Photo of the Day

October 11 - Belvedere

Today's Photo of the Day is of the 'Tiburon Soccer Moms', who earlier this week walked away with honors in the prestigious Adams Cup, which is the U.S. Women's Sailing Championship. The event was sailed in J/24s. Vicki Sodaro, of host San Francisco YC, was the skipper, with Jodi Lee Drewery, Pamela Healy and Stephanie Wondolleck as crew. You moms are the best!

1. Vicki Sodaro Area G, 15.3 pts
2. Sally Barkow, Area K, 30
3. Molly O'Bryan, Area K, 33
4. Natalie Colman-Fuller, Area A, 44
5. Harriette O'Brien, Area C, 54

Complete results at: www.sfyc.org/Regattas2002/Results&SI/ADAMS02CSV.HTM

Hail Columbia!

October 11 - Newport Beach

In the early days of fiberglass sailboats, Southern California-based Columbia Yachts was huge. Over the years, they offered models in increments of every length from 22 to 43 feet, and built boats as big as 57 feet. After many years, the company has been revived by Vince Valdes, the son of Dick Valdes, who led Columbia through its glory years. The company's first offering will be a new Columbia 30 designed by Morrelli & Melvin, the multihulls wizards. The Columbia 30 will be a sportboat rather than a cat.

Oracle's Ellison Slams OneWorld's McCaw

October 11 - Auckland, NZ

Say what you will about Larry Ellison, he's never been afraid to speak his mind - which is exactly what he did on Thursday to Warren St. John of the New York Times while waiting for the wind to come up for the Louis Vuitton races. Having had enough of the Craig McCaw-based OneWorld Syndicate's 'holier than thou' tree planting campaign in New Zealand to compensate for atmospheric damage done by its chase boats, Ellison told the reporter: "Craig is sailing in the name of the oceans; we were thinking of sailing in the name of the whole planet. You'd think if they want to help the oceans, they'd spend $85 million on the oceans instead of a boat. I think Craig's doing it for the tax deduction."

Whether Ellison's accusation is correct in this case, we don't know. But he does raise a legitimate issue of many so-called environmental programs often being little more than tax write-offs for the super wealthy.

It has to be noted that Ellison has always been an intense business rival of Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, who has dumped $20 million into the OneWorld campaign. Ellison also believes that OneWorld wasn't sufficiently punished for having been found in possession of design secrets from the Kiwi team. "My only objection to OneWorld is that they seem to think they should be able to steal as much as they want, then pay one point for it," he told St. John.

OneWorld Is the Last of the Undefeated

October 11 - Auckland, NZ

No doubt Oracle BMW's Ellison isn't too happy today, for yesterday's loss to Alinghi was the first for Oracle BMW, and it left OneWorld as the only undefeated challenger. Yesterday's results: OneWorld defeated Le Défi Aréva by 21 seconds; GBR Challenge defeated Victory Challenge, 48 secs.; Alinghi defeated Oracle BMW, 1 minute 43 secs.; Stars & Stripes defeated Mascalzone Latino, 1 min. 36 secs.

Current standings:
6-1 Alinghi
6-0 One World Challenge
4-1 Oracle BMW Racing
3-3 Prada
3-3 Victory Challenge
3-4 Team Dennis Conner
2-4 GBR Challenge
0-5 Mascalzone Latino
0-6 Le Défi Aréva

'Lectronic Classifieds

October 11 - SoCal

Looking for a great hard-bottomed dinghy for Mexico? Latitude has a 12-ft Carib RIB in good condition for sale for $1,500. It's currently located in Southern California, but could be delivered to sunny Mexico. The young ladies do not come with the dinghy. Email Richard if interested.

Give Me a Bucket

October 11 - Mill Valley

"I bought one of those Wonder Wash things you wrote about the other day in 'Lectronic," writes Cliff Sojourner, "but paid just $19.95 rather than $43. It gets your clothes clean, sure, but the agitation is so mild that it would probably have trouble cleaning really soiled clothes. Mine was also flimsy, as the brackets wobbled when I spun it, and it doesn't drain well. Rinsing was a problem, as you had to do it two times. Lastly, it doesn't spin clothes dry, so you have to wring them out anyway. I'm trying real hard to think what advantage it has over hand washing clothes in a bucket. Even if the things sold for $20, I'd still rather have the bucket. P.S. These are the good old days."

Mexico Crew Party Revisited

October 11 - Alameda

A crowd of 250 turned out Wednesday night at the Encinal Yacht Club to meet like-minded cruisers who are heading to Mexico this season and vets who've been there before. In case you missed it, here's what it looked like.

The next Latitude 38 crew party will be held in early April.

Sal from Sal's inflatables explained
how emergency liferafts work.

Once inflated, the liferaft itself became a popular party spot.

Hy's Fishing Shop of San Francisco made a first time appearance this year, offering tips and supplies for fishing while en route.

YOTREPS

October 11 - 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 11 - 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/.