October 28, 2002

Photos of the Day

October 28 – Pt. Richmond

Richmond Yacht Club held their Great Pumpkin
Regatta this weekend, featuring three one design ‘counters’ on
Saturday and a for-fun pumpkin-hunting PHRF pursuit race on Sunday,
bisected by a kick-ass Halloween party on Saturday night. 138
boats hit the starting line, and it seemed like all their crews
were in the clubhouse Saturday night, as a huge crowd packed
the lounge to watch the Giants almost win Game 6, and another
crowd packed the dance floor, breathlessly gyrating to the tunes
of the highly energetic and thematically-named Shark Sandwich
Band. And of course there was the costume contest, the subject
of today’s photos. For race results, see Race Sheet in November’s
Latitude 38.

Rudy’s Santa Cruz Surfboards costume fit right in with the party’s
Jaws theme. Mermaids Marlaina and Emily won first prize,
a bottle of Piper-Sonoma champagne.

Count Dracula meets Catwoman.

Great smile on the Mona Lisa

Red Rock Regatta

October 28 – Tiburon

No surprise upsets in Tiburon Yacht Club’s
annual Halloween event, the Red Rock Regatta: Division I (PHRF
150 and below) went to Bill and Susan Hoehler’s J/105 Joy
Ride, while Don Kunstler’s Santana 28 Don Wan took
Division II (PHRF 151 and up). For more results from this and
the rest of the weekend’s races, see Box Scores in Race Sheet
in the November issue of Latitude
38, which will be distributed Friday.

Division I start off TYC’s beautiful new clubhouse
Photo Walt Bilofsky

Clipper 2002 Starts a Day Late

October 28 – Liverpool, UK

Hong Kong Clipper,
skippered by Justin Taylor, blasted across the River Mersey line
ahead of her seven rivals at 14:30 GMT today, Monday, to start
of the Clipper 2002 Round the World Yacht Race in Liverpool.

Beneath glorious blue skies in 10-12 knots
of westerly breeze, eight yachts racing for eight cities set
sail on the first leg of the eleven-month challenge, billed as
the longest around the world race. A very close start saw the
fleet all coming in on a port tack, with Liverpool Clipper
leading in the approach to the line. The local yacht then luffed,
not to cross the race start line early, and Hong Kong
came just to windward at full speed to cross the line on the
gun.

As the fleet tussled for positions, Hong
Kong reached the first mark ahead of the fleet, but overshot,
enabling London Clipper, skippered by Chris Hazeldene,
to take the lead. At the Liverpool Yacht Club mark, London had
extended her lead, while closely behind, New York went
wide of the line managing to take Hong Kong’s wind and
move into second. New York is skippered by the first ever
female Clipper skipper, Samantha Fuller.

Severe weather yesterday caused the start
to be postponed for 24 hours. Estimated fleet arrival in Cascais,
Portugal, the first stopover, is Monday, November 4.

For Loretta Spridgeon ‘s complete story,
as well as previous and future reports, see www.clipper-ventures.com.

Postponed, Postponed, Postponed, Postponed

October 28 – Auckland, NZ

Speaking of weather postponements, the
Louis Vuitton Round Robin 2 has lost four straight days of racing
to excessive winds, causing race organizers to scramble to fit
in the remaining heats in the allotted time. It looks like two-race
days will be the solution, which could cause logistical problems
for the teams. For the full story, see www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com.

Today’s (Tuesday in New Zealand) weather
looks more moderate, and Race Officer Peter Reggio hopes to get
in flights three and four, beginning no earlier than 10:30 am,
on the shorter (12.5 mile) Course B.

Current leaderboard:

9-1 Alinghi Challenge
9-1 OneWorld Challenge
6-4 Oracle BMW Racing
6-4 Prada Challenge
5-4 GBR Challenge
4-5 Victory Challenge
4-6 Team Dennis Conner
1-9 Mascalzone Latino
0-10 Le Défi Aréva

Oracle BMW in a match against the radioactive yellow Aréva
Photo Bob Grieser/Louis Vuitton Cup
For more of Bob’s excellent photographic coverage of the
Cup, see November’s Latitude
38, due out Friday.

Flight Three Pairings: 

Luna Rossa
(ITA-74) vs. Le Défi (FRA-69)
Alinghi (SUI-64) vs. Mascalzone Latino (ITA-72)
Stars & Stripes (USA-66) vs. Orm (SWE-73)
Wight Lightning (GBR-70) vs. OneWorld (USA-67)

Flight Four:
Oracle BMW (USA-76) vs. Stars & Stripes (USA-66)
Wight Lightning (GBR-70) vs. Le Défi (FRA-69)
Alinghi (SUI-64) vs. Luna Rossa (ITA-74)
Orm (SWE-73) vs. Mascalzone Latino (ITA-72) 

YOTREPS

October 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

October 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/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/.