April 15, 2002

By Grzegorz | April 15, 2002

Photos of the Day

April 15 – Catalina Island

Today’s Photos of the Day come from not
so sunny Southern California. We spent our second straight weekend
at Catalina, hoping to bask in the warm Southern California sun.
As you can see from the first photo, it was sunny and blue in
Avalon at least some of the time on Saturday. But it wasn’t particularly
warm, unless you were tucked in against the land. We didn’t feel
too bad, however – until our son told us it was 20 degrees warmer
in sunny Northern California!

We spent most of Sunday at Avalon, too,
but it was mostly gray. Not nearly as gray, however, as in the
channel back over to Newport, and Newport itself. There it looked
more like the Emerald Isle than the real thing.

We’ve had a great time at Catalina – except
for the movies. The 1,200-seat Casino theater is our all time
favorite, but what rubbish they’re showing. First it was Gosford
Park, which had way too many characters, but not enough plot
– and featured an excessive amount of inaudible whispering in
phony English accents. This week it was Monster’s Ball,
a really stupid movie about what really stupid things really
stupid people can do. Our favorite part was the uplifting message
– just because your son kills himself because you hated him;
just because you farmed out your father who hates you; and just
because you executed your new girlfriend’s husband – none of
this means you can’t instantly overcome racism and live happily
ever after.

Photos Latitude/Richard

Holmberg Holds on to Capture Congo

April 15 – Long Beach

In the process of winning his fourth Congressional
Cup championship in five years, Peter Holmberg of Oracle Racing
won his third consecutive Swedish Match Tour Event – to remain
atop the world match racing standings. To take the title, Holmberg
defeated Prada Challenge’s Gavin Brady 2-1. “I don’t think
we had a brilliant day today, but the team was strong and that
carried us through,” said Holmberg. “It took me a while
to get used to the boat. We had a good series against Andy Green
(in the semifinals). He gave us a tough time and Gavin really
made us work for it, too.”

FINAL ROUND-ROBIN STANDINGS (18 rounds):
1. Peter Holmberg, 15-3; 2. Ken Read, 12-6; 3. Gavin Brady, 10-8;
4. Andy Green, 9-9, 5. Jes Gram-Hansen ($1,700) 9-9, 6. Scott
Dickson ($1,700) 9-9, 7. Rod Davis ($1,500) 8-10; 8. Dean Barker
($1,500) 8-10; 9. Ed Baird ($1,200) 6-12; 10. Luc Pillot ($1,000)
4-14. PETIT FINALS: Ken Read ($3,000) defeated Andy Green ($2,500)
2-0 CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS: Peter Holmberg ($6,000) defeated Gavin
Brady ($4,500).

This Woman Has It Right

April 15 – Miami, FL

Over in Jolly Olde England, the Princess
Royal not only christened the Brits’ first America’s Cup yacht
in 15 years – she gave the politically correct crowd a proper
dressing down. Departing from her prepared remarks, the Princess
gestured at the new 80-ft Wight Lightning and said, “I
would like to thank the GBR Challenge team for asking me to perform
the naming ceremony of ‘her’. The people at Lloyd’s – who have
decided that from now on they’ll refer to vessels at ‘it’ – have
clearly never either launched or named a boat because it would
be completely wrong to call her ‘it’.”

The crowd of 300 gave her loud applause
– as rightly they should.

Four Day Lead in the Jules Verne

April 15 – Atlantic Ocean

Bruno Peyron and crew aboard the maxi cat
Orange rounded Cape Horn on the 13th to finish their Jules
Verne time in the Southern Ocean. They are now headed into the
Atlantic with a four day lead over Olivier de Kersauson’s 1997
record time with Sport Elec. Barring a breakdown, the
record will be Peyron’s.

Who remembers the history of the Jules
Verne? It started in January of ’93, with three boats. There
was Peyron with Cam Lewis aboard Commodore Explorer. There
was Olivier de Kersauson and his 90-ft tri, then known as Charal.
de Kersauson didn’t want to pay the $16,000 entry fee, so he
started a week before the other two. The third was ENZA,
sailed by Robin Knox-Johnston and the late Peter Blake, who didn’t
want a French boat to win. Both Charal and ENZA had
structural problems in the Southern Ocean and had to drop out.
Peyron and Commodore Explorer hung in to claim the prize.

Explorer sailing out the Gate
to promote The Race
Photo Latitude Archives

Fun in the Caribbean Sun

April 15 – Caribbean

We’ll close this edition with a photo of
our old friend Devan, hanging out during an early April charter
in the Caribbean. Looks warm, doesn’t it? Certainly warmer than
Catalina.

YOTREPS

April 15 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS –
‘yacht reports’ – at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/

Weather Updates

April 15 – Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay is at
www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.

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