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Announcing the Delta Doo Dah DeuxMarch 15, 2010 – San Francisco Bay to the Delta
Last summer, we launched what we'd hoped would be a well-received rally from the Bay to the Delta. The idea was to encourage sailors to explore their own backyard, and to provide a cruise-out that was doable for the average working stiff who could only take a week's vacation. The response from Bay sailors was tremendous — we 'sold out' all 30 spots in just three days! As eager as the participants were to sign up, we expected the inaugural Delta Doo Dah to be a good time, but the event surpassed our wildest expectations. From the kick-off party at Richmond YC the night before the start to the final Doo Dah Hoopla party hosted by Stockton Sailing Club, the Delta Doo Dah was a rally to remember.
We're happy to announce that registration for the Delta Doo Dah Deux is now officially open. Due to conflicts with a couple of high-profile Hawaii races, we moved the dates to July 31-August 6 — the week after the YRA Second Half Opener. Registration is still just $49 and includes a burgee and one t-shirt (you can order your crews' shirts at the same time as you register). Though it's too early to confirm all we have planned for this year's rally, we are thrilled to tell you that Stockton Sailing Club has once again agreed to host the final Hoopla party. Keep track of all the goings-on at www.deltadoodah.com, but in the meantime, don't dawdle in signing up — even though we've expanded the entry list to 50 boats, we suspect every slot will be filled by the end of the week. See you in the Delta!
- latitude / ld |
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Tomas and Ului Pose Double Threat
March 15, 2010 – South Pacific
Commercial ships will have to pick their courses carefully this week, with both Ului (left) and Tomas creating havoc. © 2010 MTSAT CIMSS |
The weather gods are extraordinarily active in the South Pacific this week, with major cyclones Tomas (a category 4) and Ului (a category 5) simultaneously battering different island groups. As a point of reference, both storms are stronger than Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans in 2005.
Cyclone Tomas is raising hell in the eastern islands of Fiji. © 2010 Joint Typhoon Warning Center/NOAA |
With power currently out in most of the Fijian islands, damage reports and death tolls are still sketchy, but as the storm came ashore last night in the northeastern islands, sources in New Zealand reported gusts as high 168 mph (146 knots) and storm-driven waves as high as 25 feet. More than 5,000 residents of the northern islands evacuated their homes, at least one woman drowned while trying to save others, and some boats have reportedly been driven far inland. Although the storm is expected to cause continued damage for the next 12 to 18 hours, storm-watchers are hopeful that most of the largest and most populus islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, will escape catastrophic damage. Nadi Tropical Cyclone Center expected the eye of the storm to pass roughly 125 miles east of the capital, Suva.
Ului's path is expected to turn sharply. At this point it's anybody's guess where it will strike the Queensland coast of Australia. © 2010 Joint Typhoon Warning Center/NOAA |
Meanwhile Cyclone Ului is currently south of the Solomon Islands traveling SSW towards the Queensland, Australia coast at about four knots. A recent report pegged its sustained winds at 130 knots, with gusts into the 160s.
- latitude / at
Rigging Seminar at OYC
March 15, 2010 – Oakland YC
The Singlehanded TransPac is hosting a free rigging seminar tonight at Oakland YC, 7-10 p.m. Keith 'Panda' Love of Panda Rigging and Jay Butler of Butler Rigging will cover a bullet-proof rig, pre-race inspection and how to do daily inspections at sea. Anyone is welcome to attend, and more info on the race — which starts at Corinthian YC on June 19 and ends in beautiful Hanalei Bay, Kauai — can be found at www.sfbaysss.org.
- latitude / ld
Weekend Racing Wrap-up
March 15, 2010 – The Bay and Beyond
A whole lot of red at a "green" regatta: the Richmond YC's St. Patrick's Day-themed Big Daddy Regatta. © 2010 Erik Simonson / www.h2oshots.com |
There was plenty of racing up and down the West Coast yesterday. Over at Richmond YC, the Big Daddy featured the tried-and-true format of one day of buoy racing on Saturday and a pursuit race on Sunday — the latter going to Peter Stoneberg's Formula 40 Shadow. Starting well after most of the monohulls, Stoneberg sailed a clockwise route in the choose-your-own-adventure "two-island fiasco" around Alcatraz and Angel Islands.
Peter Stoneberg's Formula 40 Shadow dnf'ed in the Island YC's Doublehanded Lightship Race as seen here, but crushed in the Big Daddy Pursuit race. © 2010 Erik Simonson / www.h2oshots.com |
The Island YC's Doublehanded Lightship went off on Saturday with the 42 starters rewarded for their efforts with a spinnaker run out to the Lightbucket. Phil Krasner and Steve McCarthy on Krasner's Pt. Richmond-based Express 27 Westu took overall honors.
The seven-boat 505 division gets off the line at the St. Francis YC's Spring Dinghy Regatta. © 2010 Erik Simonson / www.h2oshots.com |
It was the dinghies' turn at the St. Francis YC's Spring Series. The 29ers, 505s, Finns, FDs, Wetas and Laser Radials and full rigs all brought out decent numbers.
Magnitude 80 beats past Irela . . . umm, we mean Catalina Island during the inaugural Islands Race on the way to setting the elapsed-time benchmark. Photo Latitude / Rob © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
We went south this weekend to join the crew of Ray Godwin's Long Beach-based Farr 40 Temptress for the inaugural Islands Race — a 129-mile jaunt around Catalina and San Clemente Islands. Co-hosted by Newport Harbor and San Diego YCs, the race started at Angel's Gate in L.A. Harbor and finished off Pt. Loma after the 41-boat, high-quality fleet left the two islands to port. With good breeze that scratched the mid-20s at times over the time-on-time handicapped course, all but one boat finished by about noon on Saturday — in plenty of time for the party at San Diego YC Saturday night. Dale Williams' Bay Area-based Kernan 44 Wasabi was the overall runner-up, correcting out just four minutes behind Paul Cassanova's Newport Beach-based SC 50 Flaca. The Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship's Andrews 80 Magnitude 80 set the first elapsed time mark for the race at 12h, 17m.
Paul Cassanova's sailed his SC 50 Flaca to a convincing win in the inaugural Islands Race. Photo Latitude / Rob © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
We had way too many good stories from these events to fit in 'Lectronic, so make sure you check them out in the April issue of Latitude 38!
- latitude / rg
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