About the Captain and the Boat: 

I am the captain of the Latitude. I am also the builder! 

I started building the latitude in the early 1980s as a commercial fishing vessel. I had been commercial fishing since 1975 - first as a crew member and then as a captain.   

During these years I participated in the rebuilding of a couple of wood fishing boats. I found that I really enjoyed working with wood.

Prior to becoming a commercial fisherman, I crewed on a 70' schooner called the Stone Witch. I developed quite a passion for sailing.  So, in 1980, I decided to build a commercial fishing sail boat.   My plan was to fish tuna all throughout the pacific ocean.

I ordered the wood from a mill in Riddle Creek Oregon.   I secured a location in a shipyard in Hunters Point,  San Francisco. Once the wood arrived, I commenced to lay the keel.  Once the keel was completed and standing upright, I was told of a partially completed hull of the same size that had just come up for sale in the shipyard next door.  In realizing the amount of cost and time saved by purchasing this hull, I negotiated a deal.  I sold the keel, moved all the tools and materials next door, and continued with the project.

After many years of construction of the hull, decks, bulkheads, cabins, engine, fuel tanks, etc.,  the fishing industry changed in ways that I was no longer able to support my plans. That, along with other unforeseen circumstances, led to one of my most difficult decisions – I had to  sell the boat.
The new owners completed the final construction and took her to Europe and back! 

She sailed the Mediterranean Sea, the north Atlantic, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and up the pacific coast to San Francisco.  She was used as a live aboard for the next 15 years. She had gone through a couple of different owners and was in desperate need of some TLC.

In June of 2016, she appeared on craigslist. My wife and I started looking at the possibility of buying her a back. We decided to buy her, then not to buy her. In the end, we were offered a deal we could not refuse.   I also became a licensed OUPV captain through the Coast Guard, commonly known as a six pack license.  It's a very long story, so come aboard and you may hear it all, how she came back to us, our journey of the restoration. and the sharing of our adventures with friends.