July 12, 2000

July 12 – The Golden Gate

This might look like an ordinary photo of a guy sailing out
the Gate in an ordinary boat, but to the Wanderer, it’s much
more than that. The boat is the Wylie 28 ‘Wildflower’, a prototype
of the Hawkfarm class, and she was completed from a bare hull
and deck by Skip Allan of Capitola. The photo was taken Monday,
July 10, as Skip and ‘Wildflower’ started this year’s West Marine
Pacific Cup.

In 1977, when ‘Latitude’ was just two months old, we watched
as Skip and about 70 other sailors sailed out the Gate in the
the first Singlehanded Farallones Race. It was a nasty day on
the ocean. The fleet was hit by winds of 45 knots or more and
large seas, and so there were only about 12 finishers. Skip and
‘Wildflower’ were right near the top.

The following June, on a foggy day like the one in the accompanying
photograph, we watched Skip and ‘Wildflower’ sail out the Gate
again, this time on the first-ever Singlehanded TransPac. It
was a very ballsy endeavor in those days, and Skip naturally
finished near the top. He also made ‘Latitude’ a bunch of tape
recordings of his thoughts as he went across, and interspersed
them with music from his stereo. As a result, we’ll never be
able to hear the instrumental part of Eric Clapton’s ‘Layla’
without also hearing the background noise of the wind in ‘Wildflower’s
rigging and Skip whooping it up as he and his little boat surfed
down another wave on a black night in the middle of the Pacific.

If memory serves us, Skip and ‘Wildflower’ also did the last
two West Marine Pacific Cups in the doublehanded division, and
both times finished at or near the top in both class and the
whole fleet. Once he even brought a sailboard along because he
was using the race as the first leg of a cruise deep into the
South Pacific.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Yes, Skip and his humble little boat have done plenty of cruising,
too. To the Pacific Northwest several times, to the South Pacific
several times, and who knows where else. Skip and ‘Wildflower’
are a perfect example of what a fine sailor is capable of doing
with a modest boat and just a few bucks. We’ll be at the Kaneohe
YC on Oahu to greet Skip when he finishes – and no doubt again
places in the top five – and we’ll bring back a story of minimalist
ocean racing and cruising.

For more on the Pacific Cup starts, including more photos, see
below.

The Perfect Omission

July 12 – North Atlantic

The hottest movie around these days is ‘The Perfect Storm’
based on Sebastian Junger’s best-selling book of the same name.
We have a lot of trouble with Hollywood reinventing history to
either further their agendas or increase the drama of a work,
so we don’t plan on seeing the film – but that’s a personal thing.

It’s worth noting, however, that there have been significant
complaints about the book – and therefore the movie – based on
what some claim were instances of poor or non-existent research
on the part of Junger. For instance, he makes the claim that
the ‘Andrea Gail’ was modified in such a way as to make her less
seaworthy – yet he never saw the boat and offered no evidence
to back such a serious claim.

Perhaps even worse, in early editions of the book he made reference
to skipper Ray Leonard of the Westsail 32 ‘Satori’ – ‘Mistral’
in the film – which was caught up in the same storm. Based entirely
on the reports of two inexperienced crewmembers, Junger portrayed
Leonard as a coward. In a glaring journalistic omission, he never
even interviewed Leonard – who in retrospect seems to have done
the right thing by lying ahull. Indeed, it seems as though the
real story may have been that the lives of many people were threatened
by the fact that a couple of freaked-out, inexperienced women
wanted to be taken off the boat – a boat which ended up undamaged
on a Maryland beach a few days later, a boat which is currently
being sailed by an owner out of Texas.

To hear the side of the story Junger neglected to mention, visit
http://world.std.com/~kent/satori/.

Weather Updates

July 12 – Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean Weather

There’s good news and bad news for the Monday and Tuesday
starters in the Pacific Cup, as the near coastal winds are relatively
light and the seas not too big. The good news is that this gives
crewmembers unusually good conditions in which to acclimatize
to life at sea. On the negative side, if the strong northwesterlies
fill in for the fast boats that start on the next three days,
all the Monday and Tuesday starting boats will be reeled in quickly.

California Coast Weather

Mariners trying to get north from Southern California can
dance for joy again today, as at 0900 the wind is less than five
knots at Conception, Argie and Santa Maria. Go north now young,
man, go north.

Cruising Photo

If you’re tiring of the traffic, congestion and overdevelopment
in California, sooth your soul by checking out this photo of
Mabneian Lagoon in the Louisiade Archipelago of Papua New Guinea.
“From this great lagoon anchorage you could see eight different
islands,” reports Debby Cason of the Passport 40 ‘Dreamer’
from Sausalito. Debby and her husband Roger cruised these waters
for the better part of a decade.

‘Omega I’

‘Heat Wave’