February 5, 2003

Photos of the Day: Zihua Sail Fest

February 5 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Would you like to hear some very good news
for a change?
In just its second year, the cruiser-created and run Zihua Sail
Fest, held Jan. 29 through Feb. 2, has blown the doors off all
expectations by raising an astonishing $23,000 U.S. for the Netzahualcoyotl
School in Zihuatanejo that educates and feeds (mostly) orphan
children from five local indigenous tribes.

The 29th featured a Southbounders’ Cruising
Seminar in the morning, followed by a Zihua Kick-Off Party that
night at Rick’s Bar. Jim and Sue Corenman gave a three-hour wireless
email seminar on the morning of the 30th, which was followed
by a gala beach party at the Los Gatos Beach Club that afternoon.
The next afternoon, 26 of the 80 boats in the bay participated
in a six-mile ‘nothing serious’ pursuit race, which was followed
by a dinghy-in cocktail party with as many as 145 people aboard
Profligate at once. On February 1, three catamarans, Michael
Wright’s 42-ft Wavy, Paul Biery’s Catana 43 New Focus,
and Latitude’s Profligate, participated in a charity race
fund-raiser. The event wrapped up the next day with a
sail parade led by the port captain and attended by many Mexican
officials, and with a beach party and awards ceremony. Wow!

When the Wanderer, from afar, tossed out
the idea of a charity event in Zihuatanejo last year, he envisioned
a casual one or two day event that might raise $500 or $1,000
for some unknown charity in town. But Jimmie Zinn of the Richmond
YC based Morgan 38 Dry Martini and another cruiser on
Abraxas worked with Rick of Rick’s Bar to take that concept
further, raising $2,000, which was matched by the Richard and
Gloria Bellack Foundation of San Diego, bringing the total to
$4,000 in 2002.

When this year’s organizing committee set
a goal of a total of $10,000 – $5,000 raised and $5,000 matched
by the Bellack Foundation – we thought the heat of Zihua had
melted their brains. But we had greatly underestimated the skills
and dedication of Chris and Becky of Bonne Idée,
Michael and Catharine of Breila, Ed and Daisy of Siesta,
Dawn and Christopher of Alaska Sun, Mikki and Greg of
Mikelai, and Jimmie and Jane of Dry Martini and
Rick of Rick’s Bar. They raised $11,500 dollars – including $3,000
from non-sailor Bill Underwood – which when matched by the Bellack
Foundation brought the total to $23,000.

At the awards ceremony, a symbolic check
was presented to Marina Sanchez Hernandez, an extraordinary Indian
woman, who, having received an education thanks to charitable
help, has dedicated her life to helping others get a similar
education.

Gloria Bellack presents a $23,000
check to
Marina Sanchez Hernandez of the Indian School.

Marina started out teaching non-Spanish
speaking Indian students under the trees a number of years ago,
moved up to a school housed under a tin roof with stick walls,
but now has a more permanent facility. The purpose of the school
is provide Spanish skills and a primary education for the children,
for as the Indians’ traditional means of earning a living are
drying up, they and their culture will perish unless they can
be assimilated into Mexican society. The problem is Indian children
don’t speak Spanish, so they can’t be admitted to local schools.

Some of the orphaned indigenous
children
from the Netzahualcoyotl Indian School.

What could be better than doing good while
having sailing fun in the winter warmth of Mexico? Several of
the core organizing committee members will be back next year,
so if you’re coming to Mexico next winter, put the Zihua Sail
Fest down on your calendar. We don’t have the exact dates, but
figure on near the end of January.

Clipper Sailors Cavorting in Paradise

February 5 – Oahu, HI

The crews of Clipper Ventures’ Clipper
2002 are enjoying some shore leave on Oahu, before departing
for Yokohama and the beginning of Leg 3 on Feb. 12 in their around-the-world
race. Bristol Clipper was the first to arrive at Ko Olina,
but Jersey Clipper retains first place overall.

The view from atop Jersey Clipper
Photos Courtesy www.clipper-ventures.com

Break-Dancing on the Hauraki Gulf

February 6 – Auckland, NZ

During the break between the Louis Vuitton
Cup and the America’s Cup, there’s a whole lotta sailin’ going
on. Currently running just outside the American Express Viaduct
Harbour are the ISAF 2003 Team Racing World Championships. Fourteen
teams representing eight nations are racing in 420s. Each team
competes with three two-person boats and sails off against another
team in a fleet race scenario to score points. The regatta begins
with a round-robin phase followed by a series of sail-offs to
determine the winning nation.

Photo Courtesy http://americascup.yahoo.com

New Zealand are the defending champions,
having won two successive world titles, the first in Ireland
in 1999 and the second in the Czech Republic in 2001. New Zealand’s
leading Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch is joining forces with his
brother, Hamish, and sister, Rebecca, in an attempt to retain
the World Team Racing champions trophy on home waters. At this
point in the racing, however, the Kiwis are in fifth place behind
two GBR teams and two USA teams. The regatta began on January
31 and continues through to February 7. For more, see http://www.nzteamracing.com.

Starting today is the International Classic
Yacht regatta for vintage and classic keelboats. This is the
second such event held in Auckland, following the success of
the inaugural regatta, held between the Louis Vuitton Cup and
the America’s Cup in 2000. Hosted by the Cup defenders, the Royal
New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the regatta provides for four days
of racing, beginning with a 30-mile passage race to Kawau Island
today (Feb. 6 in NZ).

The fleet will overnight at Kawau Island
and then compete in two short-course races on Friday, with a
passage race returning to Auckland on Saturday. The regatta concludes
with a short course race on in Waitemata Harbour on Sunday.
 
The oldest of the 85 yachts registered is the local Logan-designed
gaff cutter, the Jessie Logan, launched in 1880. Jessie
Logan is 40 feet long overall and 25 feet on the waterline.
Also taking part in the event are 15 classic launches, which
will compete in a log rally and will also act as escort to some
of the smaller yachts on the passage races. See www.rnzys.org.nz/index.html.

Then, it’s time for the big boys and their
big toys to take part in the second running of the New Zealand
Millennium Cup superyacht regatta. Hosted by the New Zealand
Marine Export Group (MAREX), the regatta runs Feb. 10-13.

Paul Cayard will steer the record-breaking
sloop Canon Leopard owned by Briton Mike Slade. The 97-ft
yacht, designed for racing and charter cruising, finished third
in this year’s Sydney-Hobart Race. Dennis Conner will take the
helm of the Ed Dubois-designed 134-foot Destination. Stars
& Stripes afterguard Tom Whidden will sail with Kiwi
owner Neville Crichton on the 90-ft Sydney Hobart race winner
Alfa Romeo. Francesco de Angelis, Prada skipper in 2000
and 2003, will drive the 105-ft Italian fast cruising sloop Ulisse,
owned by syndicate head Patrizio Bertelli. Prada’s Gavin Brady
will steer the 80-foot sloop Innovision, and Prada’s Brazilian
tactician Torben Grael will be aboard the 112-foot aluminum performance
sloop Ipanema. British skipper Ian Walker, who steered
GBR Challenge’s Wight Lightning, will take the helm of
the oldest yacht in the Millennium Cup, 100-ft gaff cutter Moonbeam.

Aboard the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup finalist
NZL-20, there will be a reunion of the old crew. NZL-20, which
raced on San Francisco Bay last year, was shipped from San Francisco
to Auckland by its new owners for the Cup season. Designer Bruce
Farr is expected to be on board. Kiwi sailors Kelvin Harrap and
Matthew Mason, who sailed this time for OneWorld, and Robbie
Naismith who sailed with Oracle, will be crewing on the 111-ft
high performance cruiser Silvertip. Other Kiwi Cup sailors,
including Richard Dodson and Kevin Shoebridge, will be aboard
the 108-ft Imagine. For more on the Millennium Cup, see
www.millenniumcup.com.

Read Ivor Wilkins’ complete overview of
these events at http://americascup.yahoo.com.

Drake Passage in an Open Cat

February 5 – Drake Passage

Roberto Pandiani, a 45-year old Brazilian,
and Duncan Ross a 39-year old South African, have left Cape Horn
bound for the Antarctic Peninsula aboard Satellite, an
open 21-ft catamaran. They will cross the Drake Passage, 500
miles of the roughest ocean in the world. The trip is expected
to take 45 days. The small Kevlar cat, built by Barracuda Technologies
in Rio de Janeiro, will be the first open boat to reach the frozen
continent.

Aboard Satellite
Photo Makoto Ishibe
Photo and Graphic Courtesy Travessia do Drake

The expedition will arrive in the northern
part of the Peninsula at Deception Island. From there they’ll
explore south with a second objective of reaching the polar circle
some 300 miles away. Here for 30 days they hope to explore the
beautiful and relatively unknown land of ice and rock.

A support vessel, Kotic – a 62-ft
steel ketch and Antarctic veteran ­ will cross the Drake
at the same time as the small catamaran and will provide a base
during the exploration of the peninsula. They will be monitoring
the weather and transmitting information via satellite phone
to the catamaran crew. Kotic will be used as a mother
ship and will be taking the main cargo, making the cat a faster
and safer boat.

Satellite

Kotic will
also handle Internet data transmissions during the crossing.
The project’s Web site receives the catamaran’s position every
15 minutes through the Inmarsat C satellite system. The signal
is then plotted to a map that gives their latitude, longitude,
direction and speed so that the trip can be followed by Internet
viewers. See http://360graus.terra.com.br/travessiadodrake
(in Portuguese and English). 

YOTREPS

February 5 – 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 5 – 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.