'Lectronic Index

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Photos of the Day

August 12 - Lake Tahoe

Today's Photos of the Day are actually from last month, when the Northern California Corsair 24 fleet did the Trans Tahoe Race and held their annual Corsair 24 Harmonic Convergence. The 'HC' always takes place on the Thursday and Friday before the Trans Tahoe, and is hosted by Tahoe Corsair 24 sailor Kevin Gammell. The trimarans all sail into beautiful Emerald Bay, then beach their boats for a BBQ, party, and overnighter.

"We can walk off the transoms onto the beach--no dinghy needed," says Ross Stein of Origami. "The next morning, we hiked to Eagle Falls, toured the Vikingsholm, said goodbye to the gaggle of ducks, and sailed out the entrance into Lake Tahoe and back across the lake. We had beautiful breezes, and warm days and nights. It was one of the highlights of our season."

Roy Disney Donates 86-ft Pyewacket to Orange Coast College

August 12 - Newport Beach

Orange Coast College in Newport Beach has some spectacular news:

Upon retiring from racing across the world's oceans, Roy E. Disney has donated his record-breaking 86-foot yacht, Pyewacket, to Orange Coast College and its renowned sailing school in Newport Beach. The former Walt Disney Co. vice chairman presented his gift on July 28 to college officials in Honolulu following his 16th and final TransPacific Yacht Race. Launched in 2004 at a cost of approximately $7 million, Pyewacket is among the fastest and most advanced racing sailboats in the world. She has a mast that towers 120 feet, and a movable hydraulic keel.

For Disney, 75, the latest Pyewacket represents a final step in a progression of sophisticated racing yachts that he has campaigned in venues throughout the world. Capable of sailing faster than the wind, Disney's latest creation dazzled the sailing world in 2004, winning the Caribbean Big Boat Series, Cork Race Week (Ireland), and The Rolex Maxi Yacht World Championships. In giving the boat to OCC, Disney's goal is to share Pyewacket with other sailors who have a passion for big, fast boats.

Photo Latitude/Richard

"My crew and I have so many great memories of spectacular sailing aboard Pyewacket," Disney said. "It's been a tremendous ride. There's nothing like the size and speed of this boat. It gives me great pleasure to know that Pyewacket will now be sailed by many sailors.

"Pyewacket is the largest, fastest and most advanced sailboat ever given to OCC, by far," says Brad Avery, director of the School of Sailing and Seamanship. "She will give our advanced students an incredible learning experience, found nowhere else."

This has been a great year for the Orange Coast College sailing program, which is in its 50th year and is the largest public sailing program in the United States. For in addition to getting Pyewacket, several months ago they got Kialoa III, which was to ocean racing 30 years ago what Pyewacket is to ocean racing now - state of the art. Disney will have Pyewacket's shorter bowsprit and canard put back on, and her keel will be reduced in draft from 18 to 12 feet.

Beachball Globes Used in Space, Too

August 12 - Outer Space

"I read with interest the letter in the July issue referring to the use of a beachball globe as a record of routes sailed," writes Tom Farr of JPL and the Santa Barbara YC. " I didn't know about that back in 2000 when I furnished a Space Shuttle crew with one for their on-orbit interviews. We were mapping the world on that mission (I was the Payload Communicator - talk about learning your radio protocol!) and it was useful to show the orbital paths they flew. Note the dark lines drawn on the globe with a Shuttle model floating above it. That's Kevin Kregel, our commander, and Payload Specialist Gerhard Thiele making sure the earth doesn't float out of the picture.

Photo Courtesy NASA

By the way, while the mission mapped most of the land area of the earth in 3-D, a side benefit is a map of all the coastlines - accurate to about 10 meters! I'm trying to get that out to the public as I'm well aware that coastlines and islands can be misplaced on older maps. I've plotted the GPS tracks of some of our charter trips onto the shuttle maps and they lay down quite well."

Ha-Ha Paid Entries Top 70 With One Month to Go

August 12 - Tiburon

"We've just received our 74th paid entry for the 12th Annual Ha-Ha that starts on October 31 from San Diego," reports Ha-Ha Honcho Lauren Spindler. "With just a month to go to the deadline for entering, the entries are starting to come in at a much faster rate."

We'll run the entire list of entries in a 'Lectronic next week.

Maximus First in Fastnet Race

August 12 - Cowes

A total of 286 boats turned out for England's classic 608-mile race from Cowes, around Fastnet Rock near Ireland, and back to Cowes. On a course that has claimed more than a dozen lives, this year's conditions were extremely light, with some boats never seeing much over 10 knots. Line honors went to Charles Brown and Bill Buckley's New Zealand-based Elliot 100 Maximus.

Photo Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

Classy Classified: Sabbatical

August 12 - The Sailing World on Sale

MAPLE LEAF 48 SLOOP, 2002. Baja Ha-Ha veteran. Sabbatical is the perfect cruising boat, roomy but rigged to sail alone. She holds 500 gallons of fuel, 500 gallons of water. Perkins 120 diesel. Center cockpit with smaller aft cockpit, swim platform. Ham/SSB with Sailmail/Winlink email. Perfect galley. Tons of storage. Sails like a dream. Pristine condition. $159,900.

Call Michael or Sylvia at (916) 201-0787 or email Mike.

Sabbatical leaves San Diego on the first leg of the 2002 Baja Ha-Ha Rally.
Photo Courtesy Sabbatical