'Lectronic Index

Previous 'Lectronic Edition

Photos of the Day

September 27 - Santa Barbara

Today's Photo of the Day is of the entrance to the harbor at Santa Barbara, and was taken from the top of Profligate's mast by rigger Marty Spargar. It shows, among other things, how relentlessly the harbor entrance fills with sand. Note how far the rock breakwater and the tower for the entrance light are from the water. In the background is Stearns Wharf and the main anchorage. A lot of Ha-Ha boats will be headed south in the next several weeks - Profligate leaves tomorrow - and will be stopping at Santa Barbara. If you arrive at night, you want to be very careful entering, because you have to hook back into the harbor, and the lights and channel buoys can be very hard to see with the other lights in the background. You may want to radio the Harbor Patrol for guidance rather than putting your boat on the sand.

Part of Santa Barbara Harbor with Santa Cruz Island in the background.
Photos Marty Spargar

Want to Go Party? Oops!

September 27 - San Diego

"There are two boats named Con Te Partiro entered in the Baja Ha-Ha this year," writes Jeannette Huelin of San Diego. "They are named after a beautiful Italian song by Andrea Bocelli. You have misspelled both of them to Con te Partido. While I am sure we are all looking forward to a party, partiro mean 'to go' in Italian, as opposed to partido meaning 'party' in Spanish. The complete name means 'With you I will go'. Not 'With you I will party'."

Peyron and Orange II Smash Trans-Med Record

September 27 - Carthage, Tunisia

Frenchman Bruno Peyron and crew aboard the maxi-cat Orange II smashed the trans-Med (Marseille to Tunisia) record by covering the 480-mile course in just 17 hours and 56 minutes, and average speed of 25.44 knots. This beats Steve Fossett's previous record with PlayStation by 50 minutes.

Bruno Peyron (front and center) and crew
Photo Gilles Martin-Raget/Orange

NZL-81 Out of Her Element

September 27 - Valencia, Spain

After the Emirates Team New Zealand NZL-82 was damaged during a wind storm in Marseille, it was decided to fly NZL-81 from New Zealand to Valencia, Spain, for October's Act II. Federal Express doesn't accept parcels as big as an America's Cup boat, so it was left to Heavy Lift Cargo Airline, which managed to squeeze - after four hours work - the boat in by a matter of millimeters. The plane then had to stop fives times - Darwin, Singapore, Colombo, Dubai, and Crete - on its trip halfway around the world.

Mumm 30 Worlds One Race Too Long for Shark

September 27 - Toronto, Ontario

Shark Kahn of Santa Cruz, still far to young to have a driver's license, stumbled in two of the last three races of the Mumm Worlds in Toronto, which prevented him from winning the Worlds in a prestigious class for the second year in a row. Last year he stunned the sailing world by winning the hotly-contested Melges Worlds on San Francisco Bay. In the last three races in Toronto, Shark finished 18-1-15, which left him four points behind Aussie Richard Perini of Foreign Affair and one point behind Fred Sherratt of Steadfast. Nonetheless, it was an excellent performance in the 21-boat fleet - especially since he is new to Mumm 30s. If nothing else, he beat his dad Philippe, who started the regatta near or at the top, then fell to four final finishes of 19-9-18-17.

Richard Perini's Foreign Affair from Australia leads the fleet past the windward offset mark on its way to victory.
Photo Rich Roberts