Photo of the Day

August 12 - Catalina Island

Today's Photo of the Day is from The Wanderer, who has been racing and cruising in Southern California for the last 10 days. You see some pretty wacky things at Catalina during the summer, and this photo shows one of them. These two youngsters were putting around in a dinghy that was so full of water that her bow frequently went under. They either needed a bilge pump or for the guy in the bow to skip breakfast. After they provided everyone with a good laugh for about 20 minutes, the Harbor Patrol suggested that they get the water out.

Misfortune Off Emeryville

August 12 - Emeryville, CA

"I saw a couple of sticks out of context and diagonal between Emeryville and Berkeley Marinas last week, and went down the frontage road to investigate," reports Marc Lander. "My worst fears were confirmed, as it was a sailboat aground. She had a "No Trespassing" sign posted and was a sad sight. I don't know anything about the boat or how she got there, but she was gone the next day."

High Speed Internet Access in Your Dinghy!

August 12 - Catalina Island

While at Catalina on Saturday, Steve Hollen, who works for Sprint PCS, came by with that company's latest and greatest - high speed Internet access via a Sprint cell phone. We plugged the thing in, and shazam, Yahoo! popped up in a matter of seconds. And it was just a few seconds more for 'Lectronic Latitude with all the photos. According to the monitor on the computer, we were surfing the web at 115 kilobytes per second - which is about double that of dial-up.

Steve in the salon of Profligate with just a cell phone and computer.

According to Hollen, Sprint customers can now not only have access to their email and the Internet, but if they know how to get through their company firewall, they can work as if at their desk in their office - all while on their boat or even in their dinghy. The new system, called 3G, is being rolled out today. We're going to try to get hooked up with our Mac and give it a more thorough test when we return to Profligate late this week. We'll let you know how it turns out.

Peyron, McDonald, and Orange off Around Britain

August 12 - United Kingdom

Bruno Peyron, who recently set a new Jules Verne record, and Neal McDonald, who recently finished second on Assa Abloy in the Volvo Ocean Race, have joined forces today for an assault on the Around Britain record with the 110-ft maxi cat Orange. The current record of 5 days, 21 hours, is held by Steve Fossett and his 60-ft trimaran Lakota. That was an average speed of 12.67 knots for the 1,787-mile trip. Orange averaged 18.15 knots sailing around the world, so she's easily capable of setting a new mark.

What Crowds?

August 12 - Summer in Catalina

When we told folks we'd be going to Catalina in August, they warned us about the crowds. We don't know what they were talking about.

Mexico-Only Crew List & Party

August 12 - Mill Valley

Back to school commercials are all over the media and, despite the summer heat, fall fashions adorn shop windows. These signs can only mean one thing: It's time to think about the Mexico-Only Crew List and Party! Coupons to fill out and mail in to get on the list, which will be published in the October issue of Latitude 38, are available in the August issue, will be reprinted in September, and can be printed out from our Crew List Web pages.

Photo Latitude/Andy

Soon after the list comes out, we'll be following up with our annual Mexico-Only Crew List Party and Baja Ha-Ha Reunion, to be held Wednesday, October 9,
6-9 pm, at Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. Join us!

YOTREPS

August 12 - 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

August 12 - 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/. The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is at www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

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/Maps/Southwest.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 views of sea states anywhere in the world, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/.