Photos of the Day

January 9 - Alameda

'Brunch' was served on the flat waters of the Estuary on a warm day in January to 43 sailboats of various shapes and sizes. In this first of Oakland Yacht Club's five-race Sunday Brunch Series, three PHRF divisions and the multihulls sailed a 2.5 nm course, while the Columbia 5.5 one design fleet covered 4.4 nm in 5 knots of westerly breeze.

Winners were: PHRF 151 & below, Tortuga, Santana 30/30, Stephen Hutchinson, SSS; PHRF 152-173, Popeye & I, Cal 9.2, Ruth Summers, AYC; PHRF 174-189, Annie, Cal 29, Steve Zevanove, OYC; PHRF 190 & above, Pathfinder, Ariel, Ernie Rideout/Ed Eckers; Columbia 5.5, Drummer, Weaver/Sankey/Sadeg, OYC; Multihulls, Sea Bird, F-27, Rich Holden, OYC.

For a complete report, more results and more photos, see Race Sheet in February's edition of Latitude 38. See also Oakland YC's Sunday Brunch Web page at www.oaklandyachtclub.com/racing/brunch.htm. Sailors hungry for friendly competition will be served again on January 19.

Wild Ride of Bernard Stamm Ends in Victory

January 9 - Tauranga, NZ

The weather might have been revolting, but the welcome was anything but as Bernard Stamm sailed his spaceship Bobst Group Armor Lux across the finish line off Tauranga this morning to win Class 1 of Leg 3 of the Around Alone. Conditions at the end consisted of 16-ft waves, rain and 25 knots of wind. The last 36 hours had been, as he put it, "HELL," but once across the line Stamm breathed a sigh of relief and dropped his sails. His finish was not a moment too soon; seconds after crossing the line the tiller on the boat came off in his hands.

Bernard Stamm sailed a masterful leg from Cape Town. He took the lead shortly after the start and held it all the way across the Southern Ocean. It was a wild ride with speeds in excess of 30 knots and day's runs consistently approaching 400 miles.

Leg 3 from Capetown, South Africa, to Tauranga takes the fleet through 7,125 nm of Southern Ocean. Stamm is the leader overall after three first places in as many legs.

As Stamm nears the finish, his boat
disappears behind a typical wave.
Photo Thierry Martinez/Sea&See

At the latest position report, Thierry Dubois on Solidaires was 194.9 nm away from a second place finish.

For the complete story, see www.aroundalone.com/raceviewer/archive
For more of Thierry's photos see www.my-photobox.com/seasee/events/imgList.asp?idEvent=23

Solo Circumnavigator Loses Mast

January 9 - Southern Ocean

After 64 days at sea, solo record-seeker Jean-Luc Van den Heede's aluminum monohull Adrien lost her mast. Van den Heede is fine, and will head for Australia under jury rig. At the time of his dismasting, he was about 1,500 kms (930 miles) from Tasmania.

Adrien passes Patagonia

He explains, "I wasn't overcanvassed - far from it. . . The wind was blowing at 40-45 knots. I was under staysail and third reef. . . The seas were very big. . . It was building very quickly. It was around 1400 GMT [on Monday], but the middle of the night for me, when I felt the shrouds become limp. I tried to tighten them but in reality the foot of the mast was giving way and it was pointless." Van den Heede struggled with it for an hour and a half before it broke in two just above the mast foot and fell to port. "When it broke it took out the stanchions and guard rails. The work on deck to free Adrien of her mast, which risked damaging her, was very laborious."

Adrien's mast step
Photos Courtesy www.vdh.fr

Adrien departed France on November 3 in an attempt to claim the record for a solo, non-stop circumnavigation from east to west, the 'wrong way around'.

YOTREPS

January 9 - 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 9 - 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.