July eBook pages 1-91 (16.1 MB) - Latitude 38

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W W W . H Y D R O V A N E . C O M
LATITUDE / RICHARD
LETTERS
San Francisco to Monterey I did with David Hodges, Ian Klitza
and Jay Crum on the Wilderness 30 Special Edition. We sailed
the course in 8 h, 35 m. To be sure, that's about an hour and
25 minutes longer than it took Akela, , but Special Edition is
less than half as long as Akela.
As I recall, we had a noon start, which I found frustrating
because we wanted a shot at fi nishing before sunset. As it was,
we didn't get the kite up until we were down by Half Moon
Bay. But the breeze just kept clocking and building. At one
point, I remember looking back and seeing the boat behind
us pitchpole. The boat behind them dropped their chute and
winged out a jib. But Special Ed could still profi tably carry
our fractional 1.5-oz chute, a sail Ian always referred to as
'the potato chip'. The adrenaline was fl owing pretty strong as
we blasted down Monterey Bay.
We fi nished at 8:35 p.m., which was just about sunset. It
had been a hell of a ride!
Eric Sultan
Osprey, Santa Cruz 40
Alameda
Eric — A young Hodges, Klitza, Crum and Sultan on a 30-ft
ultralight — one can only imagine what that must have been
like.
⇑⇓WORDS OF EXPERIENCE
Having just received our latest Latitude here on South
Maui, I really enjoyed reading the article about other folks’
experiences with the Crew List. I'd like to add my thoughts
for those who may be picking up Latitude for one of the fi rst
times and wondering how to get into the wonderful world of
sailing.
I grew up as a backpacker and mountaineer in the Sierra,
and started sailing almost three decades ago with my dad’s
senior citizen group, which sailed out of the Alameda Naval Air
Station. They jokingly called themselves the Orinda YC. One
day one of them handed
me a Latitude and said,
“I think you’ll like this.”
After reading it cover-tocover,
and seeing all of
the stories and pictures
about sailors obviously
having the time of their
lives, I wrote a letter
to the editor. It essentially
asked, 'Where do I
sign up?' and was published.
The Editor/Pub-
Bird loving 'Profligate' crew Patrick lisher/Wanderer/Grand
Ralph has also had great success using
Poobah very patiently
the 'Latitude' Crew List.
wrote a long reply back
and advised me to go for it, to walk the docks — still possible
then — sail in beer can races, hang out at the yacht clubs
after the races, and above all, sign up for the Crew List.
To make a long story short, I followed his advice, and had
many, many great sails and cruising experiences, both from
the Crew List parties and from hanging out at yacht and
sailing clubs, Over a decade, things came full circle, from
my asking, "Where do I sign up?" to my being featured in the
pages of the magazine.
As the popular Hawaiian surfi ng song goes, “If I can do it,
so can you!” So if you’re out there wondering how to get into
this incredible world of sailing and cruising, look no further
than Latitude, the Latitude Crew List, the Crew List Parties,