October 17, 2003

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.