Wrong, that’s a brand new Hanse 410. Damn, those bow sections are getting full!

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You have to wonder if there’s anything more that World Sailing and the IOC can do to further devalue sailing as an Olympic sport.

For decades we’ve been told that the primary aim of ‘updating’ Olympic sailing was to make it more inclusive, more appealing to youth, and more exciting for television. Instead, the 2024 regatta has, with few exceptions, scored poorly on all three of those objectives. Admittedly, the weather was dismal, but the problems ran much deeper than a simple lack of wind.

Take nothing away from the athletes themselves. Where the events in Marseille were conducted in fair breezes, in genuinely popular boats and under sensible scoring rules the acknowledged champions usually did well. But elsewhere some fine sailors who spent years developing their skills were denied medals they probably deserved.

The conventional regatta formats we all know, where races are scored equally with few drops, evolved over many years to reward consistency and reduce the element of luck which can be such a disruptive factor in competitive sailing.

But rather than accept those established principles and concentrate on making Olympic sailing fair and relevant the governing authorities have let the tail wag the dog. By straining to create events they imagine might be more attractive to youth and television, the IOC and World Sailing distorted both the range of classes and the formats they race under…

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It’s getting to be a habit. Yet another major Australian offshore race has ended with a controversial protest involving boats that placed first and second on handicap.

Keen followers of last weekend’s Sydney-Gold Coast race will have noticed the official results showed a tiny asterisk against the name of the winning yacht, Voltstar Yeah Baby (above). The * footnote confirmed that there had been a protest against the Class 40, but that the protest was dismissed.

What happened? As ever, it’s complicated and the facts are in dispute.

Rupert Henry, the owner/skipper of Mistral, the yacht that came second overall, believed that Yeah Baby had set a flying headsail during the race not listed on the boat’s IRC certificate.

Yeah Baby finished at 03:00. Mistral crossed at around 11:00am. Henry then asked the Race Committee to send a measurer to check Yeah Baby’s sail inventory for compliance.

Time now becomes critical.

SA has obtained a copy of the Protest Committee finding. It confirms the measurer didn’t come aboard Yeah Baby until 15:00 – 12 hours after the Class 40 had finished. The protest finding goes on to note that “the boat had been cleaned up, washed down and alterations made to the sail inventory”.

It is the nature of those “alterations” that was the crux of the protest. The measurer identified a Fractional Code 0 on the boat in addition to its declared sails. But the Committee concluded that “no evidence was presented to show that the Fractional Code 0 was on board or used during the race”. Protest dismissed.

It is understood that the owner of Yeah Baby attested that the extra sail had been put aboard after the race for the delivery.

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The Biz

Founded in 1966, Nautor Swan today boasts a comprehensive range of services. These include high-profile offerings through Nautor Swan Charter and Brokerage, Nautor Swan Global Service—which provides global assistance—and ClubSwan Racing, the sport division managed by professionals in the sailing world. Additionally, ClubSwan serves as a virtual yacht club, bringing together all Swan owners and fans under one roof.

With effect from today, following its strategy to evolve and never revolutionize, 60% of Nautor’s shareholding passes to Sanlorenzo ownership – a very important and positive step – a very important and positive step to facilitate continued growth and strengthen its reputation as one of the most important sailing shipyards worldwide.

The Boatbuilding Technology Centre (BTC) in Pietarsaari, Finland, remains the main production site for sailing yachts underpinning Nautor Swan’s heritage, together with the pillars of its DNA: elegance, quality, performance and reliability, and enhance the culture and the secular craftmanship, proper of the Ostrobothnia region.

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Photo by Wilbur Keyworth

Some of the best gifts come in small packages. So it was when my sister-in-law asked me and my husband if we would race her Herreshoff 12½ in the Annapolis Yacht Club’s Wednesday night series. Sidelined while recovering from back surgery, she couldn’t bear to see her beloved boat beached as well.

It was an intriguing offer, one you might say we couldn’t refuse. We had long admired the classy lines of this cheeky little sloop that Cindy had, for many years, sailed the wheels off of in the AYC series. We never got into the predictably Byzantine controversies surrounding the boat and its class (simply called H Class) including debates over rigs (Marconi or gaff-rigged), hull provenance (fiberglass versus wood), etc. When a boat has been in continuous production for 110 years—110 years—you can expect some kerfuffles.

All we cared about was the chance to spend time sailing this design, which Nathanael Herreshoff drew in 1914 to a brief from one Robert W. Emmons II and several of his friends. They asked the Wizard of Bristol—he of the likes of America’s Cup defender Columbia and countless other majestic and ultimately historic yachts—for a small boat suitable for children to manage even in the feisty breezes of Buzzards Bay (hence her first nickname, the Buzzards Bay Boy’s Boat). The goal also was a boat in which kids could “become familiar with the characteristics of the type of larger sailboats to which they might graduate later on,” according to the H Class Association website.

“It is unlikely that in 1914 or 1915 the genius of Nathanael G. Herreshoff or the inspiration of Mr. Emmons could have foretold the unique popularity and longevity of the design we have now seen for more than 100 years,” the website continues. “She is still considered to be one of the finest, if not the finest, small sailing yacht designs ever created. And as it turned out, the boat was perfect for all ages in the family, not just the kids.”

She really is a little big boat, with a full keel and a displacement of 1,500 pounds plus 735 pounds of ballast helping provide a profound stability we ran into on our first race day when the jib halyard block broke before the start. No problem, Johnny said, we’ll just sail over to a dock where we can get high enough to careen her a bit to reach the spar and replace it. Hah! Not a shot. We were DNS that day.

At 16 feet LOA, the 12½ refers to her waterline length of 12 feet, 6 inches, which sounds really tiny, yet her flared topsides and fine entry mean she can handle a chop (Buzzards Bay, remember), she rarely gets on her ear, and even if splashed now and then, you feel totally secure in her roomy cockpit.

You also feel like you’re in a Winslow Homer painting. The first time we sailed her, I found myself channeling Gatsby and Daisy. It would not go amiss, I thought, to include sloe gin fizzes in the gear bag.

That DNS, though, gets to the other reason we couldn’t refuse Cindy’s offer. It’s been many moons, two kids, a couple of houses, several jobs, six dogs, and several thousands of cruising miles since we’ve been on the racecourse together. What better way to ease back into it than this forgiving little boat which, in spite of its size or perhaps because of it, inspires a certain genteel intensity in those who sail her. Or intense gentility. Sometimes it’s not clear which.

But last night at the start, I looked over as five of us crossed the line together in a row, those jaunty bows glimmering in the late-day light, and I thought how remarkable it is that more than a century later, this little big boat can still be teaching us how to sail fast and well, and with joy.

Keep on sailing,
Wendy
wclarke@aimmedia.com

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August/September 20247

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Bet you didn’t see that coming…!

Maximilian Maeder and Lauriane Nolot have established themselves as the gold medal favorites for the men’s and women’s Formula Kite classes at the 2024 Olympics. Both kiters are current double world champions, having clinched titles in the 2023 and 2024 championships. Their back-to-back victories solidified their status as the best in the world, showcasing their ability to perform under pressure—a crucial trait for Olympic success.

Despite their shared dominance, their paths to success in Formula Kite have been markedly different. One forged a solo path, while the other thrived with the support of an established national development and Olympic program, demonstrating multiple routes to high-performance sailing success.

Read on.

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Shock, horror perhaps but I, Shanghai Sailor, have to compliment anarchist David on his latest couple of pieces. The keel first.

I remember notable keel failures all the way back to Cheeki Raffiki. Notable perhaps only because they resulted in fatalities and were very publicly reported.

Back in the “good old days” keels ran pretty much the whole length of the yacht. A modern view of this can be found by watching some of the earlier videos from Leo and the Tally Ho team which would suggest that a well found yacht would bounce off the hard stuff when the draft equaled a little bit more than the available water, and then just carry on.

Over the years however keel roots have become shorter and shorter especially on race boats to put the weight as low as possible the bulb is at the end of a long, thin foil. Sometimes this is made of carbon which, while known for its overall strength-to-weight ratio, is not fond of sudden shock loads.

Then of course there are the keel bolts and the laminate layup they are stuck through.

Some builders include a steel grid inside the boat to spread the keel loads and link them all the way to the rig, while other designers underestimate loads in this area. One notable case was the Clipper fleet which had to stop in the Philippines to deal with their wobbly keels even though the actual builders had added 12-14 layers of laminate beyond the specification they had been provided to the hull in the keel area…

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Helluva a story. So who has the right o’ way?

A seaplane lifted off directly into the side of a boat while setting off on a Saturday sightseeing flight from a harbor in Vancouver, Canada. The pilot and five passengers onboard De Haviland DHC-2 Beaver escaped the crash uninjured, CBC News reports.

Those on the boat weren’t as lucky, with two people being sent to the hospital with injuries.

More here.

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From our friends at Stephens/Waring Design…

Last year, 76-ft Zemphira racked up an impressive array of hardware, culminating in an impressive first-place overall SoT ranking for the CYCS 2023 season. We connected with the yacht’s two skippers, Kirsty Morrison and Andrew Parente, to understand the magic behind the winning boat.

How did you first discover your love for sailing?

Kirsty: My father was an avid sailor. I grew up in London and when I was 8 years old he built me an Optimist dinghy in the spare bedroom. They were originally designed so they could be built out of 2 pieces of plywood. He forgot about getting it down the staircase so he had to take the bedroom window out and lower it out of the opening. I used to race it on a reservoir near Heathrow Airport. Entirely unglamorous, but it got me started.

Andrew: Sailing a sunfish around Third Beach in Middletown RI.

What is your experience and career path to becoming a skipper? Read on.

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Welcome to the June issue of Latitude 38. As we sail into summer we’re excited to bring you our latest stories, photos, news and updates. It’s all possible thanks to our community of readers, advertisers, our printer, delivery drivers, and everyone who has had a part in putting these pages together. We hope you enjoy our latest offering!

Here’s a preview.

A Stormy Great Vallejo Race

May Gray is one thing (plenty of that later in the month), but a winter storm on May 4 is quite another. While snow dumped on the Sierra, cold rain poured on San Francisco Bay all morning. The temperature dropped 25° from Friday (more in the higher elevations). We suspect that some competitors registered for the Great Vallejo Race saw the weather, hit the snooze alarm, and pulled their down comforters over their heads. The rest of us had a cold, wet romp of a sail in 10 to 21+ knots of southwesterly breeze, surfing the stacked waves whipped up in an ebb on San Pablo Bay. We hoped we wouldn’t see those waves going back on Sunday, and we pitied those who turned around after finishing to bash back on Saturday afternoon.

28 Days Before the Mast — A Sailor’s Experience Aboard Stad Amsterdam

Sailing across the Pacific Ocean on a Dutch clipper ship was not on my boating bucket list until I read about Stad Amsterdam’s voyage from Panama to San Francisco in ‘Lectronic Latitude. The ship’s stop in San Francisco before sailing to Honolulu and then Tokyo was part of its 2023-25 around-the-world voyage. The Pacific leg of this adventure had berths available!

The photo that ran with the article showed a three-masted, full-rigged ship, sails billowing, bow furrowing through the water — a picture I’d seen on the covers of all the sailing books I started reading as a kid on a farm in Oregon, far from any ocean. Thoughts of Richard Henry Dana, Herman Melville, and all the 19th-century clipper ships arriving at San Francisco during the Gold Rush filled my dreams. I was hooked.

$2 Catamaran, Priceless Adventure

An adventure like this is not for the faint of heart. When Terry Castleman found the boat of his dreams on eBay, he approached his three prospective boat partners to see if they’d throw down the cash to make the deal. After some deliberation, the three partners each Venmo-ed Terry 50 cents, at which point they had enough for the all-cash purchase of their two-dollar catamaran, Lickety Split. All that remained was cleaning it up and sailing the boat from its location in Stockton to their home in Los Angeles. Simple enough, right?

There are plenty more stories, plus our regular monthly columns:

• 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: Falling In, and Saving Myself; West Coasters at Charleston Race Week; The Mini-Clipper Route; and more great stories.
• Max Ebb: Ahoy, sailors! As the sun sets on another day at sea, it’s time to chart a course through the waves of wisdom with Max Ebb. In this month’s column, we’re setting sail into uncharted waters to explore a topic that’s sure to make waves among sailors and landlubbers alike — Artificial Ideas
• Racing Sheet: A fast Newport to Ensenada Race, FLYC’s Camellia Cup, StFYC’s J/105 Women Skipper Invitational, SCYC’s Moore 24 Santa Cruz Regatta, the SSS Sort of Singlehanded South Bay Race, DRYC’s Malibu Race, the team roster of American sailors heading to the Paris Olympics, and Box Scores all get ink in this edition.
• Changes in Latitudes: This month we bring you reports on Sweethaven’s first season in Mexico (Part 2); Migration‘s return to the South Seas after a 16-year hiatus; Quark’s return to cruising after a summer in the marina; and catch-ups with voyagers from all over the place in Cruise Notes.
•  Loose Lips: A wrap-up of May’s Caption Contest(!).
• All the latest in sailboats for sale, Classy Classifieds.

We appreciate all readers and all our supporters. Without you there would be no Latitude 38. Again, we extend a big thanks and appreciation to our advertisers who have made this issue possible. We invite you to show your appreciation by supporting them.

And thank you to our distributors. Go grab your new issue of Latitude 38 from any of these folks listed. Or subscribe, and have your copy delivered each month.

The post Latitude 38 June Issue Is Out Today! appeared first on Latitude38.

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The Environment

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasted a “severe solar storm” that’s expected to hit Earth tonight, according to a release. These geomagnetic storms happen every so often, but as the Sun approaches the maximum of its 11-year solar cycle, the space weather is getting more intense.

A geomagnetic storm occurs when solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occur on the Sun, causing variation in the solar wind that hits Earth’s magnetosphere, the protective sheath of Earth’s magnetic field. Read on.

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