Photos of the Day Baja Ha-Ha Captured in Pictures December 13 - Point Richmond While rooting around the Richmond YC Web site for Midwinter race results, we stumbled across Harley Gee's written account - he's the guy standing in front of the orange sunset - and photographs of the recent Baja Ha-Ha. Harley's text did a good job of capturing the flavor of the event, but nothing like his photographs, which are superb. If you were on the event or are thinking about doing it in the future, check out all of Harley's photographs at www.richmondyc.org (click on the 2000 Baja Ha-Ha Cruiser's Rally link). It makes us want to sign up for the next one right now! Speaking of signing up for the next Ha-Ha, John and Susan Pazera of San Francisco have already sent in their $15 for an entry pack for Ha-Ha VIII. Unfortunately, the Ha-Ha folks have gone tropo for the winter and will therefore be incommunicado until May 1. All Photos Courtesy Harley Gee

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New Boat on San Francisco Bay December 13 - Alameda Just a couple of days ago, 'Sailing World' named the Schock 40 - with its unique canting-ballast, twin-foil technology - as their Overall Performance Boat of the Year. Also just a couple of days ago, John Cladianos' new Schock 40 'Secret Squirrel' was being worked on at Hansen Rigging in Alameda, with an eye to be sailing before Christmas and campaigning in 2001. What's canting technology? It means that you can tilt the keel to windward with the push of a button, making the boat much stiffer. What's twin-foil technology? It means there's a rudder in the back of the boat, but also a canard rudder forward of the mast. Did you just get a new boat or new-to-you boat? No matter if it's 25 feet or 125 feet, we would love to get a picture to publish in 'Lectronic Latitude.

New Schock 40 Secret Squirrel Photo Courtesy Hansen Rigging

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Cruising

Mi Casa Es Su Casa December 13 - El Salvador Who's that woman standing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Coast of El Salvador? It sure looks like Ellen King of the Las Vegas-based Kelly-Peterson 44 'Ghost.' Ellen and her retired pilot husband Jerry, were in Panama about to head through the Canal when an Ecuadorian couple told them, "mi casa es su casa." So it was the heck with the Canal and on to Ecuador. Read about their adventures in the January issue of 'Latitude 38'.

Photo Courtesy Ghost

No Need to Evacuate

December 13 - Auckland, New Zealand

A couple of 'Lectronic Latitudes ago, Simon and Lori Elphick of a Half Moon Bay-based Nor'West 33 said they could tell the hole in the ozone was getting bigger because their solar panels were putting out more juice in the Auckland spring than they were in a Sea of Cortez summer.

But Bernard Quante of the Sausalito-based 'Ta Mana' doesn't necessarily think the Elphicks are making the correct interpretation. "If they were looking at the voltage output, their analysis was probably correct, but amp/hour output is another matter. According to charts showing various characteristics of outputs in volts and amperes depending on environmental temperatures, solar panels will increase their voltage output and decrease their ampere output on cold days and vice versa on hot days. If it was the other way around, I would evacuate New Zealand immediately."

YOTREPS

December 13 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/

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Racing

On The Race Circuit December 13 - Monte Carlo Now that the Prologue for The Race in Monte Carlo has been called off (most of the participants wouldn't have been able to get there because of weather), a little bit of pressure is off. Cam Lewis' 'Team Adventure', for example, decided to no longer beat into 40-knot winds and 15 to 20-foot seas - conditions that were rough on the crew but which the boat handled with apparent ease. "After we made the decision at 1:00 am today to head for La Coruña, Spain," says Larry Rosenfeld, "we bore away on a reach. The true wind was 42 knots and the boat was doing 18 knots with just the storm jib and the sail area of the wing mast. It created an apparent wind across the deck of 55 knots. We were sailing along the wave trains of the cross-seas. The boat just smoothed out and took off like a rocket." Cam Lewis was one of the latest to get his boat for The Race, but he's done the course on a cat before and he and his crew have been getting valuable rough weather experience now. He can't be counted out. For details, visit www.teamadventure.org.

Aboard Team Adventure Cam Lewis Photos Courtesy Team Adventure

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Weather Updates

December 13 - Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.

California Coast Weather

Looking 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/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Ocean Weather

You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology satellite picture by clicking here.

Pacific Sea State

Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might check at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.