Photos of the Day

May 31 - Pt. Richmond

If you're planning on first-to-finish honors in the Pacific Cup next month, here's a couple of shots of your main competition, Robert Miller's 147-ft Hong Kong-based Mari-Cha III. Up until last summer, she held the TransAtlantic record. Normally, she has a splendid interior, but when racing, 15 tons of it are temporarily removed to containers. By the way, the boat is for sale, as the owner has a new boat on the way. She'll be a slightly smaller non-traditional schooner designed to smash race records.

The other boat, with the long overhang of the truck trailer, is Bob McNeil's new R/P 86 Zephyrus V. She was being fitted with her rudder and keel at KKMI, also in preparation for the West Marine Pacific Cup.

Photos Paul Kaplan 


How to Retrieve an Abandoned Ketch in the Pacific?

May 31 - Pacific Ocean

"My wife, 10-year-old daughter, and I sailed from Hawaii on May 2 to return to the mainland and join this year's Baja Ha-Ha," reports Capt. Harvey M. Owens of the 50-ft ketch Life Dream. "Unfortunately, we were caught in the big storm on May 18, and rode out winds in excess of 50 knots and seas of more than 30 feet for three days. We were hit by a rogue wave in the middle of the storm, which knocked us down and broke the rudder. When things go wrong, of course, they only multiply. When I started the engine to try to get some control, a stray line wrapped the prop. With no steerage and no hope of getting control of the boat, we had no choice but to abandon our boat.

"Fortunately, the 850-ft container ship Sea-Land Innovator was just a few hours away, and diverted course at the request of the Coast Guard to pick us up. We had several hours to gather our belongings and to prepare the boat. When the time came, I left the engine running to keep batteries charged and the pumps working as long as possible - although we'd only taken a small amount of water aboard. I dropped the anchor at the end of 300 feet of chain, hoping to slow the drift and to give the boat a chance if she gets close to land. The boat was closed up and watertight when we left. Four hours later, we were rescued, although our boat's mast and damaged in the process of our getting transferred to the ship.

"Life's Dream was built by me over a period of 10 years, and her name says it all. She's our home and has almost all our belongings aboard. Most likely, she's still floating. If I could find her and get her to a boatyard, the repairs wouldn't be a problem. We abandoned ship on May 20 at 38º04N, 134º23W - approximately 585 miles off San Francisco. Based on the Coast Guard's calculations, she's drifting to the southeast."

Harvey is looking for suggestions on how to retrieve his boat. We've passed on the ones we had. If you've got some ideas, pass them along to Richard.


Assa Again!

May 31 - Gothenburg, Sweden

The 1,075-mile, next-to-last leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from La Rochelle to Gothenburg was the closest ever - and is going to make for a dramatic final leg. For the third time in the event, Assa Abloy, with Mark Rudiger aboard, finished first. But they were less than seven minutes ahead of the next four boats! The four were Team Tyco, News Corp, illbruck, and Amer Sports One. Had John Kostecki's illbruck finished just three minutes earlier, the fat lady would have sang. As it is now, the pressure is still on, for if Assa Abloy wins the last race and illbruck finishes sixth, what once looked like a sure thing for the green boat will have turned to humiliating defeat. It's possible that it could happen, but we think Kostecki and crew will prevail.


Assa Abloy crosses the finish line in Gothenburg.
Photo Rick Tomlinson Courtesy www.volvooceanrace.com

Standings: 1. illbruck 54; 2. Assa Abloy 49; .3 Amer Sports One 40; 4. News Corp 40; 5. Tyco 40; 6. SEB 29; 7. Djuice 25; 8. Amer Sports Too 11.


New Latitude

May 31 -
San Francisco Bay Area

The June issue of Latitude 38 is being distributed today.

 


Photo Latitude/Annie


Whatever Happened to That Guy from B-37 at Grand Marina?

May 31 - Alameda

"Please let everyone know that the liveaboard at slip B-37 at Grand Marina in Alameda two years ago is now safely in Trinidad after making a long, difficult clockwise trip through the Caribbean Sea," reports singlehander John Anderton of the Alameda-based Cabo Rico 38 Sanderling. "Leaving Panama on December 1 was not a smart decision on my part, as I wound up in the Grand Caymans and had to spend the rest of the time sailing to windward to get to Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgins before turning south to Martinique and Trinidad. Next year I'll go back and see what I missed."


'G Class' Race Tour

May 31 - France

Bruno Peyron, who just set the Jules Verne Record with the maxi cat Orange, has announced the outline of a new series of events for 'Giant Class' multihulls. It's to be called the Race Tour, will start in 2006, and will run every two years between The Race, the non-stop around the world race for multihulls. The Tour will likely have four stops, although the course and stops are still completely up in the air.


Who Pulled in the Welcome Mat in French Polynesia?

May 31 - Papeete, Tahiti

"My husband Chuck Fisher and our Portland-based Cascade 36 Ursa arrived in Papeete, Tahiti, in late May," reports Karen Jacobson. "His visit to the Haute Command was not full of joy, for previously it was possible to get a 90-day visa for French Polynesia at first landfall. And if you applied for a 90-day extension while there was still a month on the original, you'd get a 90-day extension. Well, the folks in Papeete say that's not going to be the case this year. The gendarme said he had many letters from yachties requesting renewal, but they were all going to be rejected. Plenty of cruisers are going to be unhappy. The solution would have been to have gotten a longer visa at a French Consulate in the States many months ago. As it is, Ursa must be out of French Polynesia by July 29."



Santana, formerly sailed by Bogie and Bacall, now sailed by Paul and Chris Kaplan, was last year's fastest boat and won Marconi I Schooners division this year.


Two Herreshoff H28s


Joyant, Bob McNeil's restored Herreshoff
sloop made a guest appearance.


With winds in the mid-twenties (and even hitting 30)
the decks were awash and so were some crew.

More from Master Mariners

May 31 - San Francisco Bay

As promised on Tuesday, when we ran the story, more photos of Saturday's windy Master Mariners Regatta.


Looking for the mark. Note the 'Men in Blue' (and some women too) aboard Simpatico in the background.


Chorus and Dauntless head for
the rounding at Blackaller Buoy.


Dauntless flew the Latitude 38 sponsor flag, a Jolly Roger wearing a beanie with propeller. Must've been good luck as Dauntless won the Dead Eye Trophy for the fastest boat. She sailed her course in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

Photos Latitude/JR & Chris


YOTREPS

May 31 - 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 31 - 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.


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