November 29, 2002

Photos of the Day

November 29 – Mystery Island

Today’s Photos of the Day represent a quiz.
Can you name this island? Hint: It’s not Catalina. Email Richard.

Photos Gene and Sheri Seybold

Team Dennis Conner and Victory Challenge
Dismissed

November 29 – Auckland, NZ

Seattle’s Team OneWorld celebrated Thanksgiving
by beating Team Dennis Conner for the fourth time in a row, eliminating
them – pending the obligatory legal challenge – from the America’s
Cup competition. It was not close. Italy’s Prada did the same
to Sweden’s Victory Challenge.

OneWorld will now face off against Prada.
The winner of that series will move on to face the loser of Oracle
BMW and Alinghi. Since Oracle and Alinghi have a collective 8-0
record against OneWorld and Prada in the previous round, it’s
very likely that Oracle and Alinghi will meet a second time to
decide who goes up against the Kiwis.

For what it’s worth, all the remaining
syndicates are funded by billionaires.

ARC Starts from Canary Islands with 217
Entries

November 29 – Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, 2,700
miles from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean,
got off to a smashing start. Winds were light at the beginning,
but quickly turned into night breezes of 20 to 25 knots, with
occasional gusts to 35 knots. Photos from the fleet show some
of the crews already down to shorts and reporting having a great
time.

Exercise downwind on Tarok VI
Photo Courtesy Challenge Business
www.worldcruising.com

With the Azores High well established,
it’s expected that the northeast trades will continue strong
giving everyone optimum conditions. Aurora, a Northern
California Catana 58 catamaran, is the only California entry
we’re aware of.

Maverick
Ready to Cross Atlantic

November 29 – La Gomera, Canary Islands

Tony Johnson and Terry Shrode, well into
their circumnavigation aboard the Richmond-based Ericson 39 Maverick,
have departed the Canary Islands on their way to the Eastern
Caribbean.

Captain Tony and family earlier in the year at an island off
Italy.
Photo Terry Shrode

“We just departed La Gomera for the
passage across the Atlantic. A high has begun to settle in and
should soon provide strong northeasterlies for our trip southwest
to a waypoint Mr. Shrode has named ‘wind’ for the trades we expect
to follow, as Columbus did, to the Caribbean. When we get to
our waypoint some 650 miles out, we’ll turn right and head just
south of due west for Grenada, our planned landfall, which will
then be about 2,100 miles away. We won’t be able to use the engine,
as we have not been able to resolve the problem with the prop
shaft, so we’ll have to sail all the way. The Captain has some
butterflies, and that’s what we’re here for, thrillseekers. We
haven’t had what we would call an adventure since we left the
Red Sea six months ago, and now there’s a little excitement in
the air.”

Van Liew Victorious to Cape Town

November 29 – Cape Town, South Africa

Former Southern Californian Brad Van Liew
once again distinguished himself with a brilliant six-week, two-day
passage from Torbay, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, aboard
Tommy Hilfiger Freedom in leg two of the Around Alone.
In the process of claiming Class Two honors, Van Liew set a new
24-hour record for 50-ft boats of 345 miles (!), and beat his
nearest competitor by 800 miles.
Bruce Schwab, still dealing with various difficulties with the
Class One Wylie-designed 60-ft Ocean Planet, finished
a short time later. Schwab may be underfunded and sailing a boat
that’s off the pace, but he’s standing tall when everything seems
to be going against him.

YOTREPS

November 29 – 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

November 29 – 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.