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The final divisions of this year’s TransPac Race got underway on Saturday.© Peter Drasnin
A brilliant new record has been set in the TransPac — ‘The Best 24-Hour Run for a Boat with a Built-In Pizza Oven That Is Starting a Circumnavigation’.
During the pre-start, Dean Barker skillfully maneuvered the Kiwi boat below his Italian rivals, giving Emirates Team New Zealand a clear advantage soon after, as they sped to the starting line.
Last night we were talking to some folks who reported that they cruised the Sea of Cortez while living on an average of about $300 a month, lobster dinners included.
The murder of four cruisers off Oman in 2011 aboard the sailing yacht Quest substantially raised the stakes for sailors wanting to access the Mediterranean.
Seen here during a recent practice session, LRC and ETNZ will go at it for real Saturday unless the wind pipes up over 20 knots.
No matter how fast a racing boat you have, there’s a big element of luck in doing well for overall honors in the Los Angeles to Honolulu TransPac.
If you’re one of the nearly 100 boats signed up for this year’s Delta Doo Dah DIY, you should know that the Sacramento Delta Bay Marina near Isleton is inviting you to a special Doo Dah BBQ on July 20 from 1-3 p.m.
Jeanne Socrates sailed the bottom paint off Nereida during her solo nonstop trip around.
While the crews of more than 150 cruising boats were celebrating their safe arrival in French Polynesia during recent weeks, the dreams of one adventurous West Coast couple was quashed off the Baja Coast, before they even reached the trade winds.
The mighty Dorade, restored by StFYC’s Matt Brooks, looking fine at the start of the 2013 TransPac Race.
Sadly, the hottest action in this America’s Cup isn’t here. . .
© Gilles Martin-Raget / ACEA
It wasn’t too surprising that Emirates New Zealand won their second straight Louis Vuitton Series race yesterday, as for the second time in a row, theirs was the only boat on the course.
"Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second," is supposedly the response given to Queen Victoria on August 22, 1851, when the schooner America beat 15 other yachts around the Isle of Wight to claim the first America’s Cup.
Hayden Brown designed and built Aldebaran, starting her in 1971.
Aldebaran
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC Local sailors will be familiar with the sight of the beautiful 70-ft ‘pirate ship’ Aldebaran plying the waters of San Francisco Bay — she won last year’s Great San Francisco Schooner Race and is the official pirate boat of the Vallejo Pirate Festival — but the merry 4th of July fireworks cruise aboard the schooner came to a tragic end when she ran up on the Richmond Jetty.
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC Local sailors will be familiar with the sight of the beautiful 70-ft ‘pirate ship’ Aldebaran plying the waters of San Francisco Bay — she won last year’s Great San Francisco Schooner Race and is the official pirate boat of the Vallejo Pirate Festival — but the merry 4th of July fireworks cruise aboard the schooner came to a tragic end when she ran up on the Richmond Jetty.
And then there was one. Five Mini 6.50s were set to race to Hawaii from Marina del Rey in the inaugural Mini 650 Pacific Challenge on Saturday but shortly before the start, two — Charlie Calkins on C’s Folly and Luiz Eduardo on ARG 842 — failed to qualify while Przemyslaw Karwasiecki on Libra bowed out just after the start.
Jeanne Socrates sailed into Victoria Harbor aboard her Najad 380 Nereida in the wee hours this morning to finish her nonstop solo circumnavigation.
The schooner Niña in New Zealand prior to setting sail for Australia.
© Steve Darden
"My wife Dorothy and I are optimists," Steve Darden told Latitude in a telephone interview.
If there was a prize for fortitude it would have gone to the San Diego-based Morgan O/I 33 Orca Suite.
While most sailors are getting ready for casual Fourth of July fun on their boats, five Mini 6.50 sailors are amping up for the July 6 start of the Mini 650 Pacific Challenge.
Philo Hayward, rocking out on his 68th and on the 12th anniversary of his music studio/bar/restaurant.
Permits and rudders and elevators, oh my!
© 2013 Gilles Martin-Raget / ACEA
The U.S.
Sailing icon and pioneer Ted Hood passed away on Friday at the age of 86.
In late May, the Department of Transportation issued an emergency recall of composite propane tanks made by The Lite Cylinder Company.
There was some interesting information disclosed about the Artemis America’s Cup campagin in a June 27 New York Times article by Christopher Clarey:
The May 9 incident in which Artemis capsized and broke apart was, in the words of Loïck Peyron, a "classic capsize situation."
Hold on tight, you’re in for a wild ride this month!
latitude/Annie
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC As a special weekend treat for our readers, we’re distributing the July issue of Latitude 38 today rather than wait until Monday, July 1.
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC As a special weekend treat for our readers, we’re distributing the July issue of Latitude 38 today rather than wait until Monday, July 1.
Hiro Iwamoto (left) tries to hold it together at a news conference. He and sighted crewmember Jiro Shinbou were rescued from a liferaft after their Bristol Channel Cutter hit a large piece of flotsam 800 miles off Japan and sank.
Sailor David Hammer has a predicament. He’s set to do a week’s yacht charter in Croatia soon aboard a Leopard 40 cat.
Friends and authorities are beginning to fear the worst for the seven sailors aboard the classic 70-ft American staysail schooner Nina, as the vessel hasn’t been heard from since June 3.
Yann Elies sailed his Beneteau Figaro II Groupe Queguiner to his second consecutive victory in the Solitaire du Figaro.
Last weekend offered sailors a chance to warm up at Summer Sailstice before the rain started.
Marin County’s Paul Cayard, CEO of Artemis Racing, shared some interesting opinions on the 34th America’s Cup with Tom FitzGerald in last Friday’s SF Chronicle.
The MOD70 Spindrift capsized in the La Route du Princes.
© 2013 Chris Schmid / Spindrift Racing
In the upcoming July issue of Latitude 38, we give two reasons for preferring MOD70 trimarans over AC72s for the America’s Cup.
Sadly, in the modern era of America’s Cup racing, contentiousness between competitors off the water has sometimes been more explosive than on the race course.
A tragedy unfolded Friday afternoon when a woman’s minivan careened across Marina Green and into the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay.
At Sunday’s Wooden Boat Show, owners give visitors a rare opportunity to inspect their beloved sailing crafts from stem to stern.
For about the last four days or so, Passage Weather has predicted that the weather off the Pacific Coast of mainland Mexico will feature a couple of pretty strong tropical storms, one of which they forecast will sweep by not far from Puerto Vallarta and up toward Cabo San Lucas.
This isn’t exactly about sailing, but we think it’s important enough to mention anyway for a couple of reasons.
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