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SoCal Scene Melges 24 Nationals March 26 - San Diego Several Northern California sailors attended the 30-boat Melges 24 Nationals this weekend, hosted by Southwestern Yacht Club. Top finisher was Argyle Campbell with Rock n' Roll out of Newport Beach. Top NorCal finisher was Michael Stone of San Rafael with Not the Family Buick, who, with Charlie Ogletree, took fourth. (Buick finished first in the previous weekend's San Diego NOOD Regatta. See Thursday's 'Lectronic.) Don Jesberg and Zarko Draganic finished ninth with Trailblazer, out of Menlo Park. Olympic Classes Regatta March 26 - Long Beach On March 23-25, Stars, 49ers, Solings, Europes, Finns, Lasers, Lightnings, Mistrals and Snipes battled it out in 10 races hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. Some NorCal sailors who placed included San Francisco's Krysia Pohl, who dominated the Europe dinghies to win 1st place; Russ Sylvestri, 1st, Finns; and Doug Smith and Mike Moore, 3rd, Star Class. For more on these regattas, see the Racing Sheet in April's Latitude 38.

Melges 24s on the line in San Diego Bay Photo Barbara A. Horner Courtesy www.sdsailing.com

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and on the Bay... Wheeler Regatta March 26 - San Francisco Bay The Berkeley Yacht Club hosted buoy racing on Saturday for three PHRF divisions and the Merit 25 class, and a pursuit race on Sunday for 25 boats. Winners on Saturday included Mirador, Antrim 27, Charles Griffith; Zilla, B-25, Brent Draney; Latin Lass, Catalina 27, Bill Chapman; and Twilight Zone, Merit 25, Paul Kamen. Sunday's pursuit race was won by Shenanigans, C&C 36, Mike Maloney. Rites of Spring March 26 - San Francisco Bay This Saturday, Oakland Yacht Club hosted the Rites of Spring. Coming out on top in five doublehanded divisions were Donnybrook, F-28R, John Brady; Lelo Too, Tartan 30, Emile Carles; Sylkie, WylieCat 30, Steve Seal; Shazam!, Santana 22, Bud Sandkulla; and Annie, Cal 29, Steve Zevanove. Only one boat raced in the singlehanded division, Polar Bear, Antrim 27, Richard Ray. For more complete box scores on these regattas and much more Bay Area racing results and news, see the Racing Sheet in April's Latitude 38.

Merit 25 winner Paul Kamen, with crew Gabi Zurek of Germany and Esther de Frutos of Madrid, displays the City of Berkeley Trophy Photo Courtesy Paul Kamen

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The Race March 26 - Marseille, France Team Adventure crossed the finish line at 10:21 local time on Saturday March 24. As Team Adventure approached Marseille it was doing 28 knots and flying a hull. The remaining two boats, Warta Polpharma and Team Legato, will finish after the time deadline of April 2, however the line will be left open and the last two boats will be declared finished fourth and fifth out of the time limits. Warta Polpharma had put into Portalez, Brazil, for repairs, but left on Saturday at 1530. They left behind two crew members who required medical attention.

Team Adventure's crew celebrating their finish, with flares and major sponsor monster.com's mascot Photo Jacques Vapillon Courtesy Team Adventure http://teamadventure.org/

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Pacific Puddle Jump March 26 - Nuevo Vallarta On Friday, we began a series of profiles on the Pacific Puddle Jump class of 2001 - cruisers making the jump from Mexico to the Marquesas. We'll have more in tomorrow's 'Lectronic, and you'll find all of them in the pages of the April issue of Latitude 38. Aurora - Cal 40 Rob Wyess and Youngla Nam, San Francisco Both in their early 40s, Bob and Youngla are relatively young to be bailing out of the mainstream to go cruising. But they share the sentiments of many of their cruising counterparts: "Don't wait too long to get going. And don't get caught up thinking you need all the latest gear. If you have a seaworthy boat and basic equipment, just do it!" Rob's had the cruising bug for ages, and after meeting Youngla four years ago he slowly turned her toward his ambitions. Last spring they sold Rob's Mariner 32 - which had carried him up and down the West Coast for 15 years - and bought Aurora. Six months later they headed down the California coast towards the sunny latitudes of Mexico. "We've been 'projecting' ever since - fixing and installing things as we go along." They eventually hope to complete a circumnavigation, with Australia, the Indian Ocean and the Med high on their 'must see' list. Photo Latitude/Andy

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YOTREPS

March 26 - 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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Weather Updates

March 26 - 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.