'Lectronic Index

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Photos of the Day

June 6 - San Francisco Bay

Today's Photos of the Day are from late Sunday. The first is of the sloop Kabrum with the City in the background. The second is of a Stevens 47 reaching through Raccoon Strait.

Photos Latitude/Richard

What we want you to take notice of is the blue skies and no fog. In fact, that's been the trend. We've been sailing five times in the last eight days with Profligate - hey, it's what we love to do - and here's what the weather has been like:

- A week ago Saturday, it was blue skies and no fog for the Master Mariners Regatta.
- Last Monday, it was blue skies and no fog to wrap up the Memorial Day Weekend.
- Thursday night, it was blue skies and no fog for a birthday sail.
- Saturday it was blue skies and no fog for the In-the-Bay Race.
- Sunday afternoon it was blue skies and no fog for more great sailing.

And if we remember correctly from waking up aboard Profligate in Sausalito, it was also sunny and without fog a week ago Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. And yes, it was blue skies and bright sunshine this morning, too.

Having spent so many June days in Sausalito being buffeted by howling winds and chilled by dripping fog, you'll hear no complaints from us about 'global climate change'. We love it!

Speaking of the In-the-Bay Race

June 6 - San Francisco Bay

Saturday's 17-mile singlehanded and doublehanded event was hosted by the Singlehanded Sailing Society, and we've got photos. The only flaw in the new course was taking the fleet south of the Bay Bridge so early in the day, as it resulted in a fluke-o-rama. But it was still great fun. If you haven't tried shorthanded sailing, you're missing something really fun and satisfying.

Hey Jude leads Snow Bird around Southampton

Dwight Odom's Na Na

The J/90 Ragtime alongside the Wylie 30 Uno

The Olson 25 Animal Crackers

Sirius leads the pack to the finish
Photos Latitude/Richard

Preliminary results are available at www.sfbaysss.org. Also see the July issue of Latitude 38.

More Deer Working Out for Olympic Swimming Competition

June 6 - Raccoon Strait

A couple of months ago, we published a photo of a deer swimming around the Union 36 Secret O' Life in Tenacatita Bay Mexico. Well, the accompanying photo is of some more deer working on their strokes, but this time off Angel Island. Photograher Mike Scheck of No Worries reports, "As we were leaving the Cove recently, the deer came from the direction of the ferry dock and swam all the way over to the beach area by the buoy field. The heavy boat traffic, wind, and current, just added to the excitment."

Photo Mike Scheck

Although you wouldn't think it by looking at them, deer are actually pretty good swimmers. Our son Nick, a lover of all animals, reports he's seen deer swim from Tiburon to Angel Island on several occasions. But one wonders how they can swim across Raccoon Strait without being able to read a tide table.

Affordable High Speed Internet at Sea?

June 6 - USA

It might happen sooner than we thought. This week WildBlue Communications has started high speed Internet access via satellite. For land-based stations, the equipment costs $300 and there is a $179 installation fee - although both will be lower with promotions. The monthly fee is $49 to $79 depending on what speed you need. The lowest price offers download at 512 kbps download and 128 kbps upload. The highest monthly fee service downloads at 1.5 mbps and uploads at up to 256 kbps. This is a very reasonable cost and high speed, as you get 10 email boxes, Web page space, and all kinds of normal 'extras'.

But before you dump your SSB and ham radios overboard, we're not there yet. For one thing, it's only offered in the United States, and second, it's only available for land-based stations. If and when it might ever be offered globally and with motion-stabilized antennas are questions we haven't been able to get answered. WildBlue's telephones seem to be ringing off the hook.

Direcway, a service of DirecTV, has been offering a similar service in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.