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Photos of the Day April 17 - Pacific Coast After launching his new Wylie-designed Open 60 Ocean Planet at Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland, Bruce Schwab and crew had to high-tail it down the coast to San Francisco for the Pacific Sail Expo boat show that starts at Jack London Square in Oakland tomorrow (Wednesday). As you can tell from these photos, high-tail it they did! In fact, you should visit the boat at the show and ask Bruce how fast they were going. Ellen MacArthur, the brilliant young Brit singlehander, will officially christen Ocean Planet during the show. Photos Courtesy Ocean Planet

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Fire! April 17 - Richardson Bay "We were down at the Sausalito launch ramp near Caruso's on Sunday launching Mike Lingsch's new-to-him 22-ft diesel Starcraft Salmon Killer (hopefully)," writes Susie Woodrum, "when we saw this small boat catch on fire. Apparently it started with an electrical problem, and continued on because there was no extingusher or bucket."

Photo Susie Woodrum

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Josh Slocum Rolling over in His Grave

April 17 - Newport Beach

A couple days ago we reported that the old Josh Slocum's, a longtime sailor hangout in Newport Beach, was recently purchased by former basketball player and enthusiastic human freak Dennis Rodman. 'The Worm', as he is known, has turned the place into a night club.

Carl and Linda Mischka of the Newport-based Te Amo visited the club a few nights ago. "The old gent (Slocum) would be rolling in his grave! It's got a Star Wars bar crowd and decor from somewhere we have never been." We don't even know what a "Star Wars bar crowd" is. By the way, if it's been awhile since you read Josh Slocum's great book about his singlehanded trip around the world, you should give it another go. What a great read!

Mystery Boat April 17 - Mystery Location Who can identify the lovely ketch sailing in the accompanying photo? Probably a lot of you. To score big, you have to tell us where she was sailing. Email Richard. Photo Latitude/Richard

Where's All the Crap Coming from? April 17 - SoCal We took photos of these two signs last weekend. The first in Newport Beach, the second at Avalon. They both claim that the high bacteria count makes the water unsafe for swimming. It didn't totally surprise us in Newport Harbor, which is basically a sewer from everything uphill of it and doesn't get much flushing. After all, it had rained the week before. We were really quite surprised that there was a problem at Avalon. For one thing, the water was crystal clear. Secondly, it's not coming from the boats, because they all get dye put in the toilets that expose them if anyone tries to pee or poop in the harbor. According to one of the Harbor Patrol guys, officials aren't quite sure where the pollution is coming from. It may be be seal and seagull crap. Or, because there are several consistent 'hot spots', somebody thinks an ancient sewer pipe may be leaking poop into the bay. Photo Latitude/Richard

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YOTREPS

April 17 - 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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Weather Updates

April 17 - 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.