Key West Race Week Wrap-Up

January 29 - Key West, FL

I dare ya to say that headline three times fast!

Fast is the word for the talent and the hardware that showed up for the 15th running of the event this year called the Terra Nova Trading/Yachting Key West Race Week. Monday's weather didn't lend itself to speed, and Friday was a total bust, but fortunately the middle three days were more cooperative. A dozen Bay Area boats and quite a few from SoCal made the trek east, but the SoCal contingent beat out NorCal in the chase for trophies. In addition, an impressive number of Australians, Canadians, Europeans, Antiguans and Japanese participated, making this a truly international event.

For all the results, see www.premiere-racing.com/keywest/2002%20KW/kw_2002_index.htm. For Rob Moore's complete report, including profiles of the Bay Area teams, lots more photos, top finishers and award winners, see the February issue of Latitude 38, due to hit the streets Friday. We'll have more on Key West in Friday's 'Lectronic, but we'll be taking tomorrow and Thursday off.

Action in the 1D35 fleet:
Zsa Zsa, from the Bay Area

Father and son team Fred and Steve Howe
brought Kaizen from San Diego.

Another 1D35 from San Diego, KT's Choice, rounds a mark.
Above Photos Walter Cooper

Latitude 38 to Host Two Parties in April

January 29 - San Francisco Bay Area

If you're among the hundreds of Crew List Party-goers itching for us to finally figure out when and where the next party is going to be, you can stop scratching. The April Crew List Party will be held at Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, on Thursday, April 11. So mark your calendars and be there or be left on the dock! For more on the Crew List and the ensuing party, see our Crew List page at www.latitude38.com/crewlist/Crew.html, or the February issue of Latitude 38.

The second big blast we'll be putting on in April will be the First Annual I've Been Around Party for circumnavigators, and if you've 'been around', you're invited. The party will be Friday, April 19, from 6 to 9 pm, at Pacific Sail Expo 2002 in Oakland's Jack London Square. All West Coast circumnavigators are encouraged to attend. We'll have more details as the event approaches. For our List of Circumnavigators, see www.latitude38.com/features/circumnav.html

There's more than one way to get around:

John Kostecki, skipper of illbruck, and Mark Rudiger, navigator of Assa Abloy, are making their way around right now as participants in the Volvo Ocean Race.
Kostecki Photo Courtesy illbruck/Forster
Rudiger Photo Courtesy Assa Abloy

In the last Whitbread around-the world race, Rudiger was navigator for skipper Paul Cayard, who seems to have the world at his fingertips, aboard the victorious EF Language.
Photo Carlo Borlenghi

Hans Bernwall of Scanmar (pictured here at Pacific Sail Expo) went around in the '70s aboard a 30-ft Alden cutter.
Photo John Arndt

YOTREPS

January 29 - 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

January 29 - 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 www.nws.mbay.net/home.html.

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.