November 27, 2000

Photo of the Day Name That EPIRB Owner November 27 – No Clues This EPIRB can only belong to one man. Name that man, his nickname, and the name and type of his boat, and you’ll win . . . well, you won’t win anything. Email your answers to Richard.

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Weather Updates

November 27 – Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Tropical Weather

Other than a blow in the direction of the east coast of India,
the tropical regions of the world are calm once again. The Atlantic/Caribbean
region hurricane season is almost over, and it’s been a light
year.

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.
Also check out http://facs.scripps.edu/surf/buoylist.html
(but note that the Java Applet is still not working with some
browsers on Macs – including your Webmistress’s Netscape Communicator!)

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.

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Cruising

ARC Update

November 27 – Atlantic Ocean

It’s slow going in this year’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers,
as ‘Milene’, the leader, is only halfway along the 2,700-mile
course after eight days at sea. There are 215 boats in the fleet,
all but 24 of them in the non-racing division. It was so calm
yesterday that lots of folks went swimming, including Peter Noreng.
Last year Noreng went overboard and had to swim for 18 hours before
he was recovered.

We’ll have more tomorrow.

YOTREPS

November 27 – 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

Vendée Globe Update

November 27 – Atlantic Ocean

This report comes from Philippe Jeantot:

“The Saint-Helen high pressure system seems to be lower than
usual. Its center is located around 30° South and 10°
West. To avoid it, the competitors will have to go further down
before turning to the east. Yves Parlier (‘Aquitaine Innovations’),
still leading the race, has gone through 10° South. He still
has more than a thousand miles to sail to reach this point, roughly
three days. Until then the center of the high pressure has time
to move and oblige the skippers to modify their strategy to turn
left earlier. The leading boats don’t have any more southeasterly
winds and with the eastern lift the competitors are now beam reaching
with 15 to 20 knots of wind. It is ideal conditions. Yves Parlier
was telling us this morning, ‘I am doing 14-15 knots! I am eating
the miles and I am happy. I am on a beam reach, the boat is sailing
really well and the sea is calmer. I am doing some maintenance.’

“The conditions should remain steady for a few days. The
boats are fast without suffering. It’s a good time to prepare
the boats for the hard weeks to come as, before long, the same
great conditions will not happen again.”

Standings: 1. ‘Aquitaine Innovations’, Yves Parlier, 2. ‘PRB’,
Michel Desjoyeaux (+69 miles) 3. ‘Sill Matines & La Potagère’,
Roland Jourdain +132m) 4. ‘Whirlpool’, Catherine Chabaud (+136m)
5. ‘Kingfisher’, Ellen MacArthur (+159m)

You can visit the Vendée Globe Web site at: http://www.vendeeglobe.com.

The Longest Race to Hawaii from the West Coast? November 27 – Pacific Ocean It’s not the West Marine Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, which is 2,070 miles. And it can’t be the TransPac from Los Angeles to Honolulu, because it’s only 2,225 miles – or 82 miles shorter than the 2,308-mile Victoria (Canada) to Maui race. And if the dreams of the folks at the Silvergate YC in San Diego and the Nawiliwili YC in Kauai come true, the Vic-Maui will no longer be the longest, as they are planning a 2,323-mile Gateway to Hawaii Race from San Diego to Kauai. As we see it, there are two big obstacles to the event actually taking place and becoming a success. The first is that the initial Gateway is scheduled for June/July of 2002 – which means they intend to go head-to-head with the West Marine Pacific Cup, a notoriously successful event backed by one of the biggest names in West Coast sailing. The second obstacle is the length of the course itself. Having covered races to Hawaii for more than 20 years, we’ve never heard anyone complain that the course was too short, but we have heard folks grouse that God should have located Hawaii closer to California. Then, too, the light airs of San Diego will result in very slow starts that will make the course play longer than it really is. The bottom line is this: it could take an average 40-footer two or more days longer to do the Gateway to Hawaii race than the West Marine Pacific Cup – and that’s not a big selling point. For further information on the Gateway to Hawaii Race, visit www.gatewaytohawaii.org.

It’s midnight, and Doña de Mallorca points out one of the big attractions of racing to Hawaii. The Kaneohe Yacht Club on Oahu has been the finish of the West Marine Pacific Cups. Photos Latitude/Richard The upstart Gateway race has a nice logo.