Three spots are open, wide open, for US Sailing Level 1 instructor training December 16-19 at Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. With Northern California seeing shortages of certified Level 1 instructors (these are often college kids in summer jobs), your local clubs and community sailing leaders are trying to do something about it. More »

Back in the years BC — “before catamarans” — Latitude 38’s publisher owned a series of monohull sailboats. The biggest was Big O, an Ocean 71. One year, he decided to do San Francisco Yacht Club’s Midnight Moonlight Maritime Marathon, which starts in Raccoon Strait near the sponsoring SFYC in the afternoon, and finishes just outside the Strait whenever you get back from rounding the center tower of the Carquinez Bridge. More »

Okay, fine — we lied. The occasion was Thanksgiving, which we spent at home with family this year. The conversation had turned to "your most memorable holiday ever," and the memories flowed as freely as the hot buttered rum — favorite gifts, the old country, unexpected snow, riding that new bike . More »

"Thank you for the idea of going to Angel Island this holiday weekend. My girlfriend Jayle and I decided to skip the stress of family gatherings and spent a few days at the island," Greg Clausen wrote us. More »

It may only be autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, but all along the West Coast of the Americas dozens of sailors are thinking ahead to early spring. Why? Because that’s when the annual cruiser migration begins from the West Coast to French Polynesia — the passage we call the Pacific Puddle Jump.  More »

This week, Emirates Team New Zealand revealed their long-awaited concept for the 36th America’s Cup design. Not to fear monohull purists, sailing has been saved. No more foiling cats! Well, sort of. More »

What happens in Vegas might stay in Vegas. But not at Latitude. Longtime readers will know we’ve been pretty forthcoming about mistakes, screw-ups and bloopers (which can be one and the same, but not always). More »

One of our favorite sailors — and one of our favorite boats — has announced plans to attempt a world record. In January, Giovanni Soldini and Maserati will attempt to break the 13,000-mile ‘Tea Route’ record from Hong Kong to London by way of the Cape of Good Hope. More »

We’d like to introduce a few films that wouldn’t necessarily be considered ‘sailing movies’, but have references to, or underlying hints of sailing and/ or seamanship. Back in August, when we first solicited readers for their favorite sailing films, Lee Johnson wrote: “My favorite sailing movie is Cast Away, a Robert Zemeckis film starring Tom Hanks, which doesn’t have much actual sailing in it, other than the one scene where Hanks’ character, Chuck Noland, tops the breakers to escape the island with his raft using a broken outhouse [portable toilet] shell for a sail. More »

Who was the greatest American singlehanded round-the-world sailor? Do Americans even compete in races like the Vendée Globe or the Velux 5 Oceans Race (formerly known as the BOC Challenge)? While participation in those events seems more or less limited to the French, the Kiwis and the English — and before Bay Area local Bruce Schwab hit the scene in the mid 2000s — there was an American sailing around the planet with the best of them. More »