Latitude 38 September Issue Is Here!

September has arrived, and along with it the newest issue of Latitude 38 magazine. This month we bring you feature stories on the Transpac, Baja Ha-Ha sailors, the Fastnet, and an unmanned circumnavigation. Plus stacks more West Coast stories and news. Here are some previews:

Bay Area Sailors in the Fastnet

Bay Area sailors Harmon Shragge, Mike Crandall and Dustin Wanco competed in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race aboard the VO65 Sisi, owned by the Austrian Ocean Race Project. The boat was christened after the extremely popular Austrian Queen Elizabeth, who went by the nickname ‘Sisi’ and reigned in the late 1800s. Sisi (the boat) was the former Vestas in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18. This is not the hull that ran aground in the Indian Ocean; it’s the one that collided with a fishing boat outside Hong Kong.

Readers may remember that Mike and I (Harmon) were in the process of sailing from Subic Bay to Seattle with the Clipper Round the World Race in March 2020 when we were quarantined and the race was aborted. The Fastnet is the biggest offshore race in the world (this year marked the 49th biennial edition), and it was not about to be canceled due to COVID. Pre-Delta variant craziness, 450 boats were registered. By the time France and England stopped Cowes, UK, and finished in Cherbourg, France, starters were whittled down to just under 350. Due to heavy weather during the first 24 hours of the race, fewer than 180 boats completed the extended 695-mile course.

 Finding and Keeping Awesome Coaches

Sailing coaches are tasked with teaching our kids how to sail and — we hope — encouraging them to want to sail as a lifelong pastime. We chatted with three local (and highly regarded) coaches about how they coach and what the challenges are, specifically on the Bay.

Jack Barton grew up in Marin County as a successful youth sailor racing out of San Francisco Yacht Club. He started coaching as a teen, giving private sailing lessons and coaching at Tiburon YC. Barton, 25, is now a full-time sailing instructor at SFYC.

With an older brother she really wanted to beat on the water, Eliza Richartz was highly motivated as a junior sailor and went on to kick ass racing 420s nationally as a teenager. From Old Lyme, CT, Richartz sailed for Stanford University and is now studying veterinary science at UC Davis. She coaches part time for SFYC.

Growing up sailing in Hawaii at Kaneohe YC launched Adam Corpuz-Lahne’s coaching career, starting with summer programs at KYC when he was 16. After college he was head coach/sailing director at Del Rey YC for three years, then managed a sailing program at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe. He became a full-time coach at St. Francis YC in 2011 and is now the club’s senior sailing director.

Genny Tulloch Takes a Tack

Richmond resident Genny Tulloch’s name became particularly well known in the sailing community and beyond when she was selected to crew aboard Roy Disney’s well-publicized TP52 Morning Light some 15 years ago. Yet the Disney movie is but a small slice of her impressive sailing career. Both before and since her silver-screen debut, she’s accomplished quite a few of the sport’s bucket-list items. Furthermore, she’s managed to transmute a professional sailing career into other arenas associated with both sailing and the Olympics.

Ask Genny about what events stand out in her career and you might want to sit down and take notes. “I think if you were to say what defines me or makes me slightly different than other sailors, in some capacities, it might be the range or the breadth of my experience,” she says. When pressed, Genny acknowledges that winning ICSA’s Women’s College Sailor of the Year in 2004 stands at the top of her list. She was a sophomore at Harvard University, and attributes her win to her amazing teammates. The winning margin was slim, something like .07% over Anna Tunnicliffe.

And of course, the September issue includes all your favorites sections:

• Letters: My Dad, a Lifeline, and My Mom’s Reaction; The Longest Trip to Go Shopping Ever; What’s Really Bad About This Movie, and more …
• Max Ebb muses on the Crew List Party
• Transpac 51 — Quick Work
• Sightings: “Sailing Women Take On Ocean Plastic Crisis,” “Tokyo Olympics,” plus other stories.
• Racing Sheet: YRA Encinal Regatta & Estuary Extravaganza; Santana 22 Nationals; J/70 Pre-Worlds & Worlds, and that’s not all!
• Loose Lips, in which we announce August’s Caption Contest(!) winner.
• The sailboat owners and buyers’ bible, Classy Classifieds.

Pick up your copy at your nearest or favorite distributor. Or, if you haven’t already, subscribe for home delivery.