November 15, 2002

Photos of the Day

November 15 – Colon, Panama

Today’s Photos of the Day come from John
Rader, who writes: “On October 16, we transited the Canal
from the Balboa YC to Colon – which is east to west despite the
fact that we were going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The
first photo shows the crew celebrating an uneventful passage
aboard Blue Bell. They are John Rader and Catherine Wilkinson
of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Dufour 45 Cohabitat;
Susan Rhodes of the D.C.-based Bristol 41 Blue Bell; Shana
and Doug Moler of the Seattle-based Freya 39 Anitra; and
Ted Rhodes of Blue Bell.

The second photo was taken while anchored off ‘The Flats’ at
Colon after the transit. Here the transit crew was joined by
George and Sonjia Tuperis of the Vancouver-based F/P 39 cat C’est
Si Bon II and Rick and Lynn Parnell of the Seattle-based
Crealock 37 Sapphire.”

They look just like normal folks, don’t
they?

Kenna’s Affect on San Blas

November 15 – San Blas, Mexico

Paradise Village Harbormaster Dick Markie
sent us the accompanying photographs of San Blas, Mexico, Ground
Zero of last month’s hurricane Kenna smashing into mainland Mexico.
The devastation from such a powerful hurricane was tremendous,
as many of the already extremely humble homes had their roofs
torn off and walls knocked down. However, Markie credits the
Mexican Army and Navy with doing an excellent job of responding
quickly with food and other basic supplies. Many of the Ha-Ha
participants donated clothes, which were taken to the mainland
on Profligate for distribution in San Blas. We’ll have
more on relief efforts to this wonderful little area of Mexico.

To those who asked with great hope, no, we don’t know if the
port captain’s office was blown away. The San Blas Port Captain
has always been a thorn in the side of cruisers, as he claims
– in violation of Mexican law – that all cruisers must use a
service to check in.

Boat Massacre Continues in Route du Rhum

November 15 – Atlantic Ocean

“Tonight, I was sailing in a wind of 35 to 40 knots in strong
seas with waves of 10 metres. In addition, it was a cross sea
at the time which made the navigation very delicate. It was a
pyramid-shaped wave which came in very quickly and took hold
of the boat underneath, and that’s when I heard a big crack.
It was dark but I had seen several waves of that type during
the day. First of all the underside of the exterior coating was
broken across a two metre wide area. I tried to repair it then
the outer skin exploded along a five metre length to starboard.
In fact, the water was coming into the beams with every incoming
wave. I am also heading for Madeira and I am retiring from the
Route du Rhum because I can’t, on the one hand, continue in this
way, and on the other we would never be able to repair it within
the 72 hours allowed.”

 The other tri’s dropping out are
Karen Facconier’s Sergo Tacchini, which had a structural
problem that caused the mast to fall, and Bayer Crop Sciences,
which is also having structural problems. With everyone still
more than 2,100 miles from the finish, another 24 hours of rough
weather is expected. Already contestants are questioning the
timing of this race, which is held every four years.

Given the conditions and positions of the boats, it’s hard to
tell who is actually in the lead, but one name pops to the top
in monohulls – Britain’s Ellen MacArthur aboard Kingfisher.
Fellow Brit Mike Golding is 24 miles back with Ecover.

Alinghi Advances to Semi-Finals, Oracle
BMW Closes in Also

November 15 – Auckland, New Zealand

Also roaring back is Team Dennis Conner in the single elimination
bracket, with its second convincing victory in a row against
GBR. Team Dennis Conner is sailing their new boat, retrieved
from the bottom of Long Beach Harbor. Armed with what might be
a much faster boat, they are beginning to seem like a bigger
threat. They lead GBR by a score of 2-1. Rounding out the action
in the lower bracket, Sweden drilled the French for the third
time, putting them one loss away from elimination.

Wind Howls at Turtle Bay

November 15 – Turtle Bay

“We had localized Santa Ana-type winds up to 46 knots, with
huge clouds of dust being stripped from the big hill and spread
evenly over the boats. While the winds were close to being out
of the north, the wind waves were only two feet high. But when
the wind veered to the east there was more fetch, and the waves
got to three to four feet. There were 13 sailboats and one converted
fishing trawler in the bay at the time, most of them Canadians.
None of the boats dragged, but one heavy inflatable flipped.”

YOTREPS

November 15 – 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

November 15 – 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.