Photos of the Day

January 6 - Fiji

Over the last few months Wendy Hinman and Garth Wilcox aboard the Wylie 31 Velella have visited Minerva Reef, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Here are some of their photos from Fiji. We'll have some from other locales later in the week. To see their whole photo album, go to http://photos.yahoo.com/atomicsalsa.

Velella in Savusavu

Savusavu

Farm in Viani Bay

Cousteau Resort

Julia's Pizza place from the water

Julia making pizza
All Photos Courtesy Velella

A-Cup Teams Lift Their Skirts

January 7 - Auckland, NZ

Each of the three remaining America's Cup teams will lift the skirts shrouding their hulls and speed-producing secrets of their underbodies Tuesday (NZ time) in a public 'unveiling' ceremony; Alinghi at 09:00, Oracle BMW Racing at 11:00 for media (11:30 for the public) and Team New Zealand at 12:30 (13:00 for the public).

The two remaining Challengers in the Louis Vuitton Cup, Alinghi and Oracle BMW Racing, have elected to sail the same boats they've used all along when the best-of-nine challenger Final begins on January 11. The winning Challenger must use the same boat in the America's Cup Match, beginning February 15.

The Defender, Team New Zealand, has kept its options open by choosing not to declare a boat at this time, so both Team New Zealand boats are subject to the 'no-change' period beginning today. Team New Zealand must make a boat declaration on February 10 ahead of the America's Cup Match. Since they have not yet nominated one yacht, they must show both boats at today's unveiling ceremony.

In choosing SUI-64, Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts takes a boat with an impressive 21-3 record into the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. It is the same boat the Swiss team used to sweep the Oracle BMW crew in four straight races in the Semi Final. "We have continued to develop that boat and it is moded slightly differently," said Alinghi design coordinator Grant Simmer.

Oracle BMW Racing's chosen boat, USA-76, has a 20-8 record. The first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final is scheduled to start at 13:15 on January 11.

Placid Golden Gate Midwinters Abandoned

January 6 - San Francisco

Seventy-six of the 101 boats entered in GGYC's Manuel Fagundes Seaweed Soup Regatta showed up for the third of five races on Saturday. With decent easterly winds at the first gun, the Race Committee started the 11 boats in PHRF1 (64 and less), hoping the wind would sustain a 6.9 mile course to Blossom, Ft. Mason, back to Blossom and finish. Well, the wind didn't hold and the Race Committee postponed the J/105s for 15 minutes. All remaining divisions were started by 12:20. An hour and 20 minutes later, Winnie Kelley - GGYC's timer and radio voice - was greeted with many cheers from the racers when she announced that the Race Committee was abandoning the race. No one finished.

It was a tactical race, the kind that tests sailors' skills and concentration rather than their strength or courage.

Whisper sailing on a whisper of wind

YOTREPS

January 6 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.

Weather Updates

January 6 - 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.