Bob Bitchin is an adventurer and storyteller. Over the years he has created a number of lifestyle publications based on his lifestyle. In the 70’s he worked with Evel Knievel until the Snake River Canyon Debacle. After that he created Biker News, a tabloid covering the lifestyle of the Outlaw Biker. In the late 70s he turned it into a national magazine that became one of the largest of the genre. In the early 80s he created Tattoo Magazine, which went on to become “the” publication for the industry. He also worked as editor of many of the publications of that era, including Big Bike, Choppers, Cheopper Guide, and Easyriders, as well as contributing editor to such diverse publications as Forbes, Penthouse, Hustler, and New Look. The last title he and wife Jody created after returning from a world cruise in 1996, Latitudes & Attitudes, was sold in 2022. He divides his time between publishing a monthly newsletter, writing, world cruising, doing seminars on sailing, riding his Harley, and writing books. He has written a number of books, including Biker to Sailor, Letters From The Lost Soul, The Sailing Life, Brotherhood of Outlaws, BIKER, Emerald Bay, King Harbor, Starboard Attitude, DORF, and Grand Bay.

In those years he rode his motorcycles across the country over 30 times and around Europe as well. He helped found and was elected the first president of the Motorcycle Press Association in 1978, and he founded A.B.A.T.E. of California and later co-founded ABATE National, a national organization of motorcyclists.

In 1980 he was asked by the European motorcycle community to help create something similar for Europe.

Over the years he has written 11 books about the various lifestyles of boating, riding, and adventure travel. His first book, A Brotherhood of Outlaws, has been in print for 50 years and is now in its 8th printing. You can find his books on the Bob Bitchin website.

He and riding partner LACO Bob Lawrence, President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Hells Angels, co-created the very first Toy Run in December of 1973, which now takes place in thousands of cities worldwide.

He taught himself to sail on a Cal 28 sloop and found the sailing lifestyle fit him to a “T.” He met Alan Olson, captain of the Stone Witch, which was a 74′ square-rigged topsail schooner that sailed out of San Francisco. He signed on for a 3-month sail to Guatemala to see if the sailing life was for him. Stone Witch was the flagship for Greenpeace and had no engine, ran kerosene running lights, and had four 21′ oars for propulsion. His life was changed forever, and soon, while riding all over the world on Harleys, he lived aboard various sailboats that he would buy, fix up, and sell.

He sold BIKER and TATTOO magazines to Easyriders in 1986 and started sailing full time. For many years he sailed the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Central America on his Formosa 51, the first Lost Soul, and then on another 51′ ketch, named Predator, with numerous trips to the Hawaiian Islands and back. Then, in 1990, after fixing and selling seven boats, he bought the 68′ staysail ketch Lost Soul, and this would be his home for the next 17 years.

He kidnapped Jody, the bartender at the Portofino Marina Yacht Club, and they took off to explore the South Pacific. As it turns out, they cruised all over the South Pacific and then sailed through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic, sailed the Med, the Caribbean, and everywhere they ever dreamed of going. They were married on board the Lost Soul at the Portofino Marina on their return from their world voyage.

In 1996 he created the magazine Latitudes & Attitudes. In the 26 years L&A was published by Bob & Jody, it became one of the largest and most authoritative publications on sailing and world cruising.

In 2005, along with Darren O’Brien, he created the television show Latitudes & Attitudes, which, at the time, was the only nationally televised show about the sailing lifestyle. The show aired 5 seasons nationally with 65 episodes and is still in syndication worldwide.

In 2007 he started Latitudes @ Attitudes Radio Network, featuring waterfront entertainers from all over their world! Later that would merge and become Pyrate Radio, where Bob still does a weekly show on Sundays at 12 noon Eastern.

In 2012 he and Jody decided to sell Latitudes & Attitudes & retire, to go cruise the world again.

Unfortunately, the buyers turned out to be a bit less than honest, and in just six months Bob & Jody lost everything and were forced into bankruptcy.

But all was not lost. Almost 750 of their L&A Readers sent in $250 each to become founders of a new publication for Bob. Cruising Outpost, which went back to back to the original title, “Latitudes & Attitudes,” and became the #1 selling maritime lifestyle publication in the USA.

Bob & Jody sold Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine in 2022 and have finished rebuilding their home and offices after the Bear fire burnt down their home on Sept 9th, 2020.

Bob has two children, 7 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren and still rides and sails all over the world whenever he gets the chance. He and his wife, Jody, live in the Sierra Nevada mountains, between the middle and north forks of the Feather River, overlooking Lake Oroville, in Berry Creek, California.