April 11, 2001
Photo of the DayApril 11 – Mazatlan “I just sailed 200 miles from Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan,” |
 Lynne Stevens Photo Latitude/Richard |
Internet Problems
April 11 – San Francisco
Thom Dyson of Antioch writes, “I saw your note in the ‘Lectronic
version about the BCDC having a message that said, “Please
don’t send us e-mail.” I just checked their site and they
now have a note explaining that their DSL was out for a while.
That is the reason that e-mail was bouncing. There is now a link
on their home page listing their e-mail addresses. Love ‘Lectronic
Latitude. Love the print version, too.”
Apparently they were getting their net fix
from North Point Communications, which abruptly went bankrupt
and pulled the plug on Internet access for 100,000 customers.
If that was the case, we can understand, as we had our plug pulled,
too. Nice going, Public Utilities Commission!
BCDC staff are very important, because they
basically tell the commissioners, who have no expertise, what
to do. Our favorite part of the BCDC Web site is the profiles
of the staff. If you take the time to read 37 of them, you discover
that only one of them, Brad McCrea, is a sailor or expresses an
interest in actively enjoying the Bay. Is it any wonder they –
and therefore the commissioners – are so clueless and insensitive
to mariners and mariners’ interests?
Havana Daydreaming?April 11 – Havana, Cuba “The Hemingway International Yacht Club of Cuba has the Here are some photos from our cruise to Cuba to give you a feel   |
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Atlantic Rally for Cruisers
April 11 – Atlantic Ocean
The World Cruising Club has announced that the 16th running of
the 2,700-mile ARC from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia will start
on November 25. It’s a very diverse international rally, as there
are all kinds of boats and they hail from 20 or more countries.
We did it with Big O back in ’95, and it was a blast. Entry
slots are running short, however, as 150 of the 225 slots are
already filled. For further info or a complete list of the current
entries, visit www.worldcruising.com.
Sailing RecordsApril 11 – The World’s Oceans What does it take for a world sailing record to be ratified by The WSSRC announced ratification of Grant |
 Monohull record-holder Armor Lux – Foie Gras Bizac Photo Thierry Martinez http://64.23.31.78/ |
The Race
April 11 – Marseille, France
While the official part of The Race is over, Warta Polpharma
crossed the finish line yesterday after 99 days and 12 hours.
This is about 20 days slower than when Bruno Peyron, who founded
The Race, sailed her – as Explorer – around the world in
’93. Interestingly enough, Cam Lewis of Team Adventure was
one of his crew. The final boat, Tony Bullimore’s Team Legato
is still on the course and still having trouble. Not yet to Gibraltar,
crewman Slava Sysenko fractured his leg yesteday after a large
wave broke over the netting, catching his leg under a sail. Sysenko
insists that broken leg or not, he’ll stay with the boat until
the end. Neither Warta Polpharma or Team Legato
did as well as they’d hoped, but we at ‘Lectronic salute the crew
and teams for their perseverence. Despite all their problems,
frustrations and breakdowns, they continued to soldier on.
The Attack on Lorna
April 11 – Trinidad
Several days ago we mentioned that Bo Altheden, the skipper of
the sailing vessel Lorna, was shot and wounded while sailing
with his wife Vivi off Venezuela on March 20. Here is their more
detailed report:
“The S/Y Lorna was attacked
by Venezuelan pirates near Punta Toleta, Venezuela, (10°44.6,N,
62°22.1,W) on Tuesday, March 20, 2001, about 12:30 pm. Lorna
was motoring from Isla Margarita to Trinidad. The weather was
fine, with sunshine, 5 knots easterly wind and very little swell.
We had sailed from Isla Margarita on Monday, March 19 at 5 pm.
The plan had been to visit the Venezuelan islands, but weather
was not inviting; the easterly wind roared in the rigging day
after day. The thought of going back to Trinidad against strong
winds and heavy seas made us cancel the trip to Isla Blanquilla
and Los Roques. Early Tuesday morning (March 20), the weather
was beautiful, no wind and very little swell. We decided to keep
on motoring; hopefully we would reach San Francisco Bay in the
afternoon.
“By lunchtime, when I was occupied
serving lunch in the cockpit, my husband Bo said, ‘There is a
fishing boat coming up.’ I stood up and saw a small pirogue coming
from behind us at high speed. I then sat down and let Bo deal
with the fishermen before we had lunch. Bo went out on the gunwale
to talk to the fishermen while I sat in the cockpit. I was unable
to see very much because of the dodgers. Lorna is a steel
ketch with a center cockpit, and the cockpit is well covered by
bimini top and dodgers.
“I heard Bo say: “No cigarettes. No smoke.” The
next thing I heard was a shot! Bo came into the cockpit, screaming
in agony, and slumped down. I helped him get down into the cabin,
where he collapsed on the floor bleeding from a bullet wound on
his back, to the left below the waist. In the same moment, four
men with guns boarded the yacht and entered the cockpit and cabin.
I retreated into the saloon while two of the men stepped over
Bo and the third sat in the hatch. A fourth man was on the deck
and another was in the pirogue.
“According to Bo, the men had started
making hand signs asking for cigarettes at a distance of about
100 yards. They came closer and shouted for cigarettes from about
75 yards distance. Bo was a little suspicious, as he could see
no fishing gear in the boat and all the men sat facing Lorna’s
starboard side. The pirogue came closer and, about 25 yards from
Lorna, the men took out their weapons, which had been hidden
under rags. At that time, Bo turned to go down into the cockpit
and turn off the autopilot to steer away. Immediately, the pirogue
accelerated and one man fired his revolver from about 20 feet
away. Bo knew he was hit because he felt like he had been kicked
in the back, and he saw a cloud of smoke from the gun. He thought
that this was it; he would never survive. The bullet went through
the hip bone, ripped open the colon and stopped near the pancreas.
Internal bleeding and infection was the result of this.
“In the cabin, a short stocky man started
asking for jewelry, using hand signs. They all spoke Spanish.
Then the short man wanted ‘moneda,’ money, and ‘armas,’
weapons. We carry nothing of what they asked for. They did not
believe me and they all started opening cabinets and tearing things
out. They were extremely aggressive, and I did nothing; I was
paralyzed from seeing my husband bleeding and obviously in pain.
I was moaning and crying; one of them took a kitchen knife and
threatened to cut my throat. Except for the revolver, the weapons
looked old and homemade. One of the men was wearing a complete
facemask: a cap covering his head to his neck with holes for eyes
and mouth. His weapon looked like a shotgun with a short barrel,
but it was very old or maybe homemade. They wore shorts, T-shirts
and jackets. The short man was quite dirty, while another was
taller and slimmer and was very neat. He was also very cool and
calculating, pointing the gun at me every time I tried to get
closer to my husband. The short, stocky man was evidently the
leader and he was extremely aggressive, pointing his revolver
at Bo when Bo tried to lift his head. His eyes were protruding,
and his movements were jerky.
“They started collecting whatever they
could find and filled a thin sleeping bag with the items. They
just threw things into it in a jumble: the Canon IS binoculars
together with four pairs of sandals, fins and snorkels, a sailing
jacket, my inflatable life vest, a searchlight, a handheld depth
sounder, a small compass, a Sony Walkman, Wrigley chewing gum,
whatever they could find laying around. They asked for liquor
and I gave them three bottles of rum and some beer cans. Then,
I wanted them out of the yacht and said ‘finito’ making
hand signs that they should go. I also asked for las tarjetas,
the credit cards, which they could not use. They threw them
back but kept the little purse with bolivars worth about
US$15. The little, stocky man carefully tore off all microphones
he could find, ruining the loud-hailer and the two VHF sets. Fortunately,
he did not see the microphone for the SSB radio.
“They all retreated to the aft deck.
When I went out in the cockpit to look at their boat, they pointed
their guns at me and made signs that I should sit down. When they
left, I could see the little pirogue; it was white with a green
stripe and a big black smudge in the rear end on the starboard
side: no name, no number. It had a big gray outboard, probably
Yamaha.
“I attended to my husband who was bleeding
and perspiring. He crawled out into the cockpit where I made him
as comfortable as I could with pillows and covered him with a
sheet. He was conscious and told me to activate the EPIRB. After
that, I tried the handheld VHF, but received no answer. We met
a Venezuelan fishing boat (about 50-ft). I got their attention
by waving a sheet. They came closer and I explained in Spanish
that my husband had been shot, banditos. I asked them to
please call Trinidad. There was no response. They turned away
and went west. Lorna was running under autopilot, and I
used the computer charts to set the course. I got the bearing
for the waypoint, adjusted the autopilot so COG (course over ground)
was the same as the bearing. I spent very little time on navigation.
I tried 2182 on the SSB, but got no answer. I tried all the frequencies
I could find in our list of different nets. I turned the knob
trying to find a frequency where people were talking. Finally,
I realized that this was not working, no one would help us. About
3 pm I found a frequency (14303) where I could hear voices. I
went to 14000 and could read the voices clearly. I called: ‘Break,
break, Mayday, Mayday,’ and there was a response from Eric Mackie
on Trinidad, who was listening while preparing the weather forecast
on TV6. I had no idea who was speaking, I was just so relieved
to find someone to talk to.
“An hour passed and I suddenly realized
that it would be dark before we could get any help. The Trinidad
and Tobago Coast Guard needed permission to enter Venezuelan waters
to assist us; this was taking time and Venezuela was not cooperative.
About 6 pm we saw a patrol boat coming to meet us at 10°46.1,N,
61°55.1,W, and over the HF radio we were told to turn around
and go with the swell. The patrol boat wanted to board us, but
I considered this impossible in the heavy swell, about six to
nine feet. I wanted them to launch their big rubber dinghy and
take it alongside Lorna, but they did not respond to this
suggestion. Bo told me that it was the Venezuelan Coast Guard.
We had decided to turn around and go for Trinidad. Fifteen minutes
later the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard arrived. They launched
their dinghy, and two paramedics came on board. After that, two
seamen came to help me take Lorna to the sound between
the Chacachacare and Huevos Islands. There Bo was transferred
to the Coast Guard vessel at 9 pm. Bo was taken to the Coast Guard
station in Stauble Bay, where an ambulance was waiting to take
him to St. Clair Medical Center. The two seamen and I brought
Lorna to Stauble Bay, and they helped me to tie her up.
“A car took me to the hospital where
I talked to Bo and paid the deposit for the hospital care. By
1:30 am (Wednesday morning), I was back in Stauble Bay and the
Carenage Police were there to interview me. About the same time,
Dr. Fung Kee Fung started the operation which saved Bo’s life.
The operation lasted five hours. We want to thank Eric (9Z4CP)
Mackie, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, Dr. Fung Kee Fung,
Coral Cove Marina, Constable Seepersad at the Carenage Police
Station, Jesse James of Members Only, and all the wonderful people
around us.”
YOTREPS
April 11 – 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/
Weather Updates
April 11 – 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 Sea State
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you
might check out the Pacific Ocean sea states 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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