Weekend Weather Wonders While Sailing San Francisco Bay
If memory serves us correctly, which it rarely does, the weather again feels different. Regardless, we had a perfectly normal, breezy Friday night race this past weekend, but then one of the warmest, light-wind/no-wind sails we can remember for a Saturday evening in June. These weather wonders made it all very pleasant.
We didn’t get very far, but we weren’t trying to go anywhere anyway. We were just out to take friends sailing, take in the sights, and simply go where the wind blows. Though we didn’t actually find wind to blow us anywhere, we weren’t alone in our quest.
The constant weather headlines always have us wondering about such a light breeze on a June Saturday, a rainy, stormy Vallejo Race, and every odd cloud and wind shift. Has it always been like this? Is our memory faulty? Whatever it is, it’s always interesting to be chasing the wind on the Bay.
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Browsing the Archives on a Ha-Ha Monday
This year’s annual cruisers’ rally to Mexico is hotting up! The Ha-Ha’s Poobah has heard from past participants who are clearly thrilled with their experience of cruising to Mexico.
After posting that 71 boats have already become paid entries for the 30th Baja Ha-Ha in November, a few vets chimed in with unsolicited comments, shared below. If you’re a Ha-Ha vet and want to chime in, be our guest. If you’re a vet of Ha-Ha XXV, see if you can recognize yourself in some of the great photographs taken by the one and only Fin Bevan.
Lisa Novak: “We did the Ha-Ha in 2007, and it was the best decision of our lives! Well, besides getting married and buying a Hans Christian. Live your dreams before you are too old, sick or dead!”
Andy Kurtz: “I haven’t signed up yet, but like last year I’ll be there again with my Columbia 57 Angelique. I’ll sign up when I get to Hawaii in a few days.”
Ben Erwin: “We came down in last year’s Ha-Ha on Noctiluca and we’re still here in Banderas Bay! We made some incredible friends, and have had incredible adventures since that time. And we’re just getting started. We’re very much looking forward to meeting the new group of cruisers and friends as they begin their own journeys south!”
Kent Sisk: “Did it in 2007. Loved it.”
If you’re not sure if you should do the Ha-Ha, it’s good to ask around. It’s best to ask folks who have actually done one. Those who haven’t don’t have any idea what they’re talking about, because the Ha-Ha is unlike any other sailing event.
For one thing, the Ha-Ha has an unusually flexible vibe. The primary goals are the safety of the participants and providing the opportunity for adventure.
A couple hours late to the starts? No problem. Want to go by way of Guadalupe Island or throw in a stop at Cedros? Be our guest. Not interested in some of the eight major social events? It’s your choice. Want to run the bases backward at the Cruisers Versus Local Kids Bazeball Game in Turtle Bay? That would be pretty funny.
Be safe, have fun, and make dozens of new sailing friends while having the opportunity for an adventure you’ll remember the rest of your life. That’s what the Ha-Ha is all about.
The 30th Baja Ha-Ha starts on November 4. Sign up here: HA-HA XXX
We’ll leave you with this slideshow of Fin Bevan’s photos of the 25th Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally.
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Classic Yacht ‘Dorade’ Wins Second Annual Rhody Regatta
The International Yacht and Athletic Club (IYAC) hosted its second annual Rhody Regatta on Saturday, June 1, and the1929 Sparkman & Stephens yawl Dorade stole the show. Dorade was bought by Bay Area sailor Matt Brooks and his late wife Pam Rorke Levy in 2010, and has spent many a summer sailing in New England. The classic yacht appeared to be “always in the right place” during the Rhody Regatta, despite a variety of often-fickle conditions.
Dorade was built in 1929–1930 by the Minneford Yacht Yard in City Island, New York. Matt and Pam raced her on San Francisco Bay in 2012–13 before embarking on epic adventures to recreate Dorade’s glory days all over the world. This year was her first time racing the Rhody Regatta. She sailed well to win its five-boat Class 3. She also claimed overall victory when scored collectively with the regatta’s 16 entries.
“It was our first event this year, and we found it very interesting, very tactical,” Matt said, describing a northerly at the start, then a large calm before the southwesterly sea breeze kicked in, allowing boats from behind to catch up with the leaders. “We thought we were boxing above our weight class, because there were some good boats in our class, but at one point, we were ahead of everyone, regardless of class. I’m just always amazed that a boat that’s almost 100 years old can still be so competitive.”
Other winners were Steve Thurston’s (Bristol, R.I.) J/29 Mighty Puffin in Class 1; Ed Adams’ (Middletown, R.I.) Beneteau 36.7 Five East in Class 2; and Tom Rich’s (Portsmouth, R.I.) GP42 Settler in Class 4.
The Rhody Regatta is an 18-mile race around Conanicut (Jamestown) Island that raises funds for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank through donations by the entered teams.
The IYAC serves as a favorite sailors’ bar in the heart of Newport and is an official US Sailing-affiliated club, with registered members. The IYAC Race Committee runs several area regattas for everything from sportboats to maxi yachts.
For full race results go to https://bit.ly/4aNVjAN
SV ‘Pendragon’ Takes the Mini-Clipper Route
While the sail from California to Cabo is known for the following winds gently sending you south, the return voyage is often called the Baja Bash. In spring, the typical coastal winds are 20-25 knots from NW to NNW. These are not easy conditions in which to sail or motor back to California, hence the infamous Bash!
The Clipper Route, named for the Yankee clippers that used it in the 1800s, is often talked about as an alternate route to get north from the equator to San Francisco. That route is about 1,000 miles offshore of Central America, Mexico and California, with winds from the northeast. If you are trying to make the 800 miles from Cabo to San Diego, it does not make sense to go 1,000 miles offshore, then 800 miles north, and then 1,000 miles back to shore! Most mariners are resigned to waiting weeks for calm conditions to motor north, or resigned to bashing.
I was considering leaving La Paz in late May to head north for San Francisco. As I monitored the weather, I noticed the winds on the Pacific side of Baja were often 20-25 knots and higher from the NW. I also noticed that, from time to time, the winds 50 to 100 miles offshore were a lighter 10-15 knots and periodically changed direction from NW to NNE. This change was usually caused by a weak tropical depression running NW off the coast of Mexico. My sailboat, Pendragon, is a Davidson 44 (highly modified). While it is a fast boat, it is a fairly heavy racing boat of a class called IOR warhorses. In La Paz at Sails & Shades, I was having a used sail refitted to use as a delivery mainsail for my return trip. The delivery main was only about two thirds the area of the racing main.
Day 0, July 6: I motored from La Paz to Los Cabos overnight and topped off the diesel in Los Cabos. Day 1, July 7: I departed Los Cabos at 8 a.m. and headed to Cabo San Lucas. Abeam of Cabo at 11 a.m.: 20-knot headwinds and uncomfortable chop. I motored a few hours past Cabo to get out of the wind accelerating by the point. I was sailing and making a little bit of northing on a starboard tack, but mostly sailing west. After a wind shift, we were not making any northing, so I tacked over to a port tack and headed north.
Day 2, July 8: Overnight the wind lightened up, so I tacked over to starboard tack to head offshore. Later, due to a wind shift, I was not able to make any northing, so I tacked over to a port tack and headed north, making 7 to7.5 knots on smooth seas. By sunset I was a few miles south of Isla Santa Margarita in a dying wind. I tacked to head west and then had to start motoring, heading WNW overnight.
Day 3, July 9: Headed WNW or better and sailing with good speed on flat seas. The winds have started to shift more to the northeast as predicted.
Day 4, July 10: Wet on deck all day, SE swell from tropical depression to my south hitting the prevailing NW swell to make chaotic seas. Heading NNW directly at Isla Guadalupe. Continue reading in Latitude 38’s June issue: The Mini-Clipper Route
How To Put Yourself on the Map: Morro Bay, Fairfax, Kiel Canal
We always meet so many interesting sailors at the boat shows. One of those was Paul Irving, who told us he’s a member of the Morro Bay Yacht Club (MBYC) and owns 18 boats, including small kayaks, rowboats, and a sailboat. We asked if Latitude 38 was finding its way to the yacht club. Six hours after we met Paul at the Pacific Sail & Power Boat Show in Redwood City, he was back at MBYC and sending us some pics of the club and its reading materials.
Morro Bay Yacht Club hosted the 2022 Santa Cruz 27 Nationals, and is home to one of the most active O’Day fleets in the country. In 2022, John Krossa, MBYC member and owner of the Santa Cruz 27 Janina, sent us a couple of stories about the club’s new fleet of four Santa Cruz 27s.
While we were at Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax the other day, we saw a woman walk by with a T-shirt from the Sausalito Yacht Club and thought the busy organic grocer would be a good place for the magazine. We asked the customer service desk and they said, “Sure!” So if you’re a sailor in Fairfax and looking to relax with a good read along with good food, you can now pick up the magazine at the local Good Earth store.
You can also find Good Earth on our distribution map below, along with many other places in the Bay Area to find your copy of the Bay Area’s favorite monthly sailing magazine.
Here’s another interesting story: To the best of our knowledge, our distribution in Germany is a single copy that was brought over by Larry Haynie, who is currently going through the Kiel Canal aboard his 1974 Amel Euros 41 Zandra. He bought Zandra just over a year ago, saying she’s in great shape, though he’s re-powered her with a Volvo Penta D2. He’s faced a number of hurdles with insurance, paperwork and some repairs, but Larry is finally underway and pointing Zandra south toward the Med.
According to Larry, getting into the canal was pretty simple. They tied up in Holtenau and walked 100 meters to the pay station. It was 35 euros for 12-16-meter boats. They walked back to the quay, had a great lunch, and motored toward the large locks because the smaller ones are closed. It was then just a half-hour wait to get in. Larry continues, “Traffic was light. No one passed us, and we passed about a dozen ships and maybe 20 or so private yachts. The ships were mostly tankers, two container ships, smaller than the ones we would see in the Bay, and one bulk freighter. We made it to Rendsburg by 1800, and chose the Büdelsdorfer YC for mooring. This morning we took a nice hike along the north bank in the Kiel direction. There was a nice bay where a boat was anchored. It looks [as if there’s] room for lots more.”
The Kiel Canal is a 61-mile-long freshwater canal built in 1895. It saves almost 300 miles of travel so you don’t have to go over Denmark and the Jutland Peninsula.
Finding Latitude 38 in Europe is strictly a BYOM (bring your own magazine) affair, but on the USA’s West Coast you can pick up the printed copy at any of these locations. It’s a great addition to your coffee table or nightstand.
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Once you’ve made your purchase, send your order number to [email protected] and we’ll be in touch to send you your hat.