'Lectronic Index

Previous 'Lectronic Edition

Photos of the Day

October 19 - Key West, FL

Today's Photo of the Day is proof that hurricanes don't care whether a boat is owned by rich or poor, they just destroy everything they can get their hands on. The boat in the photo is Hasso Plattner's Farr 40 Morning Glory, which was put on a cradle after this spring's Key West Race Week. She was knocked over by a hurricane this summer, but to tell you the truth, there have been so many hurricanes that we can't remember if it was Dennis, Rita, or Katrina. The billionaire founder of SAP Software, Plattner also owns the MaxZ86 Morning Glory - which just smashed the TransPac monohull record - and the Baltic 147 sloop Vizone, so unlike a lot of folks, he won't be without a boat to sail on.

We bring up hurricanes in that part of the world because overnight Hurricane Wilma surged from a Category 1 to a Category 5, with winds to 150 knots. Currently she's due south of Cuba, but computer models show that she'll head northwest, skirt the western tip of Cuba, make a 90-degree curve, cross much-battered Florida, and head up the East Coast. In reality, at this point it's very hard to predict where Wilma could go. For example, it's not out of the question that she'll stop on Bourbon Street in devastated New Orleans for a late night drink.

Wilma's projected course
Graphic Courtesy http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/2005

Our best wishes to everyone in this hurricane's path. Hopefully, she'll weaken, but even if she does, she could pack a destructive punch. For proof, see the photo of what the Key West shore looked like after being merely swiped by a hurricane earlier in the year.

Photos Devan Mullin

Wait - Hold the Chicken and Eggs!

October 19 - Mexico City, Mexico

No sooner had we reported that any fresh beef, eggs, and poultry brought into Mexico by cruisers would be confiscated by officials, Dave Wallace, who will be crewing on the Baja Ha-Ha, did a little Googling and discovered that four days ago eggs and poultry had been taken off the prohibited list. So while it's now legal for you to bring them into Mexico, the officials might not have gotten the news and take them from you anyway! You've been warned.

New Attempt at TransPac Record

October 19 - San Diego

Olivier de Kersauson wants to wrest the TransPac sailing record from Bruno Peyron, who set the 5 day, 9 hour mark eight years ago with the now much outdated 86-ft cat Commodore Explorer. Given that De Kersauson will be sailing in his state-of-the-art 120-ft Capgemini - Schneider Electric trimaran Geronimo, the only maxi multihull in the world with a canting mast, he should have no trouble obliterating the record. This would be a wonderful thing, because we're sure it would encourage Peyron to try to take the record back. As you all know, Peyron is two generations past Explorer with his maxi cat Orange II, which recently crushed the around the world sailing record. Orange, the French telecom company that sponsors Peyron and his cat, just reupped for another five years, so he'll have the bucks. By the way, Peyron is threatening to try to set a 24-hour singlehanded record with his 120-ft cat.

Geronimo
Photo Andrea Francolini/DPPI Courtesy www.rivacom.fr

De Kersauson hasn't given any starting date for his TransPac record assault, but reportedly will take several American crew along on the effort.

Phone Home from Mexico for Free. Nada. Zilch.

October 19 - San Carlos, Mexico

"You absolutely have to tell all the cruisers to get their WiFi going before they sail south to Mexico," writes Jeannette Huelin of the Emeryville-based Bristol 32 Con Te Partiro. "I'm sitting in front of a computer store in San Carlos right now, surfing the Web and emailing on my little Dell PDA. Not only that, but last night I talked to my sailing pal Anh in the States for 40 minutes using this same PDA and VOIP. We have this Skype system on the home computer and also on the PDA, so we can talk absolutely free, gratis, nada, zip. Doesn't get any cheaper than that. If your friend doesn't have Skype, you can call their phone, but that will cost you 20 cents a minute, anywhere in the world. All you need is access to WiFi. And no, I don't have stock in Skype."