Photo of the Day

August 27 - Kaneohe Bay, HI

Thomas Thayer sent us today's Photo of the Day, and writes: "After seeing your 'Lectronic Latitude article on Wildflower's pet [August 14], I thought you might be interested in the attached picture of a real pet that did the Pacific Cup on Rory and Michael Downing's El Tiburon. Despite the extra nine lives, they were still counted as a doublehanded entry.

"I was really impressed with the welcoming committee, as they were prepared with a cat size lei and cat treats. Unfortunately, the State of Hawaii is not nearly so welcoming, as they had an animal control officer greeting the boat to haul the cat off to quarantine. The state quarantines pets for up to four months in their effort to prevent rabies on the islands. With today's modern technologies and the standard of veterinary care in the U.S., surely there is a less barbaric way for the state to achieve this objective?"

Parade of Tall Ships to Kick Off Sail San Francisco! 2002

August 27 - San Francisco

A flotilla of 50 tall ships will grace the Bay with their traditional rigs August 28 through September 2. The visit kicks off tomorrow with a parade of sail from the Golden Gate to Bay Bridge scheduled to begin at noon. More than 35 local and international historic vessels plan to participate, showing acres of canvas. Ships will then be berthed from Hyde Street Pier to PacBell Park and festivities will ring the waterfront from Fisherman's Wharf on down the Embarcadero. Ships will be open to tours Thursday, August 29, to Sunday, September 1, from 9:30am to 5:30pm. For more details, see www.sailsanfrancisco.org.

We'll be out taking pictures tomorrow of course (that's not the editorial 'we' - our photo boat promises to full from gunwale to gunwale tomorrow), so we won't be posting a new 'Lectronic Latitude. We'll have a sampling of photos for you here Thursday and Friday though.

Local Girl Makes Good at Olympic Test Event

August 27 - Athens, Greece

Olympic hopefuls sailed for two weeks at the Aghios Kosmas Sailing Centre in Greece, enjoying the novelty of being the first in any sport to preview the 2004 Olympic venues of Athens.

Of the 40 countries represented at the Athens 2002 Regatta, the USA, with
43 athletes, had the largest contingent racing in the eight classes (ten events). Several members of the U.S. team used this event to try new equipment and tactics, while competitors in the Laser and Tornado classes worked to prepare for their upcoming world championships.

Some West Coast finishers:

In the nine-boat Europe fleet, Lauren Bernsen (Coronado) and
Tanya Haddad (Portland, OR) finished eighth and ninth, respectively.

Sailing in a fleet of 31 Finns, Mo Hart (Santa Cruz) finished 14th overall.

In the 36-boat 470 Men's fleet, Mikee Anderson-Mitterling and Graham Biehl (both of San Diego) were 29th.

Sailing a 16-race series in the 38-boat 49er fleet, Andy Mack (Seattle, WA) and Adam Lowry (San Francisco) finished 16th overall. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, WA) and Zack Maxam (San Diego) were 29th.

Sailing in the 51-boat fleet replete with several Olympians and world champions, 2002 ISAF Youth World Singlehanded Sailing Champion Andrew Campbell (San Diego) finished 9th overall. Andrew Lewis (Honolulu, HI) was 34th.

Sailors in the board events counted 10 races for the series after lack of wind on the final day of racing kept them off the race course. Peter Wells (Newport Beach)
finished 25th in the 42-board Mistral Men's fleet.

Oh, yeah, that local girl? With a show of strength, the American teams claimed three of the top six spots in the 23-boat Yngling fleet. Tiburon's Melissa Purdy helped her team win two of the 11 races in their series. Melissa, skipper Hannah Swett (Jamestown, RI/New York, NY) and crew Joan Touchette (Newport, RI) captured the silver medal. Betsy Alison (Newport, RI), Lee Icyda (Stuart, FL) and Suzy Leech (Avon, CT/Annapolis, MD) battled back from the mid-fleet position they held through much of the event to place fourth. Carol Cronin (Jamestown, RI), Linda Epstein (Arlington, MA) and Liz Filter (Stevensville, MD) claimed sixth place overall.

For complete results from the Athens 2002 Regatta, visit www.athens.olympic.org.

New Zealand Launched in Auckland

August 27 - Auckland, NZ

Lady Pippa Blake, widow of the late Sir Peter Blake, and Team NZ CEO Ross Blackman christened NZL81 New Zealand on the night of the 26th amid much secrecy. No daggers, but lots of cloak. Shrouded from her deck down and sporting an old rig, the boat was mostly hidden from view as the America's Cup defenders took extraordinary measures to protect their secrets from prying eyes. Even Lady Pippa had no idea what was under the bow to stern-length skirts. For the complete New Zealand Herald story, see www.nzherald.co.nz/americascup/acstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=2351311&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup.

Photo Funnies

August 27 - Cyberspace

Jack McGregor writes, "Thought you guys would get a chuckle out of this item sent to me by a friend in Trinidad." A caption at the bottom of the photo read: "If there were a post in the middle of the desert someone would hit it." The name of the boat? Temporary Insanity.

YOTREPS

August 27 - 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 27 - Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Genevieve

Genevieve is working off the west coast of Mexico, however she is headed away from land, moving west at six knots with winds up to 65 knots. Her position was reported as 13.9N 114.6W at 1500Z. For more see http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/e_pacific/2002/index.html. All is quiet in the Atlantic/Caribbean hurricane region.

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/. The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is at www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

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/Maps/Southwest.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 views of sea states anywhere in the world, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/.