October 4, 2002

Photos of the Day

October 4 – Louisiana

All Three American Teams Victorious

October 4 – Auckland, NZ

All three U.S. America’s Cup teams beat
their opponents in the Louis Vuitton Challenger Trials Friday.
The second day of racing brought real drama to the contest with
upset results in two matches overturning the form books. Pre-regatta
favorites Alinghi, of Switzerland, fell to OneWorld Challenge
in a cliffhanger, and the defending champions, Prada, were handily
beaten by Team Dennis Conner.

The shock announcement that Prada’s lead
designer Doug Peterson (see story below) was to be removed from
his position preceded a difficult day on the water for the crew
on Luna Rossa. Prada’s second loss in two races added
to the air of embattlement surrounding the Louis Vuitton champions.

Alinghi, which gained its favorite status
by winning most of the pre-regatta informal races, was beaten
off the startline by OneWorld, and the Seattle team led for the
rest of the race.

Mascalzone Latino drew another strong competitor
in Oracle BMW Racing and notched up their second loss in succession.

The French Le Défi team, which has
yet to post a point on the scoreboard, suffered from a ripped
spinnaker and trailed the Swedish Victory Challenge team all
the way round the course.
 
After losing two days of racing due to high winds, the weather
over the course Friday was sunny and fine, with southerly winds
of 15 knots at the start. For the complete story, see www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story443.html.

Saturday’s racing pairs One World with
Wight Lightning, Orn with Stars & Stripes, Mescalzone
Latino with Alinghi, and Le Défi with
Luna Rossa. Oracle BMW Racing has a bye.

Prada – Down Two Races, One Head Designer
and One Helmsman

October 4 – Auckland, NZ

After losing the first race of the Louis
Vuitton Challenger Series, Patrizio Bertelli of Prada – well-known
for being an autocrat with a very short fuse – canned American
Doug Peterson, the head of his 22-man design team. It’s a major
blowup for the prestigious event. It comes on the heels of speculation
that Gavin Brady, top Kiwi helmsman for Prada, has either left
or been kicked off the reservation. In the first race, Oracle
BMW beat Prada by being a lot faster downwind but just a tiny
bit slower upwind.

Bertelli made the official announcement
at a press conference yesterday morning local time, saying that
Peterson was demoted from his duties as design director for Prada.
During the course of the press conference Bertelli said: “Doug
Peterson has not been fired, he simply does not hold any longer
the position of Design Team Director.”

When asked, “Were you sacked or did
you walk?” Peterson responded, “I was terminated.”

“He said you were demoted.”

“No. That’s not correct. That’s not
what the termination letter says.”

Read the complete story at www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story453.html.

Thursday’s Louis Vuitton Series Report

October 3 – Auckland, NZ

For the second time in three days, the
Louis Vuitton Challenger Trials for the America’s Cup were postponed
on Thursday due to high winds. It was so bad that the racing
was called off well before any of the boats had left their compounds.
Postponements are nothing new for Auckland, as 11 of the 48 racing
days were lost during the last Louis Vuitton. We previously erred
by saying the races wouldn’t be started when the wind was blowing
over 22 knots. In fact, racing doesn’t start unless it’s blowing
more than 7 and less than 19 before the start, and it’s stopped
if it blows over 23 once the racing has started. Sissies? No.
As a group, the challengers don’t want to race in heavy air because
they know it will tear their boats up before one of them meets
the Kiwis in the lighter winds of February.

Pissed off because the OLN television coverage
of the Louis Vuitton only reported on the featured race and not
the other three? Fortunately, both the Oracle BMW Racing Web
site (www.oraclebmwracing.com)
and Stars & Stripes Web site (www.stars-stripes.com)
feature ongoing coverage. The other syndicates may also provide
real time coverage.

Richard Van Pham, Survivor – and Stalker?

October 4 – Costa Rica

Vietnamese immigrant Richard Van Pham won
a lot of hearts – and television appearances – last week when
he was rescued off Costa Rica by the U.S. Navy after supposedly
drifting for 3.5 months in his 26-ft sailboat following
a dismasting on the way from Long Beach to Catalina. From the
outset, we’ve been skeptical about parts of his story – such
as how it was possible he didn’t see a ship or plane after the
dismasting in the busy waters between Long Beach and Catalina.
It now turns out that the celebrity survivor has a shady past,
as the Los Angeles Times reports he’s been arrested three
times during the last 17 years on suspicion of various felonies
from one end of the United States to the other. In 1985, Van
Pham, under the name Pham Van, was arrested in Brownsville, Texas,
for felony pot possession. He was not charged. In 1983, he was
arrested on suspicion of assault with a firearm in Los Angeles,
but not charged. In 1998, he was arrested in Tampa on suspicion
of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and stalking. He was
not charged. When asked about the arrests at a press conference,
Van Pham said he can’t remember because he suffers from amnesia
as a result of a car accident. He then told reporters that they
sounded as if they were with the FBI – and then retreated to
a bathroom.

Does anyone else think there might be a
contraband angle to this story?

Z-Town Pulls Together After Julio

October 3 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico

“Zihuatanejo quickly pulled itself
together following Hurricane Julio,” reports Craig Gottschalk
of Scorpion on October 3. “Although there are still
piles of branches on almost every street and the utility companies
continue to work overtime to restore services, I would say life
for most people here has returned to normal. The first cruise
ship of the season arrived Sunday, and the second today. I guess
those folks must believe the Northeastern Pacific Hurricane season
is over. The news is not good for the Long Beach-based Garden
ketch Freedom, which washed up on the beach. Originally,
it looks as though she could have been pulled back out, but she
now lies about two-thirds buried in sand, and her spars are practically
in the water. I have been told the owner has yet to appear. Victor
over at the Port Captain’s office says a salvage crew from Lazaro
Cardenas will arrive Tuesday.”

For what it’s worth, a lot of the usual
suspects are moving forward with plans to hold a second annual
Zihua Fest at the end of January and the beginning of February.
We’ll keep you posted.

The Pardeys’ Masochistic Circumnavigation

October 4 – Cape Horn

We’ve never been big fans of Larry and
Lin Pardey’s brand of ocean voyaging – which means long voyages
in small, engineless, wood boats using traditional methods of
navigation – but we sure respect them. We were at Newport Beach
many years ago when they launched the 30-ft Taleisin that
Larry had built somewhere in the hills of California, a boat
in which he and Lin have just finished a circumnavigation, south
of the southern capes, against the prevailing wind. It took them
21 days to sail from 50 South in the Atlantic to 50 South in
the Pacific. We’re not sure who is keeping records, but theirs
is apparently the smallest boat to have ever done this. They
endured several days of 60-knot winds, and Larry was once on
the helm for 16 hours as they beat to windward in a Force 10
blizzard. Then the weather got bad.

Their Web site (http://landlpardey.com)
doesn’t indicate when they completed the voyage, but they will
have a new video out about heavy weather sailing soon.

SOS for Liferaft

October 4 – San Francisco

“We sailed to Mexico in the Ha-Ha
last year,” report Mike
and Karen Cregan of Priceless, “and then sailed
to French Polynesia with Philo Hayward on Cherokee – but
with our liferaft. Philo was able to get an airline to ship the
deactivated raft from Tahiti to San Francisco, but not from San
Francisco to Mexico. Is there a Ha-Ha boat that might be willing
to take the raft to Mexico for us this year?”

Crew List Party Next Week

October 4 – Alameda

While we’re on the subject of trying to
get to Mexico, this might be a good time to remind you that Latitude
38’s Mexico-Only Crew List Party and Baja Ha-Ha Reunion,
a three-hour event with a really long name, is coming up next
Wednesday at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda. For details,
see www.latitude38.com/crewlist/CrewParty/CrewParty.html.

Did George Slip One By?

October 4 – Auckland, NZ

In his ‘Lectronic
report on the Louis Vuitton Series from Auckland, reporter
George Backhus used the phrase “. . . cunning Alinghis .
. .” Am I a dirty old man or did George slip one by you?”
So wonders Dave Wallace of Air Ops.

Smart Ass Photo Captions

October 4 – Auckland, NZ

Remember this photo by the aforementioned
George Backhus of an unusual boat design in Fiji, which we published
earlier this week?

Photo George Backhus

Here are some of the smartass comments
we received:

Mike Brennan – “New cloning technology fails miserably in
boatyard accident.”
Steve Smith – “Sailboat collides with trawler, proceeds
under jury rig.”
Doug Schenk – “Hey Mr. Boatyard owner, this year I’d like
to take my Swan 52 and my Carver 34 down to Fiji. Any ideas?”
Carl Mischka of Newport Beach – “Looks like another design
by committee – with the ass end not knowing what the front end
was doing.”
Paul Pearce – “One word says it all, hermaphriboat (sic).
I mean really sic!”
Bill Elmer – “Gee Martha, that idiot in the Bayliner drove
right up our ass!”
Bill Elmer, again – “Husband: I want a sailboat. Wife: I
want a powerboat. No problem, we’ll get this boat and you stay
in the back and I’ll stay in the front.”
Mark Wiltz – “Having almost finished his degree – and class
project – in sailboat design, Sydney dropped out of school and
got a job with the Hatteras Sportfishing Boat Company.”
Denis Inman – “The rig could use some Viagra. I believe
the owner either knew exactly what he wanted, or he didn’t have
a clue.”
Stuart Lochner – “Maybe a Bayliner 45 stuck into a Valiant
40.”
Kimball Livingston – “No smartass comments. I just want
to know where the designer placed the Center of Effort.”

A Whale of a Delivery

October 4 – Oxnard

Ken Fairchild has arrived in Oxnard, having
delivered Profligate there from Half Moon Bay. He reports
that he was motoring in no wind around Pt. Conception yesterday
when the 63-ft catamaran was surrounded by about 20 humpback
whales bigger than the boat. They formed a horseshoe around Profligate,
and Ken says he was both excited and scared shitless.

YOTREPS

October 4 – 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

October 4 – 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/.