Gravity Storms

August 29 - San Francisco Bay

Last weekend's Quick Boat Series, hosted by San Francisco Yacht Club just south of the Olympic Circle, was an expensive outing for two boats. On Saturday, the Express 37 Sally Ann rounded down and blew out their rig.

One of their crew ended up overboard, but fortunately he was okay.

On Sunday, Dale Williams' Farr ILC 46 Wasabi broke its carbon fiber rig at Harding Rock when the port lower spreader inexplicably just broke off. It was "déjà vu all over again" for Williams, who lost his previous rig the day before last year's Big Boat Series. A new mast is already underway at Hi Tec (formerly Sparcraft) in North Carolina, and it will be here in less than two weeks, hopefully in time for this year's BBS, Sept. 13-16.

Meanwhile, Wahoo owner Robert Shaw celebrated his birthday by winning the 14-boat Farr 40 class. Mike Campbell, owner of the Andrews-designed TransPac 52 Victoria 5, won the first Americap II regatta on the Bay, defeating four other big boats.

Close racing in the Farr 40 class

Giant Salmon Caught near Paradise Cove

August 29 - Tiburon

We don't normally report on fishing, but an item in today's San Francisco Chronicle caught our eye. The fish in question was a 69-lb., 58 1/2" salmon caught by Jerry Zanck of Dublin off California City on the east side of the Tiburon peninsula. Zanck apparently disappointed fellow fishermen by cutting up and smoking the giant for later consumption, rather than mounting it for posterity. For more, see Tom Stienstra's article on page B2 of the Sporting Green.

YOTREPS

August 29 - 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/

Weather Updates

August 29 - Pacific Ocean

Hurricane Flossie

Hurricane Flossie is moving west-northwest, away from the west coast of Mexico, at 5 knots. She's kicking up the strongest winds we've seen so far this season: 85 knots with gusts to 105! Her position as of 1500Z today was 20.7N 116.4W. You can keep track of her at http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/e_pacific/2001/index.html

Graphic Courtesy Unisys Weather

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 Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.