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Photo of the Day (Night?) An Eerie Glow over the Boardwalk October 20 - Santa Cruz "Here's a photo I took of the boardwalk in Santa Cruz during our annual fireworks show," writes Steve of the Cal 20 'The Doghouse'. "It looks like there is a campfire on the bow of the unidentified sailboat. My crew agreed that this new spiral pyrotechnic show looked like spermatozoa. The weather was cool and the fog was rolling in that night, so the big blasts that went the highest just turned the fog into an eerie glow of red, green and purple."

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Weather Updates

October 20 - Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Tropical Weather

Tropical Storm Michael has greatly weakened well off the East Coast of the United States, and has been joined a ways to the southeast by Nadine, another tropical storm. The two are running parallel and shouldn't cause much problem.

It's again clean in the Pacific.

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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Cruising In the Wake of the Bounty October 20 - Pitcairn Island John Yeamans and Candace Paris left the Mexican mainland last spring aboard their Hydra 46 'Sea Ray', bound for the South Pacific. But rather than following the usual route to the Marquesas and Tahiti, they stopped off at the Galapagos, then steered for Pitcairn Island - a mere speck in the ocean which is still home to the descendants of the Bounty mutineers. Read their fascinating report in next month's Latitude 38. Photo Candace Paris

Talk about a slice of history! Cruiser John Yeamans poses in 'downtown' Adamstown with a genuine anchor off the HMS Bounty.

Baja Ha-Ha Mini-Updates

October 20 - Baja Ha-Ha World Headquarters

In the October 18 'Lectronic, we reported that the Cattrell family needed crew for their catamaran 'See Life' for the October 31 Ha-Ha. They've been overwhelmed with response and are full, so please, no more calls.

The folks at the San Diego Marlin Club, who were so great to offer a couple of slips to Ha-Ha entries, advise everyone that their berths are only suitable for relatively shallow draft vessels. You've been warned.

YOTREPS

October 20 - 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/

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Racing

Cayard Back on the Gulf

October 20 - New Zealand

Even though it seems like the America's Cup was just over, Paul Cayard was back on the Hauraki Gulf yesterday at the helm of USA-61, the first boat preparing for the 2003 Cup. But how things have changed! USA-61 no longer sails for Cayard's AmericaOne syndicate, but rather Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing. Gone is the gray paint job with green shards, as the stylish Ellison likes all his boats white. And while Cayard was driving yesterday, he's going to be the campaign manager, and Ellison's long time skipper, Kiwi Chris Dickson, will be the helmsman. Dickson was busy racing in Bermuda. USA-49, the original 'AmericaOne', was also purchased by Ellison, is painted white, and will soon be testing against USA-61. Ellison has the two Hawaiian boats from the Aloha syndicate in Richmond, so it's likely they'll be sparring on San Francisco Bay next year.

While Ellison, said to be the world's second richest person, reportedly wants to keep a low profile, it's going to be hard. The Oracle Racing team has an apartment house in Auckland with an American flag on top. And if the plentiful dockside rumors are true, wait until Ellison arrives in Auckland aboard the 400-foot motoryacht - perhaps ship is more accurate - he's currently having built.

While the 2003 Cup is going to be very different without Dawn Riley's AmericaTrue, without the Japanese and French, without the Spanish and the Hawaiians, it's still going to be very healthy. All 11 slots in the Viaduct Basin have been taken, and it looks like there will be serious contenders from the defending Kiwis; Oracle Racing; Italy's Prada syndicate; an unnamed but well-known German syndicate; Seattle's OneWorld syndicate; two Swiss syndicates(!); the Swedish Victory syndicate; Dennis Conner's New York YC syndicate; and a mysterious European syndicate. And there may be more. Unless the world economy collapses, it's going to be a really, really big show.