Photos of the Day: Miami OCR

February 3 - Miami, FL

The Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta concluded Saturday after four days of sailing in pleasant sunshine and a fresh, steady breeze on Biscayne Bay. The regatta attracted 526 competitors representing 34 countries in 11 Olympic classes and two Paralympic classes. It's the only ISAF Grade One ranking event in the U.S.

American Mark Mendelblatt snatched the Laser title from defending champion Paul Goodison (GBR). For his performance, Mendelblatt was deemed the best U.S. sailor at this event and received the newly created "Golden Torch" award. The award is an Olympic Torch from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow (which the U.S. boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) presented by the Russian Olympic Committee to the chairman of US Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee.

The huge (68 boats) Star Class was the most competitive, with almost every boat in the fleet at some point awarded a black flag or scored OCS (on course side) for starting early. Peter Bromby and Lee White sailing for Bermuda won the regatta by 21 points. Americans Andy Lovell/Eric Oetgen took second. U.S. teams dominated the top ten with Bill Hardesty and Will Stout taking third, Paul Cayard in fourth place and Terry Hutchinson in fifth.

Another amazing performance was seen in the 470 Men's class by Americans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham. The Olympic medalists won by a one-point margin, with Steve Hunt and Michael Miller settling for second. The American 470 Women's team of Katie McDowell and Isabelle Kinsolving sailed steadily throughout the series to win in that class.

For complete results in all the classes, daily reports and more excellent photos, go to www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR.

Puerto Rico's Enrique Figueroa and Jorge Hernandez starting in their Tornado. Roman Hagara and Hans-Peter Steinacher (AUT) won the catamaran class.
Photo Dan Nerney/Rolex

Peter Spaulding and Tim Wadlow won the 49er class.
Photo Dan Nerney/Rolex

Another PlayStation Record Attempt

February 3 - Cadiz, Spain

Steve Fossett and crew aboard PlayStation are in place in Puerto Sherry for another record attempt: the Christopher Columbus Route, from Spain to the New World (San Salvador Island, to be exact). The previous record is 10 Days 14 hours 53 mins 44 secs, set by Grant Dalton and Bruno Peyron aboard Club Med in June 2000. See what Steve's up to at www.fossettchallenge.com.

An Inadvertent Link

February 3 - Mazatlan, Mexico

"At the end of this week we are flying to Mazatlan for a couple of weeks of R&R," writes Pat McIntosh. "If you know of anyone who could use a quick shuttle of needed parts, etc, please pass on my name and number. Will be able to carry whatever we can get on a plane, and it can be picked up, or we can get it to one of the marinas. Have enjoyed reading Latitude 38 for years, and I know that sometimes you are an 'inadvertent' link to helping somebody in need. We'll get time to visit Marina Mazatlan, and will pass on anything we find out about what's new there." Pat signs off: "Temporarily on the hard, except for a fatty knees dinghy." Contact Pat at via email or (916) 488-4140.

YOTREPS

February 3 - 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

February 3 - 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.