Photo of the Day

October 10 - San Francisco Bay

Photo Latitude/Richard

Today's Photo of the Day is of a guy who might need a bigger boat. He's got two outboards and two surfboards on the back, as well as a wind generator and a radar tower. And two kayaks on the side. All on what appears to be a 22-footer. This would not be the safest rig on a stormy ocean.

Crew List & Ha-Ha Kick-Off Party Tonight!

October 10 - Alameda

Just another reminder that the Mexico Crew List and Ha-Ha Kick-Off and Reunion Party will be held tonight starting at 6 p.m. at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. There will be lots of skippers looking for crew, and crew looking for skippers. We hope to see you there. See our Crew List Web Page for info.

Fossett and PlayStation Crush Transatlantic Record

October 10 - The Lizard, UK

Four days and 17 hours to cross the Atlantic from New York to the Lizard, England, on a sailboat? It's hard to believe, but that's exactly what Steve Fossett and his nine-man crew have just done aboard the 125-ft maxi cat Playstation. En route, they set an all-time 24-hour sailing record of 687 miles.

To put things into perspective, they completed the course 44 hours faster than previous record holder Jet Services V, which averaged 18.62 knots. PlayStation averaged 25.42 knots for the entire course. To look at it another way, Roy Disney's Pyewacket holds both the TransPac and Pacific Cup records to Hawaii, with average speeds of just 12.1 and 13.0 knots respectively. In other words, PlayStation was almost twice as fast for nearly twice the distance.

Graphic Courtesy www.fossettchallenge.com

Among the keys to this brilliant new record were excellent winds which held up the entire way, and sailing just about the shortest course possible. PlayStation, guided by navigator Stan Honey, actually sailed 2,885 during the crossing, just 9 miles more than the Great Circle route.

Shortly after passing the finish line at The Lizard, an elated Steve Fossett said, "This is enormously satisfying. We put it all together; an extremely fast boat in PlayStation, ideal weather and a crew who sailed brilliantly." Navigator Stan Honey added, "I'm absolutely delighted. It is an honor to sail with Steve and these guys."

Photo Courtesy Hoya

PlayStation's crew for the record run were as follows:
Steve Fossett (USA), Skipper; Stan Honey (USA), Navigator; Ben Wright (AUS), Watch Captain; Dave Scully (USA), Watch Captain; Gino Morrelli (USA), Boat Designer/Crew; Peter Hogg (NZ), Shaun Biddulph (UK), Dave Calvert (USA), Paul Van Dyke (USA), and David Weir. Honey and Hogg are from Northern California; Morrelli is from Newport Beach. For more information see www.fossettchallenge.com

No Spirit!

October 10 - San Francisco Bay

Last weekend's Spirit of Fleet Week was, if the truth be told, a colossal flop. One photo tells the story. On the other hand, some other folks had a good time out sailing.

Hurricane Iris a Killer

October 10 - Big Creek, Belize

Seventeen members of a Virginia dive club and three American crewmembers lost their lives on Monday night when the nearly 200 mph winds of Iris reportedly ripped the luxury charter boat from her mooring lines, threw her up into the air, and dropped her on her side on a dock. At the time, the storm surge was 20 feet above normal. "It was 90 minutes of all hell breaking loose," said the skipper of the boat docked next to the ill-fated Wave Dancer. Although some 15,000 people were left homeless, those aboard the Wave Dancer are believed to be the only fatalities.

YOTREPS

October 10 - 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/

Weather Updates

Hurricane Iris

October 10 - The Pacific

Hurricane Iris slammed the coast of Belize in the Western Caribbean Monday night with winds up to 200 mph. At least 15 people were killed, most of them tourists in Big Creek Port, which had been considered a hurricane haven. The storm passed over Guatemala destroying hundreds of houses and by Tuesday the remains of Iris had drifted out to the Pacific.

October 10 - 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 Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

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.