General Sailing

News Nuggets

By Tim Henry | November 2, 2018 |

Here are some news nuggets for your Friday:

Coast Guard Comes to Aid of Diabetic Sailor off Eureka

On Wednesday, the Coast Guard came to the assistance of a sailor onboard a 29-ft sailboat off Patrick’s Point, near Trinidad, California, just north of Eureka. The sailor, described as a 55-year-old man, radioed the Coast Guard around 3 p.m. and said that he was experiencing symptoms of hypoglycemia. The man was singlehanding and did not have his medication for diabetes, according to a Coast Guard press release.

The Coast Guard towed an unidentified 29-ft sailboat to Woodley Island Marina on Wednesday.
© 2018 US Coast Guard

The Coast Guard stayed in radio contact with the sailor, and eventually delivered glucose gel to him. “After the man’s condition stabilized, he remained on his sailboat while the Coast Guard crew towed him to Woodley Island Marina around 9 p.m.,” a Coast Guard press release said.

Classy’s Acting Sassy, and Other Website News

We want to thank all of our readers who let us know they were having problems uploading photos for their Classy Classified ads on our new website. We are updating the site in stages, and a few glitches have popped up as we go. We can only imagine that this may have frustrated a few people who tried to run a classified for the December issue. Don’t worry, the problem is now fixed, and you have until November 15 to create your ad.

We also had a few people ask if they can still download a PDF of Latitude online. The answer is an emphatic YES, but the navigation to do so might be a little different. Here’s how you do it:

First: Go to www.latitude38.com, then click on the on the right-hand corner of the magazine, where it says “READ INSIDE.” (Note, if you don’t click on the right hand corner — which will “peel” away as you hover over it with your mouse — you’ll be taken to the contents page, where you can read individual features).

Note the “peeling” page in the top right-hand corner (circled in red). That’s where you want to click in order to download the PDF. DO NOT click on the magazine itself, unless you want to go to the contents page.

Once you’ve clicked on READ INSIDE, you’ll then navigate to a different page, where you’ll see a download arrow on the top left of your screen. Click on that, and POOF, you’ve just downloaded a PDF.

Note the downward, underlined arrow in the top left corner of the page (circled in red). That is your magic ticket to a PDF.

And just to make things interesting, if you happen to navigate into “issuu,” where you can read the magazine online, fear not! You can still download the magazine from there.

Once inside issuu, the PDF download button is still there, but in a different spot (circled in . . . maroon?)

An ‘Old’ New 60-ft Monohull Record

The World Sailing Speed Record Council recently ratified Englishman Alex Thomson’s 24-hour 60-ft-monohull speed record. Between July 19 and 20, Thomson’s IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss — which was fully crewed at the time — traveled 539.71 nautical miles while sailing between New York and the UK. This summer’s run broke Thomson’s previous record, set in 2017, by 2.9 nautical miles.

Alex Thomson has brought showmanship to the offshore sailing world. It also doesn’t hurt that he keeps breaking records.
© 2018 Alex Thompson Racing

Reader and Baja Ha-Ha veteran Roger Briggs offered this perspective: “I just saw that Alex Thomson set a new monohull 24-hour record with an average speed of 22.5 knots. For perspective: With the Ha-Ha going down to Bahia Santa Maria in about five days of sailing time, Hugo Boss would have made it in just over one day, or 26.7 hours. Oh my!”

Joke of the Week

Two sailors walk into a bar . . . And say:

“OWWW! Gosh, OWWW! I did not see that bar there? That’s gonna leave a mark.”