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March 9 - Isla Isabella, Mexico
One of the most popular stops in Mexico is Isla Isabella, the nature preserve between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. These two photos - one of the local bird life, and another of the rocky-bottomed anchorage - give some indication of why it's so popular. Both shots were taken by Mike Miller of the Vanguard Uhuru.
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By the way, his 'Lectronic Latitude request for women who might be interested in crewing with him got some results. "I already got a response from a woman who did the Ha-Ha," Mike writes. "And thanks for writing that I was well-groomed. My mother will love that." If any other women are interesting in contacting Mike - his photo is below and appeared in the March 7 'Lectronic - can email him.  Photo Latitude/Richard |
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Baja Ha-HaMarch 9 - Ha-Ha World Headquarters The folks at Baja Ha-Ha, Inc., tell us they keep getting requests for entry packets for Ha-Ha VIII, from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Those won't be available until May 1, so they ask that everybody please hold their horses. In fact, the first details of Ha-Ha VIII - which will start in late October - will be at the Sail Expo show in Oakland on Saturday, April 21. The Grand Poobah and some Ha-Ha vets will be giving a presentation at 4:30 and hope to see you there. In the meantime, check out their Web site, which has recently been updated, at www.baja-haha.com. |
March 9 - San Francisco
After Oracle Racing wasn't able to reach an agreement to sail
for the St. Francis YC, it was expected that they'd quickly sign
up with the California YC of Marina del Rey. But it's been a while
now, and no such deal has been announced, which makes you wonder
what's going on. Not being able to sign up with America's Cup
by March 1 will cost Oracle $150,000 in a late fee. But with the
deadline passed, they now have another year to link up with a
yacht club. Will something be worked out with the St. Francis
YC? From what we hear, nothing has been happening on that front.
March 9 - Around the World
Shortly after typing up Matt Stone's thoughts on how inexpensive
cruising can be for Wednesday's
'Lectronic Latitude, we stumbled across an old email from
Roy Wessbecher who did a five year circumnavigation with the Columbia
34 Breta. It read as follows:
"I kept an exact record of all my expenses during the circumnavigation. In the four years, nine months and nine days from Puerto Vallarta, I averaged $14.66 a day. That's $5,350 a year or a total of $25,300. I had budgeted $20 a day, so I came out way ahead. These numbers include every single expenditure. I didn't make any flights home, and had no major breakdowns. But I did do two bottom jobs; one in New Zealand and one in Thailand."
$14.66 a day! This would seem to reverse the commonly asked question of, "How can I afford to go cruising?" to "How can I afford not to go cruising?"
March 9 - Tenacatita Bay, Mexico
A few days ago we wrote about some problems in Tenacatita Bay:
1) A big blow that came through about 10 days ago, and 2) The
possible forced closing of the popular Restaurant Frances, Paris,
Tropical. Blair Grinoles of Capricorn Cat responded:
"The French restaurant in Tenacatita is called Restaurant
Frances, Paris, Tropical. We were in there the day that some authorities
arrived and told them they had one day to shut down because they
were not hiring "union help". Boy, was that some excuse!
I think the Blue Bay Hotel down the beach a ways complained because
they were taking away business from them. They charged just 7
pesos for beer, and lunches and dinners were very reasonable.
Almost all waterfront restaurants down here now are charging about
the same for dinner as in the States. It's not like it used to
be. Anyway, the owner of the French restaurant went and talked
to some authorities and probably paid some mordida. In
any event, it opened up again the next day. We did not get a chance
to talk to the French couple before we left.
"There was one boat that got damaged from lightning in that storm that hit Tenacatita about a week ago. It was a monohull named Far Country. They lost their SSB, VHF, radar and GPS. I tried to raise them this afternoon to find out more particulars, but couldn't reach them."
Two Weeks to the Banderas Bay RegattaMarch 9 - Banderas Bay We hope to see you on the Banderas Bay race course and in the hot tub at the end of the day. |
 From left to right, the couples of Ali and Christian of the Sausalito-based Haida 26 Blue Dragon; Deborah and Neal of the Santa Cruz based Vanguard 33 Tranquilo; Steve and Gabby of the Newport Beach based Cheoy Lee 35 Karibu; and Emily and Derek of Sausalito, who sometimes crew on Blue Dragon. The solo guy in front is Mike Miller of the Vanguard 33 Uhuru. |
March 9 - 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/
March 9 - 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.
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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