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Archive for December 2011

AC Meetings This Week

December 12, 2011
The adoption of the America’s Cup 34 environmental impact report is up for debate this week, and the America’s Cup Event Authority needs all the help it can get. © 2011 Gilles Martin-Raget The governmental approval process for the 34th America’s Cup is coming to a close, and one of the final steps will be a pair of meetings later this week that will decide whether the environmental impact report will be adopted by the City. More »

Free Rigging Seminar

You don’t have to be an entrant in next summer’s Singlehanded TransPac to attend the seminars offered by the Singlehanded Sailing Society in the months preceeding the 2,120-mile race from San Francisco Bay to Kauai. More »

Calamari Anyone?

For many sailors, one of the highlights of sailing south off the west coast of Baja is fishing in its abundant waters. Already this year, sailors have reported catching prime game fish such as wahoo as big as 65 inches long, without even using a rod and reel. More »

Jeanne Socrates Meets the Queen

December 9, 2011
British solo circumnavigator Jeanne Socrates was among dozens of adventurers invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at a reception at Buckingham Palace last night. "The reception was to mark the centenary of Captain Robert Scott’s final expedition to the South Pole, and to recognize the accomplishments of those involved in exploration and adventure in all its forms," says Socrates. More »

Sailing and Skywatching

The moon doesn’t disappear during a lunar eclipse but rather turns red thanks to sunlight refracting off Earth’s atmosphere. © Muhammad Mahdi Karim Most people we know try to sleep in a bit on Saturday mornings. More »

Dust Storm Across Baja

December 7, 2011
If you were cruising the outside of Baja or the Sea of Cortez over the Thanksgiving weekend and found the last of your turkey sandwiches tasted a little grittier than normal, huge dust storms on November 27 could have been the reason. More »

Getting Crabby in the Cooks

Among the most interesting animals that cruisers encounter for the first time in the South Pacific is the coconut crab. Check out the one — they are typically blue — being held up by Randy Ramirez of the Stockton-based Mariah 31 Mystic at Suwarrov Atoll in the Cook Islands a few months ago. More »

Hot Spot for Dictator’s Kids?

On Monday we reported that Harper’s Bazaar magazine identified cruiser favorite Punta Mita as the hottest destination in the world for celebrities. Maybe there is something to it, as this morning Bloomberg News reported that Mexican authorities claim they broke up an attempt in November by al-Saadi Qaddafi, one of the sons of deposed and dead Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, to use fake documents to enter Mexico, open bank accounts and buy land at Punta Mita. More »