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Photos of the Day

April 10 - San Francisco

Today's Photo of the Day is of the 110-ft French trimaran Capgemini/Schneider Electric Geronimo sliding effortlessly under the Golden Gate yesterday afternoon in drizzly conditions, 49 hours out of San Diego. Her visit to San Francisco will likely be brief - she is here for her latest record attempt: bettering the 19-day San Francisco to Yokohama mark set by Steve Fossett's 60-ft trimaran Lakota in 1996. As soon as Geronimo's onboard weather team see a good weather window - likely within the week - she'll be on her way west like a bat out of hell. The big question is whether to take the northern route via the Aleutian Islands or the southern route, by Hawaii, as did Fossett.

This is the first San Francisco visit for Geronimo, the largest racing trimaran ever built. Indeed, she is the first of the new generation of maxi-multihulls ever to grace our local waters. Not so for her creator and owner, French hero Olivier de Kersauson. Upon arrival at the dock, he hearkened back to his last visit to the Bay 37 years ago as part of Eric Tabarly's Pen Duick IV team. That radical 70-ft trimaran shadowed the '71 TransPac fleet, beating eventual winner, the great 72-ft Windward Passage, into Honolulu by 20 hours.

'ODK', the French sailing legend, has relentlessly raced his big multihulls around the world.

ODK, as Kersauson is known, plans to do some record annihilation of his own in Geronimo's latest quest. With decent breeze, the big tri could shave the better part of a week off the 4,525-mile SF to Yokohama route.

The boat and her charismatic owner have certainly been on a roll in the last year. The upcoming Japan run is the fourth in a series of record-setting runs that started last June. So far, Geronimo has broken them all, including the round-Australia record and, last November, the LA to Honolulu TransPac record. Following the SF to Yokohama run, the Geronimo crew will have a crack at another Far East sailing mark, followed by a return run from Yokohama to San Francisco - a record also held by Fossett's Lakota - "sometime before the summer." So if you don't catch a glimpse of Geronimo now, you may have another chance in a month or two.

Geronimo out in the ocean

For now, de Kersauson looked at the misty City and said, "It is nice to be here again. I would like to go again visiting around the Bay." When one person pointed out, "It's changed a lot," he said, "No, when you pass under the Bridge, on your starboard side you see the City and on the other side Sausalito and the fog - it is the same I think." Then he smiled. "The fog is the same."

Speaking of glimpses, Geronimo is berthed at the fishing boat marina just east of Hyde Street Pier in the City. She will not be open to the public during her visit, but if you get a chance, it's a treat just to walk up (or sail by) and admire this powerful machine at the dock.

It's not until she's near another boat, such as the 55-ft Adventure Cat, that you get a real idea of the size of Geronimo.
Photos Latitude/JR

Check this week's 'Lectronic Latitudes for updates on Geronimo's schedule, which may include a 'speed run' here in the Bay.

Thanks for the Pirates for Pupils Contributions

April 10 - Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

In our previous report on the Pirates for Pupils Spinnaker Run for Charity on Banderas Bay, we didn't have the final figures on the money raised. As such, we'd now like to thank all the wonderful folks who contributed a total of 11,800 pesos - more than $1,000 - to ride on the various boats on the day of the event, plus the "6,000 pesos and $400" from Renne and Anne's Swan 65 Cassiopeia, plus the $800 donated by the Punta Mita Yacht and Surf Club. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All this money is in addition to the previously-mentioned $1,000 from the last two Baja Ha-Has, $1,000 from the Punta Mita Beach Club and Punta Mita Realty, and $500 from the El Faro Condos in the colony of Emiliano Zapata.

Don Von Tress and his pirate-attired crew on Sugar Bird won the prize - a lobster dinner for two donated by El Dorado - for being the best dressed.

Despite a hand injury to one of the crew aboard Bill and Karen Vaccaro's Moody 44 Miela, the boat soldiered on in ideal conditions.

Katie Milleson, whose father donated $500 on behalf of the El Faro Condos, enjoys a seat on the boom of Profligate.

The voluptuous Sue, of the motoryacht Defiance, which provided emergency help after a hand injury on Miela, cleans the cutlass of pirate Billy Kitchen. Funny, but he's wearing more makeup than she is.

Photos Latitude/Richard