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TransPac UpdateJune 29 - Long Beach Rich Roberts, publicity director for the TransPac, reports that the morning roll call of Aloha division competitors was interrupted Thursday when Stardust reported an unusual incident. Peter and Patricia Anderson's Wylie 46 from Laguna Beach had just hit a whale. A report relayed to shore by the communications vessel Alaska Eagle, flagship of Orange Coast College, said it was apparently a "glancing blow [with] no damage to either one." Meanwhile, the heretofore bleak weather reports brightened considerably with a promise of trade winds along the southern track, although none of the eight Aloha Division boats had found them yet. The 'Aloha' boats, heavier racer/cruisers, started Monday. Divisions III and IV start Saturday and Divisions I and II go Sunday. Multihulls had been scheduled to start July 4, but they have declared independence from this regatta, with none listed in the 33-boat fleet. Mark Rudiger, Marinite and victorious Whitbread
Round the World Race navigator, said, "If things keep shaping
up this way, it's Class leaders as of yesterday's roll call are Shanakee II (Pedrick 75) in Aloha A, Jim Warmington, 1,825 miles to go; and Axapac (Wylie 39) in Aloha B, Barry Ruff, 1,869 miles to go. For more, see www.transpacificyc.org. We will, of course, have full coverage in the August issue of Latitude 38. And speaking of Latitude 38, the July issue hits the streets (and post office and UPS distribution center) today.  The 2,225 miles to the finish line won't seem so daunting to the crew of Division III entry Bengal II. They sailed 5,200 nautical miles from Japan to get to the start line. Left to right are Fumihiko Tominaga, captain, Yasuharu Ando and Masaki Takasu. Bengal II, an Ohashi 52, is one of two Japanese entries, the other being Shuichi Ogasawara's Baronesa V, an Open 40. |
 The two largest Aloha Division entries, 75-foot Shanakee II, a Pedrick 75 (left) and 65-foot Bonaire, a Moody 65, at the start.  Which way to Hawaii? Seda, an Ericson 41 (foreground), and Bonaire appear to be headed in opposite directions.  The new Pegasus, a candidate for first-to-finish honors. Photo Courtesy www.yachtracing.com |
June 29 - Block Island
Today is the last day of Block Island Race Week, hosted by the Storm Trysail Club. Block Island is located off the Rhode Island shoreline. The 'Race Week' is June 24-29, Sunday through Friday, unlike the 'race weeks' here on the West Coast, which are usually just long weekends. The sailing season back east is so short, that one actually has to take real vacations to take full advantage of it. The STC's BIRW pages have daily reports and standings, as well as photos by Tim Wilkes, so check them out at www.blockislandraceweek.com.
North Sails Race WeekJune 29 - Long Beach Speaking of long weekend race 'weeks', the 17th North Sails Race Week was held in Long Beach June 22-24. 160 boats raced in 15 classes on three courses in breezes that blew in at 16 knots and fizzled down to five during three days of sunshine. Dave Ullman and Dennis Conner emerged victorious. Ullman won the Melges 24 division, and with it recognition as the Boat of the Week for the second time in four years. Olympic silver medalist Pease Glaser called tactics for Ullman. Conner's Reichel/Pugh 50 Stars & Stripes took honors in PHRF-1 over Mike Campbell's new Andrews 52 Victoria in PHRF-1 after winning a tiebreaker by virtue of its two first-place finishes to Victoria's one. Conner immediately turned the boat back toward San Diego. "We're really busy with the America's Cup program," said Bill Trenkle, trimmer and president of Dennis Conner Sports. "This is fun but it takes second fiddle to that." Also otherwise occupied these days is John Kostecki, the leader of Germany's illbruck Volvo Ocean Race campaign who dropped in for just the weekend to call tactics on John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti, which won the Farr 40 class by four points over Alexandra Geremia's Crocodile Rock. "This was tough racing," said Kostecki, a native of San Francisco. "It was a nice break coming to California, but my home is in Germany now." The event's official Web page is hosted by yachtracing.com at www.yachtracing.com/regattas/NSRW01.html. Be sure to check out the great photos by Rich Roberts, including larger versions of those sampled here.  John Kostecki and John Kilroy (driving) on Samba Pa Ti |
 The Farr 40s battle it out in Saturday's winds.  Rich either has really big cojones or a really big telephoto lens to have captured this shot of Victoria. This photo is especially killer at full size.  Palm trees, shorts weather and a highly competitive Melges 24 fleet - Saturday on the SoCal racing circuit. |
June 29 - Cyberspace
The New Zealand Herald reported today (actually it's Saturday there, but we're not getting into another time zone discussion) that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, current home of the Cup, has had its Web address hijacked by a pornography site.
For just $US35 Canadian Christian Francoeur, of Quebec, took one of the squadron's two addresses for its Web site on June 11, after the RNZYS failed to keep up payments to protect it from brand-poachers. Yacht Squadron commodore Peter Taylor said the lost address "slipped through the system" and the RNZYS was now being held to ransom by the new owner. "The person who picked up the name wants to sell it back to us. Our view is that we should not have to pay for it ... It is a modern form of blackmail." Mr. Taylor said he was outraged about the site's X-rated content adding that the squadron might sue for damages. Apparently, if the squadron could prove that 'RNZYS' was the name used to describe their organization, then the address could be reclaimed.
Francoeur insists he bought the name fair and square. "We will see how much money we will receive in a year and then estimate a price and negotiate," he said. His business is grabbing old site names that generated a lot of traffic. "They lost their property by not paying their annual charge. It is like not paying the taxes for their house. We bought it back."
For the complete article, see the New Zealand Herald's home page at www.nzherald.co.nz. Enter RNZYS into the Search field.
The Herald article states that the squadron's other site, www.rnzys.org.nz, remains unaffected. The article did not give the address that was usurped, however Tom Leweck's email newsletter Scuttlebutt lists it as www.rnzys.org. But when we enter that address into Netscape or Explorer, we get the same home page for the RNZYS that we get at the first address.
June 29 - Sausalito, CA, and Hood River, OR
In response to last Friday's Mystery Dock Answers, Dick Loomis (Junior) of Calistoga writes, "My dad (Dick Loomis) managed Clipper while Basin 4 was being built about 35 years ago. My summer job was helping build the docks and paint them blue."
Doug Covert of s/v Serendipity out of Astoria, OR, writes, "Hmmm. Some poetic license was taken with the description of Hood River Marina. As the home of Columbia Gorge windsurfing, the wind does blow there on a regular basis. But calm weather is not at all infrequent. When docking in the marina it's good to remember that periods of sustained 30+ knots of wind will test your docklines and chafing gear.
"The real windtunnel is about 6-7 miles downstream. On my last trip through there on the way to the locks at Bonneville dam we had winds that topped out at over 40 knots. There are no really long straight stretches of river (thank goodness!) so the chop never gets to much more than two to three feet. And no, I didn't have any sail up in the 40 knot wind. Sorry, I have no pictures." If anyone does have photos, they can be emailed to the Webmistress.
June 29 - 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/
June 29 - 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.
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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