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January 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 www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
The Wanderer is still incommunicado in St. Barts, so there'll
be tons of cruising news to catch up on when he gets back.
January 5 - San Francisco Bay
| Winter features some of the year's
finest sailing conditions on the Bay. Sunny skies, moderate breezes,
not so much of that bashing into heavy chop through clammy fog.
You don't need to race to take advantage of it, but if you're
so inclined, this weekend features some good regattas from which
to choose. The most popular on Saturday is the Golden Gate Midwinters,
featuring a Cityfront course, free continental breakfast before
and free 'Seaweed Soup' (actually pasta or some other warm comfort
food) after. Also on Saturday, Oyster Point Yacht Club is hosting
the first of the South Bay Yacht Racing Association Series. On
Sunday, Berkeley Yacht Club hosts the Chowder Series (another
midwinter race associated with comfort food); the Richmond Yacht
Club's midwinters welcome dinghies as well as keel boats, Estuary
sailors can do Oakland Yacht Club's Brunch Series (there seems
to be a common theme here), and last but definitely not least,
Sausalito Yacht Club will take you around the course of hard
Knox. To see the schedule for this weekend and every weekend this year, check out 'Latitude 38's '2001 Northern California Sailing Calendar and YRA Master Schedule', a long name for a 60-page annual publication designed for every racer and wannabe racer in the Bay Area. If you are a YRA member, you will be getting yours in the mail over the next few days. If you're not, you can pick one up for free at your yacht club, marina or marine business. If you can't find one, you can mail us $3 and we'll send you one (mail your request to: Latitude 38, 15 Locust Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941). And, for the first time ever, you can access pages of the Calendar online. |
 The hazy, lazy days of winter on the Bay. Photo Jim Bacon  The 2001 Sailing Calendar, now available at marine locations in Northern California |
...And Around the WorldJanuary 5 - Pacific Ocean Ellen MacArthur in 'Kingfisher' has overtaken Roland Jourdain in 'Sill Matines la Potagère' to take the second place spot in the Vendée Globe around the world singlehanded nonstop race. The leaders are in the southern Pacific Ocean fleeing iceberg territory. See www.vendeeglobe.com for details. January 5 - Atlantic Ocean After picking up their old mainsail and 'doing time' for 48 hours in Gibraltar, the maxi cat 'PlayStation' is back in action in The Race, and off to try to catch up to the four leaders. For details, see www.therace.org (today's glitch on their site: clicking on the UK flag to request English language text results in French language text. Oh well, maybe it'll work when you try it). |
 PlayStation and Club Med at the start of The Race in Barcelona, which seems to have featured more helicopters than race entries! Photo Carlo Borlenghi/Sea & See |
January 5 - Pacific Ocean
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/.
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.
You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology satellite picture by clicking here.
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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