Latitude 38 Delivery Service

There’s nothing this editor likes to do more than to hand deliver hot-off-the-press copies of the latest issue of Latitude 38 to boats at anchor. Before skipping out of the office early on Friday for a cruise-out to Treasure Island, a bundle of the June issues happened to make its way onto our boat for later distribution to friends who we knew wouldn’t have a chance to grab a copy. We had enough left over that we made the rounds on Saturday morning to all the boats anchored in Clipper Cove, delivering copies to delighted boaters, some of whom later dinghied over to our massive raft-up for appetizers and scintillating conversation.

The raft-up was organized by Nick Jaffe, the Aussie cruiser who sailed his Contessa 26 Constellation from England to Oz (via a truck ride across the U.S.), and wound up buying a beautiful little Aries 32 in the Bay Area a couple years ago. Nick has finally decided to sail Harmony to her new homeport and invited friends and strangers to join him in Clipper Cove before sailing out of the Gate and turning left. Naturally, the biggest boat in the fleet — our Wauquiez Centurion 47 Gazelle — became the anchor of the raft-up . . . which grew and grew and grew!

At one point on Saturday, the raft-up included eight boats — Brian Boschma’s Olson 34 RedSky, Chuck Bullett’s Aries 32 The Chester P, Brian Boone’s Cal 39 Dianna B, Harmony, Gazelle, Robbie Gabriel’s Moore 24 Sweet Tea, Alex & Tara Pearce’s Cal 29 Shrimp Louie and Eric & Brian Jones’s Spirit 28 Sizzle.

It was a fantastic party, and we highly recommend big cruise-outs with good friends. But we can’t in good conscience suggest rafting eight boats on one anchor — even if it is a highly rated Rocna. We were lucky enough to enjoy almost non-existent breeze in Clipper Cove, and three of the boats peeled off before nightfall. We would never have risked it otherwise.

If you haven’t organzied a cruise-out with your friends recently (or ever), just pick a date and announce it on Facebook. Most sailors are just dying for an excuse to get their boat out of the slip, and good food and great conversation are the best reasons ever. That and a fresh Latitude!