Photo of the Day

March 29 -
San Francisco
Bay Area

Today's Photo of the Day is of the new Latitude 38, which is hitting the stands today. In one sense, it's our 25th anniversary issue, because we started this month 25 years ago. In another sense, our 25th anniversary won't be for another two months, as we skipped two December issues in the early days. So we're going to 'smear' our anniversary over the next few months. Included in this month's edition is the 48-page four-color guide to Pacific Sail Expo in Oakland April 17-21. Check it out.

Photo Latitude/Chris


Maverick in Egypt

March 29 - Red Sea

The first boats to have sailed up the Red Sea since 9/11 seem not to have run into an unusual problems. Tony Johnson and Terry Shrode of the Richmond-based Ericson 39 Maverick are among them. They're now safe and resting in Egypt, but describe what it was like during the worst of the always rough Red Sea passage:

"It was blowing a full gale. What's that like? Well, with fairly regular seas, it's not that much of a problem. You don't like it, because even though you're reefed and the rig isn't likely to fail, the sheets are hard as rebar and the strain on what's left of the sails is worrisome - particularly when a wave changes the boat's angle to the wind and some flogging results. The seas get pretty big, and once in a while will break aboard, though that night not more than 10 gallons ever occupied the cockpit. One particularly high one caught the foot of the jib and caused the furling line to part, which created a bit of a hassle for a while, but we managed to save the sail. You'd kind of stare in awe when one of the steep, bigger guys came rolling your way, like a wall 15 feet high, looking quite deadly. But then Maverick would just sort of magically levitate herself right over the top of it, no problema. The violence of the scene and the sound is a bit viscerally stressful, but intellectually you know that you're pretty certain to be OK."


Orange Finally on a Southern Ocean Conveyor Belt

March 29 - Southern Ocean

You could hear real relief in the voices of Bruno Peyron and Gilles Chiorri during the chat session today, Friday March 29. Indeed, the maxi-catamaran Orange has at last found normal sailing conditions in the fickle Southern Ocean - that's to say a reaching wind of 30/35 knots and a tidier sea pushing them from astern.

"We have a steady flow allowing us to speed," declared Bruno. "But above all it's going to continue tidying up the sea. It's going to do us all good, both the boys and the boat!"

And while the giant is still 300 miles to the north of Olivier de Kersauson's route, Bruno doesn't think they will be able to catch that up in the next few hours:
"We've a huge low to the southeast of our route, and we risk encountering extremely heavy seas again. So we did a bit of northeast in the night to slightly distance us from the center of the low, and now we're back on a due east route. Moreover, we know that for us the best winds are 30/35 knots, and that's what we've got right now."

There's nothing like excess speed to make for a relatively relaxed skipper and crew. After 27 days, Orange has sailed 1,955 miles further than Sport Elec, the current Jules Verne record holder.


Northern California Cooking in Volvo

March 29 - Miami, FL

Northern California - actually Marin - sailors are doing great in the Volvo Around the World Race. John Kostecki and illbruck, of course, just finished second in the Rio to Miami leg, and are in first overall with 36 points. Mark Rudiger, co-skipper of Assa Abloy, won the last leg and is second overall with 28 points. And Amer Sports One, often with Dee Smith in the afterguard, is third overall.


More Yelapa

March 29 - Yelapa, Mexico

A few days ago we ran a photo of Yelapa and thought you might like to see more of this unusual - you can only get there by boat - cruiser favorite in Mexico.


Looking down at the main beach from the
now empty semi-natural swimming pool


Yelapa is full on jungle.


This small sailboat is kept inside the lagoon. When the owners
want to use it, they get a bunch of friends to drag it over the bar.
 


Yelapa is labor intensive. You should see how much trouble this
guy had pushing the loaded wheelbarrow over the sand beach.


There are new and old dinghies in Yelapa. Can you tell which is which?


Our panga driver was a cool guy - whose knee
joints were destroyed by a case of the bends.
Photos Latitude/Richard


YOTREPS

March 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

March 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 has moved to 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.


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