Photo of the Day

October 9 - Baja California Sur

Today's photo of the day comes from Mexico in the aftermath of Hurricane Juliette. The photo is somewhere on Highway 9 in southern Baja, and shows a washed out road.

As everyone familiar with Baja knows, it's subject to flash flooding, which results in walls of water taking out roads such as this. The short term solution is simple. You wait until the water disappears - it only takes a couple of days - and you drive around it or what's left of it. There is no reason to freak out. There's also no reason to believe that "the Cabo Marina has been wiped out" - because it hasn't.

Crew List & Ha-Ha Kick-Off Party Tomorrow Evening

October 9 - Alameda

Just another reminder that the Mexico Crew List and Baja Ha-Ha Kick-Off and Reunion Party will be held tomorrow night starting at 6 p.m. at the Encinal YC in Alameda. There will be lots of skippers looking for crew, and crew looking for skippers. We hope to see you there. See our Crew List Web Page for info.

Fossett and PlayStation on Verge of Transatlantic Record

October 9 - Atlantic Ocean

If things continue to go right, later today Pacific Coast Time, Steve Fossett and the maxi cat PlayStation will arrive off The Lizard, England, having crushed the Transatlantic sailing record that has been so durable. If all Fossett's dreams come true, they'll finish in less than five days, and if so will have knocked 25% off Serge Medec's long-standing record with the 86-ft cat Jet Services V. Here's the official release:

With winds remaining at 25 knots+ overnight, monster cat PlayStation has maintained excellent speeds of between 25-28 knots in her quest to break the longstanding NY-UK Transatlantic record. Skipper Steve Fossett and his crew are now on course to smash the current time of 6 days 13 hours 3 mins 32 secs set 11 years ago by Serge Madec on Jet Services 5. By 1000 GMT this morning, PlayStation had approximately 565 nm to reach The Lizard, England - meaning they could cross the finish line as early as 0700 GMT Wednesday morning, taking more than a day off the existing time.

Navigator Stan Honey revealed the secret of their success: "The weather front that has been carrying us along still appears as though it may be progressive enough to make it the rest of the way to the English Channel, which doesn't always happen."

Steve Fossett: "PlayStation has finally come into her own. We are able to sail at her full potential with an experienced crew. We're taking full advantage of this great weather pattern, and hope to post an outstanding time."

PlayStation as she looked screaming along in The Race
Photo Mark Pepper/Marinepics/pixsail.com

PlayStation has had a checkered history. On her first outing, she set a new 24-hour speed record. After that, there were problems, shortcomings, and a dropout from The Race. But only yesterday she established a new 24-hour sailing record of almost 690 miles, and looks all but certain to smash the celebrated Transatlantic record.

For ongoing record status/updates/information see www.fossettchallenge.com

In other maxi cat news, the dock rumors are that Cam Lewis' Team Adventure, one of three Gilles Ollier maxi cats that sailed in The Race but later had a bow break, will not be repaired. At least by Team Adventure.

YOTREPS

October 9 - 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

Hurricane Iris

October 9 - Belize

Hurricane Iris slammed the coast of Belize in the Western Caribbean yesterday with winds up to 125 knots. At least 11 people were killed, most of them tourists, in Big Creed Port, which had been considered a hurricane haven. At this time it's unclear what cruisers or charter operations may have been affected, but this was a severe blow.

October 9 - 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 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.