Photo of the Day

May 15 - Bora Bora

Today's Photo of the Day is of a great sunset at Bora Bora, and was taken by Don Wieneke. Kind of makes you want to hop aboard a boat and sail to the South Pacific, doesn't it?

Photo Don Wieneke

Rough and Tough

May 15 - Avalon Harbor

What we've got here is another photo of our daughter, the Devilette, and her roommate Lindsay, this time putting around Avalon Harbor in Profligate's Carib dinghy with a 15 hp Yamaha outboard. We wanted to run a photo of the dinghy and outboard as a tribute to their durability - 5.5 years now of nearly unrelenting service despite incredible abuse and an embarrassingly little amount of care. We're not suggesting that either of these brands are necessarily better than their competitors, but rather that the inflatable and outboard products available today are terrific. Anybody else have any nominations for outstanding marine products?

Photo Latitude/Richard

Maiden Making a Mountain out of a Molehill?

May 15 - Atlantic Ocean

Tracy Edwards' maxi cat Maiden, co-skippered by Helena Darvelid and Adrienne Cahalan, sailed from Antigua to Newport, Rhode Island, in just under four days, during which time they and their crew of 14 hit a maximum speed of 40.6 knots. That's an excellent burst of speed, but we think that Edwards, in the quest of corporate support for other record attempts, is making much ado about nothing. For one thing, she talks about Maiden's "inaugural record" for the course. What this means is that no matter if they had taken three days or three months to cover the course, they would have set the record. Wow. She also notes that at 16.9 knots, Maiden's average speed was three knots faster than Bruno Peyron's when he recently set a new Jules Verne record with Orange. Edwards neglects to mention that Peyron sailed a course that was 15 times longer. And that her boat's new record is nearly eight knots slower than PlayStation's average speed on the much longer transatlantic course.

Edwards says that Maiden will be based in Newport for the next six weeks, during which time they'll take a crack at PlayStation's 24-hour record of 687 miles.

Why Are These Guys Smiling?

May 15 - La Paz, BCS

It's because they just bought Ants Uiga's Wylie 31 Eclipse - for just one peso. Furthermore, they are going to use the hull as the main hull for a trimaran. To figure out what this is all about - there was a hurricane involved - check out the June issue of Latitude 38.

Photo Courtesy Ants Uiga

As the Sun Comes North

May 15 - Newport Beach

On April 5, we took a mooring at Newport Beach and snapped the first sunset photo. If you look closely, you can see that the sun is setting behind the Balboa Pavilion.

Last Sunday, May 12, we tied up to the exact same mooring, and took another - admittedly crappy - photo of the sunset. What's interesting is that the Pavilion was no longer in the photo, because the sun had moved north. In fact, it wasn't even close to being in the photo. Further proof that summer is coming.

Photos Latitude/Richard

By the way, the moorings at Newport are the greatest deal ever. Just five bucks a night. On both occasions we came in, none of the moorings by the Sheriffs Office were taken. Don't expect this situation to last from Memorial Day on.

YOTREPS

May 15 - 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

May 15 - 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/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.