July 18, 2002

Photos of the Day

July 18 – Pacific Ocean

Today’s Photos of the Day feature the five
Pacific Cup entries who started but have since dropped out. (See
below for a complete Pacific Cup report.)

Shenanigans (lost fresh water supply, due back any minute)

M-Project (turned back with rudder problems while leading
class)

Pacific Cup Update

July 18 – Pacific Ocean

If you’re just tuning into the Pac Cup,
here’s a quick summary: five of the 73 entrants failed to start
the race: Wy’East (unknown reasons), Victoria!
(mast broken in boat yard accident beforehand), Synge
(crew mutiny on the dock an hour prior to race), Oaxaca
(owner had an work conflict), and Velos (boat not ready
after refit).

Sixty-eight entries started, five of which
have retired (see above). That leaves
63 boats still in the race, most of which should pull into Kaneohe
over the weekend. To beat Pyewacket’s 1998 record (6 days,
14 hours, 22 minutes), the big boats – Zephyrus V
and Mari-Cha III – need to finish before 4 a.m. on
Friday morning, unlikely given what we can glean from this morning’s
position reports.

According to the same report, Fast Reorg
has lost the top of her mast, joining Moonshine in the
jury-rig division. Division leaders going down the homestretch
are Wildflower, Spirit, Naughty Hotty, ET, Octavia, Cantata
(though it is more likely Azul, as something looks wrong
here), and J/Bird III. No one knows what is going on between
MC-III and Z-5, as Zephyrus failed to report
in this morning due to “radio problems” (read: the
games are afoot!). Keep checking www.pacificcup.org
for updates.

Pacific Cup director Brian Boschma, who
isn’t sailing this year, emailed us the following report this
morning:

“The boats are enjoying light but
favorable winds. All have arrived in the trades and are under
clear skies with brilliant starlight and the moon pointing the
path to Kaneohe Bay. The early starters experienced a line of
squalls with brilliant lightning displays as they approached
the trades.

“Yesterday’s run indicated slower
going than many are hoping for in this phase of the race. While
local squalls push wind speeds to 20+ knots the general conditions
between squalls and after sunrise are between 10 and 18 kts.
The ultra yachts, which started last Friday, are somewhat disappointed
in the daily runs they are experiencing. Indeed this race looks
like it will favor the early starters as they experienced stronger
conditions out the Gate and in the first 300 miles.

“Many bet on a southern course, expecting
the Pacific High to continue to sag south as it appeared prior
to the start. But as demonstrated by Skip Allan on Wildflower,
a northern path was the correct call through the first half of
the race.”

Ken-Ichi’s Return

July 18 – San Francisco

Certainly one of the most accomplished,
dynamic and engaging sailors of our generation is Ken-Ichi Horie.
“Ken who?” you might say. Well, we should probably
add that he is also among the least known on this side of the
Pacific. But in Japan, Horie is a folk hero and national treasure
on the order of Sir Edmund Hillary.

Yesterday, the 63-year-old sailor completed
the latest in an ongoing series of remarkable voyages – a singlehanded
crossing from Japan to San Francisco in a 19-ft boat. Malt’s
Mermaid III passed under the Golden Gate about 4 p.m., completing
a journey that began on May 12 in Nishinoimiya (near Osaka).

In a larger sense, the 5,300-mile crossing
completed a circle begun 40 years ago when Horie, then 23, sailed
into San Francisco on the first Mermaid – unannounced
and with no passport, no money, no English, and no idea what
to do next. He was befriended by a local boater and brought into
a marina, but nobody knew quite what to do about him politically.
World War II was still fresh in the national psyche, and by all
legal rights, immigration should have repatriated him immediately.

San Francisco Mayor George Christopher
called his old boss for advice. Ex-President Dwight Eisenhower
(on whose staff Christopher had served) basically said that Christopher
should do what was right, for Japan and for young people. So
Mayor Christopher welcomed the bold young seafarer with open
arms, awarding him the key to the city and a special 30-day visa.
That voyage – and San Francisco’s warm welcome – hit papers nationwide.
It catapulted the then-unknown Horie to cult hero status here
and in Japan, reportedly helped to ‘open’ Japan (which started
issuing passports for the first time the next year), and undoubtedly
helped heal a few more lingering wounds between the two countries.
Ike even called Christopher to congratulate him on a decision
well made.

Horie didn’t know this part of the story
until 1999, when he was preparing to set sail from San Francisco
to Japan in Malt’s Mermaid II, a catamaran whose hulls
were made entirely of aluminum beer kegs. (Over the years, he
has made a series of trans-ocean voyages aboard tiny boats, pedal
boats, solar powered boats – all aimed at inspiring young people
and bringing attention to the environment and the importance
of recycling.) Indeed, no one knew it until Christopher, then
91, told the story at a press conference for Ken-Ichi. Horie
conceived the latest voyage to honor Mayor Christopher. When
the old ex-mayor passed away in 2000, the voyage was dedicated
to his memory.

MALT’S-Mermaid III crosses under
Gate . . .

. . . and heads for the City.

Ken-Ichi Horie

Horie’s original Mermaid has been
on display at the San Francisco Maritime Museum since her historic
voyage. Malt’s Mermaid III, a ‘modernized’ facsimile,
is built entirely of recycled materials including whiskey barrels,
plastic pop bottles and aluminum from old beer kegs.

For the complete story of Horie’s latest
voyage, see the August issue of Latitude
38. Also see www.malts-mermaid3.com.

Round Australia Record Attempt

July 18 – Hobart, Tasmania

Orthodontist Martyn Riley, 50, of Melbourne,
Australia, is skippering his 56-ft carbon fiber catamaran Raw
Nerve in an attempt to break the record for circumnavigating
Australia.

The vessel set off from Hobart Wednesday
afternoon, aiming to break the record of 43 days and 19 hours
achieved by the Sydney super-sled Grundig, which set the
mark three years ago under the name Magna Data. At the
time Grundig was in basic Open 60 configuration.

Raw Nerve
is not lacking in ocean going experience. Her crew includes international
professional sailors Peter ‘Spike’ Dorian, who just completed
the Volvo Ocean Race on News Corp, and Paul Larson who
was watch leader on Team Legato in The Race.

The vessel is sailing in winds of 25-30
knots and a southwesterly change is expected to speed her across
Bass Strait and up the New South Wales coast tomorrow.

Raw Nerve
will sail up the east coast of Australia, inside the Great Barrier
Reef, around the top of Australia and return to Hobart from Cape
Leeuwin in Western Australia.

“If we get an exceptionally favorable
weather pattern we’d like to think we can do it in less than
30 days,” said Riley.

YOTREPS

July 18 – 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

July 18 – 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 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/.