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Race to Alaska
It was the best kind of win for what’s fast becoming the best kind of race. Due to glitches on boats and ashore, nobody knew who was ahead or who would win the 700+ mile Race to Alaska until they hove into view off the Ketchikan Yacht Club yesterday.
Southern California Cruising Rally
We need the owners of at least 30 boats to express serious interest in the rally, or else it's simply not worth going through the considerable organizational hoops to make it an official event.
Greetings from the Marquesas
Rose and Frank Corser were both in their mid-30s in 1972 when they set sail from Newport Beach for the Marquesas Islands aboard their 35-ft Seagoer.
The BCDC Audit
The Recreational Boaters of California, or RBOC, is calling on Bay Area sailors to take action.
Historic Schooner Struck
We were shocked to receive the news that the German pilot schooner Elbe No. 5  — which several generations of Bay Area sailors will know best as 'our' lovely Wander Bird — sank on Saturday after a collision with a commercial ship on the Elbe River near Hamburg.
Watersports
We once saw a man walk on water. We were sailing back home to Lowrie in San Rafael after a long, splendid day on the Bay. As we close-reached up the channel, we saw a man . . . surfing without a wave, sail or kite. If we hadn't been keeping up on watersports trends, we may very well have thought that someone was walking on water.
Cabron Is for Sale
2013 Cookson 80 designed by Botin, Cabron is a high powered racing yacht.
When Poop Reigns
We were out of Cabo San Lucas headed for Puerto Vallarta when a frigatebird came swooping in, circling, circling, gliding in a steep left bank until its wingtip nearly touched the ocean, the top of its wings black, glistening in the late afternoon sun.
Latitude Logowear
Congratulations to two winners of Latitude 38 swag. Stephen Buckingham picked up a copy of the June issue at South Beach Yacht Club at San Francisco's Pier 40 on May 31.
Sausalito-Built Yawl
Peter Bailey’s lovely yawl Bertie was capsized by what he believes was a white squall 65 miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, at about 8 p.m. on May 29. Bailey and his wife, Heidi Snyder — the only ones aboard at the time — managed to activate their EPIRB and were rescued about three hours after the capsize.
Race to Alaska
The docks at Victoria’s Inner Harbor were a carnage-fest of broken gear, torn sails, drowned radios, lost hatches, hulls or amas filled with water, and things lost overboard.
Cuba the Forbidden Island
On Tuesday, Trump and his Treasury Department published new regulations halting group travel to Cuba.
Clean Seas
Saturday, June 8, is World Oceans Day. The United Nations website tells us that oceans play a major role in everyday life. And put it simply: “They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.”
Eight Bells
Lowell Orton North, the founder of North Sails, Olympic gold medalist, and sailing icon of his time, passed away on Sunday. There will not likely be another sailor like Lowell North. He was 89 years old.
The Light Gets Lighter
On the windward shore of the Big Island [meaning California], a stone's throw from the cool Monterey Bay trades, unfolds the all-new Antrim 27 ‘C’. Number 28 (27 were built by USI) is now under construction by builder Joe Kitchell.
Washing Waxing Varnishing
Westwind Washing, Waxing, Varnishing. Serving the Bay Area for more than 25 years.
Marine Plastics
Barry Spanier has his sights set on one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time: plastics in the ocean. Spanier conceived of a boat called the "Baleen" (also known as Ships that Scour the Sea), named after filter-feeder whales.
Santa Cruz Sailor Tops Fleet
On June 1, the American team of Mike Holt and Carl Smit won the 51-boat 5O5 Euro Cup Riva del Garda, the second leg of the Euro Cup series. Sailed at Fraglia della Vela Riva on Italy's Lake Garda, the regatta came down to the last leg of the last race.
Race from the Bay
Excellent conditions made for a quick Delta Ditch Run on Saturday, June 1. A flood current and consistent breeze in the teens carried most of the sailors to Stockton with plenty of time left to party. The 29th edition of the 65-mile race from Richmond to Stockton garnered 109 starters.
The Figure 8 Voyage
After nearly 250 days at sea and 31,000 continuous, nonstop miles — including a lap around the Southern Ocean and one and a half times around the world — Randall Reeves has made his first stop of the Figure 8 Voyage 2.0 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
MOD 70s finish the first CA 500.
One of the great things about winning the first edition of any new offshore race is, if you’re first to finish, you also set the new course record.
Wierdest Race in the West
If variety is the spice, then the fifth annual Race To Alaska — the first segment of which started today — is a veritable jambalaya of waterborne fun.
Sailors Rescued
No one would have expected one of the Southern Hemisphere’s best-known and most-traveled yachts to be lost at sea en route to the start, but that’s exactly what happened to Brian Petersen’s Auckland, New Zealand-based Elliott 50 Ran Tan II.
California Offshore Race Week
They're off. And they're almost there (or already finished, by the time you read this). Three 70-ft trimarans made a brief appearance on San Francisco Bay as they tuned up and got ready to blast down the coast in the inaugural California 500 race from San Francisco to San Diego.
Buy or Sell Marine Gear
Buy, sell, trade your used or new marine equipment, supplies, rigging, boating gear and anything & everything marine.
Hot Off the Presses
Happy June, Latitude Nation. We are celebrating the more-or-less start of summer with nothing less than a brand-new issue of Latitude 38.
Conditions for Tomorrow
Weather Routing Inc. predicts a "good day" for tomorrow's Delta Ditch Run from Richmond to Stockton.
California Offshore Race Week
The MOD70s 'Powerplay' and 'Argo' and the Multi 70 'Maserati', have been tuning up on the Bay getting ready for tomorrow's 12:55 start in California Offshore Race Week's CA 500 — a new 500-mile 'sprint' from San Francisco to San Diego.
Cruiser's Rally
It’s all up to you. The SoCal Ta-Ta (aka ‘Reggae Pon Da Ocean’) is a week-long ‘lite’ version of the Baja Ha-Ha that we’ve run four times before with anywhere from 20 to 40 boats.
Regatta Calendar
Today is the deadline to enter the Delta Ditch Run, as much fun as you can pack into one day (and sometimes night) of sailing on inland waters.
Fundraiser Fete
Call of the Sea will hold their annual fundraising gala on Saturday, June 8. The event benefits Call of the Sea's on-the-water education programs and the completion of the new educational tall ship Matthew Turner.
Spectator-Friendly Racing
St. Francis Yacht Club has announced that they will offer a Classics Class in this September's Rolex Big Boat Series. The class is open to any boat built before 1955 and measuring longer than 48 feet on deck.
A Sailing Science Moment
The 'Question of the Day' in yesterday's Old Farmer's Almanac newsletter was, "What does 'neaped' mean in reference to a ship?"
Shootin' the Breeze
Latitude Nation — Here are a few nuggets from around the West Coast sailing world: The 'Matthew Turner' is currently hauled out at Bayside Boatworks, and has some access to those hoping to catch a look. "It is quite a sight!" said Sylvia Stompe from Call of the Sea.
Cruiser's Rally
It’s been just under two weeks since entries were first accepted for the 2019 Baja Ha-Ha, and the Grand Poobah is pleased to report that the number of paid entries has reached 93.
Buy or Sell Marine Gear
Buy, sell, trade your used or new marine equipment, supplies, rigging, boating gear and anything & everything marine.
Inland Cruising Rally
Dean started sailing in high school. He got to do three trips sailing from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Baja California aboard a Farallon Clipper — the start of a lifelong pursuit of sailing. Or so he thought.
Three Sheets to the Wind
As California is in the midst of being swallowed by late-season rain, a coalition of  state lawmakers and interest groups — their drought concerns satiated, but their fears of swelling vegetation and exploding pollen counts on the rise — have decided to take legal action against the aberrant weather.