Photos of the Day: Opening Day

April 30 - San Francisco Bay

Opening Day on the Bay comes too late in April - the last Sunday of the month - to be covered in the May issue of Latitude 38, but we have these photos of the parade from Ariane Paul of the Master Mariners Benevolent Association to share with you.

The Fireboat Phoenix 1

Hawaiian Chieftain

Antigua Sailing Week

April 30 - Antigua

Keyboard sailors hoping to follow Antigua Sailing Week and other Caribbean regattas should check out www.caribbeanracing.com, which features daily race reports and hundreds of photos for viewing and purchasing.

ASW began on Sunday and concludes this coming Saturday. We hope to have a report and photos from our 'man on the scene', Wayne Maretsky, in Friday's 'Lectronic.

Sick Sea Otters a Mystery

April 30 - Monterey

Tony Russomanno of KPIX-TV News talked to Andy Johnson of the Monterey Bay Aquarium about the 44 dead sea otters which have washed up along the Central Coast and the more than a dozen which are recovering at the aquarium. "This population really seems like it's sick and we don't know why," said Johnson. "It is very possible that the impact we've had on the near-shore habitat where the sea otter lives has pushed them beyond their ability to recover."

A healthy sea otter
Photo Greg Retkowski

The otter deaths are concentrated in Monterey Bay, at more than twice the average death rate. No one cause of death or disease has been found. However, almost all of the sick otters have been brought back to health.

To read Russomanno's full report, see http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=350&ncid=350&e=3&u=/kpix/20030430/lo_kpix/6464. Thanks to Greg Retkowski of Scirocco for sending us this story.

Afterburner Shows off for the Camera

April 30 - SoCal

Photo Courtesy Bill Gibbs

In Monday's 'Lectronic we reported on how Bill Gibbs' catamaran Afterburner burned up the course in the Newport to Ensenada race. Bill sent us this photo too late to be included in Monday's report, but it's such a killer shot we thought we'd run it anyway. Bill commented, "Here is our best picture with our new sails."

YOTREPS

April 30 - 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

April 30 - 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.