On big weekends like Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of
July, the entire Delta region seems to be buzzing with revelers.
Many folks bring their whole family, plus every watersports toy
in their garage. Photo Courtesy Angelina
The days are getting longer and the beginning
of summer is fast approaching, but in the Central Bay this time
of year often brings dense fog rather than sunbathing weather.
However, a short sail upstream on the Sacramento, San Joaquin,
Napa or Petaluma River will have you stripping off layers of
fleece and foulies faster than you can say, “Pass the sunblock.”
A less-traveled alternative to the Delta is a trip up the Napa
(seen here) or Petaluma River. While winding your way through
wetlands, you’ll feel as though you’re hundreds of miles from
the hustle and bustle of modern urban living. Photo Latitude/Andy
With that in mind, we’ll bring you an overview
of Delta and river cruising in the June issue of Latitude
38. Not only will an up-river cruise give you access
to sunbaked anchorages and unspoiled wetlands, but you can swim
in fresh water and, as one Bay Area sailor pointed out, “The
weather up there is ideal for sprucing up your brightwork.”
Allegations of Hit and Run Surround Vessel
Sinking
May 7 – San Francisco
The U.S. Coast Guard is currently investigating
circumstances surrounding the sinking early Thursday morning
of the 37-ft fishing vessel Clara B II outside the Golden
Gate.
After reportedly being struck by another
vessel, the two fishermen aboard the Clara B II were able
to send off a mayday and launch their liferaft. They were rescued
sometime later by another fishing vessel, the Nickie J.,
and taken to Coast Guard Station Golden Gate.
Although completely unsubstantiated at
this time, rumors are circulating among the fishing fleet that
a 40-ft vessel out of Santa Cruz hit the Clara B II then
left the scene. This allegation reportedly came from the Clara
B’s skipper, who is said to have sighted the other boat before
his vessel went down. At this writing, however, Coast Guard investigators
cannot corroborate this information. We will try to bring you
more details as the story develops.
Profligate’s
Regress
May 7 – Panama
After a sizzling quick Canal passage, Profligate
is back in the Pacific, anchored about a half mile from the Flamenco
YC. The Panama City skyline looms about 10 miles in the distance.
It’s hot. Real hot. Although it’s early morning, sweat pours
from every pore. If you don’t like heat and humidity, you have
no business in the tropics.
The new Gold Coast built 65-ft Tropicat as seen at the Panama
Canal YC. She’s headed for charter service in Cabo, where she’ll
take out nearly 100 passengers at a time, replacing the trimaran Pez Gato, which long ago went ‘soft’.
There are new and nutty rules for transiting the Panama Canal.
One of them is that our entire crew of 11 had to have their photos
taken and be fingerprinted!
It’s been one of the wildest two weeks
of our sailing lives. In less than 14 days, we’ve raced Antigua
Sailing Week aboard the R/P 92 Leopard of London; taken
great photos of the new MaxZ86s Pyewacket and Morning
Glory, as well as the 140-ft Pacific Cup bound Mari-Cha;
with 10 others sailed 1,200 miles from Antigua to the San Blas
Islands; set a new boat speed record of 25.3 knots among hundreds
of surfs; spent a day – and a ton of money – running around Colon
setting up a rapid Canal transit; got photographed and fingerprinted
in order to transit the Canal; hung out at the Panama Canal YC;
did a Canal transit in six hours; anchored in Flamenco Marina;
and dropped off crew. Plus met hundreds of great people.
One of the better streets in Colon, Panama, the so-called ‘colon
of the universe’. This was once a beautiful colonial town that
has completely gone to hell. Lack of jobs will do that.
Having completed that, Doña de Mallorca
and the Wanderer had about 11 minutes before welcoming the new
crew. Fortunately, the list of things to be done was small –
solve the starting problem on the port engine; make sure the
house charging system problem had really been fixed; deal with
some steering issues; and catch up on two week’s worth of sleep.
Once that was done, the rest – dashing to Nicaragua, Acapulco,
Cabo, and San Diego before the start of hurricane season – almost
sounds easy. But of course, it’s never that way. The one thing
we can say for sure is that life hasn’t been boring.
Lake Gatun, the heart of the Panama Canal. The only way to cross
the continental divide by yacht!
Everything now seems much better. A lost
crew member was found; the port engine starting problem mysteriously
cured itself; the alternator bracket and steering issues will
apparently hold until California; and a good night of sleep was
enjoyed. See the June issue of Latitude
38 for more stories.
A slow and small boat in the canal about to cross paths with
a big ship. The little guy paid about $350 to transit, the ship
about $100,000. No wonder the Canal doesn’t want small boats.
Our new friends on Tropicat locking down on the Pacific
side Photos Latitude/Richard
Star Worlds Results Final
May 7 – Gaeta, Italy
Following some problems with the scoring
of the Star World Championship that delayed the final results,
results have now been released and those nations which have qualified
for an entry to the Olympic Sailing Competition confirmed. Although
still to be ratified by ISAF, Spain, Denmark, Germany and Canada
have qualified. The ISAF ratification will confirm that the athletes
who qualified the above nations meet the nationality requirements
as set out in the Qualification System for the 2004 Olympic Sailing
Competition.
The results mean that Spain and Germany
now join Australia, France and Great Britain as the only nations
to have qualified in every sailing event in Athens. They will
be sending a full team of sailors along with Greece, who as host
country automatically qualify in every event. See www.sailing.org/Article_content.asp?ArticleID=7033
for more.
Anders Ekstrom and Frederik Loof Photo Courtesy Star Class
Frederik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden
took the top spot in the Star Worlds, held April 23-May 1 in
Gaeta, Italy. The top U.S. team was Paul Cayard and Phil Trinter
in fifth place. They qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team in March
at the Olympic Team Trials. For more, see www.starclass.org.
Sailing in Day 1 of the 470 World Championships Photo Courtesy Sailing Club Uskok
A new singlehanded sportboat called the
Bongo is venturing west from its Rhode Island birthplace to tour
left coast yacht clubs this month. The schedule for California:
May 7-9, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long
Beach
May 12-13, Santa Cruz Yacht Club
May 14-16, Cal Sailing, Berkeley
May 21-23, Encinal Yacht Club, Alameda
Designed by Paul Cronin, the 15-ft boat
features a roomy cockpit that can accommodate crew, two sizes
of spinnakers and a double-reefable main for flexibility, and
a retractable bulb keel for stability. See www.sailabongo.com
for more.
