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2023 Comes Early! January Issue and 2023 YRA Calendar Out Today

Happy New Sailing Year!… almost. We’ll be ringing in the new year along with everyone else, so we decided to get our January issue out today. We’re excited to be starting afresh with a new 12 months of sailing stories, photos, and news. This month’s magazine has some great features and stories. Take a peek at what’s inside:

Moore Memories — The Birth of the Ultralight Boat
The Moores knew they needed a product with broader market appeal, and were entertaining the idea of a small keelboat. But until spring 1971, the only action was a lot of head-scratching and ideas coming in off the street. Finally, I think it might have been John Moore who said, “What about that old Grendel plug out back?”

January Issue 2023
Glenn Shinn stands in front of a completely refitted version of a legendary boat, Grendel — George Olson’s original prototype for the Moore 24,
© 2022 Glenn Shinn

Eight Bells for Jim DeWitt

On November 19, 2022, Bay Area sailmaker, sailboat designer and artist extraordinaire Jim DeWitt passed away at home in Point Richmond under the care of hospice. He was 92 years old and had suffered a stroke a couple of weeks before.

Jim graduated from Oakland High School, but he didn’t enjoy school — turns out he was dyslexic at a time when no one understood what that was. But he did well in his art class, and his mom got him into art school. He attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, then the Los Angeles Art Center in Pasadena. To save money while going to school, he started making his own dinghy racing sails, building the first, for his El Toro, in 1959. “I was my first customer,” he said.

Sallie and Jim DeWitt circa 1980, with the new sail loft under construction in Point Richmond’s Brickyard Cove.
© 2022 Dewitt Family

Also in the January issue:

  • Letters: A Mentor Meets a Legend in a Lagoon; The Old Man and the Key(board); Lots of Skill, Ingenuity and 20 Hours’ Worth of Messing About With an Engine, and and many, many more.
  • Sightings: Baja Barely a Bash; Time to Lobby for Our Piece of Paradise; TISC Adjusts Its Sails; and other stories.
  • Max Ebb: A Hard Day’s Off-Watch
  • Changes in Latitudes: With reports this month from Dogfish‘s return to cruising after a long stay in the yard; the “can-do” Rigney family getting Kandu back to sailing condition; a visit to Costa Rica in the fifth installment of Taliesin Rose‘s guide to off-the-beaten-track post-Ha-Ha destinations; a visit with the crew of Silver Linings on their just-completed Ha-Ha; a catch-up with 2022 contributors in the first part of our annual “Where are they now?” feature, and a seabag full of Cruise Notes.
  • Racing Sheet: Yacht racing slowed down a bit in late November and in December. No shocker there. But here we visit the scenic and silly Half Pint-o-Rum Regatta, midwinter series at Golden Gate YC, Sausalito YC and Berkeley YC, RegattaPRO Winter One Design, and Alamitos Bay YC’s Turkey Day Regatta. Then we learn of a documentary about the Race to Alaska, and Box Scores goes on a diet.
  • Loose Lips: Check out the December Caption Contest(!) winner and top 10 comments.
  • The sailboat owners and buyers’ bible, Classy Classifieds.

If you’ve subscribed to Latitude 38, you should receive your issue shortly. If you haven’t subscribed you’re missing out, but you can still pick up your copy from your favorite distributor.

Along with the January issue of Latitude 38, the 2023 Northern California Sailing Calendar has been delivered to our Northern California magazine distributors.

If you get yours now, you can plan your sailing menu for the year and have no excuse to miss any of the great events on the Bay. (And if by some weird twist of fate you have no idea what the calendar is, here’s a link to the 2022 edition.)

 

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