Sailing Season Starts at the Spring Crew Party

Everyone had a good time at the first Latitude 38 Spring Crew List party since COVID. Hosted in San Francisco by the Bay View Boat Club across from the Chase Center, the event attracted sailors looking to crew and boat owners looking for crew, for everything from summer beer can racing to the Baja Ha-Ha. The Bay View Boat Club was a great host, offering a chili buffet and staffed bar, plus inviting everyone to race in their Monday night beer can series, starting on the 14th, and join them for the 40th annual Plastic Classic Regatta on July 19.

This was one of the first times Tim Dick had attended a crew party when he wasn’t looking for crew. He’s the former owner of the Lagoon 42 Malalo and has had many crew from earlier crew parties join him on his former boat. Now boatless, he showed up looking for racing and daysailing rides on the Bay. In keeping with the traditional in-person theme, the skipper on the right was advertising with a billboard on his chest for a 1/4-share owner for his Catalina 38. If you are actually going to join people sailing the Bay, you’re eventually going to have to get off your device and meet sailors. The Bay View Boat Club was a great place to start those in-person connections.

In the small-world department, Paul Kamen and James Dilworth started discussing James’ recent purchase of what he believes may be the oldest 5O5 in the US. It originally came here from Long Island, which happens to be where Paul Kamen started his sailing life at age 5. After some photos and discussion, they believe James owns the very 5O5 aboard which Paul took his very first sail! It’s still hard to believe, but the sailing world is stunningly interconnected.

When you sign up to race you’ll miss fewer sunny, pleasant evenings like last night, because you’ll have committed to some sailing dates. As we all know, one of the easiest ways to improve your life and sail shape is to hoist your sails.

The critical part of crew parties is to say hello, read the tags where red (boatowner) meets blue (crew), describe your interests, and then exchange information so you can make future sailing plans. As we heard one attendee say, “It’s like speed dating for sailing.”

Almost all evening beer can series along the California coast get underway in April. If you’re looking for more sailing, they’re a great place to start. You can see the Northern California beer can schedule here and get the entire Northern California racing schedule in our annual calendar here.

Jim, pictured above, was looking for crew for racing or cruising aboard his Santa Cruz 40, while Sabrina, who has lots of experience aboard power boats, was looking to check out the world of sailing. She has both a blue and a green sticker, with the blue sticker indicating she’s interested in sailing/racing the Bay, and the green sticker indicating she’s also looking at cruising to Mexico and beyond. There are lots of options when it comes to sailing.

Most everyone came dressed with appropriate Bay View Boat Club sailing attire, which means anything that was comfortable. However, though it wasn’t a costume party, the crew of the Morgan 36.6 came dressed in the theme of the boat’s name, Westerly. They’re active racers with the South Beach YC Friday night races and other Northern California events.

One of the things we love about sailing is the history it keeps alive along the waterfront. The Bay View Boat Club is a funky, fun club that hangs on to its piece of shoreline under the looming shadow of the Chase Center and the south city’s rapid development. It preserves its low-key atmosphere and heritage with hundreds of yacht club burgees and photos of past commodores arrayed along its walls. The July Plastic Classic regatta is one of the marquee events that connect sailors and sailboats (designed more than 25 years ago) across the decades of Bay Area sailing.

If you missed the party, it doesn’t mean you have to miss sailing this year. You can add your name to the Latitude 38 Crew List here. We have lots of great stories of folks who have put their names on the list and/or attended crew parties, which has turned into thousands of miles of sailing. Yosh Han is one who has sailed over 15,000 miles since she started sailing in 2018 and offers a few crewing tips in her story here.

We sign off with a final thank-you to the Bay View Boat Club and all the club volunteers who made for a great Crew List Party, and who keep the sailing spirit alive along the overdeveloped San Francisco Bay shoreline.