'Lectronic Index

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Photos of the Day

January 26 - Morro Bay

Today's two beautiful Photos of the Day come from T.M. Hansen. "Because of an approaching storm front, we broke with tradition this year and spent New Year's Eve day rather than New Year's Day on the water. While Mom and Dad were breaking down the boat on the trailer, our eight-year-old Keiran took the digital camera to take some shots of the beautiful sunset. While wrestling with the mast, I called out to him to turn off the flash and set the camera on a steady surface. It wasn't until I got home that I turned on the camera to see what we'd got. Among a string of blurry shots and photos of blackness, I found these gems. With a film camera, I never could have afforded to let my son 'waste' film, but with a digital camera I don't care as long as he takes care of the camera itself."

Photos Keiran Hansen

Terrific photos! And yet another testimony to the benefits of digital cameras, which often perform excellently in extremely low light. If only they could solve the wide angle problem.

"We Love Them!"

January 26 - St. Barth, FWI

Last week we ran a letter from a reader who said he was sick of the 'Profligate's Progress' reports from the Caribbean. Since then, we've got a lot of mail disagreeing with him:

Joe Boyle - "I've been reading your emails from the Caribbean and I just LOVE 'em! Screw those pussies who only want local racing coverage."

Sylvia Seaberg, Hawkfarm Eyrie - "We absolutely love your warm water pics and spreads! Thanks to your efforts, even though my toes are cold, my heart is warm and toasty as I dream of snorkeling, sarongs, and sailing in sunny weather. Don't pay attention to the reader who is bummed out by your Caribbean news, he needs to grab a Mai-Tai and take another look at the wonderful news you so generously provide to your appreciative readers."

Russ Rieber, Express 27 Hurricane - "The reader that said he was 'sick and tired of all our reports and photos from the Caribbean' is a knuckle head! We love the reports because they are well written, entertaining, and inspiring! Keep up the awesome job!"

Shep, Ranger 28 Abaris - "Regarding the negative comments on the Caribbean pictures, to hell with that dip stick. Keep them coming. Sitting here in the cold weather is lousy and one of the few things that improves my attitude is looking at the great warm weather pictures. Having been around the Virgins and from St. Martin to Grenada, I really like them."

Rob Spakowski, Newport Beach - "I can't believe someone wrote you to say you're spending too much time reporting on your Caribbean cruise. I think it's been great and would love seeing more. I'm enjoying it for the same reason I love reading Changes in Latitudes each month - it's really good first hand information from real cruisers out there doing it. Your updates from the Caribbean are similarly informative and entertaining, and color pics vs. b&w of the magazine makes it even better."

Jim Norman, Catalina 380 Sonrisa, Long Beach - "I love 'Profligate's Progress' reports, and check 'Lectronic Latitude daily for them! Cruising vicariously through your reports is not the same as being there myself, but it is still fun. I appreciate your taking time to share frequently via the Internet so I don't have to wait for the next month's Latitude 38. Enjoy your 25th anniversary cruise, you've earned it!"

Rick Stober - "Keep the reports coming - especially after the last couple of dreary Bay days! Hey you guys heading over to Sint Maarten and Maho Beach, there are unbelievably close 747 landing shots from a great bar."

Photo Latitude/Richard

Rick - Here's the runway you're talking about. The Air France 747 lands on Thursday afternoons - bringing the mussels from Paris they'll serve at La Marine in St. Barth that night. As good as the landings are, the takeoffs are even better. You can stand right behind the plane as the pilot gives it everything the plane has to take off from the short runway. In fact, they don't even fly back to France, because they can't take off with a full load of fuel, so they go to the Dominican Republic first and pick up fuel and more passengers. The thrust from the 747's engines have knocked over cars off the little road, and blew people right off the beach and into Maho Bay. How they could ever allow this is beyond us.

Thanks to the above 'mandate', last night we flew back to Profligate and hope to start reporting again on Wednesday. Meanwhile we'll leave you with these shots of the Heineken Regatta from a couple of years ago by Max Ebb. Incredible water, no?

Photos Max Ebb

TNT Key West Race Week Wrap-Up

January 26 - Key West, FL

The Terra Nova Trading Key West Race Week ended on Friday after five days of competition. Bay Area heroes include J/105s Zuni Bear, of San Diego and SF Bay, sailed by Richard Bergmann, and Tom Coates' Masquerade, of San Francisco, which both scored 28. (Zuni Bear, last year's J/105 winner and Boat of the Week, won the tiebreaker.) John Sylvia's OuiB5 of San Francisco beat out the other J/120s.

Dutchman Peter de Ridder won the Farr 40 class with Mean Machine, also snaring the Terra Nova Trading Trophy Boat of the Week for winning the most competitive class. Two California boats placed in the top five: Crocodile Rock, of Santa Barbara, and Warpath, of San Diego.

When the dust settled in the Melges 24 class, 14-year-old world champion Samuel 'Shark' Kahn (of Santa Cruz and Waikiki), came in second after France's Sebastian Col. Kahn won four of nine races and led most of the week as Col, sailing Philippe Ligot's P&P Sailing Team entry, was carrying a 59-point penalty for jumping the starting line Monday. But when Col was able to discard that score after the seventh race, the contest turned around.

Kahn, trailing by five points, did everything he could except put the necessary boats between himself and the Frenchman. He match-raced Col off the pin end of the line and chased him relentlessly around the seven-leg, 14-mile course until passing him on the last upwind beat to the finish to win by three boat lengths, with his father Philippe a close third to claim fifth place overall.

For more details, results and photos, see www.premiere-racing.com. Also see Race Sheet in the February issue of Latitude 38, which will hit the streets this Friday.

Mark your calendars now - Key West Race Week 2005 will be held January 17- 21.

YOTREPS

January 26 - 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 Links

January 26 - Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

Check out this guide to San Francisco Bay Navigational Aids: http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/sfports.html.

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

The site for the Pacific Ocean sea states has moved to http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/PacRegSSA.shtml.
For views of sea states anywhere in the world, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.