March 1, 2001

Crew List Stories Wanted

The Chronicle wants to do a story
about Latitude 38’s annual Crew Parties. They would like
to interview a few captains who have found crew, and a few crew
who have found boats at previous Crew List Parties. If you are
interested, please email your name, phone number or email address
to John. You will
be contacted directly by The San Francisco Chronicle. No
phone calls please.

Photos of the Day March 1 – Banderas Bay, Mexico Photos of the Day. We spent most of the last week in and around Mexico’s Banderas Bay. Other than having a fuel line pop off and fill one bilge with diesel while trying to anchor in tricky Yelapa, and one warm but extremely hazy day, it was mostly blue skies and seas, great sailing and fun surfing. Here are a few shots to prove it:

All Photos Latitude/Richard

The End is Near March 1 – The Mediterranean, Atlantic and Southern Oceans The end of The Race, that is. Grant Dalton and Club Med should pass through the Straits of Gibraltar tonight, and, with any luck, cover the remaining 700 miles to the finish at Marseilles by Saturday. They have a comfortable 1,200-mile lead over Innovation Explorer, so their primary goal is to not break the boat before a triumphant finish. Club Med will have completed the course in about 62-63 days – which is just about what the experts had predicted. For many people, the biggest surprise is that the boats have proven themselves structurally up to the task ­ much more so than the crews, many of whom have been injured or have found themselves mentally unwilling to continue. Given the dishevelled state of The Race prior to a few months before the start, it’s hard to believe that it’s become such a success. It has certainly changed sailing.

Blue Club Med Green Innovation Explorer Orange Team Adventure Yellow Warta Polpharma Magenta Team Legato Graphics Courtesy Club Med http://www.catamaran.clubmed.fr/ Positions as of 01 Mar 2001 11:00:00 GMT: 1.Club Med / dtf 959.5 miles 2.Innovation Explorer / dtl 1209.1 miles 3.Team Adventure / dtl 5995.5 miles 4.Warta Polpharma / dtl 6407.9 miles 5.Team Legato / dtl 8933.0 miles

Mistake of the Month

March 1 – Latitude 38

When the March Latitude hits the
street tomorrow, many people will read the following in ‘Sightings’:
“[‘Lectronic Latitude] has been gathering quite a following.
From January 1-30, for example, a total of 4,026 people logged
on to enjoy photos, snippets of news, weather, cruising tips,
race coverage, short quizzes and other fun and funny stuff.”
Actually, ‘Lectronic Latitude had an average of 4,026 unique visitors
each day for the month of January. The report was only off by
a factor of 30. Oops!

The Hiltons in Hilton Head after an 18-Year
Circumnavigation

March 1 – Hilton Head, SC

“We left Florida in 1981 and completed
our circumnavigation in 1999,” report Rodney and Robin Hilton,
who don’t really have a hailing port. “While staying in San
Diego to earn money for our cruising kitty, we bought Sea Song,
our Formosa 41 ketch. We’re are currently anchored out at Hilton
Head, South Carolina.

MEXORC

March 1 – Banderas Bay, Mexico

After five of the eight races in this year’s
MEXORC, which is being sailed on Banderas Bay, Mexico, John MacLaurin’s
Davidson 52 Pendragon 4 leads Jake Wood’s Mull 83 Scorcery
in Class A by one point. Nitissima has a big lead in Class
B over Arana. Sidewinder has a two-point edge over
Piet Hein in Class C, while Bagheera leads Ayacucho
in Class D. Azteca leads Dread in the two-boat Class
E. Sorry we can’t provide you with boat types and skippers, but
MEXORC hasn’t provided that information. It’s a shame there are
only 18 boats racing, as the sailing conditions are very pleasant.
In fact, we had a great view of the race to the islands while
surfing at La Lancha. Perfect conditions for ‘bikini’ racing.

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YOTREPS

March 1 – 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

March 1 – 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.