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Photo of the Day The Smile of a Youngster October 23 - Caribbean Is there a more beautiful thing in the world than the smile of a youngster? What brought a smile to this young lady's face is fooling around in the rigging while on charter in the Caribbean. We should all be so lucky. Angela Lammers of Antigua checks out a shroud. Photo Latitude/Andy

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Weather Updates

October 23 - Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

Tropical Weather

It's all quiet in the hurricane regions of Mexico as well as the Atlantic/Caribbean.

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

Have Two People Navigating

October 23 - Tuamotus

A couple of years ago we ran this photo of George Backhus' Deerfoot 62 'Moonshadow' aground on a reef in a remote part of the Tuamotus. She had gone up at 10 knots as a result of a navigation error. Always have two people navigating independently when in dangerous waters. As much as it appeared 'Moonshadow' might have been a goner, she was eventually pulled into deep water and over to Tahiti by a tug, then put on a ship and sent to New Zealand for repairs. After the better part of a year and several hundred thousand dollars, she was as good as new and has been cruising the South Pacific again, most recently Fiji.

Photo George Backhus

YOTREPS

October 23 - 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

The World's Most Beautiful Race Course

October 23 - Mediterranean

When Ted 'the mouth of the South' Turner did the Middle Sea Race in the early '70s, he said, "The race is run over probably the most beautiful race course in the world." The Middle Sea is a 620-miler that starts in historic Malta, takes the fleet north to Syracuse and the narrow Strait of Messina that separates Sicily from Italy, rounds Stromboli, heads west around the western tip of Sicily, south past the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa, and back to Malta. In other words, you start in Malta, round Silicy counterclockwise, and head back to Malta.

In the 21 year history of the race, there have been many great winners: 'Stormvogel', 'Pen Duick III', the 'American War Baby', 'Mistress Quickly', 'Bumblebee IV', 'Nirvana', 'Saudade', 'Sagamore' and 'Riviera di Rimini'. It was in '98 that 'di Rimini' set the course record of 72 hours, a record that is threatened this year by Northern Californian Robert McNeil's R/P 75 'Zephyrus'. McNeil is sailing with many of the same crew that raced 'Zephyrus' earlier this year to an new record in the Cape Town to Rio Race. The big green boat was last seen leaving a coastal mark at 17 knots.

The sponsoring Royal Malta YC was formed perhaps as early as 1835, but was disbanded several times since - for example, when Malta was attacked during World War II and a bomb destroyed the clubhouse.

Latina

Providence

Robert McNeil's Zephyrus (of Pt. Richmond) Photos Anthony Camilleri