Kiss me! Spread; In Letters, you read about swimming with whale sharks outside of La Paz. Arjan Bok of the San Francisco-based Lidgard 43 'RotKat' (inset) , and other members of last month's Sea of Cortez Sailing Week also went swimming with 300-lb sea lions at Los Islotes, north of La Paz.

lot of fuel was motoring along the East Coast’s Intracoastal Waterway. 38: What kind of an engine does Fleetwood have? Jack: She’s got her original 16-hp Renault diesel. It’s one of the few left, so parts are hard to come by. One day I’m going to have to replace her. But I never power unless I have to. The engine is so noisy that I can’t hear the radio, and it’s stinky and it costs money. So I don’t motor unless I’m sailing less than about 2.5 knots. Besides, I’m in no hurry, and I really enjoy being out on the ocean. 38: What do you have for a dinghy? Jack: I started out with a Metzler, which had an unusual design that featured air tubes on the bottom. It rowed really well, which was good, because I didn’t have an outboard, and because I always anchor out. But after two years the Metzler was toast. I bought a used

inflatable as a replacement when I was in Virginia, but I don’t even know what kind it is. 38: Let’s talk about safety and electronic gear. Do you have a liferaft, EPIRB, SSB and satphone? Jack: I have all of those except for a satphone. I use my SSB and Sailmail to talk to people, send emails and get weather. 38: Are you in contact with someone every day when you make a long passage? Jack: Oh yes. It’s very seldom that there isn’t somebody I talk to like Herb Hilgenberg of Southbound in Toronto, who provides weather for the Atlantic and Caribbean. He’s fantastic. When I left Bermuda for the Azores, I

LATITUDE/LAUREN

stopped at the fuel dock for a little fuel, and had a very mild run-in with a guy on a big ketch who wanted fuel first. He fueled up and left, and once he got his big gennaker up in the windy conditions, really left me behind. I figured I’d never see him again. But it tur ned out that I tied up at the Customs Dock in the Azores almost 12 hours ahead of him. He was impressed. We talked, and I was surprised to hear that he’d had a couple of days of no wind, and because their engine The 19th centur y was down, they’d Chinese pagoda in only made about 30 Saigon, one of the miles each of those coolest sights. days. It turns out that the guy in Florida he paid for weather routing hadn’t given him as good advice as I’d gotten for free from Herb. Before I went across, I told Herb I was planning on crossing at 32°N or even a little higher based on Jimmy Cornell’s book. Herb told me I’d been reading the wrong stuff, and kept me at about 31°N. He did a great job for me. [To be continued next month.] — latitude/rs 04/10/10 Swell — Cal 40 Liz Clark The Shaft Tube, My White Whale (Santa Barbara) So there I was, near the end of February, having labored for months in the boatyard and having spent tons of money getting Swell ready for more adventures. But my dreams had been thwarted by a Having been stuck in the boatyard for so long with so many frustrations, Liz might have lost it were it not for the surfing outlet.

LATITUDE/RICHARD

SPREAD; ARJAN BOK. INSET; LATITUDE/RICHARD

IN LATITUDES