Photos of the Day
Baja Ha-Ha Captured in Pictures
December 13 - Point Richmond
While rooting around the Richmond YC Web site for Midwinter race
results, we stumbled across Harley Gee's written account - he's
the guy standing in front of the orange sunset - and photographs
of the recent Baja Ha-Ha. Harley's text did a good job of capturing
the flavor of the event, but nothing like his photographs, which
are superb. If you were on the event or are thinking about doing
it in the future, check out all of Harley's photographs at www.richmondyc.org (click
on the 2000 Baja Ha-Ha Cruiser's Rally link). It makes us want
to sign up for the next one right now!
Speaking of signing up for the next Ha-Ha, John and Susan Pazera
of San Francisco have already sent in their $15 for an entry
pack for Ha-Ha VIII.
Unfortunately, the Ha-Ha folks have gone tropo for the winter
and will therefore be incommunicado until May 1.
All Photos Courtesy Harley Gee
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New Boat on
San Francisco Bay
December 13 - Alameda
Just a couple of days ago, 'Sailing World' named the Schock
40 - with its unique canting-ballast, twin-foil technology -
as their Overall Performance Boat of the Year. Also just a couple
of days ago, John Cladianos' new Schock 40 'Secret Squirrel'
was being worked on at Hansen Rigging in Alameda, with an eye
to be sailing before Christmas and campaigning in 2001.
What's canting technology? It means that you can tilt the
keel to windward with the push of a button, making the boat much
stiffer. What's twin-foil technology? It means there's a rudder
in the back of the boat, but also a canard rudder forward of
the mast.
Did you just get a new boat or new-to-you boat? No matter
if it's 25 feet or 125 feet, we would love to get a picture to
publish in 'Lectronic Latitude.
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New Schock 40 Secret Squirrel
Photo Courtesy Hansen Rigging |
Cruising
Mi Casa Es Su Casa
December 13 - El Salvador
Who's that woman standing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific
Coast of El Salvador? It sure looks like Ellen King of the Las
Vegas-based Kelly-Peterson 44 'Ghost.' Ellen and her retired
pilot husband Jerry, were in Panama about to head through the
Canal when an Ecuadorian couple told them, "mi casa es su
casa." So it was the heck with the Canal and on to Ecuador.
Read about their adventures in the January issue of 'Latitude
38'.
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Photo Courtesy Ghost
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No Need to Evacuate
December 13 - Auckland, New Zealand
A couple of 'Lectronic Latitudes ago, Simon and Lori Elphick
of a Half Moon Bay-based Nor'West 33 said they could tell the
hole in the ozone was getting bigger because their solar panels
were putting out more juice in the Auckland spring than they were
in a Sea of Cortez summer.
But Bernard Quante of the Sausalito-based 'Ta Mana' doesn't necessarily
think the Elphicks are making the correct interpretation. "If
they were looking at the voltage output, their analysis was probably
correct, but amp/hour output is another matter. According to charts
showing various characteristics of outputs in volts and amperes
depending on environmental temperatures, solar panels will increase
their voltage output and decrease their ampere output on cold
days and vice versa on hot days. If it was the other way around,
I would evacuate New Zealand immediately."
YOTREPS
December 13 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of
weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' -
at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
Racing
On The Race Circuit
December 13 - Monte Carlo
Now that the Prologue for The Race in Monte Carlo has been called
off (most of the participants wouldn't have been able to get
there because of weather), a little bit of pressure is off. Cam
Lewis' 'Team Adventure', for example, decided to no longer beat
into 40-knot winds and 15 to 20-foot seas - conditions that were
rough on the crew but which the boat handled with apparent ease.
"After we made the decision at 1:00 am today to head for
La Coruña, Spain," says Larry Rosenfeld, "we
bore away on a reach. The true wind was 42 knots and the boat
was doing 18 knots with just the storm jib and the sail area
of the wing mast. It created an apparent wind across the deck
of 55 knots. We were sailing along the wave trains of the cross-seas.
The boat just smoothed out and took off like a rocket."
Cam Lewis was one of the latest to get his boat for The Race,
but he's done the course on a cat before and he and his crew
have been getting valuable rough weather experience now. He can't
be counted out. For details, visit www.teamadventure.org.
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Aboard Team Adventure

Cam Lewis
Photos Courtesy Team Adventure
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Weather Updates
December 13 - Pacific Ocean
San Francisco Bay Weather
To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside
the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
California Coast Weather
Looking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings
from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border?
Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and
stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
Pacific Ocean Weather
You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology
satellite picture by clicking
here.
Pacific Sea State
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might check at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
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