S.F. Sea Scouts Ship ‘Viking’ Named National Flagship — Again!
Congratulations go to the crews and members of S.F. Sea Scouts with the announcement that Sea Scout Ship Viking (Ship #100) has been named the top Sea Scout program in the US, and is thereby the 2026–2027 BoatUS–Sea Scout National Flagship. This is the third time Viking has earned the honor, following previous selections in 2016–2017 and 2023–2024. Additionally, Viking’s “brother” on the water, Sea Scout Ship Corsair (Ship #22), has been listed as one of five members of the National Fleet.
Sea Scouts from around the US were tasked with presenting their 2025 accomplishments to the National Flagship Committee for Sea Scouting, the members of which would recommend honorees to national commodore Sal Ciampo for final selection. Viking and Corsair each submitted a video capturing their year’s activities and achievements. The opening statement in Viking’s submission video says, “”Our goal is to build and maintain a comprehensive program that prepares scouts for a lifetime of success.”
In 2025, the Viking Sea Scouts demonstrated their achievement in advancement and training. Eight Scouts earned the Apprentice rank, four advanced to Ordinary rank, and an additional four completed the Able rank. Leadership development also featured, with many youths completing Introduction to Leadership Skills for Ships (ILSS). Safety training was also strong, with two youths trained in first aid and CPR, four certified lifeguards, and 17 having completed the NASBLA boater safety course. Ultimately, Commodore Ciampo announced Viking as the 2026–2027 National Flagship adding, “Heartiest congratulations from us all.”
Viking currently consists of 34 Sea Scouts who engage in a program that both attracts and retains the youths through active participation and meaningful adventure. “Ship Viking’s success is rooted in a simple but effective formula: an engaging, on‑the‑water program that allows every prospective member to experience sailing firsthand. This approach has resulted in both strong recruitment and exceptional retention, reinforcing the ship’s reputation for excellence,” BoatUS and Scouting America’s Sea Scouts shared in a press release.
The honored Sea Scouts will receive the Flagship Trophy, a Flagship Flag and Flagship shoulder patches.
“BoatUS extends their congratulations to the Sea Scouts, adult leaders, skipper, and sponsoring organization whose collective dedication and partnership made this achievement possible.” Here at Latitude 38, we share those sentiments and extend our congratulations to all involved in this outstanding achievement.
You can view each of the videos here: Viking; Corsair.
Update on the Continuing Delay of Repairs to Angel Island Docks
A year ago, we wrote optimistically about the plan to begin reconstruction of new docks in Ayala Cove on Angel Island in June 2026. With June fast approaching, we reached out to Angel Island State Park to find out the status of Ayala Cove for this summer. Unfortunately the news is not what we’d hoped or expected. The updated timeline for construction is now estimated to be between June 15, 2027, and October 30, 2027.
The allowable season for construction on the Bay is June 1–November 1, and it appears the construction would not be able to “meet the environmental window” to finish by November this year. We’re told that the construction plans are still being finalized and the updated timeline for the project looks something like this: May through August, complete State Fire Marshal and BCDC reviews; September through October, prepare the bid documents and announce the project for bid; November through February, award the bid and prepare the contract. An obvious question would be, how could they ever have started in June 2026 if all the above is yet to be completed? Perhaps we’ll never know.
In the meantime, other work being discussed includes the need for dredging, for which the planning and funding process has not yet begun. Our contact at State Parks said they had been advised that the new pilings would not be affected by or prevent dredging because “the pilings are to be set on the bedrock and are not dependent on the depth of soil around the pilings.”
For the upcoming summer season, the outer leg of the docks is out of service due to the number of broken pilings. “We may need to disassemble those floats eventually as the next storm season approaches,” SP says. Though ideally, they’d like to “keep the floats in place as long as possible to protect from broken piling navigation hazards.”
The diagram above illustrates the current open (green) and closed (red) slips and the length restrictions. Most of the 21 closed red slips are the larger, deep-water slips that used to accommodate boats of 40+ feet and a six-foot draft, while the 24 green slips are mostly for smaller, shallower-draft vessels. Not surprisingly, on sunny summer weekends the demand for all of these slips is much higher than the supply.
This is tragic for the legions of Bay Area sailors who have long savored the lunch-and-hike stop at Ayala Cove on Angel Island. It essentially means that access will remain excessively restricted until sometime in 2028 if all goes according to plan, and things rarely seem to go as planned. Like the currently silted-in entrance to San Francisco Marina, the crumbling docks in Gashouse Cove or the abandoned- and derelict-vessel problem in the Oakland Estuary, it remains mystifying why municipalities and the public agencies in charge of managing one of the Bay Area’s most valuable attributes, the Bay itself, seem unable to recognize the community benefits of a waterfront or cope with the challenges. All of these problems limit the public’s access to the Bay. Luckily, once you push off from the shoreline and go sailing, you can leave the failing shoreline infrastructure behind and enjoy a day on the water.
That’s all we have for now. We try to keep our ear to the ground on all the barriers to accessing the Bay, and we’re sorry to hear everyone’s enjoyment of Ayala Cove will continue to be constrained and delayed. If you hear anything else, please drop us a line and let us know: [email protected].
Haven Boatworks: Full Service Boatyard in Port Townsend
Santa Barbara Photographer Sharon Green Inducted Into Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame
Renowned Santa Barbara-based photographer Sharon Green will be inducted into the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame in October. Many on the West Coast will know her through the incredible imagery she’s provided for legendary West Coast events like the Transpac and the Rolex Big Boat Series. Beyond our shores she’s one of the world’s preeminent competitive-sailing photographers, having captured dramatic photos, often hanging from a helicopter or drenched in spray from a powerboat, to put everyone in the midst of the action.
Latitude 38 has been fortunate to feature many of Sharon’s photos from the West’s best events, and also lucky to hang the Ultimate Sailing Calendar on our office wall every year. The calendar and all her photos generally feature the fast, furious and colorful moments of the most competitive boats, sailors and events in sailing. Sharon’s photos have been featured on the covers and inside dozens of the world’s premier sailing magazines since she began her yachting-photography career at age 17.
In 2024 we had a conversation with Sharon on our Good Jibes podcast, where we learned about her life growing up in Canada with her sailing father, Don Green, who is also in the Canadian Sailing Hall of Fame. Don started his sailing life by sailing around the world with Irving and Exy Johnson on the 96-ft brigantine Yankee, and continued with ongoing racing campaigns aboard Evergreen and Evergreen II. A piece of that legacy is active at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, where the two brigantines Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson continue with the classic youth-sailing programs that became the sailing life of Don Green and his daughter Sharon.
Since starting her sailing career shooting aboard her dad’s boat Evergreen, Sharon launched herself into the upper echelons of sailing photography and entrepreneurial publishing success with the launch of the Ultimate Sailing Calendar in 1983. The calendar has adorned thousands of walls in the 40-plus years since it was first published.
Many of those jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring photos you’ve seen of grand prix racers on the edge of control or hitting warp speed have probably been captured by Sharon. Luckily, her work also includes some mellow shots like the Transpac finish above, which we were able to use for our Good Jibes artwork.
Her induction is a well-deserved honor that shines a light on her dramatic photography. But as we learned in our podcast, there is an incredible amount of work that goes into organizing, taking and finally sorting through the millions of photos Sharon has taken, to bring all of us the incredible and inspiring images from the world of grand prix sailing. Beyond the imagery, there’s hard-working professionalism that turns a common hobby into a successful career. Congratulations, Sharon!
2026 California Dreamin’ Series Wraps Up at LBYC
The fourth and final leg of the 2026 California Dreamin’ match-racing series was hosted at Long Beach Yacht Club (LBYC) on April 11 and 12. The event was won by Steve Flam (LBYC), edging out Cameron Feves (Cabrillo Beach YC) on tiebreaker. Both Flam and Feves finished with a record of 12-2, with Feves’ only two losses being to Flam in each of the round robins.
While he didn’t win the LBYC event, Feves won overall with 250 series points, even though he didn’t race in the first event of the series at San Diego Yacht Club (only one skipper raced in all four events). He finished second at Balboa Yacht Club, and then won the event at StFYC.
Flam placed third in the series, having skipped the StFYC event, and finished fourth at both SDYC and Balboa. Second place in the series went to Del Rey Yacht Club’s (DRYC) Sidney Gathrid, who was the only skipper to race in all four events. Gathrid finished with 230 series points, 20 behind Feves.
Gathrid started out with a bang, winning the first event of the series, and then finished sixth at Balboa, second at StFYC, and third at LBYC.
By winning the series, Feves earns a spot at LBYC’s Butler Cup later in the year.
You can see the full results from the 2026 California Dreamin’ Series here.
San Francisco on the Bay: “The List”
Dine, Drink, Smoke, Stay, Play and Shop. Discover San Francisco Bay and all that inspires those of us who live or visit here.