October 17, 2001

Photos of the Day

October 17 – Mystery Location

Who can identify this mystery harbor? Hints:
Most people come by tour bus rather than boat. There’s a tidal
range of 9 feet. The Baltic 39 we were aboard was the biggest
sailboat in the harbor. Even though it was early October, there
were still too many tourists. Nonetheless, it was a friendly
place – they didn’t even charge us for the mooring. Send your
answers to Richard.

Photos Latitude/Rob

Cruising in Muslim Countries

October 17 – Port Dickson, Malaysia

“I’m currently at Admiral Marina in Port Dickson, Malaysia,”
reports John Keen of the San Francisco-based Gulf 32 Pilothouse
Knot Yet. “The trip up from Singapore was not pleasant,
as I had both wind and seas on the nose. It’s been five months
since I’ve sailed/motored into the wind, and I’d forgotten how
unpleasant it can be. Further hindered by strong currents, for
several hours I was only doing a knot or two over the bottom.

“Enough whining! As to your question
about whether I feel safe cruising in Muslim
countries, I’m glad that I have left Indonesia – though I didn’t
sense any hostility in the areas which I visited. Naturally,
I avoided the hot spots. Malaysia, where I am now, also has a
large Muslim population, but again they seem to be rather relaxed
people. Immigration, Customs and the Port Captain, for example,
were very friendly today. I intend to visit Melaka (Malacca)
and Kuala Lumpur in the next few days, and will advise further.
For better or worse, the government is pretty strict about dissent,
and they do value the dwindling tourist industry.

“Topic A among cruisers, as you might
expect, is whether the Red Sea will be safe next year. Views
range from ‘I’m going via South Africa,’ to ‘I’m going to wait
a year,’ to ‘there’ll be so many U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea
that we’ll be safe,’ to ‘I want to ship the boat home.’ I’m in
the ‘wait and see’ camp, and expect that I will continue in that
direction in January.”

Sunday’s Photos Were Taken Saturday

October 17 – San Francisco Bay

Several observant folks caught an error in yesterday’s
‘Lectronic Latitude. Specifically, a number of photos we
claimed were taken last Sunday were actually taken last Saturday.
Our apologies. To make up for it, here’s some more shots that
were taken last weekend.

YOTREPS

October 17 – 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

October 17 – 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/.
(Note: Service on this site has been interrupted, and they hope
to have it repaired soon. We’ll keep an eye on it and let you
know.)

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.