February 21, 2003

Photos of the Day

February 21 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Today’s Photos of the Day are all about
the cost of living in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. With the dollar bringing
as much as 10.7 pesos, you can see that a chorizo (sausage)
omelette costs all of about $1.85 U.S, a fish filet dinner is
about $4.75, while shrimp tacos are just over $3.

You can spend more, of course. At Walter
Wehring’s Casa Bahia / Zihua YC on the side of the hill overlooking
the bay, prices are higher, but the view, service, and food make
it all worthwhile. A huge plate of melt-in-your-mouth tuna tips
– seared fresh tuna – was less than $5, as were generous portions
of several types of sushimi platters. Killer delicious, too!

It was about $15 for their large filet
mignon, which is a lot of money in Zihua, but get this, it was
the best steak we’ve had anywhere in the last three years. Plus,
it was perfectly cooked.

That’s Doña de Mallorca sitting
at the open air Casa Bahia bar with Walter, the lights of the
city reflecting off the bay in the background.

No Record in Puerto Vallarta Race

February 21 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Winslow Lincoln’s Andrews 45, Locomotion,
skippered by Keith Kilpatrick, was the Class A and overall winner
of the Del Rey YC’s race from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico. Jake Woods’ Mull 82 Sorcery was second in Class
A and second in fleet, while Jack Taylor’s Santa Cruz 50 Horizon
won Class B and took third in fleet with a 42 minute corrected
time victory over sistership Bay Wolf under charter to
Richard Parlette. Roy Disney and Pyewacket, because of
light winds, failed to eclipse the elapsed time record set 18
years ago by a MacGregor 65.

Misty in Turtle Bay
Photo Brian Larky

As luck would have it, the best wind of
the race – 30 knots – only hit the early starting Salsa (cruising)
Division boats as they left Turtle Bay. Unfortunately, it was
on the nose. Being cruisers, the Salsa boats, including the Cal
39 Misty, postponed the start of their second leg and
scooted back to shelter at Turtle Bay. For complete results,
visit www.dryc.org.

Oh No, Not More Procedural Nonsense in
Mexico!

February 21 – Sea of Cortez

Thanks to the efforts of overzealous ecologists,
on December 31 a law was passed in Mexico instituting a $2/person/day
fee for going ashore on any of the islands in the Sea of Cortez.
If that weren’t bad enough, visitors are supposed to get a permit
– which as is the case with clearing in, requires that same old
business of going to an agency to apply for a permit, going to
the bank to pay for the permit, and going back to the agency
to pick up the permit. It can take all day. Further, you have
to specify in advance what days you’ll be going ashore, so if
the weather is bad you lose your money. And naturally, serendipity
is out the window. Fortunately, at this time there is nobody
to collect the money or enforce the law. It is, however, on the
books, so eventually you can expect that it will be enforced.

Here’s a couple of shots of the islands
in the Sea taken by Charles Breed during a recent visit his family
made with their Elliot 46 Bravado.

Too Shifty for the Cup

February 21 – Auckland, NZ

Wednesday’s race for the America’s Cup
was called off, even though there was often 12 knots of wind.
Kiwi Harold Bennett, who decided whether the races will start,
said the wind was too shifty. Some complained that he was playing
‘homer’, wanting to postpone racing until there was heavier wind
that might favor the Kiwis, who are now down 3-0 after one breakdown
and two very close races. Hopefully, they’ll be another race
today.

K-Yachting Ready for Next America’s Cup

February 21 – Toulouse, France

Although this America’s Cup isn’t even
over yet, Sausalito’s Dawn Riley and others held a press conference
confirming the participation in the next Cup by K-Yachting, and
announcing that one of their technical sponsors is CEA – the
French Nuclear Energy Agency. As most folks know, Areva, the
French entry this time around was sponsored by part of the French
nuclear industry, and really pissed off the nuclear-sensitive
Kiwis. In recent months the French are showing a gift for pissing
off a lot of their friends, be they emerging countries in Eastern
Europe, the United States or the sailing community. In any event,
“An international, coed sailing team will be built from
K-Yachting sailors from the 2002 season, current America’s Cup
racers and sailors identified through a ‘try out’ system. The
sailing team tryouts are tentatively scheduled for June 2003.”

New Record for Geronimo

February 21 – Southern Ocean

Olivier de Kersauson’s maxi-tri Geronimo
has set a new record time in the Jules Verne for the passage
from Ushant to Cape Horn. The Cap Gemini and Schneider Electric
crew have improved by 1.5 days on the time set by Bruno Peyron
and his crew last year, despite a very difficult time in the
Southern Ocean and the ever-present threat of icebergs.

Meanwhile, competitor Ellen MacArthur and
Kingfisher2 covered a mere 300 miles in the last 24 hours,
in part because they had to slow down to deal with a daggerboard
that lost the bottom six feet after striking something in the
water. “It became clear we had lost half the daggerboard,
and we were all pretty surprised to think we had not realized
that it had gone,” said skipper Ellen MacArthur. “It
won’t affect our downwind performance at all, but it’s not perfect
for sailing upwind.”

Kingfisher
is currently running four hours behind the record pace set by
Orange, but a whopping 60 hours behind Geronimo,
which is currently on a pace to crush the existing record.

YOTREPS

February 21 – 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 21 – 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.