'Lectronic Index

Previous 'Lectronic Edition

Kid Leads Harry Melges in Melges 24 Worlds

October 17 - San Francisco

After four days of racing with one more to go, 14-year-old Samuel 'Shark' Kahn, skippering Pegasus 24-1, leads Harry Melges, sailing Star, by just one point. The young Kahn has 17 points to Melges' 18. The rest of the competition is much further back: In third place with 42 points is Brian Porter and Full Throttle; nipping at Porter's heels with 47 points is Luca Santella on Joe Fly. Shark's dad, Philippe Kahn, is further down the roster in 14th place, sailing Pegasus 24-3.

Sixty-eight Melges 24s are competing this week on the Bay in the Audi Melges 24 World Championships, hosted by St. Francis YC. Two more races wrap up the regatta this afternoon - and the race committee must squeeze in both starts between noon and two o'clock.

Photos Latitude/Rob 

For more, see www.stfyc.com and www.melges24.com/news/main.asp?news_id=247. We'll have full coverage and more photos in the November issue of Latitude 38.

Tracy Edwards in the Money!

October 17 - Doha, Qatar

Brit Tracy Edwards, owner of Maiden, the maxi cat that used to be Innovations Explorer - or was it Club Med? - has just put together a four-year sailing deal with the Gulf State of Qatar worth in excess of . . . hold your breath . . . over $50 million U.S.! Part of the money will go to Edwards campaigning Maiden, but also for the Oryz Cup, an around the world race that will start and finish in England and bring $1 million to the winner. In addition, the money will fund the Qatar Sports Global Challenge, which will start from Doha, Qatar - known to most Americans as the place from which the Iraq war was managed - and feature monohulls and multihulls in excess of 100 feet.

Ha-Ha Folks Looking for Berths in San Diego

October 17 - San Diego

Guest Berthing in San Diego is always tough, but at last word Chris Frost and the folks at Downwind Marine had found 10 vacant berths of varying sizes. Contact Downwind Marine at (619) 224-2733 for further information.

Seen in the Sea of Cortez

October 17 - Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Here are three photos recently taken in the Sea of Cortez by unidentified folks aboard the Seawind 33 catamaran Gato Loco.

Puerto Refugio showing incredible green in the aftermath of Hurricane Marty

The Pacific Seacraft 37 Spirit Healer, which was lost on the beach during Hurricane Marty.

This shot is of how lovely early morning rain can be in the Sea.
Photos Courtesy Gato Loco

More 90-Footers Coming Out of the Woodwork

October 17 - Southern California

For awhile, it looked like the 86-footers with canting keels, as being built by Roy Disney and Hasso Plattner, were going to be the new big dogs on the water. Then came the 140-ft Mari-Cha IV, which is a comparative monster. But there are also lots of folks - including two in Southern California - who are having 90-footers built. Doug Baker is having a new Magnitude built at DENCHO Marine in Long Beach, and Randall Pittman of San Diego is about to launch his 90-ft canting keel sloop Genuine Risk from McConaghy Boats in Australia. A lot of sailing records, it would seem, are about to tumble.

West Marine Donating Thousands of Dollars of Clothing

October 17 - San Diego

Ha-Ha Honcho Lauren Spindler has announced that West Marine stores from all over the West are shipping close-out items to San Diego for the West Marine Ha-Ha Kick-Off Party a week from Sunday. Ha-Ha participants will be asked to take these well-packaged bundles to Mexico for distribution to the poor. If you're willing to help transport some of this clothing, please see the Grand Poobah at the Kick-Off Party. And thank you, West Marine!

Profligate's Yanmar JH2 52hp Diesels for Sale

October 17 - Newport Beach

Given Latitude's ambitious plans for a 25th anniversary winter cruise to the Caribbean, we're repowering our 63-ft catamaran Profligate. As such, we now have two used 1997 Yanmar 52-hp bobtail diesels with instrument panels for sale. These engines start right up and were used to power Profligate from Oxnard to Newport Beach just two nights ago at up to 10.5 knots. Both have about 3,750 hours on them, and the blocks are generally thought to be able to give about 10,000 hours of service. Both engines, it must be noted, have an abnormal amount of corrosion on the exterior.

Engine #1's cylinder compression was 380, 350, 350, and 350 as of yesterday as measured by Boatswain's Locker. Engine #2's compression was 350, 300, 280, and 280 - indicative of some kind of evolving problem with two of the cylinders. As of Wednesday, however, even engine #2 fired right up and ran excellently. It did however, burn about one-third more fuel than engine #1.

Both engines are offered for sale as is, without transmissions, at Newport Beach starting on Monday.

YOTREPS

October 17 - 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

October 17 - 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

The site for the Pacific Ocean sea states has moved to http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/PacRegSSA.shtml.
For views of sea states anywhere in the world, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.