These lovely ladies are members of the
Mexcaltitan Ballet Folklorico. We met them backstage of the amphitheater
at Paradise Resort & Marina just before they performed for
members of the Banderas Bay Regatta fleet. We promised we’d post
their picture on ‘Lectronic, and we’re fulfilling that promise.
These women – and their male counterparts
– put on an outstanding show, highlighted by their genuine enthusiasm.
Oddly enough, their performance had a Polynesian theme, all the
better to shake booties through various costume changes. Their
program was actually just one part of a lovely warm evening under
the stars. For after they were done, scores of folks responded
to live and recorded versions of classic American tunes by dancing
and dancing and dancing. Even though the average age was north
of 40, the only way for the hotel staff to ultimately clear the
area was to turn off the lights and stop the music.
Photo Latitude/Richard
The Baja Bash
April 2 – The Coast of Baja California
At 1100 this morning we received from Bruce
Ladd, who is captain of the crew delivering Profligate
from Puerto Vallarta to San Diego. Ladd advises that they are
currently 75 miles south of Turtle Bay, motoring in very calm
seas and the lightest of breezes. The only thing short of ideal
delivery conditions is an overcast sky and temperatures in the
low 60s. But when you’re doing the Baja Bash, temperature is
of little importance compared to flat seas.
Leaving Cabo during the 2000 bash north
Photo Susan Stromsland
Ladd and his crew of four reported some
mildly sloppy seas on the 300-mile trip from Puerto Vallarta
to Cabo, during which time they occasionally had enough fair
wind to sail. After spending half a day in Cabo – just enough
time to check in and check out – they took off again, blessed
with flat seas and zephyrs. Although there is a front heading
toward Southern California bringing nine-foot swells, the sea
surface forecast for the next several days looks promising.
Thanks to our Globalstar satellite phone,
we’ve been getting twice-a-day reports from the boat. In previous
years, without the phone, we often wouldn’t hear from the boat
for a week at a time. We prefer knowing where she is.
BCDC Wake-Up Call
April 2 – San Francisco Bay
For an agency that has authority over and
supervises just about everything that happens on San Francisco
Bay, the Bay Conservation and Development Agency (BCDC) has often
demonstrated considerable ignorance when it comes to boats and
marinas. And it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime
soon.
For example, in the March
30th ‘Lectronic, we reported that BCDC Deputy Director Steven
McAdam has been saying that there is no shortage of boat slips
on San Francisco Bay, but actually a “glut”. If this
were the case, how come we keep hearing an endless parade of complaints
from people unable to find berths? About harbormasters constantly
having to tell boatowners they have no space for them? As we said
the other day, if you can’t find a 40-foot slip on San Francisco
Bay, email McAdam at [email protected],
because he’s apparently the only guy who knows where they are.
A second example of the BCDC’s apparent
lack of awareness comes from a letter Executive Director Will
Travis sent to harbormasters in the Bay Area on March 29. “We
recently learned that the Peninsula Marina in Redwood City is
closing,” the letter begins. Funny that the agency would
be the last to know that some 400 boats, many of them liveaboard
boats, are about to be unleashed – against their will – on San
Francisco Bay. In any event, Executive Director Travis is asking
that marinas that haven’t applied for or received permits for
liveaboards might think about doing it now. And he’s offering
a big incentive: $100 off the application processing fee. Some
harbormasters have told us the BCDC forced them to spend over
$100,000 in order to get liveaboard permits, so you can imagine
how powerful that $100 incentive is.
As is the case with the state’s energy crisis,
there probably isn’t any short term solution to the lack of berths
in San Francisco Bay. But perhaps it’s time for the BCDC to stop
its ideological war against mariners, and provide citizens with
the public access to the Bay they need and want.
Panama Bound
April 2 – Puerto Vallarta
The attractive folks you see here are the
Wegesend family, which is comprised of David, Kim and 12-year-old
Kanoa. Appearances can be deceiving, because the Hawaiian-looking
Kim was raised in Southern California while the Californian-looking
David was raised in Hawaii. Thanks to a medical disability that
means David no longer has to fly 777s for American Airlines,
they’ve been cruising full time as a family. In fact, Kanoa has
gotten his schooling onboard from Kim.
Some folks say that it’s too hot, humid
and rainy to spend the summer in Puerto Vallarta. But the Wegesends
disagree completely. “It’s warmer and more humid here in
the summer,” they say, “but we absolutely love it.
And it doesn’t rain that often at all.” Nonetheless, after
four lovely years of cruising in Mexico, they’re headed for Panama
and the Caribbean.
Photo Latitude/Richard
Pacific Puddle Jump
April 2 – Nuevo Vallarta
While the Wegesends (see above) have left
PV for Panama, several other cruisers have departed PV for the
Marquesas. In a continuing series of profiles on the Pacific
Puddle Jump class of 2001 we introduce you to a few of these
passage-makers. We’ll have more in tomorrow’s ‘Lectronic, and
you’ll find all of them in the pages of the April issue of Latitude 38, which
came out on March 30.
When we first met Joan Grinols on the ’96
Baja Ha-Ha she and husband Blair were taking their inaugural
cruise on their custom-built cat, and she wasn’t too sure about
the idea of cruising full time. Now, five years and thousands
of sea miles later, well . . . she’s still not so sure about
it.
No matter. She and
Blair have struck an admirable compromise. They’ll keep crossing
oceans together as long as she gets to come back home periodically
for a “grandma fix.” In her absence, Blair will tap
into his sizeable crew pool – they have 17 grandchildren!
Within the Mexican cruising community,
many consider Blair and Joan to be ‘old pros’ since they’ve cruised
most of the Mexican coast, and have done two Ha-Has – between
which, they sailed out to the Marquesas, up to Hawaii and back
to the Bay Area. This time, Cap Cat will venture north
of the ‘milk run’ route, instead visiting remote islands and
atolls like Malden, Starbuck and Penrhyn before dropping down
to Samoa and Tonga.
Blair has been studying charts of the South
Pacific for years, and has evolved what we consider to be an
excellent “three-season plan.” Each time the cyclone
season approaches, he’ll simply go north across the Equator out
of harm’s way, then sail south again during the prime SoPac season.
As a result, Cap Cat will call at island groups that few
cruisers visit, like Tuvalu and the Marshalls. Will they eventually
continue around the world? According to Joan, the jury is still
out on that one.
Desperado
– Baba 30 Cal Fitzgerald & Elly Benschap, Anchorage
What is it with these Alaskans and their
30-footers? They’re making the rest of us feel like a bunch of
softies.
“Crazy”
Cal says he’s been thinking about cruising around the world ever
since he first started sailing 30 years ago. And while he’s just
now setting off to cross his first ocean, his current travels
began eight years ago. “I’m trying to set a new record for
the slowest circumnavigation; I’ve been cruising for eight years
and haven’t even left Mexico yet!”
Perhaps his recent crew addition inspired
him to look toward more distant horizons. The light of Cal’s
life is “Dutchess” Elly, a native of The Netherlands.
They met while she was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta and after
spending the summer together in the Sea of Cortez, the pair are
ready to chase the setting sun across the Pacific. They haven’t
mapped out an exact itinerary, but as to areas they intend to
avoid they list: “ex-husbands and wives, lawyers and bill
collectors!”
Photos Latitude/Andy
YOTREPS
April 2 – 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/
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.
No matter. She and
“Crazy”
at the