Photos of the Day

April 5 - Tiburon

Just a reminder - tonight is the Latitude 38 Crew List Party at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, from 6 to 9 pm. For more info, check out our Crew Party Web page. For directions and a map, go to www.cyc.org/map.html.


Come to the Crew List Party and you never know where you may end up. These sailors, from the Mahina Tiare, were photographed in front of the Rescue Station at Dorian Bay, Antarctic Peninsula.
Photo Courtesy John Neale


Tonight's Crew List Party is featured in a nice big article by Paul McHugh in today's San Francisco Chronicle, on the back (Outdoors) page of the Sports Section, E10. It's appropriately titled 'Schmoozing Can Lead to Sailing'. Check it out!
Photo Latitude/John Arndt


Pacific Puddle Jump

April 5 - Nuevo Vallarta

The most popular way for North American cruisers to get to the South Pacific is to leave from Mexico and sail to the Marquesas. That's what the Pacific Puddle Jump Class of 2001 are doing. We're introducing them to you in a continuing series of profiles. Check back for more in tomorrow's 'Lectronic, and you'll find all of them in the pages of the April issue of Latitude 38, which came out on March 30.

El Gitano - Westsail 32
Bruce & Sarah Durrant, Sedro Woolley, WA

"About a third of this group is from the Northwest," notes Bruce. "And most of us came down from the coast about the same time a year and a half ago." No doubt those friendships will continue to grow as they work their way around the world.

In addition to the typical stops on the South Pacific 'milk run', The Gypsy (as the name translates) will be seeking out remote locations with spectacular diving like the Tuamotus. Another motivation for Bruce and Sarah is to visit some of the less-traveled islands of the North Pacific like Tinian and Saipan, where her father's U.S. Marine battalion fought during WWII. The family back home is intensely curious what those islands are like today.

The couple used their time in the Sea of Cortez to fine-tune their seamanship. "We highly recommend it. Living out in the uninhabited anchorages teaches you about self-sufficiency, while mainland Mexico does not."

Inetora - Woods/White 35-ft catamaran
Xen and Shelaine, Sidney, BC

Inetora is aptly named. It translates as "the time is now."

Shelaine, who hails from Canada, met English-born Xen (pronounced Zen) in the late '80s while on a carefree sailing vacation at a Sunsail resort in the Greek Isles. Xen was working there as an instructor and... well, you get the picture.

Turned out they both had similar dreams of sailing around the world. As young folks tend to do, they hatched a roundabout means of fulfilling their sailing fantasies: They moved to Saskatchewan (where her parents had a farm) and began building their own boat - which inspired neighbors to rib them with endless Noah jokes.

"We thought we could build a nice boat and save money. But after years of hard work we had a boat similar to ones we could have bought for a lot more money!" They plan to work as they go, hopefully completing a circumnavigation, someday.

Photos Latitude/Andy



YOTREPS

April 5 - 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 5 - 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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