Posts by John Riise
Old Ironsides, New Ironsides
Smoke on the water: In this painting by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1845), USS Constitution (left) and HMS Guerriere pound each other in the opening days of the War of 1812. Constitution’s victory was the first major defeat of a British warship by an American one. More »
If You Come, They Will Build It
The Matthew Turner in frames and deck beams. Next comes the deck.
© 2015 John Skoriak
Ratty, the resident boat expert in Wind in the Willows, said it best: “There is absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.” More »
Duos Round the Horn
Jean Le Cam and Bernard Stamm have rounded Cape Horn in the Barcelona World Race. Cape Horn holds memories for these two, not all of them good. Le Cam had a dramatic capsize and was rescued during the Vendée Globe just west of Cape Horn in 2009, and Stamm’s last Vendée Globe ended at Cape Horn when he took on diesel fuel. More »
Latest from the AC Rumor Mill
Is the sailing empire that was once Emirates Team New Zealand beginning to crumble? The principals are remaining tight-lipped, but the circumstantial evidence and rampant speculation — all you ever need for juicy America’s Cup controversy — make for some pretty interesting reading of late. More »
Unidentified Floating Objects
So it turns out King Neptune has a super lotto of his own. Who knew?
We’re talking about the guy who found a handbag-size lump of ambergris on a British beach last month, for which he’s been offered $68,000. More »
Latitude 38 eBooks
Advertise in ‘Lectronic Latitude
The reason this space has been filled for most of the year is that it works. A ‘Lectronic Latitude ad has the power to reach 5,000 people — a day! Advertisers tell us that their web traffic increases dramatically when they place ads in ‘Lectronic. More »
A Different Kind of ‘Milk Run’
Many sailors have seen the elusive green flash, but we wonder how many have seen an (apparently) even rarer event: the so-called “milk sea” or “milky sea” that emits an intense glow at night. More »
Learning ‘Sailingo’
It’s easy for longtime sailors to forget how hard the ‘lingo’ can be for newcomers to learn. We were reminded of this recently when a newbie made the following observations:
“A rope is a rope until you bring it aboard a boat. More »
Latitude 38’s Crew List – Your Ticket to Ride
"I began sailing about a year ago and immediately fell in love with the sport," wrote Pat Lakner. "Since boats needing crew are difficult to find on your own, a friend advised me to sign up for the Crew List on the Latitude 38 website, saying that the magazine is the ‘Bible’ of the sailing world. More »
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