Photos of the Day

June 10 - Vallejo

Today's Photo Sequence of The Day comes from this weekend's Catnip Cup, a two-day rally for cruising multihulls from Yellow Bluff to Vallejo and back. Conditions were so beautiful at the start that some of the fleet decided to lengthen the course by sailing over to the St. Francis YC before heading up the Bay. As you can see in the first shot, Michael Wright's Hughes 40 Wavy is sailing along nicely, apparently not aware that there's a small boat anchored and fishing in the middle of the Central Bay.

In the second shot, Wright and crew finally realize there is an obstruction, and desperately try to head up. Alas, there's was a strong flood, and they recognized the problem too late to avoid contact.

Fortunately, the contact was slight, and Wright did the correct thing by passing along his phone number and other information.

There's no substitute for constant vigilance, particularly with multihulls that move so fast, and when there are powerful tides that sometimes change your course without you realizing it. We'd like to report that we've never hit a stationary object, but we have. Once, after a long return trip from the Delta, we T-boned a boat in the Sausalito anchorage on a perfectly clear day. We have no idea how it happened. Another time, we T-boned the Carquinez Bridge with Big O. Yet another time, we tried to sail out of the Berkeley Marina with jib only. Unable to point, we caromed off a docked trimaran. Now that we think of it, we're a real menace to navigation. Be careful out there.

Vallejo Marina

Kostecki Is King of Volvo

June 10 - Kiel, Germany

Marin's John Kostecki skippered the German entry illbruck to a second place finish in the last leg of the 32,700-mile Volvo Ocean Race, cementing a clear cut victory over second place Assa Abloy, skippered by Marin's Mark Rudiger. The last leg from Gothenburg, Sweden, to Kiel, Germany, was reminiscent of Mid-Winters on San Francisco Bay, as some boats had to anchor in foul current while others slipped ahead in decent wind just a short distance away. The final leg was won by the Norwegian boat Djuice, which had been a major disappoint. Amer Sports Too, the women's entry, finished fourth, by far their best leg to date, and one spot ahead of the men aboard Amer Sports One. As many as 100,000 spectators showed up to watch.
FINAL RESULTS:
1. illbruck Challenge, 61 pts
2. Assa Abloy, 55
3. Amer Sports One, 44
4. Team Tyco, 42
5. Team News Corp, 41
6. djuice, 33
7. Team SEB, 32
8. Amer Sports Too, 16

No Bash for Air Ops

June 10 - Cabo to San Deigo

A lot of boats that did the Baja Bash got hammered this spring. But we've had several reports from those who waited until after Alma, the season's first hurricane, that they've had an easy go. The latest to report having not had a bad run from Cabo to San Deigo are Dave and Merry Wallace of the Redwood City-based Amel Maramu 46 Air Ops. Details in the July issue.

Zephyrus Out Sailing

June 10 - San Francisco Bay

Bob McNeil's R/P 86 Zephyrus, the biggest and most sophisticated racing yacht to be based out of Northern California, did her first sailing on the weekend.

We'll have photos and a report tomorrow. But when we bumped into some of the crew Sunday night at Safeway, they were totally exhausted - but apparently pleased.

P.S. We lied. Here's a preview shot.

Geronimo Almost Got Out Sailing Again

June 10 - Brest, France

Olivier de Kersauson's 120-maxi tri Geronimo, which aborted a Jules Verne around the world attempt earlier this year because of rudder problems, was back in the water after eight weeks in the yard and about to go sailing again. Then Pow! While at a mooring she was hit full speed on the beam by a 30-foot sloop. Now she'll have to be hauled out again. Nonetheless, it's expected that she and at least two or three of the maxi cats may have a go at each other later this year in the Around Britain Race.

YOTREPS

June 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

June 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/. 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/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.