December 29, 2000

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St. Barts Cut Off

December 29 – St. Barts, French West Indies

Our office received a scratchy, distant phone message today from
the Wanderer, who reports that all “land lines to St. Barts
have been cut”, so no conventional telephone service or email
is coming out of that island. However, neither is there any cause
for alarm, as the Wanderer assures us that “everything’s
fine”. We’re sure the revelers there will manage to celebrate
New Year’s Eve despite this inconvenience, and we’ll have more
for you when we know more ourselves.

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Cruising

YOTREPS

December 29 – 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/

Racing ‘Nicorette’ Takes Sydney-Hobart Line Honors December 29 – Hobart, Australia Swedish maxi yacht ‘Nicorette’ crossed the finish line of the 630 nm race on Hobart’s River Derwent at 3:02:09 am today after sailing through 50-kt. winds in Storm Bay. ‘Wild Thing’ finished second and ‘Illbruck’ came in third, followed by the Volvo 60s ‘TYCO’, ‘News Corporation’ and ‘Assa Abloy’, co-skippered by Marinite Mark Rudiger. The race has been hard on its participants. 23 boats have retired, three crew overboard have been recovered, and assorted injuries and damage have befallen the fleet. You can read more about the Telstra Sydney-Hobart Race at http://www.syd-hob.telstra.com.au/index.cfm and at http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1228_sydhobart_WFC.html.

‘Nicorette’ takes line honors. Photo Nick Wilson/Allsport Assa Abloy finished sixth. Photo Daniel Forster/Volvo

Vendée Globe Quote of
the Day

December 29 – Pacific Ocean

Says Josh Hall of ‘EBP/Garmore’: “The greatest pleasure
in sailing the Southern Ocean is to leave it behind you.”
As the fleet leaves the Southern Ocean for the Pacific, ‘PRB’
is still in first place, followed by ‘Sill Matines la Potagère’
and ‘Kingfisher’. Visit http://www.vendeeglobe.com.

The Race News Item of the Day

December 29 – Marina Port Vell, Barcelona

Is it possible to sail in both the Vendée Globe and
The Race? Apparently so. Richard Tolkien, who pulled out of the
Vendée Globe on November 30 due to rigging and sail problems
with the former ‘Fujicolor III’ monohull, announced today that
he will sail in The Race aboard ‘Team Legato’. See www.therace.org
for more.

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Weather Updates

December 29 – 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/.
Tomorrow should be another glorious, sunny day, so get out there
on the Bay and enjoy!

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 Ocean Weather

You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology
satellite picture by clicking
here.

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.