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Latitude 38 Magazine July Issue Out Today!
It’s July! Summer is here, Independence Day is on the calendar, and the latest issue of Latitude 38 is on the docks! Do you have yours yet? Not to worry, they’ll be available at all our Bay Area distributors by the end of the day, and farther afield any moment. Although, if you took advantage of either of our recent subscription promotions, you don’t even have to leave home as yours will be arriving in the mail. (Though we do encourage you to go outside and sail whenever you can.)
Riding Magic Mountain — My First Offshore Sail, Rig Failure, and Fog
I felt the nerves settle in my stomach, accompanying the seasickness I had finally grown accustomed to. Thankfully, the second thoughts I’d been having were not present as I was slowly gaining my sea legs. It was my first offshore sailing experience, having only sailed a handful of times in the warm, welcoming waters around Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. We were three days into our passage to Ensenada, Mexico, with 1,000 miles to go. My partner Jason is a confident and seasoned sailor, so despite my uneasiness, I sat in the cockpit of our 1976 Cheoy Lee Offshore 41, Sitka, trying to silently make peace with Poseidon.
Two Brothers, Two Antrim Designs — One Pac Cup Showdown
“We’re racing for pink slips,” said Jim Partridge of the upcoming Pacific Cup, where he’ll be sailing against his older brother, Cree. “Whoever wins gets the other guy’s boat,” Jim added, only half serious — we think.
The competition between the Partridge brothers will see them going head to head in their Jim Antrim-designed custom boats, both of which were built at Berkeley Marine Center. Cree, who owns BMC, will be sailing Glass Slipper, officially described as a boatbuilder’s 40-ft carbon fiber sled, born from the same hull plug as the Antrim-designed Class 40 California Condor. “This boat is a culmination of everything that I’ve ever done in the past,” Cree, 77, said of Glass Slipper.
Nikko’s Pacific Puddle Jump — San Francisco to Hiva Oa
Adin Bonaparte and I (Keith) motored out the Golden Gate in our Fraser 41 sloop Nikko, bound for Hiva Oa. It took three years to get the boat ready to sail the South Pacific. Jason and I bought the 1982-built Nikko in Washington state, and refitted it for the adventure: new rigging, new seacocks and thru-hulls, the addition of a spinnaker setup, AIS, Starlink, storm sails, etc. We sailed her down to San Francisco in 2022 to complete preparations.
Here’s more of what’s inside:
- Letters: America’s Schooner Cup Aboard Schooner Quascilla; A Light-Wind Singlehanded Farallones, On the Other Hand, Tested Patience; Speaking of Oregon …; A Posse of Optis Took Over the Bay in April for Earth Day; and many more readers’ letters.
- Sightings: Brigadoon Celebrates 100; High School Highs to Annapolis and Back; Will SailGP Save Sailing?; Remembering Vadura; and The Beer Can Ten Commandments.
- Feature Stories: Master Mariners Regatta Reels in Families; Brotherly Love in the Pacific Cup; Riding Magic Mountain.
- Max Ebb: “The Other Checklist” — What’s with the bucket in the head?
- Racing Sheet: CORW = Spinnaker Cup, Coastal Cup + SoCal 300. The Delta Ditch Run was not for beginners. The YRA runs the Duxship, Bluewater Bash and Full Crew Farallones. StFYC hosts a Match Racing Qualifier, the Elvstrom-Zellerbach, and a Sailing League inaugural regatta. OYC sails the rescheduled Rites of Spring; SCYC hosts 5O5s, 470s and ILCAs; and ABYC runs the RS Tera NAs. Plus we round up Box Scores and Race Notes.
- Changes in Latitudes: With reports this month on Nikko’s Pacific Puddle Jump; Sweethaven’s “jump” from Mexico to Florida; JOIA‘s Puddle Jump and quick return home; and some interesting check-ins with interesting folks in Cruise Notes.
- Loose Lips: A wrap-up of June’s Caption Contest(!).
- All the latest in sailboats and sailboat gear for sale, Classy Classifieds.
We appreciate all readers and all our supporters. You keep Latitude 38 in print! You can show your appreciation by supporting our advertisers who have made this issue possible.
P.S. — For anyone heading south with the Baja Ha-Ha this year, our annual First Timer’s Guide to Mexico is out tomorrow!
Calling all Stephens Bros. Boat Owners, Lovers and Fans
Calling all Stephens Bros. boat owners, past and present — Dan Payne from San Diego wrote to us last month:
I’m collecting photographs, line drawings, specifications, and personal stories about the owners’ involvement with their boats.
I will be cross-referencing this with the information in the Stephens Brothers archives held at the Haggin Museum in Stockton. This collection will be available at no cost to participating owners as an electronic catalog, which can be printed on demand — in parts, or in its entirety. I’ll also publish a limited number of hardbound coffee table-style books, which will be available to purchase.
Thanks in advance to all who participate, for I cannot produce a meaningful, quality document without the help of contributors.
Any inquiries and all materials will be received here. Thank you for your help in making this publication a reality.
Steering the Dream With Hydrovane
Hydrovane is your best crew member: an independent self-steering windvane and emergency rudder/steering system … ready to go!
Remembering Ann Davison — The First Woman to Sail the Atlantic
One hundred years ago a new sailor was born into the world. Unbeknownst to anyone at that time, including herself, the newborn Ann Davison would become the first woman to sail the Atlantic singledhanded. Davison’s path to sailing was not simple, nor pre-arranged. Her first husband died as a result of an accident that occurred during the couple’s first ocean sailing experience — a circumstance that would end many sailors’ thoughts of returning to the water. But not Davison. She was determined to carry on and continue sailing.
Davison and her husband Frank had bought the 70-ft ketch Reliance soon after the end of World War II. Frank had sailing experience, Davison was a novice. After being caught in storms in the English Channel, Reliance was wrecked on rocks. They launched their life raft but were continually washed overboard. Frank lost his life, but Davison survived and went on to write about the couple’s experience in her book, Last Voyage. She also bought another boat — a 23-ft wooden sloop named Felicity Ann.
Over two years Davison prepared Felicity Ann and taught herself to sail. More knowledgeable but still largely inexperienced, she cast off from Plymouth, England, on May 18, 1952. On this first voyage she endured storms and challenges, and learned many skills including navigation by sextant. On November 20 she departed the Canary Islands for Antigua. However, a storm pushed her off course and Felicity Ann made landfall in Dominica on January 23, 1953. After spending some time recovering from her voyage, Davison sailed north to Florida and New York via the Intracoastal Waterway, She arrived on November 23, 1953, just a year after her departure from the Canary Islands. Davison, her boat and their voyage were widely celebrated, and she and the boat were invited as featured guests to the New York Boat Show in 1954.
Davison wrote a second book, My Ship Is So Small, in which she shared stories from her Atlantic crossing. Felicity Ann was sold five years after the crossing and shipped to California. Her immediate history is unknown to us, but we believe she was left to languish; another abandoned, old boat, before eventually being discovered by a private buyer.
A restoration attempt was made in Haines, Alaska, during the late 2000s. She was then donated to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Washington state where she was rebuilt and added to the Community Boat Project fleet. Felicity Ann made her new debut at the 2017 Wooden Boat Festival, and was relaunched on May 1, 2018.
Felicity Ann was was designed by Sid Mashford in 1936. She was built in Cornwall, England, in 1939 under the original name Peter Piper. Her construction was halted during World War II, and in 1949 she was complete and launched with the name Felicity Ann.
Davison made her home in America, remarried, and continued to sail. She died in 1992.
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Summery July Races Coming This Month
The Fourth of July
Want to race on a Thursday afternoon? Here’s your chance. A sampling of holiday races zipping around the Bay Area on July 4:
- Tiburon Yacht Club’s Brothers & Sisters Race around the eponymous islands north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
- Coyote Point YC’s Stars & Stripes in the South Bay off the coast of San Mateo.
- Encinal YC’s Fourth of July Regatta for juniors on the Estuary.
- San Francisco YC’s Fireworks Folly.
Around Northern California
On July 6-7, Stockton Sailing Club will host their Founders’ Regatta, celebrating their “Founding Fathers” (a group of boys). “The club was started in about 1933 by a few youngsters who went to Stockton High School and hung around the Stephens Brothers Boat Works,” wrote Bob Winter for the SSC website. “They built their own boats and kept them tied to the bank just west of the boat yard. Meetings were held in a loft over the garage at the Stephens’ home on Baker Street.”
Following 12 months of racing in a variety of venues across the globe, 13 teams compete on July 13-14 at the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final on San Francisco Bay. This final regatta of the series will decide the overall season champion. Find tickets and info here.
Peninsula Youth Sailing Foundation in Redwood City will host the North American Women’s and Open C420 Championships. The Women’s will be on July 13-15, with 40 female pairs registered so far. The Open NAs will follow on July 17-20, with a whopping 122 entries. Registration is still open.
Santa Cruz YC will set the stage for the Santana 22 Nationals on July 19-21.
For boats of a certain age: Bay View Boat Club invites owners of vintage fiberglass sailboats built from the 1960s through 1999 to enter the Plastic Classic Regatta on Saturday, July 20. The race will take place off the waters of San Francisco’s Pier 54. Following the race, “party like it’s 1999!” See www.bayviewboatclub.org/plastic-classic.
Missives from the Yacht Racing Association
The next race in the YRA’s Offshore Series will be the Jr Waterhouse Race, hosted by Richmond YC on July 13. Enter here.
“Get your entries in for the always popular Encinal Regatta,” urges the YRA. “If you’ve been around for a while, you probably think of this race as the 2nd Half Opener, but since July is no longer an ‘off’ month for racing, we don’t divide our racing season into halves anymore, which means the 2nd Half Opener has evolved into the Encinal Regatta.”
The regatta will be on July 27. “This race starts near the old Berkeley Pier ruins and heads out under the Golden Gate Bridge to the Point Bonita Buoy. After rounding Bonita, boats run down back through the Bay, under the Bay Bridge, and continue racing down the Estuary to the finish off the Encinal YC. After the race, head up to the club for a great after-race party with live music, a food truck, and drinks from Encinal’s famous Tiki Bar.” Enter here.
EYC invites racers to overnight at the club Saturday night and then participate in the Estuary Extravaganza, brought to you by EYC, Island YC and Oakland YC, on Sunday the 28th. Enter here. To reserve an overnight slip, contact the EYC port captain at [email protected].
High-Altitude Lake Racing
On July 12-14, Tahoe YC in Tahoe City will host the Santa Cruz 27 Nationals.
Fresno YC’s High Sierra Regatta takes to Huntington Lake on two consecutive weekends. Weekend 1, July 13-14, is for Moth, Snipe, Day Sailer, Lido 14, Laser, Banshee, RS Aero, RS Toura, Optimist, Melges 14, Vanguard 15, San Juan 21 and International 14 classes, plus Portsmouth-rated Open Centerboard boats. Classes invited for July 20-21 are PHRF, Ultimate 20, Catalina 22, Victory 21, Wylie Wabbit, Thistle, Melges 15, Moore 24 and Coronado 15 classes and Sportboats (J/70, Viper 640, Open 5.70, Melges 20).
“This is one of my favorite events every year. It’s a large regatta with a lot of different classes of boats,” writes Sam Wheeler of the San Francisco Vanguard 15 fleet. “Courses are long, with just two or three races each day. The stars at night are spectacular.”
The following week, on July 26-28, the Mercury fleet will have their High Sierra Regatta and Mercury Nationals on Huntington Lake back to back.
Southern California Races
“Look out, California — here come the Melges 24s!” writes Joy Dunigan. “All eyes and teams turn to the West Coast for three incredible Melges 24 regattas. First up is the US National Championship, hosted by Santa Barbara YC on July 12-14.”
July 19 — Dutch Shoe Marathon. SDYC, www.sdyc.org.
As part of the US Open Sailing Series, Alamitos Bay YC will welcome the Olympic Classes (470, 49er, 49erFX, Formula Kite, ILCA 6, ILCA 7, iQFOIL 8, iQFOIL 9, Nacra 17), Youth Worlds classes (29er, 420, Formula Kite, ILCA 6, iQFOIL Youth, Nacra 15), and invited classes (Finn and ILCA 4) for the Long Beach Olympic Classes Regatta on July 19-21.
This year, fleet size for the Governor’s Cup International Youth Match Racing Championship has increased from 12 to 14. Sailors from five countries will converge on Balboa YC in Newport Beach on July 22-27. This year’s roster will feature all four of last year’s semi-finalists, led by returning champion Jeffrey Petersen, 22, from the host club. Petersen also won in 2021. One of the competitors will be the winner of the US Youth Match Racing Championship for the Rose Cup, held in Marblehead, MA, last week.
Registration is open for the INSA Junior Sabot Nationals. San Diego YC will host the championship on July 29- August 1. This is the first time since 1962 that the event will return to SDYC.
Up the Coast
This is the busy season for the Columbia Gorge Racing Association, headquartered in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Their activities this month include the popular Columbia Gorge One Design Regatta (C-GOD) on July 26-28. The event will also serve as the ILCA District 22 Championship.
The July calendar abounds with many more races and regattas. See a pretty comprehensive list in our Calendar as published in the July issue of Latitude 38, hitting the docks today. Also feel free to note your favorites in the Comments section below.
Vallejo Marina: Gateway to the Bay, Delta, and Napa River
40′ to 45′ foot slips are now available at $9.97/ft. www.ci.vallejo.ca.us