July 9, 2003

Photos of the Day

July 9 – Napa River

Today’s Photos of the Day are from the
Fourth of July cruise-in we and some friends enjoyed at the Napa
Valley Marina, which is 10 miles past Vallejo and about seven
miles short of Napa. What a cool place. Owners Tom and Dan, with
the help of the manager Kirby, run a very mellow and successful
marina/boatyard/storage facility that’s located, oddly enough,
adjacent to the famous Carneros wine-growing district. It’s also
only 32 miles from Central San Francisco Bay. For more information
about using the facilities, call Kirby at (707) 252-8011.

Overview of the Napa Valley Marina

Angie, Susan, and Sylvia keep a watch on the salmon. As you probably
know, this is a great year for salmon, which is selling for between
75 cents and 1.25 a pound. They were even giving the stuff away
at Half Moon Bay last weekend.

Isn’t it just like a bunch of captains to let the women do all
the work? Dave Reed, with daughter Madeline, of the Peterson
34 Baccarat; Barry Stompe of the Islander 36 Tom Cat;
and Alan Olson, who has sailed the Pacific as far as Shanghai
with boats such as Stone Witch, which he built, and the
schooner Maramel.

The Napa Valley Marina’s spacious BBQ and picnic area

Swan European Regatta

July 9 – Cowes, UK

On June 29-July 3, the biennial Swan European
Regatta at Cowes (Isle of Wight, England) attracted an impressive
fleet of 54 elegant Swans, ranging in size between 65 and 36
feet. The Solent served up mostly light air, gray skies and big
currents, rather like midwinter racing on San Francisco Bay.
Filip Balcaen’s Dutch Swan 56 Aqua Equinox, with Bouwe
Bekking serving as tactician, was the big winner. See www.nautorgroup.com for the whole story,
and check the August issue of Latitude
38 for our roving reporter’s impressions of the event.

Swans of all sizes showed up for the regatta.

The Needles

Cowes is a great town, quaint and charming and totally devoted
to sailing. It’s also, we’re told, dead as a doorknob in the
winter.

The harbor at Cowes, with one of the ubiquitous Red Funnel ferries
in the foreground.

The long distance race (a 40-miler instead of the classic 55-mile
Round the Island Race) got underway at 7:10 in the morning!

A Happy Fourth of July – from our Amigo
in Cuba

July 4 – Cuba

“The Hemingway International Yacht
Club of Cuba wants to convey you our sincere greetings on the
occasion of the 227th Anniversary of the Statement of the United
States of America Independence,” writes our friend Commodore
Jose Escrich. “We remember with respect and admiration the
brave fight of the people of the 13 Colonies in order to expel
from their lands the colonialist troops. In this memorable opportunity, we wish
you and the people of United States peace, and well-being.
We feel very happy of the friendly and collaboration relations
established with the United States boating community. We
will continue working with perseverance so these relations be
more stronger.”

Buddy Ebsen, More than Just the Star of
‘The Beverly Hillbillies’

July 9 – Newport Beach

The late Ebsen, who passed away at age
95, used to sail Thistles, a Lapworth 36, and then the catamaran
Polynesian Concept out of Newport Beach.

How Could They Miss the Equator?

July 9 – South Pacific Ocean

“When I got up to get ready for my
0200 watch on our passage from Hawaii to the Marquesas,”
writes Susie Grubler of the Wylie 38 Punk Dolphin, “I
noticed that we were 2 minutes south of the equator. We’d missed
it! And I so wanted to see that dotted line that my husband
and doublehanding partner Jonathan told me about. We made a toast
to Neptune anyway, ate some worms – gummy worms – and continued
on our way.

“It was a night for marine life. Jonathan
saw a dolphin jumping at the bow on his watch from 2200-2400.
He said he looked for the others but only saw the one. I on the
other hand was minding my own business, deep in thought when
WHACK!!! I was assaulted by a flying fish on the side of my head.
Yuck! I’d been slimed. Nice smelly fish slime. Okay, I’m definitely
awake now. Shortly thereafter, SMACK, right in the kisser! Ouch!
And I thought the fish on the side of my head smelled. Now I
had a slimed upper lip. Enough of that, I hid behind the dodger
for the rest of my watch.”

The next installment from Punk Dolphin
is all about the trouble with trying to have sex while on watch.
Don’t miss it.

Bruce Schwab Speaks at the Corinthian
YC on Thursday Night

July 9 – Tiburon

See the July
7 ‘Lectronic for details.

TransPac Update

July 9 – Pacific Ocean

Rich Roberts reports:

Pegasus 77
sailed farther and faster Tuesday, but Pyewacket stretched
its lead in the marquee match race of the 42nd TransPac Yacht
Race to Hawaii, a situation that has often been an anomaly of
the race for the last half-century. Until 1947, logic called
for sailing a direct, or ‘rhumb’, line of 2,225 nautical miles
from Los Angeles to Honolulu because sailors didn’t realize they
could avoid a region of light wind by sailing a little farther
south. With improved weather information developed in World War
II, two boats – Chubasco and Westward – tried just
that in ’47 and finished first and third. Then in ’49, when Westward’s
navigator, Bob Allan, pulled the same ploy that delivered the
first Barn Door trophy to Richard Rheem’s Morning Star
as first boat to finish, the others were sold on the concept
of the Pacific High – that monstrous, undulating zone of high
pressure waddling over the eastern Pacific Ocean. Avoiding the
high remains conventional wisdom in the 42nd TransPac 54 years
later, but it’s a like a boxing opponent, bobbing and weaving
and leaving everyone on every boat to look to the navigator for
guidance. And where does the navigator look? Often to Nashua,
New Hampshire, where George Caras of Commanders Weather is based.

Studying the positions reported at Tuesday
morning’s daily roll call, Caras said, “North may be favored
a little bit [Monday] or [Tuesday], but south will be favored
starting [Thursday]. The goal for a lot of the boats is going
to be to get farther south.”

Those would include Pyewacket, Roy
E. Disney’s Reichel/Pugh 75 that holds the race record of about
7 1/2 days. Sailing a more direct course, Pyewacket logged
329 miles at 13.7 knots in the first full day at sea and moved
into first place in corrected handicap time for the entire fleet.
Oddly, Philippe Kahn’s R/P 77 Pegasus, taking a more tactical
southerly route, went 338 miles at 14.1 knots but dropped to
27 miles behind. “[Pyewacket] got a little lead because
they found a shade more breeze up north,” Caras said, “but
they’ll come down now to keep up with the wind. Their wind angle
may not be as good coming down and it could tighten the gap or
give Pegasus a little bit of an advantage, but we’ll have
to see on that.”

For complete details and standings, visit
www.transpacificyc.org.

YOTREPS

July 9 – 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

July 9 – Pacific
Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

Check out this guide to San Francisco Bay
Navigational Aids: http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/sfports.html.

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.