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¡Hola! From Vallarta Yacht Club in Stunning Banderas Bay
We just completed our 32nd Banderas Bay Regatta. We want you to know about it and hopefully be lucky enough to participate next year. To describe the conditions as a perfection of champagne sailing is, in this case, a massive understatement. We had the perfect mid-teen breezes for all three days of this year’s Captain Ron-themed event, and the folks who did get to compete were thrilled beyond measure. We even outdid ourselves by having the sistership to the yacht famously featured in the Captain Ron film, Chez Nous, owned by Al and JoLinda Garnier as our signal boat. Al was kind enough to be PRO as well. Here’s a picture of him at anchor, not being terrified that his lovely boat is going to get pasted by some hotshot in the performance fleet.
The famous cetaceans showed up daily, as evidenced by the image below of Mike Seth’s J/133 Lost Dragon with a humpback and dolphin playing in the foreground. The good times reverberated throughout the fleet for all three days. I think this sighting was a good omen for Lost Dragon because they were the winners of the Performance 1 division.
While John Matjczyk’s Jeanneau 54 Edwina was the victor in Performance 2 Division, Joe Heinzmann’s popular 1971 Swan 55 Swan Fun came in second in her class and was the big winner of the Terry O’Rourke trophy given to the skipper and the crew best representing the fun-loving, Corinthian spirit of this regatta. This is their third annual appearance as they keep moving that party around the globe. In true Captain Ron form, the skipper is so much fun that it took a minute or two to get his attention at the bar to tell him that he’d won this trophy! You rock, Joe! Shots, anyone?
The all-important Cruiser Division was dominated by J/27 Beep Beep, skillfully helmed by VYC member Greg Reaume. Multiple-time participant Patsy Verhoeven, on her gorgeous Gulfstar sloop Talion, swooped in for second, and first-time, last-minute entry Jim Schultz’s Ericson Quincy was right behind them in third place.
I wasn’t the only one with a tear in the eye when the Farrier F-22 Cricket, which was owned by our recently departed, beloved Commodore Randy Hough and helmed in Randy’s honor by VYC Afloat Director David Gould, not only won the multihull division but took home the Pantera Cup for the first place in the Multihull division as well.
Hijinx abounded during the regatta, as the driver of Andy Barrow’s Oceanis 390 Hey Ya, awarded the Captain Ron award for being the slowest boat, and notably the author and photographer’s husband, Tim, had the bad manners to shoot a raspberry after being brutally mocked, by me, for a painfully slow mark rounding.
You really had to have been here. Hope you will be with us next year!
Two Free Small-Boat Sailing Opportunities Coming Up!
The first weekend in April presents two free small-boat sailing opportunities! First up, on Saturday, April 5, the Richmond Yacht Club is hosting its annual Sail a Small Boat Day. Then on Sunday, April 6, Shoreline Lake is hosting its second annual Sail-A-Dinghy-Day. Details as follows.
Richmond Yacht Club’s Sail a Small Boat Day is on Saturday, April 5, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The day is free to all comers and presents an opportunity to try small-boat sailing. Whether you’re an experienced sailor or new to sailing, this is a great way to get on the water and get a feel for the thrill of small-boat sailing.
The event is open to young kids, teens, adults, seniors — anyone who wants to give it a try. The fleet will include the Laser, Sunfish, Opti, El Toro, J/22, J/24, 29er, RS Tera and several other boats.
Bring your wetsuit and PFD, if you have them, or borrow one from the club on the day. Be prepared to get wet!
Where:
Richmond Yacht Club, 351 Brickyard Cove, Point Richmond.
Shoreline Lake, in Mountain View, will be holding its second Sail-A-Dinghy-Day on Sunday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors will have access to free skippered sailboat rides, helmed by Shoreline Lake’s experienced instructors, as well as other Welcome-to-Sailing activities.
The day is designed to promote sailing as an accessible, fun and family-friendly sport and incorporates demonstrations of racing and the chance to take a free skippered ride in one of the dinghies. Boats on display will include the RS Zest, ILCA/Laser, BUG, Catalina Capri 14.2s, Lido 14, Sunfish, El Toro, Windsurfer, and Holder 10.
Hosted in conjunction with the small-craft sailing club, Fremont Sailing Club (FSC), the event kicks off the 2025 sailing season and the onsite Sunday Sailing Racing program. Shoreline Lake sailing staff and FSC members will be on hand to provide additional information and booths promoting the sailing programs for kids, teens and adults.
You can learn about Shoreline Lake’s sailing lessons and rental boats, and the Fremont Sailing Club, which is a group of like-minded small-boat sailors that sail and race regularly at Shoreline Lake and other Bay Area venues, and has for over 50 years.
See Shoreline Lake and Fremont Sailing Club for more information.
Free Documentation Assistance at Hutchison Port ECV Marina!
Hutchison Port ECV Marina: Free assistance with your documentation at the port! Enjoy Mexico from the safety of our tides with the best of services.
Getting Onboard With the West Coast Sailing Community
While cruising through our archives this morning, researching stories and links, we came across a story from March 2021 in which we talked about the community behind Latitude 38. We pride ourselves on sharing local stories about local sailors, wherever they sail! “We go where the wind blows” isn’t just a circulation of hot air; we mean it. Although, sadly, we can’t be everywhere all the time (that would be nice). This is where you, our readers, come in.
Latitude 38 has covered the world of sailing “through the eyes of the West Coast sailor” since 1977. We share stories and tips on everything sailing — whether racing, cruising, exploring, getting involved with ocean research, or even just getting your sea legs. It’s all interesting and it’s all fun. And we wouldn’t have even one wooden leg to stand on, if it weren’t for the great stories shared by our community. Your stories make the magazine!
This is your official invitation to share your sailing with your sailing community. Let’s face it, we all love to talk about our sailing experiences. It might be that awesome anchorage we discovered, our first offshore voyage, or our first storm at sea. Or perhaps a cruise up the Delta or a voyage to Mexico. We love to talk about sailing in all its forms, and being sailors, we know you do too. So let’s hear from you!
Just to give you more scope, what is one of your most vivid sailing memories of the past year, maybe two? We read a science article that explained how writing by hand can light up 16 neural connections that are otherwise dormant. Now, we don’t expect you to write your story by hand — you don’t even have to write a full story. Just send us an outline of the most important facts: who you are, where and aboard what boat you were, and what happened. Include a few photos. We then tidy it up for you, and “presto!” You’re a published writer! It’s that easy.
We still get a kick out of seeing our own name on stories. Imagine how cool you’ll feel when you show your published story to all your family, friends and crewmates!
Are you feeling inspired? We have a detailed guideline for submissions here. But if you’re feeling lucky and you want to just wing it, email us at [email protected] with your story.
Thanks to all for reading. And a big shout-out and THANK YOU! to our advertisers, also without whom we wouldn’t be here.
‘Quester’ Takes a Leisurely Puddle Jump
Racing sailors never rest. No matter what boat they are graced with crewing, no matter what conditions and circumstances they are thrust into, no matter what their responsibilities are, they are always trying to maximize speed and performance. The old adage, “If there are two sailboats on the ocean, there is a race,” is not only true when it comes to racing sailors, it barely registers with them as worth the breath it takes to repeat it. Of course it will be a race. What else is there?
So when I found myself this past July on a five-person crew of the Oyster 56 Quester pulling away from her Anacortes slip and nosing into Puget Sound on her way to Honolulu, this racing sailor had some trepidation. This was going to be the first such crossing from the West Coast to Hawaii I had signed on to that was not a race — or rather “the race” — that is, the Transpac. How was I going to pass my days and my watches without the intensity of a racing mindset? How was I going to keep my focus when focus was not as much of a priority? How was I going to manage calories when I was likely not going to be burning them as fiercely as I would under racing conditions? In fact, how was I going to react to actually having time to relax, shower, read, eat well, contemplate, ponder, and otherwise take advantage of the leisurely pace Quester was going to set?
My transpacific experiences began in 2009 with Orange Coast College’s Alaska Eagle program. Alaska Eagle (the former 1977–78 Whitbread racer Flyer) was OCC’s flagship vessel, and for many years OCC offered ambitious sailing adventures aboard her, including acting as the communication vessel for the Transpac. (This was prior to all of the technological innovations such as Yellow Brick.) In the ’09 race, Alaska Eagle was not an official racer, but captain Brian Furie and first mate Karen Prioleau ran her as such.
The Eagle had to keep up with the bulk of the fleet. We never used the autopilot. Everyone took their turn on the helm, night and day. There were sail changes and reefings, spinnaker hoists and spinnaker blowouts — the last one managing to wrap itself around the propeller, thereby eliminating any engine use for the last 1,500 miles. In short, even though we were not racing, we were. It was an excellent introduction to high-performance, bluewater sailing. We were 12 days on the water and I ate it up.
Sign Up for the Great Vallejo Race
