Photos of the DayJanuary 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 SkirtsJanuary 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 AbandonedJanuary 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 |
Navigator and Two Scoops graciously let some commercial pass. The J/105s turn out en masse for this series. Here, Jose Cuervo crosses in front of 007. The wind clocked around and we were able to set chutes before the windward mark, which many of us never reached. This young sea lion frolicked for the entertainment of the fleet. Photos Latitude/Chris |
YOTREPSJanuary 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 UpdatesJanuary 6 - Pacific Ocean San Francisco Bay WeatherTo 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 WeatherLooking 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 PressureThe University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds. Pacific Sea StateCheck out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
|