Today’s Photo of the Day comes from Betty
Schmidt, who was one of 127 cruisers who showed up at a cruisers’
‘Raft Up’ at Donner Lake on August 17. According to Schmidt,
most of those in attendance had done at least one Ha-Ha.
Photo Courtesy Betty Schmidt
The Nautica Star Class Worlds
August 21 – Marina del Rey
Rich Roberts reports that, “England’s
Iain Percy and France’s Xavier Rohart thrived in the best winds
of the week and survived some tough justice in the third race
of the 81st Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championship Tuesday
to put themselves in rare positions. They could become the first
of their nationalities to claim the world’s most prestigious
one design sailing crown. In fact, it’s any country’s regatta
at the halfway point. Five of the top six fly different flags,
led by Brazil’s Torben Grael, followed by Rohart, San Francisco’s
Paul Cayard, Percy, San Diego’s George Szabo and Ireland’s Mark
Mansfield. They have separated themselves slightly from the other
100 boats, although that picture could change when some established
stars who are struggling discard their worst scores after the
fifth, next-to-last race Thursday.
“Tuesday brought the strongest winds
of the week, as much as 15 knots at the end of the 10-mile race,
and Percy and Rohart loved it. ‘Conditions were more to our liking,’
Percy’s happy crew, Steve Mitchell, said. ‘None of this bloody
American stuff we had earlier.’ He was smiling broadly when he
said it because, Percy added, ‘We’ve always had good results
in strong winds. When we got clear we were able to pull out.
The windier the better. It’s much more fun.’ They finished 1
minute 44 seconds ahead of Rohart, who was 1:18 ahead of Brazil’s
Alan Adler. Cayard and Grael followed Adler across the finish
line. Along with Rohart, they are the only three competitors
with all single-digit finishes.”
Photos Rich Roberts
The leaders (after 3 of 6 races):
1. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira, Brazil, (3-1-5) 9 points.
2. Xavier Rohart/Yannick Adde, France, (6-8-2) 16.
3. Paul Cayard/Hal Haenel, San Francisco, (7-9-4) 20.
4. Iain Percy/Steven Mitchell, UK, (19-4-1), 24.
5. George Szabo/Austin Sperry, San Diego, (1-20-10) 31.
What the Heck?
August 21 – San Francisco
“I witnessed something last Sunday,
all or part of which may be of interest to you or your readers,”
writes Jonathan Hunt. “I live on Ocean Beach near the Cliff
House, and mid-morning a large – 250-300-ft – ship came down
the shipping channel from the west. Most things were normal about
the ship with the exception of one thing – it was moving at an
incredible speed. In a matter of a very few minutes it had traveled
from the Lightbucket to abeam Seal Rocks, and was putting out
a rooster tail of what appeared to be 30 feet. It passed out
of sight toward the Gate without slowing, and I would estimate
its speed to be about 30 knots or more. I searched the ID numbers
and found it was something called the HSV-X1, an Australian ship
chartered by the U.S. armed forces for testing. After half an
hour or so, it came back out the Gate at the same high speed,
and disappeared out of sight toward the Farallones, again in
what seemed like a minute or two.
“What made the sighting all the more
bizarre was that during the interim of it coming in and out,
we saw two six-man outrigger canoes heading down the beach a
couple of hundred yards offshore. Conditions off Ocean Beach
are rugged much of the year, with the wind waves, tidal lines,
and whatnot. But these two canoes were doing just fine in the
calm conditions of early fall, and made their way down to about
the windmill on Fulton St., turned around, and were back around
Seal Rocks also pretty quickly. Not quite, however, at the speed
of the HSV-X1. I didn’t look at the tide tables, but I assume
it was around slack water, and the conditions were about as flat
calm as they ever get. But it was a surprise to see these two
flat-water racing paddle boats out in the open ocean – although
I think larger ones possibly race between the Hawaiian Islands.”
The truth of the matter, Jonathan, is that
we in the United States are way, way behind the curve when it
comes to multihulls. While in Naples a few years ago, we saw
a near sistership to that vessel – we can’t remember if it’s
actually a cat or a tri – tied to a dock in Naples, Italy. They
used it to run tourists out to Capri and the other nearby islands.
But it was far from the most impressive high-tech ferry we saw.
We traveled from Holyhead, Wales, to Dublin, Ireland, on a catamaran
so huge that it had two McDonalds and a casino, and carried 450
passengers, 150 semi trucks and countless cars. And it still
did 33 knots across the Irish Sea. Its reported top speed was
42 knots. If we’re not mistaken, it was built in Tasmania, of
all places.
Just the Mention
of the Name
August 21 – Cinq a Terre, Italy
Just the mention of ‘Italy’ brought back
fond memories of tromping along the coast between Capri and Ventimiglia.
Does this shot of the little harbor in one of the Cinq a Terre
villages give you wanderlust?
Photo Latitude/Richard
America’s Cup Heating Up
August 21 – Auckland, New Zealand
With less than two months to go before
the start of the Louis Vuitton competition leading up to the
America’s Cup Finals, the pundits are heating up. Before there’s
been any competition, they seem to suggest that the star of Oracle
is rising slightly, while those of Dennis Conner, sunk boat,
and Prada, squabbling international afterguard, are fading. In
addition, the Kiwis – who are hurting for money and the leadership
of the late Peter Blake – are viewed as increasingly unlikely
to be successful in their Defense.
The dock talk is that Bruce Farr has designed
the narrowest boat with the least sail area for Larry Ellison’s
Oracle Racing Challenge for the Golden Gate YC, which would suggest
that the boat is also perhaps the lightest. There’s two things
we’ve liked so far about the Oracle campaign. First, helmsman
Peter Holmberg. So far, he’s been short on talk and long on match
racing success. Similarly, the entire Oracle effort has seemed
short on hoopla and long on being focused on the goal at hand.
If they don’t win the Cup, it won’t have been for the lack of
money or honest effort.
Photos Bob Greiser and Sally
Samins
Courtesy Oracle Racing
Check out the September issue of Latitude 38 for
the America’s Cup schedule, which starts in October and lasts
into February.
YOTREPS
August 21 – 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/Maps/Southwest.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.
