October 8, 2001

Photo of the Day

October 8 – Annapolis, MD

We’ve just returned from a very upbeat 32nd annual Annapolis
boat show held October 4-8. The largest and oldest sailboat show
in the country, the Annapolis show is seen as a major barometer
for the sailing industry across the nation and around the world.

An overview of the scene in Annapolis
Photo Courtesy United States Sailboat Show

Walking the docks and tents this year was
no different than any year past with crowded aisles and stalled
dock crossings. Annapolis was blessed again with beautiful fall
weather, and there were at least as many, if not more, boats
than last year. The always impressive line-up of multihulls was
huge even though the 9/11 carnage did block the new Contour 50
from crossing the Canada/U.S. border. The ever increasing presence
of European boats was undiminished with the addition of boat
lines from Hanse, Kirie, Etap and Northwind filling in the already
broad array of boats. Well known manufacturers such as Beneteau,
Hunter, J/Boats and others were well represented with most of
their extensive lines of boats on display.

Whatever the case, the Annapolis Boat Show was again an energizing
and inspiring event that reminds us of all the great ways there
are to enjoy sailing. We came back wishing we were Philippe Kahn
and could walk through the show saying, “I’ll take one of
these and one of these and one of these. . .”

Fossett and PlayStation Crush 24-Hour
Sailing Record by 34 Miles!

October 8 – Atlantic Ocean

Still averaging speeds of over 25 knots, American skipper Steve
Fossett’s maxi-catamaran PlayStation and her 10-man crew
remain strongly ahead of schedule to break the 11-year-old Transatlantic
sailing record held by Serge Madec on Jet Services 5 (6d
13h 3m 32s). This (Monday) morning, 64 hours into the attempt,
they were some 400 nm ahead of Madec’s pace, with approximately
1,180 nm to sail to the finish line at The Lizard, England, and
promising weather conditions ahead.

Additionally, a new 24-hour sailing record
was set Sunday afternoon, recapturing the “bragging rights”
first claimed by Fossett and PlayStation in March 1999,
and currently held by Grant Dalton’s Club Med in 2000/2001.
At 687.17 nm, PlayStation’s 24-hour run from 2200 GMT
October 6 to 2200 GMT October 7 sets – pending ratification by
the WSSRC – a new world record. Dalton and crew set the current
record in the Southern Ocean at 655.13 nm on Feb. 7-8 2001 during
The Race. “Our focus for the past two days has been on making
progress on this Transat, but getting the 24-hour record back
from Grant is pretty nice, too,” said Fossett. “PlayStation
is once again the fastest sailboat in the world.”

Navigator Stan Honey, of Northern California,
described the weather conditions: “We’re finally out of
the Labrador current, so the boat has warmed back up and the
fog has lifted. So far we are staying ahead of our gale/cold
front. It is intensifying, but it has slowed down a bit. Often
when boats adopt the weather strategy that we are using – trying
to cross the Atlantic preceding a cold front – the front goes
stationary just before the English Channel, and a potentially
good passage goes to rot right at the end in light air. This
could of course still happen to us, but the pattern looks pretty
good (i.e. just progressive enough) so that we might carry our
breeze to the English Channel. Saturday, when we passed Sable
Island, we went close to two oil platforms. Both platforms warned
us of the incoming 50-knot gale and were surprised to hear that
we were out there precisely because of the incoming gale – although
we were not intending to stick around to see the center of it.”

Consider the Source

October 8 – Baja California Sur

We’ve been told that one Fred Metcalf of a Baja California ‘org’
Web site has/is reporting that Cabo Isle Marina “has been
wiped out.” In times of war and natural disasters, truth
is always the first victim, and this seems to be another case.
We’ve repeatedly reported that Cabo Isle Marina was only very
slightly damaged – although the much smaller Marina de Baja near
the harbor entrance was indeed badly damaged. Boats in marinas
in La Paz came out mostly unscathed. Boats in Santa Rosalia experienced
35 knots of wind with gusts to 50 knots. Apparently the surge
at the docks was severe, so the boats vacated. None were reported
damaged.

The biggest damage to boats, of course,
was to those on the hard at Astilleros Marina in La Paz. Here’s
the most recent list of boats that got knocked over: Nimbus,
Namaste, Crescendo, Lady in Red, Gypsy Dolphin, J&M Liberty,
Sandetee, Malarkey, Sea Clipper, Light Wind, Winterland III,
Spirit, Pleite, Kiananin, Cyrus, Orion, Bountiful, Luethin, Summer
Wind, and four unidentified trimarans. Vessels damaged in
the anchorage include: Escape, aground; Time Machine,
aground; Katmandu, aground; Beyond Therapy, roller
jib came unfurled, windlass pulled out; Destiny, mast
damaged.

Kostecki and illbruck Continue
to Lead Volvo

October 8 – Atlantic Ocean

Northern Californian John Kostecki, skipper of the favored illbruck,
continues to stretch his lead in the Volvo Around the World Race
as the fleet enters the doldrums. Here’s an onboard report from
crewman Richard Clarke:

“Just got off an awesome six hours
on deck. Perfect example of champagne yachting . . . 15-23 knots
of wind and nice surfing waves. Boat speed was always near 15
knots with peaks into the 20s – and all this in shorts and nothing
else. I have not worn boots for a week as there has seldom been
water on the deck, and now there is it is a welcome relief from
the heat. The trades are fitting the bill as a great place to
sail; I just wish that it took a little less time to get here.”

For more great photos and reports, see
www.volvooceanrace.com.

YOTREPS

October 8 – 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

October 8 – 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.