May 20, 2002

Photos of the Day

May 20 – Catalina Harbor

Today’s Photos of the Day comes from Cat
Harbor, Catalina, where the Wanderer and de Mallorca stumbled
across a cluster of large anchors and mooring weights about six
feet above the high tide line. How they got there is unclear
to us.

In the case of this 300-pound abandoned anchor, the
weakest link had been the shackle, which was worn through.

In this photo, de Mallorca stands in front of a stack of fiberglass
sand filters
for swimming pools. The clever folks at Catalina use these as
mooring balls.

Weather Bad

May 20 – Calais, France

Last weekend, race organizers postponed
the start of the Calais, France, start of the 2,500-mile Lighthouse
Race for the world’s 10 fastest 60-ft trimarans. All the skippers
agreed to the delay, as it was blowing over 40 knots in the infamous
Bay of Biscay and an even stronger front was supposed to come
through today.

French America’s Cup Entry Rammed and
Damaged by Greenpeace

May 20 – Lorient, France

That Areva, a large French nuclear power
company, is the sponsor of the French Le Defi America’s Cup Challenge,
is an outrage to some environmentalists. The outrage vented on
Saturday, when the boat was to be presented in a giant extravaganza
to the people of Lorient, France, where she was built. Scores
of environmentalists, including Greenpeace members, took to the
water in a variety of craft to protest, and were successful in
preventing the thousands gathered from seeing the boat. This
was somewhat in keeping with assurances to local authorities
by Greenpeace and three other environmental groups that they
were going to conduct a “passive protest.”

Then it became a more active protest. As
the Le Defi folks were positioning the boat to have her lifted
out of the water, a group of Greenpeace activists in an RIB broke
through a police barricade and rammed the America’s Cup entry
on the beam at an estimated 15 knots. They struck a sensitive
spot on the starboard side, just aft of the chainplates. The
hull was not penetrated, but it’s expected there was some delamination
that will have to be repaired.

Le Defi crewman Tim Kroger was furious
with Greenpeace’s tactics. He told reporters that after the ramming,
the Greenpeace members got on their backs “like beetles
and said ‘Don’t touch us, we’re pacifists.'” He noted that
on the previous day, they had used disabled people as “fenders”
on a wooden boat in an attempt to prevent getting kicked out
of Le Defi’s slip.

What makes the matter all the more piquant
is that more than a decade ago, the French military sent a dive
team to Auckland, New Zealand, current home of the America’s
Cup, to bomb and sink Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior. Which
they did, although not very covertly. For what it’s worth, France
gets an overwhelming majority of its energy from nuclear power
plants. This is not the end of this story or the protest.

What a Difference a Day Makes

May 20 – Two Harbors

This was our last weekend in Catalina –
we think – until August, and we had a great time. But look at
these two photos of Two Harbors to see what a difference a day
makes. The first was shot on Saturday about noon, on an overcast
and cool day. The second was shot at noon on Sunday, after the
sun had broken through. Most everyone had already split for home.

This is our ‘Catalina summer’. We’ve already
been there four times, and intend to spend the entire month of
August there. It was either Capri or Catalina, and in addition
to being less expensive, Catalina is about 12,000 miles closer.

YOTREPS

May 20 – 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 20 – 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.