April 21, 2004

Photo of the Day

April 21 – Antigua

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from Northern
Californian Joe Rinehart, who was in Antigua for the recent Classic
Yacht Regatta. According to Joe, the photo shows the 175-ft schooner
Fluertje in the process of doing a horizon job on the
357-ft barque Sea Cloud. You don’t see racing action like
that on San Francisco Bay.

Sea Cloud (left) and Fluertje
Photo Joe Rinehart

Years ago Fluertje was in the same
division with our Big O in an Antigua Sailing Week. At
175 feet, she was a little big for our class, which mostly consisted
of 70 to 100-footers. It reportedly took the big schooner 30
seconds to get the helm from hard port to hard starboard, which
may have had something to do with her reportedly colliding with
six competitors during the first weather leg. So she was either
excused or retired after the first race.

Peter Gilmour Sweeps Day 1 of Congressional
Cup

April 21 – Long Beach

Peter Gilmour seems bent on making the
world of the Swedish Match Tour his own private pond. Already
the winner of two of the first three events on the 2003-04 tour
in Japan and Bermuda, the Australian veteran blew out of the
gate with five wins in as many races on the first day of the
40th Congressional Cup Tuesday.

Peter Gilmour (left) has Terry Hutchinson in his sights.

Gilmour was shadowed closely by New Zealand’s
Gavin Brady and Denmark’s Jes Gram-Hansen at 4-1. A windup round
saw two guys named Dickson and Coutts fighting each other to
avoid the prospect of starting 0-5: Long
Beach’s Scott Dickson, younger brother of Chris, and New Zealand’s
Allen Coutts, nephew of Russell. Dickson won, salvaging a measure
of local pride.

Gavin Brady leads Sweden’s Mattias Rahm past Belmont Pier in
pre-start maneuvering.

Gilmour last sailed the Congressional Cup
when he won it in 1988. In those days the event was run on the
open ocean in borrowed Catalina 38s. The only other time he sailed
a Catalina 37 – the match-racing specialty boats built for the
event in 1990 – was in the World Match Racing Championship in
1996.

Racing starts at noon daily, conditions
permitting. Live radio commentary of the racing may be heard
worldwide on www.klbc.org
or at 810 AM within a four-mile radius of the Belmont Pier spectator
site. Video highlights of each day’s racing may be replayed each
evening on host Long Beach Yacht Club’s Web site, www.lbyc.org. Sportshow TV is producing a
half-hour highlight video to be aired later by the Outdoor Life
Network. See also www.swedishmatchtour.com.

Chris Larson (right), tactician for Terry Hutchinson, appeals
to the umpires.

Standings (after 5 of 18 rounds): 1. Gilmour,
5-0; 2. tie between Gram-Hansen and Brady, 4-1; 4. tie between
Hutchinson and Baird, 3-2; 6. tie between Harrap and Appleton,
2-3; 8. tie between Rahm and Dickson, 1-4; 10. Coutts, 0-5.

John Kostecki (left), tactician for Gavin Brady, casts a wary
eye at onrushing Terry Hutchinson.
Photos Rich Roberts

“Caribbean Gentleman Seeking Sex
Slave”

April 21 – Anguilla

We wish the headline were a put-on, but
apparently it’s not. While visiting Anguilla last month, we were
given a tour of the island by Bob Conrich, who moved there from
San Francisco some 17 years ago. In the April
2 ‘Lectronic, we ran a photograph of Conrich and a paragraph
about him – including a line saying he was looking for a new
girlfriend.

A couple of days ago, we got an anonymous
email suggesting that Conrich may not be the type of man that
most women are looking for – or that we want to feature in ‘Lectronic.
It referred us to www.plazaone.com/rldc/redlite/personal/adds.htm,
which included the following ad:

“Caribbean Gentleman Seeking Sexslave.
Slaves need love too. Caring, patient, strong, self-confident,
hung, virile, adventurous, highly-intelligent, worldly, protective,
conscious, ethical teacher-father-master-friend seeks young or
very young slave girl, submissive in heart, spirit and body.
You will exist for me to use, own, control, love and enjoy, with
total surrender and powerful intensity, so that my pleasure becomes
your own and your deeds become art. Attractive, slender exhibitionists,
those with talents, abilities and thoughts of their own, a sense
of humor and a sense of themselves, and lovers of long distance
sailing and beautiful places who are comfortable with both the
poor and humble and the rich and famous given extra points. Lifetime
commitment, security and other fringe benefits for the right
person. Extraordinary opportunity! These are some of my interests.
See my webpage for information on the superficial parts of my
life: http://www.ai/bob.”

The Web page referred to is that of the
Bob Conrich who gave us a ride around Anguilla. So either Conrich
hadn’t been candid in telling us what type of girlfriend he was
looking for or someone is pulling a not very funny prank.

In addition, we got an email from a person
who claims to know Conrich’s last girlfriend, and says she reports
being the victim of many instances of mental and physical abuse
at the hands of Conrich. We’re not going to detail the accusations
here, but let’s just say there’s fun, there’s more edgy fun between
consenting adults, and than there’s non-consentual stuff in which
one person is a victim. Nobody should be a victim. It can be
a dangerous world out there, particularly for young women. So
please be careful.

When we presented this information by email
to Bob Conrich, he wrote the following in reply: “As I told
you, my former girlfriend, who is from Vancouver, and who suffers
from borderline personality disorder (a psychosis, in her case)
has been doing everything she can think of to destroy me. (And
alternately writing to me, begging to let her come ‘home’.) She
wrote me recently saying she’d seen your item, and thus it seems
likely to me that she’s responsible for whatever you received.
I apologize for her involving you in our differences. I have
no secret life that would be a concern to any of your readers.”

Sail Expo Was a Grind for Some

April 21 – Oakland

Grant Headifen of SailTime had the winning time of 9:43 at the
popular Lewmar winch grinder.
Photo Roby Hyde

With Pacific Sail Expo the West Coast was
once again treated to its annual visit from national sailing
businesses, a broad assortment of sailboats and numerous opportunities
for education and entertainment. Beyond the usual extensive line
up of boats and sailing gear in the tents were more varied and
interesting activities than ever before. 

Randy Repass of West Marine brought his just launched Wylie 65
Convergence and personally gave tours of his unique and
well thought out cruising dream.  Along similar lines was
Steve Chamberlain’s custom Schumacher 46 Surprise, rigged
and ready to race in this summer’s West Marine Pacific Cup.

Steve Chamberlain answered questions and showed Surprise.
Photo Latitude/Rob

Classic boat enthusiasts saw a taste of
tradition with the Alma and the Grace Quan Chinese
Junk from the SF Maritime Museum. The Arques School brought two
beautiful small dinghies on land, the Hawaiian Chieftain
gave evening sails, and the Master Mariners brought two buffed
classics.

You could go racing in Etchells or sailing
on a Corsair trimaran, a One Design 35, J/Boats, Hunters and
others. Kite boarding was on display in the tents and acrobatically
on the water in front of the show. The seminar program was extensive
and high quality, and the parties Friday and Saturday kept attendees
in the tents well past closing.

Eat What the Locals Eat

April 21 – Cuzco, Peru

Today’s Artwork of the Day comes from cruiser
Bob Willman of the Islander 37 Viva, who is currently
in Peru. We’ll let him explain:

“Those of you who are not guinea pig
lovers will appreciate the enclosed photo of an oil painting
that graces the wall in the main Basillica in Cuzco, Peru, the
capital of the Incan empire. It seems Pizarro’s priests ordered
the local artists to paint religious scenes, and the guy who
did this one figured Jesus would order cuy, (KOO-ee),
the local Inca specialty, for his Last Supper.

Photos Bob Willman

“Many of the other paintings in Peruvian
churches show sword-wielding conquistadors astride their chargers,
trampling the local Incans to death. As such, it’s difficult
to comprehend how the current Incan population can worship in
the Catholic church – but I guess the reason I’m cruising is
to try to understand how such things can be. As for myself, I
didn’t try cuy – or, for that matter llama or any of the
other Peruvian specialties – mostly because they are only served
in expensive tourist restaurants. Besides, they probably just
taste like chicken.”

For what it’s worth, we can’t remember
a year in which more West Coast cruisers are or say they are
intending to cruise the west coast of South America, especially
Ecuador, Peru, and Chile.