Roy Disney’s new Pyewacket,
a Reichel-Pugh Z-86, went out to play the other day, her sea
trials on the Hauraki Gulf in 15-18 knots of breeze affording
a great photo opp.
Philippe Kahn writes from Oahu, “This
evening at sunset, Paul Allen and I took the 505 out of our house
by Koko Head and sailed down the Molokai Channel to Waikiki.
Eric Everett and Mark Christensen got some nice shots. It’s the
TransPac finish all over again! (Got to practice for 2005!)”
Kahn is now signed up in that ‘other’ TransPac,
which ends in Kaneohe (not Diamond Head). Up to 59 boats now
and more coming in every day. See www.pacificcup.org.
Photos Eric Everett and Mark
Christensen
Aurora
Completes ARC in 15 Days
December 10 – St. Lucia
In the Atlantic Rally Crossing, the Catana
58 Aurora, owned by the Bernhard brothers of the East
Bay, finished in 15 days and 2 hours, 34th of about 215 boats
to cross 2,700 miles of Atlantic, east to west from the Canary
Islands to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. For more on the ARC, see www.worldcruising.com.
Profligate’s
Caribbean Report
December 10 – Antigua
“Now in it’s 42nd year, I don’t think
the Nicholson Crewed Charterboat Show in Antigua has gotten any
bigger, as it’s leveled off at about 140 boats,” Dana Nicholson
told us. “The big difference is that the boats themselves
keep getting bigger.”
No kidding. It wasn’t that long ago that
a 70-footer was a fairly decent-sized sailboat in the show. It’s
a different story these days, as 70-footers are dwarfed by mega
monohulls, such as the 172-ft Perini Navi Atmosphere,
and the 138-ft maxi catamaran Douce France. The latter
has a beam of over 50 feet and part of the aft deck lowers to
water level for a private marina.
Most of these yachts aren’t just big, they
are immaculate. The finish on some of these huge hulls was so
smooth it looked as though it had been done with the bottoms
of week old babies! They are floating works of art. Some of these
yachts feature incredible luxury. For example, in an accompanying
photo you can see Doña de Mallorca pretending to swim
in the pool of the ketch Islander. It takes 10 tons of
water to fill that pool. Captain Mark Coxen says that although
on the fourth level, it doesn’t really make the boat top heavy
– but when heeled at 15 degrees, lots of water tends to slop
over the side. Fortunately, only two or three swimmers have been
lost overboard to date. Islander isn’t quite as luxurious as she once was. She
used to carry a landing craft on the back deck with a Plymouth
Voyager mini-van inside. Using the yacht’s large crane, they’d
lift the whole business over the side, run the landing craft
up the beach, and all the guests would drive away in their own
car! How civilized.
Wood boats were in very short supply. The
65-ft West Coast-owned Lone Fox, skippered by Caribbean
legend Randy West, was one of them. In the old days, she used
to regularly do battle with Santana, the KKMI-based schooner
owned by Paul and Chrissy Kaplan. Because of her hull material, Lone Fox was a popular attraction with the charter brokers.
But it’s some of the wonderful people in
Antigua who bring you back to earth. While walking down the quay,
we spotted an elderly West Indian woman, resplendent in a hot
pink dress and wearing jogging shoes with untied laces. It could
be none other than Lady Baltimore, who for many years had done
the washing for Big O when she chartered in the Caribbean.
“Bring me your dirty stuff,” she said with quiet dignity.
“But not on Sunday, for I’m a church-going woman.”
It was also wonderful to once again spend
time with Jol Byerly, who is even more of a Caribbean legend
than Randy West. He’s a Caribbean institution of 30 years because
of his running the great schooner Lord Jim, racing his
various sloops, and providing the daily weather briefing from
Antigua. It’s unfair, but Jol is most famous for doing Antigua
Sailing Weeks with all-women crews, who flustered competition
by wearing nothing more than thong bottoms and string sandals.
In the Caribbean, you can race like that in even the worst weather.
More to come.
This mizzen boom gives you an idea how big some of the Perini
Navis are.
Shouldn’t every charter boat be like Douce France and
have its own marina?
Check out the Lewmar traveler for Lady Barbaretta’s mainsheet.
The new all-carbon 109-foot cat cost over $15 million to build.
Doña de Mallorca in over her head.
Randy West with Lone Fox in the background.
The resplendent Lady Baltimore, Queen of the
Wash in Antigua, being pestered by a journalist.
Jol Byerly always has something to smile about. Photos Latitude/Richard
Profligate’s
Progress
December 10 – St. Barts, French West Indies
We’re now in St. Barts, F.W.I., where workers
are toiling mightily under the hot sun in order to get the Charles
de Gaulle Quai ready for the onslaught of mega yachts for the
holidays. Anchored out we see an old favorite, Lone Ranger,
a 251-ft ocean going tug that was converted to a private yacht.
Among her toys include a fully rigged F-31 sitting on her aft
deck, a float plane, and a sport fishing boat of some type. She’s
a manly yacht that carries enough fuel to cover 38,000 – that’s
not a typo – miles without stopping. How would you like to pay
that fuel bill?
The Lone Ranger – nearly 1.5 times around the world before
she has to stop for more fuel. Photo Latitude/Richard
Out on the hook, our next-door neighbor
is the mighty 90-footer Leopard of London, until recently
of the fastest racing yachts in the world. We met Chris, the
captain, in a bar ashore, and he confessed that yes, he’d been
the captain aboard owner Mike Slade’s previous yacht, the Ocean
80 Ocean Leopard, when she had the misfortune of landing
her bow in the cockpit of an unfortunate Cheoy Lee 44 during
an Antigua Sailing Week about 10 years ago. Chris made it clear
that Lawrie Smith was driving at the time. Such fun and such
memories in the Caribbean.
There’s some sad news, too. Jimmy Buffet’s
long time pilot – we didn’t catch his name – died not long ago
in an accident involving running out of fuel. In addition to
being a pilot, the fellow was a commercial fireworks expert.
So as a fitting tribute to his life, they brought his ashes down
to St. Barts, everybody drank a bit, and Jimmy played a few songs.
As a final tribute, they loaded the fellow’s ashes into one of
the big fireworks and gave him a spectacular final send-off.
You can still do stuff like that in the Caribbean.
YOTREPS
December 10 – 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.
