California Sailors Diana and Joaquin Barrios Spotted at Annapolis

Bay Area sailors Diana and Joaquin Barrios were spotted at the Annapolis Sailboat Show recently, where they moored their 47-ft catamaran, Rising Dawn, for a “front-row” view of the show. Starting in 2024, the Concord-based couple sailed from the BVI to Boston, then south back to the Chesapeake.

This recent voyage included plenty of sweet moments at sea, doublehanding with their Australian shepherd, Huey, along with a rotating crew of family and friends. They fished for tuna in deep blue waters, partied in the Caribbean with a 40-boat flotilla, and moored near the Statue of Liberty. But the journey was not without its hair-raising moments, too, and even included riding the edge of a hurricane. They had to make quick fixes on the fly, like having to lash down a 2,000-square-foot spinnaker in a sudden downburst, and used engine cables to steer when they limped into a new harbor with a faulty throttle.

“That’s sailing!” says Joaquin about jury-rigging at sea. “You have to improvise when you have no choice.”

The couple returns to Annapolis each autumn, coming “full circle” to where they bought their Fountaine Pajot Saona 47 cat in 2019. They come for what they say is top-quality learning at seminars and Cruisers University, finding a variety of boat vendors all in one place, and even the occasional celebrity sighting — like when they spotted yachtie YouTubers La Vagabonde (who included Diana for a cameo in their 2019 Annapolis episode), Starry Horizons, Parlay Revival, Onboard Lifestyle, Barefoot Doctors Sailing, and Harbours Unknown.

After Annapolis, and planning ahead for 2026, the couple’s seafaring ambitions are unbounded. They plan to eventually cruise the Philippines after crossing the Pacific by way of the Panama Canal, but they may first “detour” across the Atlantic to Europe.

They’ve come a long way from when Diana and Joaquin first learned to sail as adults on San Francisco Bay. Joaquin took his first keelboat class at Club Nautique in 2010, eventually completing the US Sailing Coastal Passage Making (“CPM”) certification. Joaquin says he first became curious about sailing as a kid in the Philippines, seeing sailboats anchored in local coves. He met a sailor who had sailed from Taiwan and was headed to Australia, and says that encounter spurred his interest. He experienced his “first sail” on a rented wooden sailing dinghy when he was only 10.

Diana worked at Club Nautique for several years, completing courses and hopping aboard club sails in Sausalito. The couple encouraged their three kids, Maxine, Ria, and Joaquin III, to take sailing lessons at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. The family slowly expanded their sailing area, chartering in the BVI, St. Martin, St. Barts, Ibiza, and Mallorca. Aside from vacation charters, the family mostly sailed through Club Nautique until they bought their dream boat. The kids are now adults with a love for sailing, hopping onto and off different legs of the couple’s retirement voyage, still sailing together.

Diana affirms, “It’s a great way to keep a family engaged.”