Sorry to have not reported on the Baja
Ha-Ha until the third day, but a combination of smoke damage
to our brains and tech problems sending photos have put us behind
schedule.
The Monday morning start of Baja Ha-Ha
10 was just plain ugly, thanks to the fallout of devastating
wildfires in San Diego country. No matter how many times you
had washed your boat the previous two days, it was covered in
ash.
As the photo above shows, visibility was
severely limited and the layer of ash on the water was thick.
All in all, the starting area looked liked a Hollywood soundstage
for a movie about the end of the world.
Since there was no wind for the 11 a.m.
start, the Poobah instituted a ‘rolling start’, with all boats
allowed to motor down the rhumb line at six knots. After an hour,
the Morgan Out-Island 41 Bronco reported 10 to 12 knots
of wind, and the sailing officially started. Given the terrible
air quality, it was ugly sailing, with the air so brown the sun
was barely able to shine through. Even when sailing 20 miles
from San Diego County, it was still disgusting, as the photo
below shows, with the air still a terrible brown and the sun
only barely able to shine through.
Everybody was happy to be leaving the disaster
area of San Diego – including a number of birds who took refuge
aboard Profligate. Among the three was a woodpecker, who
was disappointed to discover Profligate’s mast wasn’t
built of wood (see photo below).
The wind only lasted until 7 p.m., at which
time the wind died completely. Nobody would be sailing the entire
Ha-Ha course this year. If there was any consolation, the seas
were flat and it was unusually warm. In fact, the ocean appeared
to have been ironed by a professional. Given the light air, there
were few problems. Somehow, however, Bronco managed to
be involved in some sort of collision, which fortunately resulted
in only cosmetic damage. Two other boats returned to San Diego,
one with electrical problems, another with engine problems.
Tuesday, the second day of the Ha-Ha was
an improvement over the gloomy first. The air quality was much
improved and a light sea breeze came up starting at 11 a.m. It
was sweet if not fast sailing until sundown, when the wind died
completely once again. Nonetheless, some of the Profligate
crew had been swimming, other boats in the fleet had caught some
fish, and spirits were headed in the right direction. But it
was another night of motoring in perfectly flat seas, much to
everyone’s disappointment.
It’s now Wednesday afternoon, and most
of the fleet is close reaching or even beating in seven knots
of wind, headed for Cedros Island and then the first stop at
Turtle Bay. It’s warm, the seas are flat, and boats are beginning
to converge. It’s been a slow start to Ha-Ha 10, but things are
sure to be looking up in the next few days.
Catching a Skipjack off Profligate
Bernard and Chris take a swim off the back of Profligate. They claimed the water temperature was in the high 60s and
“not too bad.” The wind was so light they could swim
with the chute up.
Elyxir, a Hunter 33, sailed by Anthony Bettencourt of
San Francisco, sails side by side with Profligate.
Sponsor Notice: Globalstar
October 29-31 – Pacific Ocean
Photos of the Baja Ha-Ha in progress are
brought to you by Globalstar (literally!) using a Qualcomm satellite
phone. See www.globalstarusa.com.
Transat Jacques Vabre to Start this Weekend
October 31 – Le Havre, France
As in 2001, fourteen 60-ft multihulls will
start at 1500 French time on Sunday, including six new boats
launched in 2002. All 14 boats in this tenth running of the doublehanded
race to Bahia, Brazil, are capable of winning. Amongst the 28
skippers in the multihull fleet are winners from all the classic
offshore events: Vendée Globe, The Race, Route du Rhum,
Trophée Jules Verne and the previous Transat Jacques Vabre.
None are American.
The 2001 winner Franck Cammas has teamed
up with Franck Proffit this time round, and is still a hot favorite
to win given the young French skipper’s domination of the multihull
circuit he has won four out of five events this year alone!
So what is his Achilles’ heel? A boat launched in 1998 which
perhaps has started to show signs of aging. The oldest trimaran
in this fleet, however, is the ex-Foncia built in 1997,
now Banque Covefi, under the helm of the two Ravussin
brothers, Steve and Yvan. The other trimaran which has been around
the block is Biscuits La Trinitaine, an equally proven
boat which came second in the infamous 2002 Route du Rhum. Skipper
Marc Guillemot is the only person to take the same co-skipper,
Yann Guichard, on the same boat as in 2001. Legendary skippers
and past winners of the Transat Jacques Vabre, Loïck Peyron
and Laurent Bourgnon, are acting as powerful co-skippers this
time for Jean-Luc Nélias (Belgacom) and Philippe
Monnet (Sopra Group) respectively.
On board Géant, Michel Desjoyeaux
is paired with seven-time round the world sailor Hervé
Jan. Another similar top choice co-skipper is Jacques Vincent,
who has been around the world six times no less, and for this
race teams up with Thomas Coville (Sodebo). Mixed doubles
in the fleet are Alain Gautier/Ellen MacArthur (Foncia)
and Karine Fauconnier/Damian Foxall (Sergio Tacchini).
The Class 2 Open 50 multihull division
will be a match race between anne-caseneuve.com and the
British duo Andy Newman and Ross Hobson on Mollymawk,
as today the withdrawal of Victorinox was announced. The
one advantage for Frenchwoman Anne Caseneuve and co-skipper Christophe
Houdet is that their Van Peteghem/Lauriot-Prévost 2001
design took the 24-hour distance record for an Open 50 (48 miles).
Although winds of 25-35 knots, as well
as rain, are predicted for Sunday there is an 80% chance that
the multihull start will go off as scheduled.
More benign conditions are expected for
tomorrow afternoon’s monohull start. With a total of 17 boats
on the line, five more than the last race in 2001, the Open 60
IMOCA Class represents the biggest fleet out of the four in the
TJV and boasts the most international field of skippers from
eight different countries. The 2001 winner, World Champion French
skipper Roland Jourdain is defending his title on board the proven
Lombard design Sill, which is now owned by his co-skipper,
29-year-old Alex Thomson.
Ecover, Mike Golding’s Open 60 Photo Richard Langdon, Courtesy www.pixsail.com
In this class, much attention is also being
paid to the two brand new monohulls on their first offshore race. Virbac, the first Farr-designed Open 60, is in the hands
of Jean-Pierre Dick. Next to her in the basin is the new Ecover,
the third Owen-Clarke design after Pindar and Team
Cowes. For British skippers Mike Golding and Brian Thompson,
theirs will be a rude baptism when they hit 40-knot winds on
the nose on the first night sailing down the English Channel.
Golding has occupied the other two podium positions in previous
races and so the only one left for him to fill is the top spot.
Another skipper on for raising the bar on his third place performance
from 2001 is Aussie Nick Moloney, racing with Figaro skipper
Sam Davies on Team Cowes. A boat which is likely to threaten
these skippers is Pindar with past TJV winner Emma Richards
and the transatlantic record breaking Kiwi co-skipper Mike Sanderson
on board.
In the Open 50 class, 2001’s winner, Aussie
Paul Larsen, could well put in a repeat performance. With British
skipper Conrad Humphreys, they are racing on board a winning
boat. Designed in 1996 by Group Finot, Hellomoto (ex-Ashfield
Healthcare/Cray Valley) won the Route du Rhum 2002 with Nick
Moloney at the helm, and Around Alone 98-99 with Jean-Pierre
Mouligné. Their main competition comes from Le Défi
Vendéen skippered by Jean-François Durand and
Stéphane Chemin.
For the complete report, more photos and
to follow the starts this weekend, see www.jacques-vabre.com.
Happy Halloween
October 31 – USA
Or maybe he just ate too much Halloween candy. Either way, don’t
let this be you later tonight!
YOTREPS
October 31 – 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.
