Posts by Andy Turpin
Fixer-Upper, for Sale Cheap
A little soap, a little elbow grease. . . Is the famous Gunboat 55 #1 Rainmaker beyond resurrection? We’ll bet someone will take on the task.
© 2016 Courtesy Cooper Specialty Salvage, LLC
If you’re the sort of bargain hunter who’s constantly on the lookout for the ultimate boat deal, you’ll be interested to hear that the once-gorgeous Gunboat 55 catamaran (#1) Rainmaker is up for auction this month, with bids starting at $15,000 — less than 1% of its original value. More »
Drone Cargo Ships Are Coming
As if professional maritime jobs weren’t already in short supply, this summer attendees at an international shipping conference in Amsterdam were introduced to the very real possibility that a new breed of unmanned ‘drone’ cargo ships will be operational before the end of the decade. More »
A New Take on Drinking While Boating
No matter how you feel about having a few beers while boating, we think you’ll agree that the video below takes a very creative approach to that topic. Made by the Norwegian NGO AV-OG-TIL, it makes the claim that "Boating is an art form best practiced sober." More »
Container Port for Anegada?
A rainbow ends on one of Anegada’s pristine, white-sand beaches — an appropriate metaphor for one man’s estimation of the island’s financial potential.
© 2016 Peter Whitney
According to British Virgin Islands tourism stats, visits by West Coast sailors contribute mightily to that British Overseas Territory’s annual income. More »
Pac Cup Highs and Lows
Because some Pacific Cup entries were still finishing last week as we went to press with the August issue of Latitude 38, it was a high-stress scramble for us to put together the race overview that appears within the magazine. More »
A 100-Year Rudder
With the Pacific Cup, Singlehanded TransPac and Vic-Maui races all going on at the same time, the focus of ‘Lectronic has been acutely focused on offshore racing lately. Meanwhile, plenty of other notable nautical stories have been quietly taking place with little fanfare. More »
August Latitude Out Today
On the August cover, the super-maxi Rio100 blasts toward the Pac Cup finish at Kaneohe, Oahu, shaving nearly three days off the previous benchmark. This and several other awesome aerials that appear in our recap were shot by Hawaiian photographer Lauren Easley. More »
20th Solo TransPac a Wrap
The 23 finishers of the Singlehanded Sailing Society’s Singlehanded TransPac gathered at Nawiliwili Yacht Club for their awards party on Saturday, July 23.
© Kristen Soetebier
The 20th edition of the Singlehanded TransPac came to a close Saturday night with awards at Nawiliwili Yacht Club on Kauai Island, Hawaii. More »
Raucous Pac Cup Finish
Skies were stormy and the troughs were deep over the weekend, as Rufus Sjoberg’s Melges 32 Rufless sailed to the finish line. Despite riding winds stronger than what his "lake boat" was designed for, he said, "We had an awesome adventure the whole way through!" More »
Pac Cup Record Set as Storm Approaches
Doublehanders Melinda and Bill Erkelens blast toward Oahu aboard their MORC30 Wolfpack, securing first place in North Sails DH2.
© 2016 Leslie Richter
As the Pacific Cup’s early finishers celebrate their success and swap tales from this year’s abnormally fast passage from San Francisco to Oahu, a reenergized Tropical Storm Darby — now packing sustained winds of 60 mph — is undoubtedly making crews at the back of the pack a bit nervous. More »
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