- Current News
- Ha-Ha
- Events
- Heading South
- Community Sailing
- West Coast Sailing
- Commentary
- General Sailing
- Racing
- Latitude 38 Magazine
The Latitude 38 Crew Party “Salty Society Page”
Did you attend last night’s Latitude 38 Fall Baja Ha-Ha Crew List Party? Our roving photographer was mingling merrily, capturing photos for our Crew Party “Salty Society Page.”
Before we move on to the photo album, we want to give a shout-out to the various people who helped pull everything together and make the evening such a fun, successful gathering. Our thanks go to (in no particular order of importance) Spaulding Marine Center for providing the venue and the bar; Baja Ha-Ha XXXII and Baja Sur Tourism for the Mexico Cruising Seminar and Q&A; Island Yacht Club and Call of the Sea for rustling up additional volunteers; USCG for sharing their knowledge and the PLB demonstration; San Francisco Sailing Science Center for their interactive, educational exhibit; author Julia Shovein; Navidad; Cabrales Boatyard; Ullman Sails; Sailing for a Cause; Sail4Parkinson’s Regatta; the Jocelyn Nash Film; and everyone who helped throughout the night, and before.
And, dear readers, thank you to you for coming along and supporting West Coast sailors and sailing. The party wouldn’t have been any fun without all 200 of you!
Below is our “Salty Society Page” featuring some of the sailors who attended last night’s gathering. Thank you to Melissa James for wielding the camera:
- Maritime History
- West Coast Sailing
- Commentary
- Working Waterfront
- General Sailing
- International Racing
- Current News
Sausalito’s ‘Freda’ Versus Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez
We received an entry list from the renowned Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez regatta held annually in France. It’s one of the most elegant and popular of the European regattas, attracting classics such as 12-meters, modern racers, TP52s, IOR boats and some ancient wooden boats. When we looked at the list we saw that the oldest boat racing was Sky, built in 1890. It struck us that, despite Europe’s famously beautiful and well-kept traditional yachts, none of the boats sailing in this year’s event are as old as Spaulding Marine Center’s restored gaff-rigged cutter Freda, which was built in Belvedere in 1885!
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez has an impressive lineup of 253 boats signed up in a multitude of classes, but the oldest boat participating in the ancient Mediterranean Sea where the Odyssey took place is still younger than our local Freda.
See the Les Voiles entry list here.
Come Out to the Sausalito Boat Show!!
Caption Contest(!)
Welcome to Latitude 38‘s World-Famous Caption Contest(!). This month’s photo comes by way of our crew, while enjoying a casual sail on the Bay. No, this is not them playing chicken with the cruise ship. It is, of course, likely that the sailboat in the photo wasn’t in direct danger of being slammed. But from this angle, it looks like a dicey situation. We hope the sailors’ hearing is OK!
See last month’s Caption Contest(!) winners in the September issue’s Loose Lips.
California Coastal Cleanup Coming September 19
Maybe you’ll find that hat that blew off your head this summer if you join the Saturday, September 19, California Coastal Cleanup!
If you’re an Oakland Estuary fan and sailor you can join volunteers with the I Heart Oakland Alameda Estuary cleanup.
If you’re not able to join the Oakland Estuary cleanup you can find one near you here. There is a Petaluma River cleanup, and a Treasure Island cleanup.
If you find our hat let us know. It’s the one that says Latitude 38 on it.
San Francisco Knarr Sailors Renew Scandinavian Friendships
The Knarr class is one of the most elegant classes of sailboats on San Francisco Bay, but you will not find a competitive Knarr fleet anywhere else in the United States. You have to go to Norway or Denmark to do that. Every year the Knarr fleets of the three countries get together for the International Knarr Championship (IKC).
The 2026 IKC was the 56th edition of the regatta, and was hosted by the Kongelig Norsk Seilforening (KNS: Royal Norwegian Yacht Club) between August 7 and 15 in Oslo.
Originally designed in Norway in 1943, the class was introduced to San Francisco Bay in 1953 and quickly caught on, and it has remained popular ever since. In the 1960s, Knud Wibroe, a Danish immigrant to the US and avid Knarr sailor, came up with the idea for the IKC, with the first edition sailed on the Bay in 1969.
The regatta is unique in that skippers draw a selection of boats from the host country’s fleet at the beginning of the event, and race in a different boat each day. This year’s edition saw 18 boats racing, with five boats from the San Francisco Bay fleet, six from the Copenhagen fleet, and seven Norwegian boats.
The five San Francisco teams competing were Kulani (StFYC), Niuhi (StFYC), Three Boys and a Girl (StFYC), VIVA (SFYC), and Benino (StFYC). Ten races were planned, though only eight were sailed due to lack of wind on two of the racing days. Each boat was afforded one drop.
In the previous 55 editions of the regatta, it had been won by a Danish sailor 39 times, an American 14 times, and a Norwegian twice. This year’s 56th edition of the regatta saw the International Knarr Trophy come back to San Francisco, as it was won by team Kulani comprising Jon Perkins, Kurt Hemmingsen and Larry Swift. The victory is Perkins’ sixth time winning the trophy, tied for most all time with Danish skippers Lars Gottfredsen and Frank Berg.
Jon and his brother Chris have won a combined 10 IKCs.
For More Great Sailing Stories, Tune In to Good Jibes
