April 17, 2001

By Grzegorz | April 17, 2001

Photos of the Day

April 17 – Pacific Coast

After launching his new Wylie-designed Open 60 Ocean Planet
at Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland, Bruce Schwab and crew
had to high-tail it down the coast to San Francisco for the Pacific Sail Expo boat
show that starts at Jack London Square in Oakland tomorrow (Wednesday).

As you can tell from these photos, high-tail
it they did! In fact, you should visit the boat at the show and
ask Bruce how fast they were going. Ellen MacArthur, the brilliant
young Brit singlehander, will officially christen Ocean Planet
during the show.

Photos Courtesy
Ocean Planet

Fire!

April 17 – Richardson Bay

“We were down at the Sausalito launch
ramp near Caruso’s on Sunday launching Mike Lingsch’s new-to-him
22-ft diesel Starcraft Salmon Killer (hopefully),”
writes Susie Woodrum, “when we saw this small boat catch
on fire. Apparently it started with an electrical problem, and
continued on because there was no extingusher or bucket.”

Photo Susie Woodrum

Josh Slocum Rolling over in His Grave

April 17 – Newport Beach

A couple days ago we reported that the old Josh Slocum’s, a longtime
sailor hangout in Newport Beach, was recently purchased by former
basketball player and enthusiastic human freak Dennis Rodman.
‘The Worm’, as he is known, has turned the place into a night
club.

Carl and Linda Mischka of the Newport-based
Te Amo visited the club a few nights ago. “The old
gent (Slocum) would be rolling in his grave! It’s got a Star Wars
bar crowd and decor from somewhere we have never been.” We
don’t even know what a “Star Wars bar crowd” is. By
the way, if it’s been awhile since you read Josh Slocum’s great
book about his singlehanded trip around the world, you should
give it another go. What a great read!

Mystery Boat

April 17 – Mystery Location

Who can identify the lovely ketch sailing in the accompanying
photo? Probably a lot of you. To score big, you have to tell
us where she was sailing. Email Richard.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Where’s All the Crap Coming from?

April 17 – SoCal

We took photos of these two signs last weekend. The first in
Newport Beach, the second at Avalon. They both claim that the
high bacteria count makes the water unsafe for swimming. It didn’t
totally surprise us in Newport Harbor, which is basically a sewer
from everything uphill of it and doesn’t get much flushing. After
all, it had rained the week before.

We were really quite surprised that there
was a problem at Avalon. For one thing, the water was crystal
clear. Secondly, it’s not coming from the boats, because they
all get dye put in the toilets that expose them if anyone tries
to pee or poop in the harbor. According to one of the Harbor
Patrol guys, officials aren’t quite sure where the pollution
is coming from. It may be be seal and seagull crap. Or, because
there are several consistent ‘hot spots’, somebody thinks an
ancient sewer pipe may be leaking poop into the bay.

Photo Latitude/Richard

YOTREPS

April 17 – 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 17 – 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/.

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 Sea State

Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you
might 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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