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1 week ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |John Arne Riise |Monica Grant
The Associated Press has reported that the president has directed “his government” to reopen Alcatraz. We’re not sure why they call it “his” government and not “our” government, but either way, it could be that we’re all sailing around a future federal prison. Alcatraz was closed in 1963 and is now a major Bay Area tourist attraction that reportedly generates $60 million for the National Park Service from the 1.6 million tourists that visit the island annually.
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2 weeks ago | 
latitude38.com | Monica Grant |John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |Tony Gilbert
Latitude 38’s May issue is out now and ready for your reading pleasure. This month we cruise through the generations with stories about junior sailors, historic vessels, and good times in between. Take a look at the preview:A Young Sailor with a Mature PassionWe often hear sailors saying, “Start ’em young,” or, “I wish I’d started when I was that age.” Driving down the road one day, we saw our neighbor coming up the hill.
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3 weeks ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |Monica Grant |Christine Weaver
It’s an old cliché, but each year we anticipate the arrival of March with curiosity — will it really come in like a lion? The answer on Saturday, March 1, this year was, “Yeah, like, duh, fer sure!” A storm front was on its way, pushing westerly wind into the 30-knot range ahead of it, far exceeding the forecast for mid-teens.
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3 weeks ago | 
latitude38.com | Martha Blanchfield |San Francisco Bay |John Arndt |David Chamberlain
This is not Yellow Bluff. The yellow buoys being scattered around the Bay and the world are real and will add to the information available to sailors and ocean adventurers everywhere. As cited in E&E News, a proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget seeks to drastically reorganize NOAA and plunder most of its climate research programs in fiscal 2026, with a possible budget reduction of 38% from $4.8 billion in 2025 to $3.47 billion in 2026.
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3 weeks ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |Mark Reid
The “Sort of Singlehanded North Bay Race” coming up this weekend on Saturday, April 26, allows you to bring a “ghost.” It’s not unusual for long-distance singlehanded racers to hallucinate while crossing oceans, but it is unusual for singlehanded races to actually have two people aboard. The reason the local Singlehanded Sailing Society allows this is to give first-time singlehanders some extra hands just in case they’re needed.
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1 month ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay
The first two Corinthian YC Friday evening beer can races were especially pleasant: warm air, flat water and light winds. In fact, it was so light on the first Friday that nobody finished the short course by the 15-minutes-after-sunset deadline. The second Friday was similar, with some boats not finishing, though we managed to slip in at 7:55, which was just three minutes ahead of the 7:58 deadline. Phew! Finish or not, the evenings were spectacular.
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1 month ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |Newport Beach |Martha Blanchfield
With the Transpac start coming up on July 1, a reader wrote in to ask, “What are the best things to include in the halfway package?” What’s the halfway package? It’s a tradition of family and friends of Transpac crews who put together a Transpac package that the crew gets to open at the race’s halfway point. The package contains “goodies.” If you’ve raced the Transpac or Pacific Cup, or even circumnavigated, what is the best surprise, food or goodie you’ve received?
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1 month ago | 
latitude38.com | San Francisco Bay |John Arndt
As many folks are aware, the north magnetic pole is migrating. What many people don’t realize is that they need to calibrate their radar units so when in “north-up” display mode, things are accurate. We recently hired a radar technician specialist and he walked us through the process. It was simple enough, and we share the procedure for your navigational safety. It’s quite similar to boxing a compass, but with radar instead.
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1 month ago | 
latitude38.com | San Francisco Bay |Teddy Daidreamer Hoppe |Bruce Brown |Chuck Haw-Haw-Hawley
A week after the Australian SailGP Team experienced a wing collapse, more videos have surfaced showing the incident from various angles. Greg Dorn's new-to-him Cookson TP52 'Favonius 2' is gearing up for the 53rd annual Transpac. Don't get caught behind the 8-ball, schedule your boat service on KKMI's calendar. Race 3 of Oakland Yacht Club's Sunday Brunch Series on February 2 was not too cold, but it was wet and a bit foggy.
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1 month ago | 
latitude38.com | John Arndt |San Francisco Bay |James Bender |Monica Grant
The annual California Dreamin’ Match Racing Series is a series of four events run each year at four West Coast yacht clubs: San Diego Yacht Club, Balboa Yacht Club, St. Francis Yacht Club, and the Long Beach Yacht Club. The series gives California match racers looking to move up the ladder the potential to qualify for higher-caliber events. The St. Francis Yacht Club event was run the weekend of March 8–9.
