---

Photos of the Day March 2 - St. Maarten The 21st annual Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten in the Eastern Caribbean has officially started, and as you can tell from the accompanying artwork, they've once again hired Richmond's Jim DeWitt to do the artwork. Second only to Antigua Sailing Week in Caribbean prestige, this year's Heinie has a record-breaking 265 entries, including everything from 257-ft tallships to beach cats. The majority, however, are typical monohulls. The Heinie also kicks off the 2001 Caribbean 'Big Boat Series', a three-regatta event - the others are the BVI Spring Regatta and Antigua Sailing Week - that consists of 12 races for monohulls over 60 feet in length. The best known West Coast boat vying for Heinie and Big Boat Series honors is Doug Baker's Long Beach-based Andrews 70 Magnitude, which will be up against the likes of James Dolan's 78 ft Sagamore, Irvine Laidlaw's CM 60 Highland Fling, several Santa Cruz 70 variations, and Sotto Voce, a new Swan 60. Also racing will be White Wings and White Horses, two of the W-60 class 76-footers. We'll have a full report on Monday and in the April edition of Latitude 38.

Painting Jim DeWitt Wild Horses Photo Latitude/Richard

---

Club Med to Finish This Weekend March 2 - Mediterranean Sea Having passed through the Straits of Gibraltar about midnight last night, Grant Dalton and the maxi catamaran Club Med are expected to cross the Marseilles finish line sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The uncertain ETA is a result of the boat currently being becalmed with a gale on the way. While Club Med slatted 592 miles from the finish line, the gallant team aboard the near-sistership Innovation Explorer was 1,020 miles back and closing fast. Innovation Explorer won't catch Club Med, but they put up a great fight with an untested boat and minimum of sails. So far Club Med has covered more than 26,000 miles at an average speed in excess of 18.2 knots. Skipper Dalton, however, cautioned that the debate between big cats and big trimarans hasn't even begun yet. "Everything we thought is true ­ a tri would struggle in the Southern Ocean, but would destroy us all in the Atlantic. It will be interesting to see what de Kersauzon's tri ends up like when it is launched later this year."

Blue Club Med Green Innovation Explorer Orange Team Adventure Yellow Warta Polpharma Magenta Team Legato Graphics Courtesy Club Med www.catamaran.clubmed.fr/ Ranking of March 2, 2001, 15:00:00 GMT 1. Club Med / dtf 539.2 miles 2. Innovation Explorer / dtl 1,002.2 miles 3. Team Adventure / dtl 5,952.5 miles 4. Warta Polpharma / dtl 6,499.2 miles 5. Team Legato / dtl 9,207.2 miles

---

Hoof and Mouth to Affect Jib and Main

March 2 - Great Britain

It may seem hard to believe, but the government in England has had to shut down some yacht clubs to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease. No joke. The yacht clubs are on London and other reservoirs. While humans cannot contract hoof and mouth, they can spread it. There is no word when the clubs will be able to reopen.

---

On Their Way

March 2 - Pacific Ocean

"We left Z-town on Sunday the 18th of February after 15 months of great cruising in Mexico, sad to say adios to our friends," report Matthew Mason and Debra Stearns of the Salt Lake City based Tayana 37 Aeventyr. "We're now about 410 miles from the Galapagos and having nice sailing out here on the big blue. My friend Pat Mcgill will be joining us in the Galapagos next week with his 10-year-old son Christopher. Captain's Orders will have the young swab send a 'Dear Mom' letter each day via Sail Mail."

---

YOTREPS

March 2 - 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

March 2 - 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 Sea State

Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might 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.