Next Goal — “Get Stuck” in the Sea of Cortez
“Imagine my happy surprise when I found this flyer in the April issue of Latitude 38!” This is what Charlotte Fedane wrote when she sent us the following photo of the Golden Ticket that was nesting inside her copy of last month’s magazine. She also told us she wants to “get stuck” in the Sea of Cortez.
“I am the deckhand on our crew of two,” Charlotte tells us. “My husband is the ‘captain.’ He learned to sail more than 30 years ago in L.A.’s South Bay. That was long before I met him. He taught me how to pull out the sails, jump off and tie off the boat, etc.”
Over several years, Charlotte and her husband lived in the South Bay area and raised a family of four. She knew that sailing had been a great source of joy for her partner, so when all their kids were in high school, she suggested that they start sailing again. “We first bought a Beneteau 423, and I learned to tack going into and out of the Estuary from Marina Village in Alameda. It could easily take 15-20 tacks to get out.”
Later, when their youngest left for college, they went “full in.” Charlotte suggested they sell the house and start living full-time on the boat. “Living on the 423 felt a bit tight, coming from a house. With some extra money from the house sale, we decided to upgrade and ended up on a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey DS 50. It [was] named Incognito by a previous owner, and even though we are not sure it’s the best name, we haven’t been able to think of anything better.”
While living in L.A. the couple were members of the South Coast Corinthian YC in Marina del Rey. They thought it would be a good way to get to know some people in a new area. “We left when we decided to move to San Diego for a while. Now that we are back in the L.A. area we have not felt a need to join another YC, as we still have friends from SCCYC that we sail and hang out with.”
Charlotte says her favorite thing about sailing is the possibility of moving around and living in different places. In fall 2024, they left the S.F. Bay Area and sailed down the coast. “I loved the planning (checking weather: wind, waves, currents, visibility, etc.) for the different legs of the trip and getting into a new harbor to explore. We stayed in San Diego for six months before deciding to move back to the L.A. area, where we can more easily get to Catalina and other Channel Islands.”
When we asked about her most memorable sailing moment, Charlotte took a moment to choose one that stands out. “[W]e were south along the CA coast, leaving Monterey at 4 a.m. to make sure we could get to San Simeon and anchor while it was still daylight. I was standing up front, after having kept a close eye as we sneaked out of the marina in the dark. Suddenly I see two bright things shooting straight toward the boat in the water. For a second I thought of old World War II movies where torpedoes are shot at a boat, and my heart jumped … until my senses came to and I realized it was two dolphins shooting toward us through bioluminescent algae in the dark water. They played around the boat for a brief moment — it was magical with the bioluminescence lighting their paths.”
Charlotte reflects that living on a boat is not for everyone. “You must seriously downsize,” she says, “among other challenges. But we feel so lucky we get to do this. Currently we are both working full-time, but we hope to reduce it within the next few years and start sailing farther south. We keep hearing of people sailing south and getting stuck in the Sea of Cortez, even though they planned to go farther. That’s our next goal — to ‘get stuck’ in the Sea of Cortez.
“Thank you so much for both a great magazine and a fun gift!” (We’re sending Charlotte a new Latitude 38 hat to wear on her way south to Mexico.)