Today’s Photo of the Day is of Dan and Anne Prigmore’s Andrews
44 Nehushtan that’s based out of the Balboa YC in Newport
Beach. The photo, which was taken last Sunday, looks like a typical
boat returning from a daysail off Newport. In fact, the Prigmores
and their daughter were sailing back into their home port after
doing the Baja Bash. According to Bruce Ladd, who did the Bash
with Profligate about the same time, the Prigmores, and
their daughter, sailed the entire way. We saw them off Dana Point
covering the last few miles, and they looked very, very good,
hauling ass and pointing high in typically light Southern California
conditions. We tried to contact the Prigmores for more details
of their Bash, but their Tustin number is disconnected. Can anybody
help us out?
Nehushtan returns home Photo Latitude/Richard
Grant Todd in Very Serious Condition after Boat Explosion
April 10 – San Antonio
As we reported yesterday,
singlehander Grant Todd of the California based Hans Christian
48 Koonawarra was badly burned on the night of March 26
after his boat exploded off the coast of El Salvador. He was rescued
by buddyboaters Dale Moore and Kathleen Murphy of the Island Packet
37 Karina D. and Barry and Kathy Devine of the Tayana 42 Joss. As of yesterday, Todd was reported to be unconscious
in a San Antonio hospital with his best friend Kent Parker at
his side when allowed. Todd is reported to have second degree
burns on this arms, hands and shoulders, as well as a fractured
vertabra and broken knee cap. He was supposed to have had surgery
yesterday, but it was postponed because of kidney problems and
pneumonia. No prognosis was given, but Todd needs everyone’s prayers.
We haven’t heard of any explanation for
the explosion, but our primary suspect would be a gas or propane
explosion. It’s not often that these explosions happen on boats,
but when they do they are usually horrific.
The People You Meet
April 10 – Oakland
While in the Oakland Airport waiting to
catch a flight to San Diego to meet Profligate, we bumped
into Stan Honey, inventor of SailMail and navigator on PlayStation.
We congratulated him on the great photo of his Cal 40 Illusion steaming down a wave that we ran a
few days ago in ‘Lectronic Latitude. Stan said it really
was a great shot, but that he hadn’t even been aboard. Sally
Honey, his wife, had taken the boat in the Lightbucket Race along
with Sylvia Seaberg, Synthia Petroka, and the lone guy, Tom Condy.
When we got to Profligate at the
La Playa Anchorage in San Diego, she was anchored next to old
friends Ty and Toni Knudson of the Westsail 43 Sundowner. The couple spent many years cruising in Alaska and the South
Pacific, and with their son now raised, are about to head off
again. In fact, within the next couple of weeks they should be
headed down to the Sea of Cortez.
After delivering Profligate to Newport,
we had dinner with Brad Avery, the honcho at Orange Coast College’s
terrific sailing program. He entertained us with tales of sailing Alaksa Eagle all over the world. He also gave us the latest
on the social scene in Newport Beach. Josh Slocum’s Restaurant
and Bar, long a hangout for sailors, was bought by Dennis ‘the
Worm’ Rodman, the famous basketball player and bad boy. According
to Avery, the limos are pouring down from L.A. with all the gangstas,
body guards and women.
The following morning we bumped into Richard
and Sherry Crowe, who also work for Orange Coast. They’ve sailed
all over the world on a variety of boats, including Alaska
Eagle, which they’re about to bring up the coast to the boat
show. We first heard about the Crowes many years ago in English
Harbor, Antigua, when they along figured out how to stop Big
O’s runaway dinghy, which was terrorizing the area.
This lovely 6-Meter was out for a cruise.
When we sailed into Newport Harbor,
we found ample opportunities to photograph boats at play:
Two Shields racing
“Hey! I sailed in the ’98 Ha-Ha!”
And two Knarrs racing – oops! This is SoCal,
so those are Shields. Photos Latitude/Richard
Ocean Planet Launched for Bruce Schwab
April 10 – Portland, OR
Ocean Planet,
Bruce Schwab’s new Tom Wylie-designed Open 60, was launched at
Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland on April 7. A crowd of
about 200 of Bruce’s supporters and sponsors showed up to watch
the first and only state-of-the-art Open 60 built in the U.S.
make her splash. Plans call for the boat to participate in three
circumnavigations as well as a series of Atlantic and transatlantic
crossings. Schwab will be sailing most of them singlehanded.
Built of wood/epoxy and carbon-Kevlar, Ocean Planet is dramatically lighter and narrower than
most Open 60s such as Ellen MacArthur’s Kingfisher. Ocean
Planet features a unique unstayed mast built of rotating
braided carbon fiber tube configuration fitted into titanium
butt collars. The sailplan is a fractional rig with the jibs
on free luff roller furlers. Bruce and crew, including Bill Colombo
from Doyle Sails in Alameda and Steve Rander of Schooner Creek,
leave Portland Monday to head down the coast to San Francisco,
arriving in time for Ocean Planet’s official christening
by Ellen MacArthur at Pacific
Sail Expo next week. Ocean Planet will be on display
at the boat show April 18-22.
Ocean Planet
is lowered into the water.
A double rainbow came out for the stepping
of the mast (the second is faintly visible to the right of the
first)
Photos Bruce Schwab
Wahoo! It’s an Ono!
April 10 – The Pacific Rim
Yesterday we asked to have
a couple of big fish identified, and we got responses from one
end of the Pacific to another. Rudy Salazar, Eric Jones, Mike
and Ali Bacon, Royse and Stacey, Keith Rarick all agreed the
fish is a wahoo or what the Hawaiians call an ono. Bob Underwood
of Vashon Island, Mike McKimens of Alaska, and George Backhus
down in Australia all agreed. George even said it was his favorite
fish, although others said they preferred mahi. Jared DeWitt
said they were King Mackerel. John Farnsworth said they were
of the tuna family, which included tuna and mackerel. So we’re
guessing they were wahoo.
Photo Paul Weiner
Royse and Stacey of Southern California
added a postscript: “We love your mag and hold you partly
to blame for the fact that we just placed our 60′ power boat
on the market and have purchased a 48′ Murray Peterson-designed
schooner. If your mag wasn’t so damn good, we’d have kept the
powerboat. But seeing all that we’ve been missing out on all
the fun your readers are having, we’ve decided to join em! Chock
one up for the rag baggers!”
Good on ya!
YOTREPS
April 10 – 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/
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.
