Latitude 38 Magazine

02/13/2025

Latitude reader and Club Nautique sailing instructor Dan Marshall was traveling overseas, and captured the photo below from aboard a ferry crossing a bay. He said, “I looked up and saw what looked like the Golden Gate as seen from the Bay, with San Francisco’s hills on the left and a good replica of the Marin Headlands on the right. It looked as if I’d time-traveled back to 1775, when Ayala [Spanish naval officer Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala] was the first European to enter the Bay by boat, except, what was the bridge doing there?”

Does anyone have a good guess on the location of this bridge in Dan’s photo?

Club Nautique sailing instructor Dan Marshall sent a photo of what looks like the Golden Gate Bridge. But where was Dan's photo taken?

02/13/2025

This week on Good Jibes, we bring you Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails and the crew of 'Profligate' LIVE from the last leg of the 30th Annual Baja Ha-Ha cruisers’ rally. This third and final episode in our Baja Ha-Ha series includes livestreams from November 13 and14, 2024.

This week we chat with Chuck Skewes of Ullman Sails and the crew of Profligate LIVE from the last leg of the 30th Annual Baja Ha-Ha.

02/13/2025

The San Francisco Yacht Club (SFYC) has been awarded the 2024 St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy for outstanding race management at the 2024 Diversified Melges 24 World Championships. The award was given last Thursday, Feb. 6, during the annual US Sailing Awards banquet in San Diego. This is the first time SFYC has won this prestigious award since its inception in 1967. The SFYC joins Richmond Yacht Club (2001 — Byte Class North Americans) as the only Northern California yacht clubs to win the trophy. Representing the club to receive the trophy were Matthew Sessions (regatta chair), Jr. S/C Jenni Dailey (2024 commodore), Forrest Gay (director of sailing) and Mark Foster (regatta PRO).

The San Francisco Yacht Club has been awarded the 2024 St. Petersburg Yacht Club Trophy for outstanding race management.

02/12/2025

At last Thursday’s BCDC meeting, the Treasure Island Marina finally received its long-awaited approval for redevelopment. Along with the landside redevelopment currently underway, a new 168-slip marina will replace the aging 108-slip marina, which was badly damaged in the January 2023 “bomb cyclone.” Westpoint Harbor is the only completely new marina to have been built in the Bay Area in the last 30 or 40 years, and Treasure Island Marina will be one of the more significant marina replacements to hit the waterfront in decades.

After 26 years of planning and negotiations, Treasure Island Marina has finally received approval to move ahead.

02/12/2025

Charlie Dalin was the first Vendée Globe skipper to cross the finish line 25 days ago, yet Les Sables-d’Olonne has remained a busy place as the rest of the fleet makes its way back to France. Yesterday, Sunday, February 9, four more boats crossed the line, with one of the most celebrated finishers being 23-year-old Violette Dorange, who became the youngest sailor to complete this epic 10th edition of the event.

Four more boats crossed the Vendée Globe finish line, including 23-year-old Violette Dorange, the youngest sailor to complete the race.

02/12/2025

Introducing the newest blue-water sailing vessel from Hylas. From world class designer Bill Dixon the Hylas H57 is a perfect blend of classic Hylas, contemporary good looks and an embracing of the latest technology in construction and design. Learn more 👉 www.hylasyachts.com/sailing-yachts/h57

02/11/2025

Project 2025 has proposed breaking up NOAA and outsourcing its data to private companies. It could be hard to trust the weather at sea when the source of your weather is facing storms at home. Farmers, fishermen and sailors are among many who rely on the weather information sourced from government-/citizen-owned satellites. Would privatizing NOAA provide better services? And who gains or loses from such a move? Read the Guardian story here or a related story in Daily Kos.

According to The 'Guardian' Elon Musk's DOGE team visited NOAA headquarters asking for access to the agency's IT systems.

02/11/2025

Welcome to January’s Sailagram. The sailors featured in this month’s gallery certainly got it right …

Sailing is fun! You know that, and so do the sailors featured in our January Sailagram gallery. We hope you enjoy the photos!

02/10/2025

Thousands of fans crowded Sydney's waterways and land-based vantage points as SailGP's expanded fleet of 12 international foiling catamarans fought it out tooth and nail, much to the delight of race organizers and fans alike. Emirates GBR won the event with consistent finishes in all seven fleet races, including two first-place finishes and a nail-biting victory in the three-boat final against Australia and Canada. Crowd favorite Team Australia incurred a pre-start penalty, which put the Aussie boat behind the eight ball from the start of the race. That penalty proved too much to overcome

Emirates GBR wins Sydney SailGP while Team USA misses the event due to damage incurred during practice on Friday.

02/09/2025

Every so often, a reader will call in to correct us on something that we’ve printed in the monthly Latitude, or published online. Last week, Dave Cohan of Tahu Le’a in Redwood City wrote to tell us we had mislabeled a photograph in the January issue. The image accompanied the story “Ready to Jump the Puddle?” — “Along the West Coast of the Americas from California to Panama, it’s that time of year again when sailors of all stripes are getting revved up with excitement in anticipation of making the famous Pacific Puddle Jump passage to French Polynesia — a nonstop bluewater voyage of 3,000 to 4,000 miles, depending on your point of departure.”

To anyone who's cruised in Mo'orea, please weigh in!

Last week, Dave Cohan of Tahu Le'a in Redwood City wrote to tell us we had mislabelled a photograph of Cook's Bay in the January issue.

02/09/2025

With Super Bowl LIX (that’s 59 for those of you rusty on your Roman numerals) coming up this Sunday, we thought it would be fun to compare one sport with another. Andy Kopetzky reports:

With Super Bowl LIX coming up this Sunday. Who says football and yacht racing have nothing in common? Here are some examples.

02/08/2025

Unlike most parts of the country, Bay Area municipal waterfronts have never been very accommodating for visiting boats. With this year’s closure of the Angel Island guest docks in Ayala Cove, we checked on a few other places sailors could dock for a destination cruise. (There is some good news.)

Is there any other Bay Area (or West Coast) dock news to report?

With the closure of the Angel Island guest docks in Ayala Cove, we checked on a few other places sailors could dock for a destination cruise.

02/07/2025

SailGP is racing in Sydney this weekend as the last stop before the world tour makes its way to California in March. The current standings have Emirates GBR in first, New Zealand in second, and three-time world champions Australia in third. Despite a 12th-place finish in the last event, Taylor Canfield and the United States team are in seventh place overall for the 2025 season after taking third in the first event in Dubai.

SailGP is racing in Sydney this weekend as the last stop before the world tour makes its way to California in March.

02/07/2025

US Sailing has announced the winners of the 2024 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards. Ian Barrows and Hans Henken have been named the Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year, while Cole Brauer has been named the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year. These awards recognize their exceptional accomplishments in the sport of sailing over the past year. The winners were honored yesterday during the US Sailing Awards Ceremony at the 2025 US Sailing Leadership Forum in Coronado, California. In an unusual twist, not one of the three winners was available to attend the award ceremony in person — they were sailing, or working on a sailing schedule. They therefore tuned in via live or prerecorded video.

US Sailing has announced Hans Henken, Ian Barrows, and Cole Brauer as the 2024 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman Award recipients.

02/07/2025

Yesterday, Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven spoke with Bob Hoyt of Mag Bay Outfitters, our man in Bahia Santa Maria, who reports that the port captain and immigration officials in San Carlos are all onboard for Ha-Ha ###I. So it’s officially a go.

Signups will be starting on Friday, May 9, at noon.

The event itself will begin on Monday, November 3. We’re all but sure West Marine will be onboard for the Costume Kick-Off Party in their parking lot on Sunday, November 2. To add to the fun, the Poobah has arranged for the Beaver Full Moon to be shining on November 5, when much of the fleet will be approaching or in Turtle Bay.

Baja Ha-Ha ###I is officially on for 2025 with sign ups starting on May 9 and the start set for November 3 out of San Diego.

02/06/2025

This week on LATITUDE 38's Good Jibes podcast, we chat with sailor Nate Stephenson on the perks of going on a sailing trip to pick up your new boat. Last year, Nate and his partner Megan sailed up to Surrey, British Columbia, to purchase their 34-ft Sun 1030 'Gallia'. After exploring B.C., they cruised it back down to Santa Barbara.

Tune in as Nate chats with host Ryan Foland and shares his experiences — why the scariest moments while sailing are the most formative, how to face your fears and learn patience on the water, the amazing orcas and other wildlife in B.C., why you should consider living on a boat, and why sailors are some of the friendliest people in the world.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or click here: https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/podcast/episode-177-nate-stephenson-on-sailing-to-get-your-new-boat/
Please leave us a five-star review!

02/05/2025

For this month's CAPTION CONTEST(!), we dove into our photo albums to see what we might find. Here’s one from the 2019 Master Mariners weekend aboard schooner 'Seaward'. We’ve long wondered why this guy is lounging around, and what he might be plotting. Any ideas? Drop your captions into the comments below.

02/05/2025

A 56-year-old man has been rescued and a woman has died after a 31-ft sailboat was disabled and grounded near the San Juan Islands Monday night. Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound watchstanders received a mayday call from the master of the sailboat around 7 p.m. stating his boat was disabled and drifting toward land. Weather conditions were reported as snowy, with 25 to 30 mph winds and 4- to 6-foot seas.

A 56-year-old man has been rescued and a woman has died after a 31-foot sailboat was grounded near the San Juan Islands Monday night.