Photo of the Day

February 8 - Pacific Ocean

This shot is called 'Terry's Watch'. It was taken aboard Howard and Teresa Howe's Los Angeles-based Gulfstar 37 'Mi Amante' while some 120 miles due west of Bahia San Juanito, Mexico. Interestingly enough, the couple sailed non-stop from Catalina Island to Zihuatanejo in mid-December. It took them 11 days and three hours.


Photo Howard Howe

'Club Med' Crushes The 24-Hour Record

February 8 - Southern Ocean

Less than a week after Bernard Stamm established a new 24-hour monohull record of 462 miles with the BOC 60 'Armor Lux - Foie Gras Bizac', and less than two weeks after Loïck Peyron set a new 24-hour multihull record of 629 miles with 'Innovation Explorer', another mark has fallen. In the process of leading The Race, Grant Dalton and 'Club Med' reeled off a staggering 652 miles - or an average of an incredible 27.8 knots! That's akin to sailing from San Francisco to Turtle Bay in one day, and San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta in two days. Dalton described how it happened:

"It all started at about 8 or 9 GMT yesterday. It's been relatively easy, record-breaking weather, as the angle was right and the sea state reasonable. Now that we are more than halfway around the world, we've consumed more than half of our food and fuel, so the boat is much, much lighter and just sails faster. We are beam reaching with flat water and a good wind strength. Not too much, but enough. It's been tempting beforehand to have a go at the record, but the boat has always been loaded up too much. And yes, we have toyed with the thought of records before in The Race, but often the wind and wave conditions either wouldn't allow it or would take us too far from the best course around the world. We managed to do just one sail change maneuver during this last 24 hours. Normally these really slow you down, as it takes up 40 minutes and more sometimes, and hence the miles covered drops. Last night the wind was dropping a touch and, more importantly, shifting, so we needed to put up the solent and full main. I called for all hands on deck, which is rare, and the whole thing took the crew just 18 minutes. During that time the speed dropped to about 20 knots which is a loss of about six miles in that hour. Just before they reached New Zealand, our big rivals 'Innovation Explorer' threw down the gauntlet when they bettered our 24-hour distance by just two miles. When they broke our record, we were struggling through the Cook Straits, with our lead hemorrhaging in the light airs. At the time is was like having salt rubbed into a wound. We've picked up that challenge, and at the first opportunity, less than a week later, we've blown their record away. It feels fantastic!!! Once on my last watch, we sailed past a big iceberg, to leeward. There just wasn't time to alter course upwards to pass to windward. Ed Danby was steering so I went to the mast and, like a traffic warden, waved my arms to indicate which way I wanted Ed to turn to avoid the 'bergy bits'. Directing traffic at 32 knots in the Southern Ocean - a lot of fun..."


Work Onboard


Keeping a Watchful Eye on a Big Iceberg
Photos Courtesy Club Med

'Club Med' is currently riding a front that second place 'Innovation Explorer' is at the back of, so 'Club Med' has dramatically increased her lead to 833 miles and for the short term will continue to build on it.

Rankings of February 8, 2001, 13:30:00 GMT:
1. Club Med / dtf 8,353.5 miles
2. Innovation Explorer / dtl 833.1 miles
3. Team Adventure / dtl 4,910.5 miles
4. Warta Polpharma / dtl 5,884.3 miles
5. Team Legato / dtl 6,749.5 miles

Vendée Globe Update

February 8 - Atlantic Ocean

With Michel Desjoyeaux and 'PRB' just 814 miles from a Saturday finish at Les Sables, France, and now sporting an insurmountable and growing 182 mile lead over Ellen MacArthur of 'Kingfisher', the top Vendée Globe spots depend only on the leaders not breaking down. MacArthur's second place finish is all but assured as she holds a 600-mile lead on Roland Jourdain, who is moving at less than three knots. For more details, visit www.vendeeglobe.com.

Michel Desjoyeaux at the helm of 'PRB'
Photo Gilles Martin-Raget www.martin-raget.com


'Sandy' on the Beach

February 8 - St. Martin

It's not often that a ship becomes an obstruction to aircraft, but that's what happened in the fall of '99 after Hurricane Lenny deposited the 8,000 ton Antiguan-registered freighter 'Sandy' on the beach next to the Princess Juliana Airport at St. Martin in the Eastern Caribbean. In this photo, she's seen just beyond the runway where everything up to 747s land. Obstruction or not, the ship remained on the beach with sand to her waterline for 10 months until September, when some skilled operators of heavy equipment did some fancy work. The sand was dug away, a trench was built, and she was pushed by bulldozers and pulled by tugs until she was back in her element.


Photo Latitude/Richard

That left the 150-foot Dominican-based freighter 'Survivor' as the only major stranded remnant of Lenny. But a local has a $150,000 contract to get her back in the water. Both hurricane-stranded ships are expected to work again.


Menorca Going Fast

February 8 - Balearic Islands, Spain

Can you picture yourself aboard a sailboat in sunny Menorca - one of Spain's Balearic Islands - this summer? If so, you'd better get working on your plane and charter reservations right now. They go fast. Can you name the other three Balearic Islands? The smallest is Formentara. The largest is Mallorca, home of Palma, the yachting center of the Med. Finally, there's Ibiza, which for about the last 10 years has held the title of the wildest party place on the globe. Discos in Ibiza don't get going - we're not making this up - until 4 am.


Photo Jaume Serrat Comerma

YOTREPS

February 8 - 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 www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/


Weather Updates

February 8 - 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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