Photo of the DayDecember 20 - Santa Catalina Island Today's Photo of the Day is a wet winter's remembrance of those warm summer days of cruising. This shot is of three girls hiking on the road above Two Harbors, Catalina, on one of those hot island days. If you look carefully, you can see the top of the mast of one of the boats - perhaps the Bill of Rights - in the anchorage. It's great fun to spend a lot of time on your boat in Catalina during the summer, but it's even more fun for the fact that there's great hiking above the anchorages, too. Hurry back summer! |
Photo Latitude/Richard |
Oracle Wins Wild First Race to Take Two Race AdvantageDecember 20 - Auckland, NZ Seattle's embattled OneWorld Syndicate won the start in yesterday's first race against Oracle BMW, but then failed to protect the favored left side. This allowed Oracle BMW to claim the lead, which fluctuated greatly over the next several legs. At the rounding for the final run to the finish, Oracle BMW was fortunate to have a mere 10 second lead. As the boats set asymmetricals, they took off in opposite directions. OneWorld chose poorly, losing over four minutes on that final leg. The match was marked by an incredible number of tacks on the weather leg. According to reports, there were 50 tacks on one leg, and 60 on yet another. Some grinders must have sore arms. Photo Courtesy www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com The score is now Oracle BMW 1, OneWorld -1. The latter has a minus point for supposedly possessing design secrets of the New Zealand team. If Oracle BMW can win just three of the next seven races, they would advance to January's Challenger Finals against Alinghi. The winner of that match would face the Kiwis. |
A Magical Night of CruisingDecember 20 - Pacific Ocean After years of cruising the 46-ft cat he built between California and Mexico - with the occasional side trip to the South Pacific - Blair Grinols and friends aboard Capricorn Cat are headed from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands. Here's a recent report: "Wednesday, the 18th December, 2002. Jack is on watch at 10 p.m. After a fresh Tuna Veracruz, rice, and green bean dinner, we sat out on the port stern for a magical cruising moment that I will try to describe for your mind's eye. There is a full moon illuminating puffy white clouds and sending moonbeams shimmering across the tops of myriad tiny wavelets streaming toward us from the east. The wind is a mere 10 knots, and we are under genoa and mainsail on a beam reach traveling five to six knots through water whose swells barely disturb the surface. Gazing skyward, the sails appear as great, pale, white wings thrust upward and eerily lit against the ebonized sky. The boat glides silently forward except for the sound of water being gently parted by the hulls skimming across the surface. This same water then gurgles as it reforms aft the stern. The breeze blows warmly across the deck as we think about the great expanse of ocean we are crossing. This is cruising. Blair's face lights up with joy as he feels the ship he has created respond so nimbly. He is still awed by the feeling of Capricorn Cat sailing across the sea. We feel blessed to have this opportunity to experience the kind of adventure which, while not for all, does thrill us." - Jack |
Blair sailing off Z-town Photo Lynn Cagle |
Mystery PhotoDecember 20 Can you name this cruising sailor and his boat? Can you name the locale where he's reading his copy of Latitude 38? Probably not, which is why this item is really a 'teaser' more than anything else. We'll have details soon, details which will prove that the world is far from running out of rarely visited places to cruise. |
YOTREPSDecember 20 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn. |
Weather UpdatesDecember 20 - Pacific Ocean San Francisco Bay WeatherTo see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind. The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is at www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey. California Coast WeatherLooking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml. Pacific Winds and PressureThe University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds. Pacific Sea StateCheck out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
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