January 27, 2003

Photos of the Day

January 27 – San Francisco Bay

It wasn’t the biggest fleet (215 entries,
well shy of the 253-boat fleet in 1994), it wasn’t the fastest
race (the record is still 2 hours, 17 minutes, set by the Antrim
30+ Erin in 1996), but the 20th Three Bridge Fiasco had
to be the most pleasant one in history. The weather for the Singlehanded
Sailing Society’s season opener on Saturday couldn’t have been
nicer – sunny, flat water, and a gentle 5-10 knot northerly.
“It was a perfect midwinter day,” claimed SSS scorer
Bill Charron. “It also was a great pursuit race, as everyone
seemed to finish all together.”

The winner of the zany 21-mile Bay tour
(Blackaller Buoy, Red Rock, Treasure Island – in any order!)
was Bill Erkelens, Sr.’s custom C-Cat Freedom, which crossed
the Golden Gate finish line first at 2:30 p.m. Erkelens and crew
Mark Rudiger, who now lives up in Grass Valley, sailed the course
clockwise (Blackaller first, through Raccoon Strait to Red Rock,
T.I.), finishing with an elapsed time of 2:54:29. “It was
perfect conditions for us,” said Bill. “We double-trapped
both upwind and down, and we had fun starting last and passing
everybody!”

The top monohull was the green Schumacher
40 Auspice, sailed by Jim Coggan and his 17-year-old son
Brian. The Coggans finished at 2:45 p.m. after sailing a counterclockwise
course. “We went to Blackaller first, and then were able
to skirt the hole at Fisherman’s Wharf by sailing out towards
Alcatraz,” said Jim. “We picked up about 50 boats at
once right there. We sailed a longer distance, but it really
paid off!”

The top singlehander was Dan Benjamin,
whose red Aerodyne 38 Fast Forward crossed the line at
2:58 p.m. after sailing a clockwise course.

For more, including results and photos,
see Race Sheet in the February issue of Latitude 38, due
out Friday. Also see www.sfbaysss.org
and/or drop by the Oakland YC on the evening of February 12 for
the awards ceremony/debriefing.

Check back tomorrow for our Key West Race
Week report.

Moore 24s prepare to start. They fielded the biggest fleet (27
in the Doublehanded Division). The 3-Bridge kicks off their long
Roadmaster Series.

The Express 27 Dianne

Cape to Rio Fleet Leaders Trickle In

January 27 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The trimaran Nicator, skippered
by professional yachtsman Klabbe Nylöf,
finished the Cape Town, South Africa, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
event first, crossing the line in Guanabara Bay Friday at 1048
(Brazilian time) for an elapsed time of 12 days 23 hours 47 minutes
and 54 seconds. While this performance smashed the multihull
record by almost six days, it was about 10 hours slower than
the race record set by the monohull Zephyrus IV, navigated
by Mark Rudiger, in 2000.

The Brazilian catamaran Adrenalina Pura,
skippered by Georg Ehrensperger, finished the grueling race late
Sunday evening, amid much excitement from the local crowd.

The next excitement in Rio is bound to
be the arrival of the first monohull, the German entry 81-foot
maxi Morning Glory. Skipper Hasso Plattner reported this
morning at 1000 GMT that they were 101 miles away.

For the latest updates, see www.capetorio.org.

Kingfisher2
Has Left the Dock

January 27 – Lorient, France

The
big cat Kingfisher2 is poised to pounce on a Jules Verne
Trophy attempt. Ellen MacArthur and her all-male crew have left
Lorient and hope to cross the starting line in the English Channel
tomorrow morning, subject to this evening’s final weather briefing.
Says MacArthur, “We have done everything we can to prepare,
now it is time to race.”

Meanwhile, Olivier de Kersauson and crew
aboard the trimaran Geronimo should round the Cape of
Good Hope tomorrow. They are flying before a 30-knot NNW wind,
averaging 22-23 knots of boat speed.

To follow these Jules Verne attempts, see
www.grandsrecords.com
and www.kingfisher-challenges.com/uk.

YOTREPS

January 27 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.

Weather Updates

January 27 – 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.