Banderas Bay Regatta XXXIII Wraps Up in Mexico
The 33rd Banderas Bay Regatta was held on March 17–21 in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. After all the administrative tasks were completed, the event kicked off on Tuesday, March 17, with a Welcome Reception at Vallarta Yacht Club. Wednesday’s boat parade saw sailors dressed for this year’s theme, “Tales from Vallartaville,” followed by practice starts for those looking to get a good lead the next day.
Racing began on Thursday in classic Banderas Bay conditions: sunshine, blue water and a steady 10–15 knots. The course took sailors south to the Puerto Vallarta sea buoy, then back north toward La Cruz. Despite the fun and frivolity, sailors take this regatta seriously. Patsy Verhoeven’s Talion took the first bullet in the Margarita Division (Cruising), a lead they retained across the second and third days of racing.
Other divisions included Cheeseburger (Cruising), Flip Flop (Multihull), and Pirate (Performance) divisions, with the top three in each class being awarded a trophy.
But there was even more at stake than winning races — the regatta also celebrated boats that put a good amount of effort into the social side of the event.
“Here in Vallartaville, we also like to celebrate the boats that may have leaned just a little harder into the social side of the event,” the organizers said regarding the regatta’s legendary Blender Awards — “for the boats that were clearly more committed to making margaritas than making gains.” Mony (Cruising), Cricket (Mulithull), and Crew2 (Performance) were each awarded a blender!
The regatta was not without mishap. Some boats were unable to make all three starts; others had troubles on the water. Day two saw Alcyone and Mony staying behind, Dreadnought had sail problems, and Hey Ya could not seem to keep either the tack line or the spinnaker halyard in one piece. “Before long, there was enough gear in the water to make it look suspiciously like they had switched from sailboat racing to shrimp fishing.” Regardless, the committee says it was still “a first-class day of racing.” And then there were the whales to consider …
While the first two days of racing showed off the beauty of Banderas Bay, the last day’s starters took off in 20+ knot breezes.
The committee is now enjoying a short break before they start organizing next year’s event. Check out the full report and results here, and keep an eye out for Banderas Bay Regatta XXXIV. You might want to sign up.
New York Attorney General Addresses Sweeney’s America’s Cup Complaint
The New York Attorney General’s office has assigned case number 26-020937 to the case of John Donnelly Sweeney, et al., as plaintiff v. the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, et al., as defendant: Sweeney v RNZYS Verified Complaint 26-020937
In a letter to the AG’s office, Sweeney explains what he’s asking the Attorney General’s office to clarify:
Dear Jim,
I am writing to transmit the final Verified Complaint in Sweeney v. Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, which I hope will serve as a useful roadmap as the Charities Bureau continues its review under File No. 26-020937.
This complaint reflects everything we have discussed. I have incorporated our correspondence throughout — it directly informs the legal framework set out in the Prefatory Statement and the four Counts, and supports the threshold question of which Deed of Gift governs.
The core of the case is straightforward: The America’s Cup is a New York charitable trust. The only instrument properly filed with the New York Supreme Court is the First Deed of July 8, 1857. The only valid amendments are the 1956 and 1985 court orders — both made by petition with Attorney General consent. Everything the current trustee, RNZYS, has done since 2017 — selling hosting to Barcelona and Naples, racing AC75 foiling boats that cannot be measured under any version of the Deed, and building a for-profit commercial consortium without court authorization — falls entirely outside those boundaries.
The relief I am seeking is straightforward as well, and I have laid it out in full in the Prayer for Relief. The Bureau’s next step is its choice: The AG may commence its own enforcement action, or authorize me in writing to proceed as relator. Either path restores the trust. I am ready to support whichever course the Bureau determines is appropriate.
Please let me know if you need anything further from me — additional exhibits, supplemental briefing, or a call to walk through the complaint. I remain available at your convenience. I trust you have reviewed your own powers and hopefully [no] lawsuits need to be filed.
Respectfully,
John Sweeney
On a separate note: The foiling Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup is kicking off with the first Preliminary Regatta being held in Sardinia in two months’ time. Eight of the foiling AC40s will be competing, consisting of two teams from Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1 and Luna Rossa, who will all field one AC40 made up of women and youth sailors in an equal 50/50 split. Tudor Team Alinghi and La Roche-Posay Racing Team will field only one yacht per team.
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News About Your Local Latitude 38 Magazine Distributors
We recently got a call from a reader who went to pick up the latest copy of Latitude 38 from Beacon Marine in Ventura. Sadly, he told us that Beacon Marine has closed. Amazon might be happy when local retailers close, but we feel the loss for our reader and the local sailing community.
What makes us happy are boaters, like this reader, who help us keep our distribution list current and let us know when changes occur. We have almost 600 distribution points up and down the West Coast, and it is often our readers who help us and our distributors keep the magazines available and visible. We did point the Ventura reader to other locations where he can find magazines. You can find them there, too: Find a copy on our distribution map here.
If you know of places where we should be distributing magazines let us know here. If you’re picking up a magazine at a distributor, please let them know how much you appreciate them and the magazine. Or help keep the magazines straightened up and visible for the next patron.
Distribution is one of the challenges of modern publishing, but we were heartened to read in a recent publishing newsletter from BoSacks, “A 2025 study by The Harris Poll and Quad found that 72% of Gen Z and Millennials wish more brands would surprise them through physical mail. 71% of consumers say print catalogs or magazines feel more authentic than digital campaigns. And 78% of younger consumers say physical mail has prompted them to visit a store. The generation raised on algorithms is actively seeking the tactile, and tangible, even resurrecting Black Friday doorbuster shopping.”
While much of life has become digital, the experiences of sailing and reading a magazine remain a welcome break from the frenetic nature of our digital lives. Our focus on bringing you the stories of West Coast sailors is supported by great advertisers, distributors and subscribers who help bring you these stories in print, as well as digitally and via podcast.
Beacon Marine may be gone, but there are many other distributors who’d love to say hello when you walk in to pick up a copy of the magazine. And we’d appreciate any help with getting our magazines into the hands of appreciative sailors. Let us know what you find on the waterfront here.
Under the Same Canopy
I didn’t grow up next to the ocean, but I longed for it. In junior high, I’d sit on a bus from Fullerton for two-and-a-half hours just to surf blown-out waves with a friend. I didn’t even know what good waves were. I just knew something inside me was calling. Childhood was rough. It left some deep emotional wounds. No one in my family sailed. At 18, without ever having gone sailing, I started getting sailor tattoos. The ocean wasn’t inherited. It felt uniquely mine. And when a contractor I was working for offered to sell me his Cal 28 when I was 21, I didn’t hesitate. I went to look at her and fell in love immediately.
Fast-forward more than 20 years and my life has been shaped by the sea. I’ve taken boats to wild places in the middle of the Pacific. I’ve crossed open water with nothing but horizon in every direction. The ocean filled something hollow inside me. It taught me discipline. It taught me humility. It taught me connection. In 2015, after selling my boat in Fiji, I left the water for a while and moved to the forest in West Virginia to help care for my ex-wife’s elderly aunt, who had dementia. For two years, I lived among trees instead of tide. Something unexpected happened: The forest spoke to me the same way the ocean had. The wind through leaves felt like wind in rigging. The deep, layered stillness of the woods carried the same presence as a calm anchorage at dawn. I began to understand that the lessons were the same — patience, interdependence, resilience.
When I finally made it to the Bay eight years ago, all I wanted was to get back out cruising. I bought another boat, Sisko, sight unseen after a cruising friend told me, “If you don’t buy her, I will.” I wired the money and drove cross-country to bring her home. I got a job at KKMI with one goal: Fix her up and sail around the world. I did fix her up. And when I finally quit my job and made it as far as Half Moon Bay to begin that next chapter, something in me froze. I couldn’t leave. I called off the trip. It devastated me. I spiraled into one of the hardest depressions of my life. A relationship ended days later. I crawled back to the yard and asked for my job back. Something had to change.
For years, I’d been chasing sunsets over the horizon, convinced that fulfillment was out there somewhere. I didn’t realize that the community I needed was here, on this Bay, in these yards, on these docks. Over time, my dream shifted. I moved off the boat. I built a home. I fell in love in a deeper, steadier way. Sailing changed, too. When you’re no longer living aboard with all your possessions tumbling with every tack, the water feels different. It became joyful again.
It also became expensive. Continue reading.
Midwinters Roundup: SYC RegattaPRO Midwinters
From November through February, five of San Francisco Bay’s biggest one-design fleets tuned up in the “offseason” for the upcoming racing season. Across the five fleets (J/105, Express 27, J/88, J/24 and Moore 24), 52 boats competed in at least one of the scheduled four days of racing, with one race day each month from November through February.
Across all of the fleets, eight races were sailed in the series (two per day of racing), with each boat afforded two drops for the series.
J/105 Fleet
The biggest one-design fleet on the Bay was also the biggest one-design fleet in the series, with 20 boats registered, and 19 boats competing in at least two days of racing. The series was won by William Woodruff’s Roulette (SBYC) with a net total of 16 points.
After starting off the series in November with sixth- and a fourth-place finish on day one of the event, Woodruff and co. won both December races and the first January race to catapult themselves up the standings. Roulette would end up dropping an 11th (race six) and a seventh (race 8), and finished third in race seven to secure the series win.
Seven points behind Woodruff in second was Walter Sanford’s Alchemy (SFYC) with a net total of 23. Alchemy started somewhat slowly, recording a ninth and a 16th in races one and three respectively (with a second sandwiched in between the less desirable results), which would become their two drops for the event. Alchemy then found her consistency in the final five races of the event, finishing fourth in races four, five and seven, and adding on a third and a sixth in races six and eight.
Rounding out the podium was Arbitrage (StFYC), driven by five-time US Women’s Match Racing national champion Nicole Breault. With both of their drops eaten up by their not competing in the first weekend of racing and therefore receiving two DNCs, Arbitrage finished outside of the top five only twice in the final six races of the event for a net total of 27 points.
Interestingly enough, neither Alchemy nor Arbitrage, the second- and third-place boats in the regatta, won a race. As mentioned above, Roulette won three. Scott Sellers and Harrison Turner’s Beast of Burden (StFYC), who won races one and six, finished fourth in the series, one point behind Arbitrage with a net total of 28. Tom Struttmann’s Arrived! (StFYC) won race two, and finished sixth for the series. Tim Russell’s Ne*Ne (SFYC) won the final two races of the series, and finished eighth overall.
Express 27 Fleet
The Express 27 fleet was the second-biggest fleet racing in the series, with all 16 registered boats racing at least two of the four days. A familiar face came out on top: the winners of the last three Express 27 national championships, Will Paxton and team on Motorcycle Irene (RYC). Paxton and co. finished with a net total of six points, winning all but one of the eight races. Their only non-bullet was a third-place finish in race two.
In second was Katie Cornetta’s Freaks on a Leash (RYC) with a net total of 19. Cornetta’s only non-top-three finish in the series (outside of two DNCs from the first day of racing, which would be her drops) was a TLE-7 in race seven. Rounding out the podium was a Tahoe Express team in Eric Villadsen and Ashley Farr’s New Wave (SLTWYC), also with a net total of 19. Cornetta’s two second-place finishes to Villadsen and Farr’s one proved to be the tiebreaker for second. The only non-Motorcycle Irene race winner was Rebecca Hinden and her team aboard Bombora (EYC), winners of race two.
J/88 Fleet
In the tightest class thus far in terms of the scores, Tom Thayer’s Speedwell won the six-boat J/88 fleet with a net total of 11 points. He and his team recorded five second-place finishes and one bullet across the series. Thayer and team never finished outside of the top three, dropping third-place finishes in races three and four.
In second place was Dave Corbin’s Butcher (SBYC) with 12 points. Corbin and co. won two races, but also had to keep two third-place finishes (with a third and a fourth being their drops), which gave the win to Speedwell. Brice Dunwoodie, whose Ravenette (StFYC) won the J/88 division at the 2025 Rolex Big Boat Series, won three of the six races that he competed in, but didn’t race the final day of the series.
J/24 Fleet
Jasper Van Vliet’s Evil Octopus (RYC) recorded a net total of eight points to top the six-boat J/24 class in dominant fashion. Van Vliet won four of the eight races, and finished outside of the top two only once (a fourth in race seven). Richard Stockdale’s Froglips (RYC) was in second place with a net total of 13 points.
Moore 24 Fleet
Of the seven Moore 24s registered, six raced in at least one race for the series. John Siegel’s Moorigami (StFYC) won with a net total of 11 points, edging out Conrad Holbrook’s Topper II (RYC) on tiebreaker. Siegel won three of eight races, while Holbrook won “only” one to claim the tiebreaker, even though Holbrook had a lower total score for the series (Siegel dropped two fourth-place finishes, while Holbrook never finished worse than third).
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