Photo of the Day

September 19 - San Francisco Bay

As we all know, last week was a difficult one for everyone. We went sailing one afternoon, and found a wonderful respite in working the boat and being out in Nature. Talk about putting things in perspective! When returning to the marina, we passed this fellow stretched out on the back of his Columbia Sabre, which is - if we remember correctly - a Columbia 5.5 meter racing boat with a small house. These boats are narrow. Nonetheless, about 15 years ago a fellow - his name might have been Don Cuddy - bought one as is for a couple of thousand bucks and over a period of several years, cruised her from San Diego to Panama to Florida. While it may not have been the driest or most comfortable cruising boat, it went to prove that it's the desire, not the bucks, that are necessary for cruising.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Fleet Week Canceled

September 19 - San Francisco Bay

This year's Fleet Week on San Francisco Bay, scheduled for October 5-7, has been canceled by the Fleet Week Committee, which is actually a civilian organization. The event was to feature the Blue Angels as well as seven Navy and Coast Guard vessels. The event was canceled because of security concerns for the crowds ashore, which have numbered as many as one million.

While the civilian-run Fleet Week may not be held and the Blue Angels won't be coming, the Navy tells Latitude 38 that they have as yet not formally pulled the plug on the parade of ships. Indeed, if nobody else picks up the ball on a marine parade, we at Latitude will be out there on the parade route with a big flag, and will encourage everyone else with a boat to join us. For now, we'll wait to see if some other organization doesn't step in. So stay tuned.

Prescription Drugs In Mexico

September 19 - Mexico

Do you need a prescription to buy prescription drugs in Mexico? Some books say you do, some say you only need them in theory, and here's what Alex Malaccorto of Rocinante, who has been cruising Mexico for years, has to say:

"If the product is in their big cross-reference book, there's no problem; there has never been an issue of prescriptions being required. If the product is not in their book, they are lost."

Sail Suit Settled

September 19 - The Courts

According to Veronica Brown of North Sails, "Sobstad Corporation and North Sails Group, LLC, have settled the patent infringement litigation regarding Sobstad's structural sail patents, the '639, '953 and '205 patents in suit. North Sails Group, LLC, will now own the '639, '953 and '205 patents and all of their counterparts, often referred to as the "Airframe Patents." Sobstad Corporation will retain full ownership of Sobstad's '080 patent, often referred to as the "Genesis Patent" and all of its counterparts. The '080 patent was not a patent in suit."

This was one of the sailing industry's largest lawsuits. Exactly who 'won' and who 'lost', or whether it was a 'win-win', is unclear at this time.

Baja Ha-Ha Deadline

September 19 - Baja Ha-Ha World Headquarters

The deadline to enter late October's Ha-Ha has ended, and there are 130 paid-up entries. We'll list the more recent ones later this week. See www.baja-haha.com for more on the event.

YOTREPS

September 19 - 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

September 19 - 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.