Photo of the Day

June 28 - Richardson Bay

Today's Photo of the Day might be titled Whatever Floats Your Boat. In Richardson Bay, not all boats float. Sometimes there's not enough water. Sometimes there's a hole in the boat.

Deppe to Finish Singlehanded TransPac Today

June 28 - Hanalei Bay, Kauai

Mark Deppe of the San Francisco based J/120 Alchera should cross the finish line today off Hanalei Bay to take line honors. Here's his report from yesterday:

"Alchera Log: 6/27/02 1456 Hours, Position N22 35 W157 04. Last night was a good sailing night for everyone in the fleet - even Eric on Rusalka was beginning to see the end of the ordeal. When you're only moving a couple of knots, the GPS tells you some very depressing things about your arrival date - like that you are going to run out of food and water first! But now the winds have filled back in and the sailors are happy to be moving along. And today is magnificent as well. Clear blue skies, winds are in the 16-18 knot range, and the swells are large enough to surf on. So Alchera has been surfin' to Kauai, with 135 miles left to go. I suppose this will be Alchera's last full day and night of the race. It will be good to finish. Two weeks being in 'race mode' is very fatiguing. I've got to recharge on my sleep today so that I can make landfall in reasonable mental and physical condition. But now comes another fun part of the race - hanging with all the skippers as they come in one by one and recounting everyone's wild experiences on the way over."

Deppe has a huge lead of nearly 200 miles over Tony Carr of the Alameda-based Hobie 33 Tease, which is in second place.

July Latitude 38

June 28 - Everywhere

The July issue of Latitude 38 is being distributed today. Unfortunately, the printer made a boo-boo, and pages one and two of Changes are missing in favor of two later pages.

Great Summer of Sailing

June 28 - Northern California


For Northern California, it's so far been one of the best sailing summers to date. Lots of blue skies and warm temperatures. And it's supposed to be more of the same this weekend. Here's how nice it was last weekend.

North Sails Race Week

June 28 - Long Beach

The biggest thing in sailing on the West Coast this week is North Sails Race Week in Long Beach, which includes over 30 boats from Northern California - and some of the best sailors in the world. Rich Roberts explains:

"Mix a probable record number of entries with a flock of celebrity sailors and a favorable weather forecast and you have the 18th edition of North Sails Race Week, the West Coast's largest inshore regatta. Dennis Conner, Dave Ullman, Paul Cayard and Dee Smith will be calling tactics on some of the larger boats competing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, along with Olympic medallists Jeff Madrigali, Steve Benjamin and Ross Macdonald and America's Cup veteran Ed Baird.

"The entry list---all keelboats from 20 feet up, topped by 29 J/105s---had climbed to 168 Thursday and was expected to surpass the record of 170 boats that sailed in 2000. Conner will sail on Dale Williams' ILC 46, Wasabi, from San Francisco. Ullman, whose Melges 24 was Boat of the Week last year, will be on Brack Duker's Farr 40, Revolution. Cayard will complement the crack crew of John Kilroy's defending Farr 40 winner, Samba Pa Ti. Smith, who just finished the Volvo Ocean Race on Amer Sports One, will be on Mary Coleman's Farr 40, Astra, from San Francisco. The three-day event will be run on three courses: one inside the Long Beach outer harbor, one outside the federal breakwater and another to the east off Seal Beach. Classes will include five PHRF and eight one-design: Farr 40, J/120, 1D35, Schock 35, J/105, J/24, Melges 24 and Santana 20. In-class competitions will include the J/120 North American Championships, Farr 40 Pacific Coast Championships, Schock 35 Pacific Coast Championships and the J/24 Western Regionals, which is a J/24 world championships qualifier.

"The marine forecast calls for an overnight curtain of fog to rise each morning, Friday through Sunday, bringing brisk sea breezes as triple-digit temperatures in Southern California's inland areas draw the cooler air from the ocean. Temperatures on the race courses are expected to be in the lows 70s. Long Beach, by its location on the south coast of Greater Los Angeles opposite Santa Catalina Island, especially benefits from a funnel effect blowing through the San Pedro Channel that produces customary summer winds of 10 to 20 knots."

Not So Fast

June 28 - Record Books

Tracy Edward's maxi-cat Maiden II (ex-Club Med) has been confirmed by the World Speed Sailing Record Council as turning in the fastest ever 24-hour run - but not quite the 697 miles originally claimed. According to the council, they were only able to identify a 24-hour run of 694.78 miles. Still, that's not bad at all, as it means an average of 28.9 knots.

Edwards wasn't aboard for the 24-hour record run, and a sick child kept her home last weekend when Maiden won the Around Isle of Wight Race. So who runs the big cat? Despite Helena Darvelid being listed as skipper and Adrienne Cahalan being listed as navigator, it's reportedly Brian Thompson - who kicked around Sausalito when working on Steve Fossett's trimaran Lakota - who plays the role of skipper in all but name. "Brian is responsible for everything," said Sam Davies - who despite her name is an attractive young blonde with a technical degree from Cambridge - a mainstay crew aboard Maiden. Thompson's ultra relaxed karma is said to permeate the boat.

Meanwhile, Steve Fossett, who used to own the 24-hour record with his maxi cat PlayStation, is halfway around the world in his ballon, flying alone. And over in France, Olivier de Kersauson has relaunched the maxi tri Geronimo, which had rudder problems on her Jules Verne attempt. After being repaired in France, she was T-boned on a mooring by a seemingly crazed operator of a 30-footer. The 'G Class' assault on sailing records is about to commence.

Victoria to Maui Race

June 28 - Northwest

Over the last few days 20 boats have started Canada's big offshore event, the Victoria to Maui Race. The first start was fittingly gloomy for the Northwest as you can tell from the photos. It doesn't look like that in Maui. Check out the event's site at www.vicmaui.org for details.

Photo courtesy Vic-Maui Web site

YOTREPS

June 28 - 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 28 - 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 views of sea states anywhere in the world, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/.