'Lectronic Index

Previous 'Lectronic Edition

Photos of the Day: The Big Sail

November 29 - San Francisco

Stanford's varsity sailing team rounds the top mark just ahead of Cal in the first race.

Stanford swept Cal 2-0 in the Big Sail yesterday at St. Francis YC, but not before Cal took both alumni races in the annual match race between the Bay Area's rival universities.

After trailing Stanford for three of the four legs in the Young Alumni race, Seadon Wijsen and his Cal team took advantage of a poor spinnaker set to take the lead and ultimately, the win.

Liz Baylis and Cal's 'master' alumni team taught a talented but tardy Stanford crew (headed by Malin Burnham) a lesson about the importance of keeping an eye on the clock. Stanford never recovered after it drew a penalty for not entering the pre-start box on time.
Photos Latitude/Sutter

While the 'young' and 'master' alums' races only counted for bragging rights; the real competition was determined in the best-of-three series between the schools' varsity sailing teams in borrowed J/105s.

As for what this bodes for the outcome of this weekend's Big Game, we haven't the faintest idea. Perhaps that's why we cover sailing rather than football. Speaking of sailing coverage, we'll have a full report on the Big Sail in the January issue of Latitude 38, which comes out December 29.

- latitude / ss

ARC Rally Underway in Prime Conditions

November 29 - Las Palmas, Grand Canaria

A wildly diverse fleet of 223 boats left the Canaries Sunday headed for St. Lucia.
Photo Andy Dare / ARC Rally

Having departed from the Canary Island port of Las Palmas Sunday, the 223 entries in the 21st annual ARC Rally are currently enjoying idyllic trade wind sailing en route to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. The current leader, Capricorno, an Italian maxi, logged a 24-hour run yesterday of 271 miles.

Following an emerging trend seen in other recent offshore races, armchair enthusiasts can follow the progress of the entire fleet this year via Google Earth. Access it via: http://217.10.131.138/google/arc2006.aspx. For further info on the Rally, see: http://arc.worldcruising.com/en/default.asp.

Although some competitors battled headwinds initially, conditions are now excellent with the NE Trades expected to remain stable throughout the week.

By contrast, conditions during much of the recently completed Caribbean 1500 rally, from Hampton, Virginia, to Tortola, British Virgin Islands, were far from ideal. After a foggy, light-air start, winds built as the record fleet headed east across the Gulf Stream, then later deteriorated, yielding light, shifting winds for much of the next two weeks. Nevertheless, crews were reportedly all wearing smiles at the Awards Ceremony on November 15, no doubt overjoyed at the prospect of spending the winter in sun-kissed tropical latitudes. For additional info, see: www.carib1500.com.

- latitude / aet

Monterey Dockmaster's Body Found

November 29 - Monterey

The body of Chris Haugen, the Monterey Sailing School dockmaster who disappeared November 11, was found on Thanksgiving Day by a beachcomber on Del Monte Beach. Witnesses report that Haugen left the dock aboard his boss's 21-ft sailboat Lorraine around 5 p.m. Lorraine was spotted about an hour later motoring in circles with no one aboard. Investigators are still waiting for toxicology reports but have no reason to believe Haugen's death was anything other than an accident. Our sincerest condolences to his many friends and family.

- latitude / ld

Beth Leonard to Speak at OCC

November 29 - Newport Beach

Well-known circumnavigator Beth Leonard will be presenting two seminars at Orange Coast College's School of Sailing and Seamanship this weekend and everyone is welcome. Northern High Lights, a two-hour slide show about the adventures Beth and her partner Evans Starzinger had in the North Atlantic, will be held Friday from 7-9 p.m. and has a price tag of $20.

Saturday's presentation will actually be a series of four Advanced Offshore seminars: Sailhandling, Weather Forecasting, Onboard Communications and Heavy Weather Sailing. Attendees can take one or more at a cost of $30 per seminar, or $105 for all of them, including lunch. For more info or to register, go to www.occsailing.com or call (949) 645-9412.

- latitude / ld

Back in Production Again

November 29 - Marina del Rey

Those marvelous 24-ft Martin 242s, are being manufactured again in Marina del Rey. You may remember that they were designed by Don Martin in the 1980s, and they are every bit as much fun today.

I had to sit out the Hot Rum Series when one of my crew, who happens to be The Girlfriend, badly nicked her knee on a companionway ladder of my M-242 Gekko. So, I dusted off the telephoto lens on my trusty Canon Rebel and got this image of Mike and Denise George in their brand new and very shiny M-242 Rock, Paper, Scissors finishing a solid second place in division 5 of SDYC's Hot Rum Series, race 2. Look at all the boats behind them in this reverse start arbitrary handicap race.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, a new Martin 242, made good time in SDYC Hot Rum Series.
Photo George Hody

I'm really glad to see the Martin 242s back in production. They're a perfect, easy to handle, high performance daysailer and racer, especially for a small family or the more 'mature' sailors among us.

The Web site for the new boat is www.M242YachtsUSA.com.

- George Hody, M.D., San Diego