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Hurricane Dora Threatens Mexican Coast

July 20, 2011
Dora’s predicted track should keep her from directly hitting land, but hurricanes have a tendency to act unpredictably. © NOAA Hurricane Dora is making both sailors and landlubbers nervous today all along the central Pacific coast of Mexico, as she recently built in strength to a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. More »

Long Night for a Bay Windsurfer

It would be easy to assume the worst if you’d heard a 62-year-old windsurfer had been missing on the Bay for more than 13 hours, but Cathy Caton’s rescue Tuesday morning after spending a very long night getting sucked in and out of South San Francisco Bay was a surprisingly happy ending to a potentially deadly story. More »

Help Us Welcome a Chilean Beauty

July 18, 2011
Like many longtime sailors, we’ve had a fascination with tall ships for decades. And having observed many of them both in port and under sail, we decided long ago that the Chilean Navy’s four-masted, 370-ft Esmeralda was one of the most beautiful — if not the most beautiful — of them all. More »

Bashing Ahead of a Hurricane?

After a series of obstacles that have prevented us from heading north from La Cruz to do the Baja Bash with Profligate, we were all ready to go. Then we looked at Passage Weather. More »

Two Dead in Chicago-Mackinac Race

Two sailors died early this morning during the 103rd Annual Chicago-to-Mackinac Race when a severe thunderstorm sent wind speeds into the 50s. The Kiwi 35 WingNuts was reported capsized around 12:40 a.m. More »

Follow the Freedom Flag

July 15, 2011
A patriotic apparition? No, it’s the Freedom Flag, which will be flying over San Francisco Bay today in support of vets. © 2011 Project Freedom Flag If you look out across San Francisco Bay today and see a huge American flag fluttering on the breeze while seemingly unattached to anything solid, fear not. More »

Mendocino Queen Attacked in the Caribbean

Allen and Kate Barry, liveaboards and worldwide cruisers for 20 years aboard the San Francisco-based DownEast 38 Mendocino Queen, report they were assaulted and robbed around 10:45 p.m. on the night of July 2 while at anchor just off Baradel Island in the Tobago Cays Marine Reserve of St. More »

Polynesian Vakas Heading for San Francisco

July 13, 2011
We watched in awe last year as this traditional vaka drove to windward across Neiafu Harbor, Tonga, in a light breeze. This hand-built vessel would later join six others en route to Hawaii, then San Francisco. More »

Pacific Vision Lost in Australia

As long-distance sailors like to point out to nervous landlubbers, it’s not the ocean that’s so dangerous, it’s the hard stuff around the edges. That axiom was proven true on July 3 by an unidentified couple sailing their sailboat, Pacific Vision, from San Diego to Bundaberg, Australia. More »