40 YEARS IN REVIEW, PART I —
Quadraplegic sailor Richard Olcese guides 'Dark Passage' in 35 knots of wind in 1982.
In '82 a sudden storm drove many cruising boats — including Bernard Moitessier's famous 'Joshua' — onto Cabo Bay's white sand beach.
clinic at Ballena Bay in 1979. Jobson The iconic Gary Jobson conducting a race Californians?" We're still not sure. you all with what's was quoted as asking, "So
In celebration of reaching our 40th year of publishing, we thought it would be fun to hitch a ride back to the freewheelin' '70s when Latitude was born, and reminisce about some of the highlights of our early issues as we sail through the years to the present. (Look for Part II next month). The Late 1970s — "Who needs another yachting publication?" asked Publisher Richard Spindler in the first issue of Latitude 38 in the spring of 1977. Answering his own query, he wrote: "We feel the Northern California sailor deserves better ... We can promise you we'll try and make Latitude 38 interesting, different and sometimes funny." The first issue featured the now-venerable Merlin (see Sight-
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Latitude 38
• April, 2017
Diane Beeston immortalized 'Lord Jim' — once the queen of Antigua's charter fleet — in this 1978 portrait.
ings), an ultralight downwind flyer built by Bill Lee for the 1977 Transpac (which she won). Reflecting the varied tastes within the West Coast sailing community, San Francisco's Bird Boat fleet was also profiled in that first issue. 1978 featured a very young John Bertrand (the soon to be famous Bay Area dinghy sailor, not the Australian helmsman who would take the America's Cup away from the US). We spotlighted the 1978 Star Worlds, which boasted an impressive who's who in the top four slots: Buddy Melges, Dennis Conner, Tom Blackaller and Paul Cayard (as crew). We featured renowned marine artist and San Francisco sailor Jim Dewitt (whose artistry graces this month's cover), describing him as a renaissance man with achievements in