February 19, 2002

Photos of the Day

February 19 – Tiburon

The photos of the day are of the three
classic IACC (America’s Cup) boats in action off Angel Island
during last weekend’s Corinthian Yacht Club Midwinters. The three
boats competed in one race each day, in a variety of mostly light
air conditions. Although this was more a ‘presentation’ than
a race, the results were: 1) Il Moro Di Venezia 1, Peter
Stoneberg. 2) New Zealand 20, David and Karie Thomson.
3) New Zealand 14, Paul and Chrissy Kaplan. John Sweeney
and Tina Kleinjan of America’s Cup Media say this is just a preview
of a much larger IACC fleet action on the Bay next summer.
For more photos and coverage of the event, see the March issue
of Latitude 38,
or view Tom Zinn’s images at http://adrenalinimages.com/Corinthian_Midwinters/.

Bad Sunset in Z-Town

February 19 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico

“Trip on this,” writes Adam Sadeg
of the Morgan 38 Blarney3 in Z-town. “Steve and Gabby
of Karibu, Rob and Kristin of a Pearson 36 from Florida,
and Jesse and Anne of Taka, and I took Rob and Jesse’s
dinks to Los Gatas Beach to do a sunset walk to the lighthouse.
This guy on the beach helped us bring the dinks up on the beach
– then tried to push Jesse’s dink back in the water. What was
up with that? So we moved all the dinks over to Amado’s restaurant
just a few feet away. I had been fishing with Amado before, and
we’d been to his restaurant for beers many times. The waiters
said they’d watch the dinks. So we walked up the hill to the
lighthouse.

“We were almost to the lighthouse
when one of the waiters came running up the hill and told us
some guy on the beach had punctured our dinks! We all ran down
the hill, and sure enough, the guy who had helped us bring the
dinks onto the beach and then pushed them off, went off on both
dinks with a screwdriver! He stabbed Jesse’s dink 26 times in
various tubes, and probably got Rob’s 15 times before he was
stopped by one of the waiters – who whacked him with the dull
edge of a machete. The guy then went went down the beach a short
distance, sat in a chair, and started sipping a beer! Oh yeah,
he’d also stolen all the plugs from the dinks and pushed them
into the water.

“Before we got to him, Jesse had whacked
the perp around quite a bit, and kept asking him why he did it.
In perfect English, the guy responded, ‘Ask my father.’ The girls
and Rob went to get the police who, of course, never showed up.
We waited there on the beach making sure the dinghy murderer
didn’t run away. He didn’t even try. In fact, he was very calm
and didn’t seem to care about what he’d done. It turns out –
surprise, surprise – that he was very drunk and on drugs. He
is also the brother of a waiter at Amado’s that we all know.
The good brother showed up on the beach with Amado, the owner
of the restaurant. The brother promised – as did Amado – that
they would pay for everything. The next day, Amado gave us his
car to use to get patches.

“Well, the whole fleet got together
and chipped in patches, sandpaper, acetone, and two-part glues
to fix the dinks. Meanwhile, the bad brother was taken to jail.
This wasn’t his first offense.”

So you see, not all the nut cases and drug
and alcohol victims are on the streets of San Francisco, there
are some in Mexico, too.

Steve, Jesse, Kristin, Adam, Anne, and Rob.
By the way, they are on a surfboard thought stolen from Profligate.
It never happened.

Here’s what a good sunset looks like in Z-town. Say, isn’t that
Gregg, who sailed his Morgan Out-Island 41 Scirocco in
the Ha-Ha, with Cherie, who sailed aboard the Swan 53 Mistress?
Looks like the two of them are spending a lot of time together.

Kostecki and illbruck Win Leg Four
of Volvo

February 19 –
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Marin County skipper John Kostecki of illbruck proved
his mettle once again, guiding the German entry to line honors
again in the fourth leg – Auckland to Rio – of the Volvo. It
wasn’t easy, however. First there was the brutal Southern Ocean.
Worse still, however, were the light airs of the east coast of
South America, which allowed the trailing boats to make big gains.
“It was a tough leg, especially these last three days with
the fleet catching up the whole time. . . we just played it safe
the whole time, played it smart.”

The battle for second was fierce, and for
much of the leg it looked as though Grant Dalton’s Amer Sports
One, with Marin County’s Paul Cayard – Kostecki’s skipper
in the last Whitbread/Volvo – would claim it. Alas, Amer Sports
One lost big time at the end, as djuice, Tyco, and
Assa Abloy – with Marin County’s Mark Rudiger, nipped
them. “It was tough, a lot tougher than last time,”
said Cayard. “There was never more than 40 miles between
the boats.”

See www.volvooceanrace.com
for more.

Hi Ho, Geronimo!

February 19 – Brest, France

Frenchman Olivier de Kersauson has just left France on his sixth
trip around the world, this time in pursuit of the Jules Verne
record he already holds, aboard Geronimo, which at 110
feet, is the world’s largest trimaran. The current record is
71 days and 14 hours, which he set in ’97 with Sport Elec.
He’s hoping to finish the 26,000-mile course in less than
60 days. It’s not as though the boat has been fully tested, however.
Last fall de Kersauson and crew sailed all over the eastern Atlantic
and never found more than 27 knots of wind. Then the top of the
mast snapped in light air. Since then, all the time has been
spent repairing the mast, and not sailing the boat.

Meanwhile, Bruno Peyron, another Frenchman
who once set the Jules Verne record, is working feverishly at
the Multiplast boatyard to repair the top of the mast on the
110-ft maxi catamaran Orange. Just a few days ago, she
took off on a Jules Verne attempt, but was damaged less than
30 minutes later when the top of the mast snapped – apparently
as a result of halyards sawing through it. Peyron says the deadline
for taking off again is March 10, after which summer would be
over in the Southern Ocean.

For more on Geronimo, see www.grandsrecords.com/ker/rec/en/homepage.htm.

YOTREPS

February 19 – 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

February 19 – 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/.
The National Weather Service site for San Francisco Bay has moved
to www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey/.

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 Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily
map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric pressure and winds.

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.