Why Are Latitude 38 Golden Tickets Won in a Run?

The other day, we received an email from Al Carvalheira, who had picked up a Golden Ticket along with his copy of Latitude 38‘s May edition. If you remember, we recently shared the story about Todd Brubaker, who had also found a Golden Ticket in his May Latitude 38. So we’re wondering why we can have no winners for what seems like months, then suddenly we get two in two weeks. And this phenomenon has happened before.

Do you have any answers? Please tell us if you do, as we’re curious. In the meantime, back to Al.

Al says he considers himself to be a “novice” sailor, which is perfectly okay with us — every sailor was a novice once.

“I haven’t sailed since late 2019 because of the lockdown. I learned to sail and am still a member of OCSC. Over the years and in addition to sailing at OCSC, I’ve crewed on several YRA and OYRA races,” Al says.

Despite being a self-labeled novice, Al has the good sense to be a long-term Latitude 38 reader. “I’ve read every issue since 2004.” And in a little moment of patting ourselves on the back, we’re sharing Al’s feedback about our magazine. “Thank you, John Arndt, for continuing to produce a quality publication with great content, so keep up the good work.”

Al also told us that he happened to meet John at the Annapolis Boat Show in 2014. “I came across an East Coast sailing publication’s booth and said to attendant, ‘You must be the Latitude 38 of these parts.’ He laughed and said, ‘Well, we happen to have someone from Latitude 38 right here.’ It was John, of course, not missing an opportunity.”

While we’re on the path of sharing reader feedback, we also received an email from readers Kyle and Rita from El Dorado Hills, who had listed their boat for sale in Latitude 38‘s classifieds section.

“We just wanted to let you know that the one-time ad in Classy Classifieds was a success. A reader in Lake Havasu, Arizona, contacted us in January and we had numerous conversations. He picked up the boat on his way to his summer home in Snohomish, Washington, yesterday — full price. $40 well spent. Sadly we are leaving the sailing world for a ‘land yacht.’ We enjoyed sailing the Bay and out the Gate — Thanksgiving week for many years, Richmond-to-Isleton Delta cruise, Tomales Bay, whale watching on Monterey Bay, Lake Tahoe, and hundreds of sunset sails on our home port at Folsom Lake.

“For years we decorated Paragon with 10,000 LED lights at Christmas and were a stop for limo tours. That boat was well loved, but life changed and we hadn’t raised the sails for over six years, and she needed to be loved again. We loved the sailing community and loved reading Latitude 38 for the past 30 years. Thank you.” – Kyle & Rita Yates.

Thanks to Al, Kyle and Rita for the great feedback. Oh, and Kyle and Rita, don’t let the lack of a boat stop you from reading Latitude 38, or from sailing, for that matter; there are always OPBs to enjoy.