The Big Daddy Regatta, hosted by Richmond
Yacht Club, was blessed with warm weather and excellent sailing
conditions for its 21st birthday.
The start of Race 2
The event began Saturday (after a postponement
waiting for the wind to work its way over from the Gate) with
two races on the Berkeley Circle or Southampton courses (three
for PHRF A), continued with drinking, dining and dancing on Saturday
evening, and wrapped up with a pursuit race “around the
TRADITIONAL Alcatraz and Angel Islands,” to quote the race
instructions – as opposed to the MODERN Islands? Actually the
around-the-islands-any-way-you-want course returned to replace
last year’s less popular double-starfish course. The Wylie Wabbits
did well in the pursuit race, nabbing three spots in the top
ten, including a first for Kim Desenberg and John Groen’s Mr.
McGregor. For a full report, lots more photos, and results,
see the April issue of Latitude
38.Also see www.richmondyc.org
for results.
Triumph starts the Pursuit Race
Entering Belvedere Cove
Arbitrage along Angel
The lightest of the weekend’s breezes pushed the spinnaker parade
down Raccoon Strait. Photo Baylis Weaver
All Photos Latitude/Chris except
as noted
Andrew and Ernie started the pig pit at 5:00am on Saturday and
12 hours later the 200-pound pig was ready for the buffet. Photo Harley Gee
Cindy and Lesa poured Jungle Juice
for thirsty sailors. The Jello Shooters went like a shot.
Learning the ropes
“Where’s that buoy?”
The crew of Petard took home a bucket of champagne for
“21st Boat”
The awards ceremony was preceded by an auction to benefit the
yacht club’s junior foundation.
Yachties – Including One Boat from Sausalito
– Shot at Off Yemen
March 14 – Gulf of Aden
Don and Katie Radcliffe of the Santa Cruz-based Klondike, currently racing in Malaysia, received the following
email from their Aussie friends aboard Penyllan off the
coast of Yemen on their way to the Red Sea. “At 0800 on
March 9, we were in the company of four other yachts 50 miles
off the coast of Yemen and 100 miles from Somalia. The other
yachts were Sea Dove with Rod and Karyn from Brisbane; Gypsy Days with Brian and Margaret Horwell from Melbourne; Narena, with Bruce and Cheryle Matthew from Phillip Island,
and Imani, with Mark and Doreen and Maya and Tristan from
Sausalito. We spotted three fast moving motorized dhows coming
across our track from the direction of Somalia towards the Yemen
coast. I was just about give a routine position report to an
SSB net where by chance, Mike, the skipper of Bambola, a
yacht attacked near here a week ago, was describing his attack.
I broke into his conversation and asked for a quick description
of the boats that attacked him. His response described the ones
approaching us: local dhows, 20 meters long, probably made of
wood judging from their radar echo, and inboard powered. They
were covered with bright blue and orange plastic sheeting, possibly
to conceal their identity or their cargo.
Yemen and the Gulf of Aden Photo Latitude/Annie
“By this time we had formed a very
tight group and had increased speed to the maximum we could sustain
as a group, which was about 6.5 knots. One of the three dhows
diverted and was heading directly for us from our port quarter.
When he was about half a mile away we heard shots fired. We immediately
called Mayday, Karyn on Sea Dove using VHF while I called
the skipper of Skive and the skipper of Bambola,
who were in direct communication with the German Navy HQ in Djibouti.
They informed us that help was on its way, but would take several
hours. Repeated calls of Mayday on other channels brought no
response.
“The dhow was only very slowly overtaking
us, and as no further shots were fired, an anxious 10 to 15 minutes
followed as they gradually drew astern and we tried to coax more
speed from our engines. His other two companion vessels did not
seem to take an enthusiastic part in the pursuit, as both appeared
heavily laden with people. All this time Karyn and I and some
of the others kept up a barrage of Mayday calls and updating
of the contacts that we had managed to make by the various radio
frequencies.
“A Panamanian registered freighter
answered one of Karen’s calls and said that he was turning towards
our position. Then a U.S. warship called and said he would be
at our position in three hours. Finally, the attacking boat gave
up the chase and turned for the Yemen coast. He might have given
up because of the obvious long chase he faced, because we were
a closely grouped bunch of five yachts, and because he was heavily
laden with passengers. The appearance of the merchant vessel Royal Pescadores might also have been a deterrent.
“At 0912, a Coalition Forces Orion
4-engined Navy aircraft made contact, flew over, and then headed
down the coast ahead of us! The pirates were astern. On his second
pass, we managed to indicate to him the direction in which he
had fled, and he took off in that direction. He later returned,
asked if we needed assistance, then departed. At 1050 he returned
one last time and asked for details of the yachts involved, reporting
that he had seen many local small vessels but could not identify
our attackers.
“Thankfully, we have escaped that
attack unscathed and will pass the worst danger zone by tonight.
We have 2-3 days to go before we enter the ‘Gates of Sorrow’
at the southern end of the Red Sea and head for the relative
safety of Eritrea. As you can imagine our adrenaline is up, but
we are pleased that we all handled things well under pressure,
and very grateful that we have been so lucky.”
The Gulf of Aden has, in recent years,
been the scene of a number of violent attacks on yachties. As
such, yachtie convoys are common.
As for the Radcliffes, they’re participating
in the Royal Langkawi International Regatta with their Beneteau
456 and having a ball. “We’re doing well in Cruising Class
B, even without a spinnaker, and can hardly keep up with all
the parties and sailing too! It’s just like the King’s Cup in
Phuket, Thailand.”
Gary Jobson Speaks at Tiburon YC
March 12 – Tiburon
Annapolis-based media mogul Gary Jobson
– the voice of American sailing – packed the house
at Tiburon YC last Wednesday night, holding the crowd spellbound
for the better part of three hours. It was a vintage Jobson performance,
sort of a ‘state of the union’ address about sailing, full of
insights, humor, energy and
genuine enthusiasm for the sport. He showed several videos, talked
at length about the recent America’s Cup, signed books (West
Marine was there selling his two latest, Fighting Finish
and An America’s Cup Treasury), shook hands, answered
questions, posed for pictures, kissed babies (just kidding) and
generally appeared to have as much fun as the audience did.
As a great sailor (two-time collegiate
sailor of the year, winning America’s Cup tactician, and much
more) and excellent communicator (TV commentator, video producer,
magazine editor, author of 13 books, and veteran of about 1,900
speeches), the 52-year-old Jobson is, in our opinion, the highest
authority on sailing in this country. Here’s a smattering of
what he had to say that evening:
“With all the delays, this America’s
Cup was an exhausting event. But if you think it was painful
to watch, it was even worse for us behind the cameras. Our producers
got really crabby, and couldn’t understand that covering sailing
isn’t at all like covering a hockey or football game.”
“Oracle and OneWorld would have clobbered
Team New Zealand, too. Paul Cayard would have won the whole thing.”
“Russell and Brad did what anyone
would have done. Their choice – to basically pay the Kiwis
to take over TNZ or get paid by the Swiss – was like choosing
between the Volvo Race and the BT Global Challenge. Gee, should
I get paid handsomely to sail around the world downwind in cool
boats – or shell out your own money to sail upwind around
the world in slower boats?”
“Team New Zealand’s fatal flaw was
too young a crew. Dean Barker, 29 years old, brought in all his
young friends. You need more experience and maturity aboard to
win the Cup.”
“The honeymoon between Ernesto (Bertarelli)
and Larry (Ellison) will end in a few months.”
“You’ll need TIVO to watch the next
Cup – 1 p.m. in Portugal is 4 a.m. in the morning here!”
“No matter what kind of sailing you
do, have fun!”
Jobson, who brought his twin 16-year-old
daughters to the show, is presently crisscrossing the country
giving speeches (see www.jobsonsailing.com
for the schedule, Gary’s bio and more). Catch him if you can.
Rumor and Fact, Not Exactly the Same Thing
March 14 – Tiburon
In Wednesday’s
‘Lectronic, we had an item under the title Two Juicy Rumors.
The first was reports on Iranian television that Osama Yo Mama
has been caught, the second was that Oracle BMW, now headed by
Kiwi Chris Dickson, will merge with the New Zealand America’s
Cup effort.
Just so everyone’s clear on this, a rumor
is not the same thing as a fact. A fact is something you should
be able to count on. A rumor is totally unfounded speculation
that is often false and therefore should be taken with a grain
of salt.
So when a member of the audience at the Gary Jobson presentation
at the Tiburon YC asked him to comment on a “report”
in ‘Lectronic that Oracle BMW might combine with the Kiwis, we
would have preferred that the audience member had asked Jobson
to comment on a “rumor” reported in ‘Lectronic.
In any event Jobson laughed off the notion
of an Oracle-Kiwi collaboration as being silly. By the way, Osama
hadn’t been caught either.
This Used to Be a No Smoking Zone
March 14 – Montserrat
Photo Dave Gendell
Dave Gendell of SpinSheet sailing
magazine in Annapolis forwarded this shot he took on March 2
of the continually spewing ash from the volcano at Montserrat
as seen from Shirley Heights, Antigua. Because of the violent
eruption, major lava flows, and ash up to six feet deep, Montserrat
has been mostly abandoned.
Not Exactly Right About This and That
March 14 – San Francisco
In last
month’s Changes, we had an item about Russell Long of San
Francisco joining Garrett Loube, Bird Livingston and Suzie Grubler
for a little sailing fun on Loube’s Bravura in New Zealand.
In the item we wrote that Long, now the head of Bluewater Network’s
effective environmental efforts, had his own America’s Cup campaign, Liberty, at age 21. With more than a quarter of a century
of billions of sailing bits stored in our little brains, we should
not have relied on our memory. Long called to tell us he was
actually 24 at the time, and that his entry was called Clipper.
We should have known this because Pan American Airlines, gone
but not forgotten, was the first ever commercial sponsor in the
America’s Cup. In fact, Long had intended to call his boat Pan
Am, but the America’s Cup folks didn’t look kindly on it.
Way more important than Long’s efforts back then
are his environmental efforts today, particularly with two and
four stroke outboards. If all goes well, we’ll have a Latitude
interview with him in the May – not April – Latitude.
Geronimo
on the Edge
March 14 – North Atlantic Ocean
After sailing for more than two months
at an average speed faster than any other sailboat in history,
Olivier de Kersauson’s maxi-tri Geronimo will have to
average 15.97 knots over the last 1,200 miles to establish a
new Jules Verne Around the World record. A few days ago the record
looked out of the question, now it’s quite possible but by no
means assured. There are light airs ahead, to be followed by
a final 300 miles of good breezes from a good direction. It will
be all over by Sunday.
Geronimo
Photo DPPI
Pacific Puddle Jump
March 14 – Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
In advance of setting sail for French Polynesia,
roughly half of this year’s 54-boat Pacific Puddle Jump fleet
gathered at the new Vallarta Yacht Club last week to celebrate
their imminent departure. The event was co-hosted by Latitude
38, Paradise Village Resort & Marina, and the YC. Each
boatload of voyagers met with a Latitude editor to share
sailing tales and cruising plans. (Look for a full report in
the April edition of Latitude.)
Photo Latitude/Andy
At least half of this year’s fleet anticipate
completing a full circumnavigation. If they do, this initial
2,800-mile crossing will be the longest patch of open water they
will face without any possible landfalls. ‘Jumping the Puddle’,
therefore, is a bold undertaking by any standard. As such, we
salute these spirited adventurers and wish them the best of luck.
As in years past, the P.J. Class of 2003
includes folks from a wide range of backgrounds, traveling on
radically different budgets. The boats they sail are equally
diverse, ranging from a slick, aluminum-hulled Deerfoot 74 to
more traditional heavy-displacement double-enders such as several
bullet-proof Westsail 32s.
YOTREPS
March 14 – 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.
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.
humor, energy and
Way more important than Long’s efforts back then
