Latitude 38 December Issue Out Now
Ho, ho, ho — it’s the last 2025 issue of Latitude 38, and it’s available now! This month is full of great stories and sailing happenings, including a reflection on the Poobah’s last Ha-Ha, a wrap-up of the 2025 racing season champions (part one of three), the return of Convergence, and much more. Here’s a preview.
On Board the Mothership for the Poobah’s Last Ha-Ha
Stepping aboard Profligate is akin to stepping inside a great legacy. This 63-ft custom Hughes catamaran has served as the Baja Ha-Ha mothership since the rally’s third edition in 1996. If her big white hulls could talk, we’re certain they would spill nearly three decades of the most interesting stories. The history of the mothership and the Ha-Ha is a rich one, intertwined with the history of this magazine and the countless sailors who have been inspired to sail over the horizon. It is a tapestry formed with places, personalities and oh, so many tales, with each year adding a colorful new layer. Whether from your first or 31st Baja Ha-Ha, your story adds a new strand.
2025 Season Champions — December Edition
As Thanksgiving passes and November turns to December, there are many annual traditions that must be observed. Holiday decorations go up, you will be forced to listen to Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You several thousand times, and at Latitude 38 we will be highlighting the season champions from various fleets and yacht clubs.
Latitude’s “Season Champions” feature is an annual tradition in which we briefly highlight the sailors and boats that won their various season championships throughout the course of 2025.
Convergence Comes Home
In 2004, Randy Repass, wife Sally-Christine Rodgers and their 9-year-old son Kent-Harris Repass bid goodbye to friends, hoisted the sails on their Wylie 65 cat ketch Convergence, and sailed from Santa Cruz toward the horizon. Their goal: a circumnavigation. At the end of October, 21 years and about 40,000 miles later, mission accomplished. Sally-Christine Rodgers gives a quick debrief of a very long journey.
And where can you find a copy of the magazine? Read on.…
Why are these drivers smiling? One good reason is that it is December and it’s not raining on delivery day! The other reason is that they get to hand out the new December issue while meeting some of our great waterfront magazine distributors. As we finish up Black Friday and Cyber Monday we appreciate more than ever the opportunity to pick up the real thing and visit with real people in the sailing community. We appreciate our drivers, distributors and ambassadors for keeping the sailing community connected through Latitude 38.
Also in this month’s issue:
Letters: We Were Complacent and We Learned; All the Technology; Keep That Old High Note Rollin’; Ramming Speed, Mateys; and loads more readers’ letters and comments.
Sightings: First-ever Parkinson’s Benefit Regatta; Breaking Down Boat Donations; Good Jibes Live; Sailing Books, 2025.
Max Ebb: “Forecasting Time”
Racing Sheet: The end of October and beginning of November see most fleets wind down their seasons, as seen in the Fall Invitational. This time of year also sees special one-off regattas, like the Great Pumpkin, Don Trask International Masters, Lipton Cup and Fall Dinghy. Read about all this and more in the December Racing Sheet, and be sure to check out the first part of our annual season champs feature!
Changes in Latitudes: With reports this month on Stargazer’s kid boat season; Melissa Ward’s unusual summer “working cruise” in the far north; the first installment of our “Where Are They Now?” feature, in which we catch up with 2025 contributors; and a few fun end-of-year Cruise Notes.
All the latest in sailboats and sailboat gear for sale, Classy Classifieds.
Drop in to your nearest distributor to pick up your copy of this month’s Latitude 38.
We appreciate all readers and all our supporters — you keep the wind in our sails. Please show your appreciation by supporting the advertisers who have made this issue possible: Shop here.
And while we’re talking about appreciation …
Among the many good things sailors and yacht clubs do for the community is the St. Francis Yacht Club bike drive, in which members of the St. Francis Yacht Club donate bicycles through the San Francisco Fire Department to bring some Christmas cheer to communities in need. See our Calendar for Lighted Yacht parades, many of which are also fundraisers for their local communities.