Photo of the Day

January 22 - Southampton, UK

Today's Photo of the Day comes from CNN in London. It shows Joseph Vittoria, former head of Avis Rent A Car, and the head of United Kingdom warship builder Vosper Thornycroft, standing in the mold for Vittoria's new boat, the 245-ft sloop Mirabella V. CNN claims that she will be the largest superyacht in the world, proving that although the network was started by a winning skipper of the America's Cup, the network doesn't know diddly about boats. Mirabella will, however, be the largest sloop in the world. Indeed, as we previously reported in Latitude, she won't ever be able to come inside the Golden Gate, because her mast will be 80 feet taller than the roadway.


Photo Courtesy www.cnn.com

Vittoria is no stranger to large sloops. He set up a yard in Thailand in '87, and subsequently built three 131-foot, Farr designed sloops. We sailed with one of them in Antigua a few years ago, and then again two weeks ago in Antigua. The amazing thing about these three boats is the quality of construction . . . in a place where the boats were launched by elephants! When she's completed in 2003, Mirabella's expected to charter in the Med and then the Caribbean. We imagine there will be teething problems, because everything will be bigger than ever before. The working sail area, for example, won't be much smaller than the size of a football field. We want to see the genoa blocks and roller furling gear for that. When all is sorted out, she'll have 12 crew for the 12 guests.

Vittoria's new boat won't be the biggest, however. In fact, two Northern Californians are building considerably larger sailboats - although not sloops. We'll tell you about them soon.


Zihua Sail Fest Coming Together

January 22 - Zihuatanejo, Mexico

"As of this morning we have 32 boats signed up for the parade and daysail for Zihua Fest in Zihuatanejo on February 1-3," reports Jimmie of Dry Martini. "In addition, we have 35 people making donations to be aboard Profligate and Capricorn Cat for the charity race between the two boats. In addition, 55 people are due for the party, and we've sold out of the first printing of T-shirts. We're now putting together a raffle for prizes to be donated by the local merchants. The parade and daysail are going to be led by the port captain. The beneficiary for all profits of the event will be the Nezahalcoyoltl Indian School here in Zihua, a most worthy charity."


What the Hail! In Paradise?

January 22 - Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

 

You'd think a snowball would have about as much of a chance in Puerto Vallarta as it would in Hell. But as these photos prove, that's not the case. One night earlier this month, there was some turbulent weather at Nuevo Vallarta. Winds blew up to 50 knots, but even more unusual, it hailed 3/8" hailstones for quite a period. Some folks staying on boats reported as much as two inches of hail on the decks. Only a little was left in the morning, however, when Dick Markie took these photos.

Photos Dick Markie


Corinthian Midwinters

January 22 - Tiburon

The first of two Corinthian Yacht Club midwinter weekends took place under cold, sunny skies on January 19 and 20. The large fleet had good wind on Saturday, but not much on Sunday. Each day has its own set of results, and the list is so long, we'll direct you to the CYC Web site to see it, where you'll find more photos too. You can also check out the February edition of Latitude 38 for the top place finishers. The series wraps up on February 16 and 17.


Regulars at CYC summer races will notice that the wind is blowing backwards. . .


. . .Of course, any wind is better than none.


Wired, one of five Beneteau 40.7s


The famous Saturday night raft-up


The J/120 Mr. Magoo raced in PHRF 1.


The dodger doesn't do much
good when you're rail meat.


Birds in flight: Raven and White Dove

Photos Courtesy www.cyc.org


Sick of Gray Skies?

January 22 - Sea of Cortez

With a little planning, you could be down in Mexico next winter - just like David and Merry Wallace of the Redwood City-based Air Ops, an Amel Maramu - enjoying the warm air and blue skies. Is this photo, taken in the Sea of Cortez, lovely or what? In addition, you'll have the opportunity to meet a lot of new friends. As you can tell from the photo of their dog and a local crustacean, they don't even have to be of the same species.


Photos Courtesy Air Ops


YOTREPS

January 22 - 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

January 22 - 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/. The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is www.nws.mbay.net/home.html.

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.


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