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Maritime History
Olaf Harken

Eight Bells: Olaf Harken

October 23, 2019
Olaf Theodore Harken passed away on Monday, October 21, at the age of 80. Olaf and his older brother, Peter, created the hugely successful rope-handling business that bears their name.

In a Land Named for a Mariner

October 14, 2019
Today, we’d like to celebrate an ancient mariner who is often credited with ‘discovering’ a great land. He didn’t really discover this land — there were generations of people long before him — but his name carries such weight and import that he become recognized, even synonymous with the place where he lived, navigated the waters, fought, and died. More »
Harpoen sailing

What’s a Harpoen?

September 27, 2019
Harpoen first crossed our editorial desk in 2003, when her owner, Ron Witzel, a staff commodore at Marin Yacht Club in San Rafael, proposed her as a Latitude 38 Boat of the Month.

Doug Peterson Among 2019 National Sailing Hall of Fame Class

August 14, 2019
Yacht designer Doug Peterson is among the class of inductees nominated to the 2019 National Sailing Hall of Fame.  Hailing from San Diego, Peterson — a revolutionary yacht designer whose credentials extended into multiple winning America’s Cup campaigns, offshore racers and iconic West Coast cruising boats — passed away in 2017 at the age of 71. More »
Lucie on a close reach

Lucie on the Move

August 2, 2019
An 89-year-old lady recently won New York Yacht Club's Annual Regatta in Newport, RI. The lady in question, the Classic Six Metre Lucie, was skippered by Craig Healy.
Cheerio II with spinnaker

One More Time Regatta

July 26, 2019
Santa Monica Bay is known for advocating RRS number 1 ("the wind shall quit immediately after the start of the race"). No such rule applied on the July 20th running of the wooden hull One More Time Regatta.
Scene from the Raft

The “Sex Raft” and the Maiden

June 28, 2019
In 1973, five men and six women embarked on a 101-day scientific sea adventure, drifting across the Atlantic on a raft called Acali. In 1989, the first all-female crew raced around the world in the Whitbread on Maiden.

Remembering the Big Bang

June 24, 2019
This month marks the 75th anniversary of one of the most horrendous events of World War II, which occurred right here in the Bay Area. On July 17, 1944, a mishap at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine (site of present day Concord Naval Weapons Station on Suisun Bay) triggered a massive explosion that killed 320 sailors and civilians; injured another 390; destroyed two ships, an entire pier, a railway and a locomotive that was on it; shattered windows as far away as San Francisco: registered 3.5 on the Richter scale at UC Berkeley; and blew shrapnel so high into the air that a pilot flying over the area saw debris flying by at 9,000 feet. More »