Bernard Stamm Wins Around Alone

May 2 - Newport, RI

At 07:20:10 local time yesterday, May 1, Bernard Stamm on the Open 60 Bobst Group Armor-Lux crossed the finish line of the Around Alone race, completing a circle which started in Newport last September 12. Stamm's overall elapsed time was 115 days, 18 hours, 27 minutes and 23 seconds. His boat speed averaged 10.36 knots. For some great Onne van der Wal photos of Stamm's finish, see www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/2003-05-01_aroundalone.

The rest of the Around Alone fleet is slogging towards the finish and the racing is hotter than ever. At the last poll Thierry Dubois on Solidaires had overtaken Bruce Schwab on Ocean Planet and moved into third place, six miles ahead of the American yacht. In any event his second place overall is totally secure.

Brad Van Liew in Class 2 on Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America is a mere 19 miles behind the Class 1 Solidaires. To be nearing the finish in the company of the Class 1 boats, indeed ahead of Pindar, is a remarkable accomplishment.

Horrendous weather is about to descend on the fleet. For an explanation of the gale force winds and steep seas to come, see www.aroundalone.com/raceviewer/archive.

As One Boat Dies, Another Is Born

May 2 - Monterey Bay

"Greetings from Latitude 37," writes Skip Allan. "A little over two weeks ago, in an unusual late spring southerly storm, an unloved Santana 22 broke its mooring off the Capitola Wharf and drifted ashore just feet from the Esplanade. This morning on my sunrise walk I saw the last remnants of the boat disappearing under the sand. The cabin was gone, and so was the deck. The only thing still identifiable was the port side of the hull. Soon that will be buried under the summer beach, and the boat will cease to exist.

"Meanwhile, in Moss Landing, 12 miles to the south, a new boat was born. . . The 65-ft research vessel Derek M Baylis was launched on April 30 about 11:30 on a beautiful day of blue skies and fluffy cumulus clouds. In attendance were about 30-40 people including Derek Baylis's daughter Liz, son Trevor and granddaughter Mara.

The Derek M Baylis came out of the shed
at Wylie Yachts in Watsonville last month.
Photo Jon Nackerud

"Liz gave the bottle of champagne a mighty whack, a TV news helicopter hovered nearby, and the boat was launched with the usual low key fanfare typical of a Tom Wylie/Dave Wahle collaboration. Once afloat, the engine started right up, and the Baylis was moved to a sidetie at Gravelle's Yard where she ("he?") will get her unstayed carbon masts, sails and probably a lot of visitors. In the water, the gray-hulled Baylis looks both sweet and purposeful, and the roomy doghouse lends itself to the overall design.

"When I left about an hour after the launching, Dave Wahle was already demonstrating the anchor and windlass to Randy [founder of West Marine] and Christina Repass, who are having a sistership built by Westerly. All in all, a successful day.

"And who is Derek Baylis? Derek is a sailor, shipmate, engineer par excellence, good friend, and mentor to many of us. In the early 1960s, Derek designed and built the first modern two speed winches as chief engineer for Barient. Later he built Molly B a sistership to Spirit, and burned up the SF Bay racing scene with his family as crew. Never one to let his innovative and practical skills gather rust, Derek designed and engineered many of the systems you see today at the wonderful Monterey Bay Aquarium. And if that were not enough, Derek Baylis pioneered the acquisition and outfitting of the MBARI research vessels that are now doing outstanding underwater research along the California coast."

Barker, Isler Beef up the Pyewacket Team

May 2 - Long Beach

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and longtime Stars & Stripes navigator Peter Isler will be new members of the Pyewacket crew when the record-holding Reichel/Pugh 77 sails its last race for Roy E. Disney in the 42nd Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii in July.

Pyewacket at the start of the Ensenada Race.
Roy Pat Disney is at the helm; Peter Isler is at far right.
Photo Courtesy www.transpacificyc.org

Disney has sold the boat to an undisclosed Asian buyer to make room for a
maxZ86 - his fourth Pyewacket - currently under construction in New Zealand.
That new class will be part of the 2005 Transpac.

The 2003 contest looms as a 2,225-nautical mile match race against Philippe
Kahn's own R/P 77, Pegasus, the 2001 Barn Door winner. Barker will play a
key role. Roy Pat Disney, son of the owner, said, "We'll need a bunch of good
drivers." And a first-rate navigator. Replacing Stan Honey, who will be sailing his
own Cal 40 in a special revival of that class, is a tall order. Honey has won
eight of the 17 races he has navigated from the West Coast to Hawaii. Isler said, "They're gigantic shoes to fill. They're more like snowshoes or Shaquille O'Neal's sneakers."

But any doubts were dismissed after last weekend's 56th Tommy Bahama Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race. Isler, aboard Pyewacket for his first tune-up race with the team, called the move that brought Pyewacket from behind the
powerful New Alchemy to win the 125-nautical mile California classic to Baja
California in record time.

Roy Pat Disney, who took over as skipper in his father's business-related
absence, said, "That boat we were racing was easily faster than us." But, Isler said, "We jibed about 32 miles from the finish line, essentially on the lay line. Their mistake was that they should have jibed first, because by the time they jibed we had been sailing toward the finish line."

Kahn humbly commented, "I think that it's a match race with Pyewacket favored because they are Pyewacket. We'll just try to keep up with them and see if we can
get lucky."

May Issue Hits the (Rainy) Streets

May 2 - San Francisco Bay Area

Photo Latitude/Annie

Here it is, making its way around the Bay today.

YOTREPS

May 2 - 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

May 2 - 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.