Delivering Latitude 38 Sailing Sunshine Before Another Rainy Stretch
It looks as if Latitude 38’s Bay Area delivery drivers are going to get lucky again with a break in the endless rain, allowing them to deliver the January Latitude 38 to your favorite magazine distributors tomorrow before the rain starts up again. If you time it right, you can also pick up the January issue in time for the New Year break and before the rain kicks in again on Wednesday.
Another angle on our cover sailors this month: Rand Arnold and Gary Gremaux are out on the wire aboard their International 14, A Bumblebee Named Kate. The pair were racing in Richmond Yacht Club’s Small Boat Midwinters earlier this month. While much of the Bay Area was lamenting being shrouded in gloomy, chilled fog, sailors in the Small Boat Midwinters off the Richmond Riviera were relishing blue sky and sunshine. There were over 100 boats signed up, and just under 100 raced on December 7.
We liked the line in John Walsh’s story in Sightings describing his preparation for the Baja Ha-Ha aboard his 1978 Cal 29 Ondina, where he says, “There was recently an article in Latitude 38 asking, ‘Is DIY dead?’ I can tell you, DIY is not dead — though it did nearly kill me!” You can read John’s whole story on page 32 tomorrow.
Other stories in the January issue include Pac Cup Primavera — Andy Schwenk’s guide on preparing for this year’s race to Hawaii.
Tackling Unexpected Challenges on the Baja Bash — Eva Tanner shares the tale of the obstacles to an easy voyage north aboard Dolce Vita.
Also in this issue, The Poobah’s Last Hurrah; The Secret To a Long Life? Sailing; 2025 Season Champions, Part 2; Max Ebb — A Little Book; and more features, stories and regular columns.
Racing Sheet — Just because it’s the “off-season” doesn’t mean that sailing takes any time off. This month’s Racing Sheet highlights a collegiate regatta like no other in the form of the Big Sail between Cal and Stanford, along with midwinter racing hosted by Encinal Yacht Club, Island Yacht Club and San Diego Yacht Club. We have also included an expanded Box Scores section in this month’s issue.
World of Charter — Pippin Brehler embarks on a sailing dad charter with his family in the British Virgin Islands.
In this month’s Changes in Latitudes we share Ondina’s long journey to get to the Ha-Ha; Second Wind’s transformation from racing boat to cruising boat; and the second installment of our “Where Are They Now?” feature, in which we catch up with 2025 contributors.
Plus you’ll find dozens of great letters and comments from readers, our monthly Caption Contest(!) winners, and more. Set your alarm and get ready to run out tomorrow and grab Latitude 38’s first issue of 2026!