among crew or the connection to the natural world. They know the outdoors is where life happens. Whether you drop your hook up in the Delta, in the Sea of Cortez, or in Fiji, you’ll quickly find yourself connecting to an interesting community of fellow sailors. The most compelling reasons to sail are often overlooked by modern marketing and marquee events like the America’s Cup. When you unplug and tune in aboard a sailboat, you’ll find the reasons people have continued to sail over the centuries. Why do you sail?
Want to connect to sailing and sailors? Come to our Crew Party at the Golden Gate Yacht Club on Thursday, March 5.
P.S. Curiously, after I’d written this story “Why Sail?” my wife was listening to an interview with author Caroline Paul about her book, “Why Fly,” on KQED’s Forum. The call-in program’s first caller was a sailor, Lindsay from Richmond, describing the parallels between flying and sailing. Both the author’s and Lindsay’s comments echoed the sailing quotes above. Lindsay, are you reading this? Your comments really resonated with us. You can listen to Lindsay’s comments about sailing starting at about minute 16:05 on Forum here.
Westwind Yacht Management — Washing, Waxing and Varnishing
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