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.

Photos Latitude/Richard


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.


Photos Charles Breed


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.


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