Bingo Again! suffers
tragic grounding on March 10.
With his pet macaw perched on his shoulder,
Bear Myers has been a familiar character on the Mexico cruising
scene ever since he and his wife, Lynn, took their Catalina 42 Bingo Again! south in the 2002 Baja Ha-Ha.
Cap’n Bear in happier times Photo Latitude/Andy
Although they are experienced racers and
cruisers, a short lapse in proper watch-keeping led to tragedy
last month, when Bingo Again! struck rocks off Punta Perula
while en route from Tenacatita to Puerto Vallarta. Both Lynn
and Bear – in addition to their menagerie of pets – got safely
ashore, but their boat was soon a total loss.
Bingo Again! on the beach after being holed by nearby rocks. Photo Robert Sutherland
Many nearby cruisers came to their aid,
for which the couple is eternally grateful. Look for the whole
story in the May issue of Latitude 38.
Pacific Sail Expo Opens Today
April 14 – Jack London Square, Oakland
Pacific Sail Expo, the West Coast’s only really big sailboat
show, opens today at Jack London Square in Oakland, where it
runs through Sunday. Don’t miss it. Hours are 12-7 p.m. on Wednesday,
10 to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and Sunday 10 to 5 p.m.
The Wanderer will be leading two seminars,
the first on Friday at 4:45 p.m., comparing cruising in Mexico
with cruising in the Caribbean, and the second on Saturday at
6 p.m., on the Baja Ha-Ha. He’s going to be really embarassed
if nobody shows up, so could you please mark your calendars?
At the show’s close on Friday, Ha-Ha vets are invited to the Latitude booth for a reunion, where the one and only Foxy
of Foxy’s on Jost van Dyke in the British Virgins will be playing
his guitar and scandalizing everyone with his lyrics. See you
at the show!
Don’t forget to catch Caribbean
crooner Foxy Callwood playing
and singing at the Latitude 38 booth this Friday evening. Photos Latitude/Andy
Queen of the Seas to Go for Transatlantic
Record
April 14 – Atlantic Ocean
Brit Ellen MacArthur whose singlehanded offshore sailing
accomplishments have charmed the sailing world has a new
boat, the B&Q Castorama, a 75-ft trimaran designed
by Nigel Irens. She also has her sights on Laurent Bourgnon’s
singlehanded west-to-east transAtlantic record of 7 days and
2 hours. He averaged 17.5 knots for the 2,925-mile passage. MacArthur
is currently off the coast of Brazil and heading to New York
where she’ll start her assault on that mark. She reports that
her new tri is demanding to sail, but has exceeded expectations
in all respects. She also says she’s delighted to be back on
the ocean alone again.
Photo Andrea Francolini
It’s MacArthur’s misfortune that no matter
how well she does in her record attempt, it will probably still
be in the shadow of Frances Joyon’s recent singlehanded around-the-world
record aboard the 90-ft trimaran IDEC, during which he
took just two more days to go around than did Olivier de Kersauson
and crew when they set the then Jules Verne record with the same
trimaran. Characteristically, MacArthur heaped praise on Joyon
for his achievement.
Speaking of Kersauson and his 125-ft maxi tri Geronimo,
luck seems to be running out on beating the around-the-world
record set just weeks ago by Steve Fossett and Cheyenne. Geronimo, sailing in moderate wind but without the use
of her primary headsail, is almost 800 miles behind Cheyenne‘s
pace, and has to make up distance in less than two weeks, an
extremely tall order.
“Thank you for considering my request
for a giant boat de-icer with my subscription renewal,”
writes Christine Watson of the Cal 36 Clarity, which is
berthed in Wickford, Rhode Island, which sounds like some sort
of frozen wasteland. “Normally Latitude is my salvation
during the cold winter months, but this year’s cold exceeded
even Latitude‘s ability to warm me, no matter how many
issues I wrapped around my neck and stuffed into my boots.
“What is a sailor to do when faced with the harsh realities
of living aboard a boat during the coldest New England winter
in 100 years? Escaping the slip for one last sail on December
29, I enjoyed the solitude of having all of Narragansett Bay
to myself, while sailing at 8 knots on a 15-knot breeze. Temps
were mild enough to lull me into thinking that this winter might
not be so bad after all. A scant one week later, the boat became
untenable when the ice in the harbor became so thick that all
the thru hulls, bilge pump, water tank and whale gusher foot
pumps froze solid overnight! This even though I thought I was
doing a fair job of tending to them. I took the warming lamp
off the batteries long enough to use it to try to thaw the bilge
pump. The batteries froze before I got the lamp back on them
two hours later, despite being two feet away from the hull and
only six feet from the space heater!
“Despite the electric blanket, frozen bedding still had
to be peeled off the walls on a regular basis. This was especially
disheartening, considering I had glued up two layers of Reflectix
insulation in the v-berth, and covered that with foam-backed
vinyl, in the hopes of preventing such a calamity! Deciding that
only idiots and/or insane people try to live aboard iced-in boats,
and not quite ready to fall into either category, it was time
to admit that remaining in New England for the winter was a really
dumb idea.
“With absolutely no chance of getting the boat free until
spring, I packed the van with snorkeling gear, sailing dinghy,
my dogs, a friend who was in the same boat, so to speak, and
his motorcycle. We pointed south and floored it as well as one
can with a van so loaded! After dropping my friend and his motorcycle
in Tampa, I headed to Marathon Key, where I basked aboard a friend’s
Camper-Nicholson 40 for a couple of days before we sailed the
boat to Key West. The highlight of that trip was snorkeling on
Sand Key Reef, seeing about two dozen parrot fish about the size
of my forward hatch, feeding on the bottom, with a nurse shark
hovering just above them.
“While in Key West, we anchored off Wisteria, or Christmas
Tree Island. The island itself had an interesting and attractive
assortment of flora and fauna, but was covered with trash, as
well as having a lot of wrecks washed up on the beaches. There
were also several camps set up around the island. Some of the
not-very-well-kept ones were extensions of the boats anchored
nearby, and a few were those of adventurous types seeking a unique
experience. The funky mix of people and boats in Key West was
a treat after staid old New England. There were expensive yachts
mixed in with craft that could be hardly called boats and were
barely afloat. Ashore, Mallory Square seemed to be the mixing
pot for people from all walks of life, including cruise ship
and land-based tourists, the homeless, street performers, artists,
and punk kids, with quite a few cats and dogs wandering among
the throng. The chickens seemed to avoid the sqaure, prefering
less crowded parts of town. I enjoyed the lack of frozen salt
water, the variety, and more relaxed pace of life in the Keys,
but my overall impression remains one of mass quantities of garbage
scattered everywhere.
Photos Courtesy Clarity
“From the Keys, a winding, exploratory
drive took me to Titusville, where I re-connected with the friend
I had left in Tampa, who had by then nearly circumnavigated Florida
on his motorcycle. While in Titusville, we stayed aboard a 1925
Chesapeake Bay oyster boat, Old Squaw, which had been
converted into a comfortable yacht by the Hinckley yard. I hopped
on the back of the bike and together we hit Bike Week in Daytona.
Thousands of rumbling Harleys and acres of denim and leather
were quite a change from the sailing scene! But there were still
many similarities in the camaraderie, friendliness, and willingness
to help each other out.
“Then the word reached Florida that the ice in the Northeast
had melted, so it was time to head north again. Upon our return,
we were greeted with four days of snow driven by a howling wind.
I guess we should have waited another week. Regardless, there
was no more ice in the harbor, and buckets of rain washed away
the evil snow. It was a relief to find the boat in good shape
after being left alone and frozen for six weeks, but there are
a lot less pilings left holding the docks than there used to
be. Fortunately, in only a few short months, our several weeks
of summer should be here!
“Next fall my boat will be heading south with the rest of
the smart cruisers! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again
until it sticks: No more ice, unless it’s in my cocktail.”
Thanks for the letter and photos. How folks
can live where it’s so cold and gray for much of the year is
beyond us. We can’t even take winter in reasonably-temperate
San Francisco. But we’re not as spoiled at the locals of St.
Barth, many of whom don’t go in the ocean in the winter because
the water temperature has dropped to a relatively frigid 79°!
We’ll be expecting a full report on your cruise next winter.
Convergence
Launched
April 14 – Santa Cruz
While poking around Santa Cruz Harbor Monday, we sneaked a peak
at Convergence, the just-launched Wylie 65 built for West
Marine founder Randy Repass. She had just been delivered up the
coast by South Pacific cruising vet Jim Foley, after her launch
last month at Westerly Marine in Costa Mesa.
Veteran SoPac cruiser Jim Foley
strikes a pose at the wheel.
Designed for fast, comfortable family cruising, Convergence features an expansive pilothouse which contains
a large nav and steering station, a comfy salon and a deck-level
galley. Perhaps best described as a cat ketch, her easy-handling
sail plan employs two unstayed carbon masts with wishbone booms.
Convergence features a cat-ketch rig and an expansive pilothouse.
Convergence
will be on display all week at Sail Expo. Randy Repass will be
giving a seminar on “Cutting Edge Systems For Today’s Performance
Cruiser,” Wednesday, April 14, at 5:45 p.m. in Seminar Tent
A.
The ‘back porch’ is great for toy
storage and water-level lounging. Photos Latitude/Andy
Photos Courtesy Clarity
Veteran SoPac cruiser Jim Foley
Convergence features a cat-ketch rig and an expansive pilothouse.
The ‘back porch’ is great for toy