Sailor James Blackford is making an unplanned trip to Japan this week aboard the motor vessel Global Explorer. Although a visit to that island nation probably wasn’t part of Blackford’s original cruising itinerary, we’ll bet he’s not complaining. More »

Peyron may be one of the oldest competitors in these AC events, but few if any have more experience racing multihulls. © Gilles Martin-Raget / ACEA The 34th America’s Cup is among the strangest ever for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Loïck Peyron, the great French sailor, is not only the helmsman for the French Energy Team in the America’s Cup World Series, but he’s also the "test pilot" for the Artemis Racing’s new AC72. More »

This wooden double-ender wound up wedged under a dock at a Belvedere home Saturday morning. © 2012 Tim Sell Bay Area sailors who’d been curious about the effectiveness of their cockpit scuppers and bilge pumps got their answers over the weekend, as the final volley of a three-storm series walloped the region with torrents of rain and gusts higher than 50 knots. More »

Islands of The Philippines are currently taking a beating from Super Typhoon Bopha, which skirted Palau yesterday. We just learned that at least two West Coast sailors weathered that blow as it passed. More »

Although you may have to wade through hip-deep water to get yours, the December edition of Latitude 38 is being distributed today in the Bay Area and beyond. latitude/Annie
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC Inside, you’ll find our usual mix of racing news, cruising reports, chartering advice and news updates, plus an interview with Webb Chiles, a complete Baja Ha-Ha XIX Recap, and Max Ebb’s thoughts on holiday gift-giving. More »

Longtime Bay Area racer Chris Corlett — seen here with his son Jesse at this summer’s Pacific Cup finish line — passed away last week. He will be remembered at Encinal YC on Friday at 1 p.m. More »

With modern advances in science and technology, it seems that new things are always being discovered, be it a miracle drug, a cure for a disease or a previously unknown species. More »

Not generally known as a sailing mecca, Namibia seems to be the place to break world sailing speed records. Aussie Paul Larsen chose the country’s Walvis Bay on the Skeleton Coast for its flat water and strong winds to attempt to break the 500-meter outright sailings peed record — held by kiteboarders for the last three years — with his custom carbon fiber, wing-sail hydrofoiler Vestas Sailrocket 2. More »

Regular readers will recall our previous posts on the fate of the famous Sausalito-based schooner Lord Jim. Since hitting an unmarked rock off the coast of Brazil in 2007, she and her owners, Holger Kreuzhage and Tracy Brown, have endured an ordeal so complex and twisted that it sounds more like the plot for a novel than reality.  More »

John Rice, a marine engineer, spent 18 years building Argonaut. She has a steel hull and deck, and an aluminum house. Argonaut
©2012 Latitude 38 Media, LLC On August 10, John Rice’s family received the life-changing news that Rice, a 60-year-old Australian who had lived for many years in Long Beach, had been reported dead while sailing in the Flores Sea in Indonesia. More »