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Photos of the Day: 470 Worlds

August 29 - San Francisco

Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page (#311) repeated their 2004 World championship by winning the '05 Worlds, too.

Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page dominated the men's gold division of the 2005 International 470 World Championships, held on San Francisco Bay August 20-28. With six firsts and three seconds (their worst finish was an 11th) in the 14-race, 2-throwout series, the pair, who were also the 2004 World champions, were able to sit out the final race. Second in the Gold Division went to Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield of Great Britain, with France's Gildas Phillipe and Nicholas Leberre taking third in the 32-boat fleet.

In the Men's Silver Fleet - also 32 boats - France's Ronan Dreano and Ronan Floch won the series, despite not winning any races. They were followed by Americans Stu Mac Nay and Graham Biehl in second, and Spain's Francisco Sanchez and Alejandro Ramos in third.

The 470 Worlds enjoyed good breeze throughout the week.

In the 34-boat Women's Division, Marcelian De Koning and Lobke Berkhout of the Netherlands tied with the British team of Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark, but were awarded the gold based on their greater number of first-place finishes (five to the Brits' two). Third went to France's Ingrid Petitjean and Nadeje Douroux.

A total of 198 sailors from 28 countries took part in the St. Francis YC-hosted series. For all the results, go to www.stfyc.com.

Sailors from all over the world got to enjoy the charms of sailing the Bay.
Photos Chris Ray

Patricia Belle - Something Old, Something New

August 29 - Two Harbors

One of the largest boats planning to participate in this year's Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally is Pat and Jeannie Hughes' 85-ft (sparred length) Patricia Belle. The salty black schooner is also one of the most interesting - despite being launched less than 10 years ago, much of the gear on the Belle dates back 50 years or more. Lots more.

Patricia Belle at Two Harbors in Catalina. The boat is currently homeported in Ensenada.

At heart, Patricia Belle is a modified George Buehler design that Pat and a crew of neighborhood kids - including his four sons and a daughter - built over a three-year period in the mid-'90s in Port Orchard, Washington. Construction is traditional plank on frame, and she's all Douglas fir, from keel to truck. And the fun facts started there. Although Pat says he did actually buy some wood, the self-admitted scrounger also acquired much of it either cheap or free, as windfall (trees that had been felled by wind) and escapees from log rafts. At the time, Pat was skippering a ferry boat on Puget Sound. Whenever he'd spot a big log on one of the many islands, he'd plot the coordinates and come back later with a boat to tow it off.

Once building got underway, Pat used his many contacts from a lifetime as a professional mariner to outfit her. Among the gear: an old GMC diesel out of a scrapped fishing boat, portholes from an 1892 tugboat, Barient jibsheet winches salvaged from a wrecked sailboat, the steering gear out of an old dump truck, and main and foresheet blocks that used to be lifeboat davit blocks on a World War II Victory ship. The list goes on and on.

Pat Hughes. Patricia Belle is the third boat he's built.

The Belle's current crew includes Pat's son Steven (second from top).

The Belle - named for Pat's mother - was launched in 1997 and used her maiden voyage to haul a cargo of coffee beans from Nicaragua to San Diego. Yes, cargo - along with everything else, she has a cargo hold. While in San Diego, Pat met Jeannie, and the two of them have been together ever since.

Jeannie Hughes with crewman John Entner in the pilothouse parlor
Photos Latitude/JR

Read more about Patricia Belle - and a bunch of other Ha-Ha participants - in the September issue of Latitude 38, which will be distributed around the Bay Area and shipped to other locations this Wednesday.

Powerboats Rock

August 29 - Roche Harbor, WA

Apparently, the spate of powerboat groundings this summer is not confined to California. Jeff Browning spotted this one high and dry near the entrance to Roche Harbor.

On the rocks is not only a drink style, it seems to be a driving style for many powerboaters this summer.

Jeff and his wife were up north visiting his Dad, Sam, who had just finished restoring a Cal 2-46. "His 35 years of sailing experience and owning four other boats really factored in his efforts to transform the Torrea into a bluewater cruiser, says Jeff. How did it turn out? When they pulled into Roche Harbor at the end of the maiden sail in the updated boat, a guy walked up and said, "Beautiful
boat. But I don't understand - I thought they stopped making these in the '70s."

Sam Browning at the wheel of Torrea. He did such a nice job with her restoration, one admirer thought it was a new boat!
Photos Jeff Browning