January 15-16, 2003

Photo of the Day

January 15 – Caribbean

Oops! thanks to a post vacation brain fade,
we forgot to post yesterday’s ‘Lectronic. Here it is, in all
its faded glory. The only news item from today is marked January
16 and is about Oracle BMW’s victory over Alinghi.

Today’s Photo of the Day is a quiz. Can
you identify either of the faces in the photo? If so, you certainly
know your Caribbean sailing characters. Email Richard.

Oracle Nipped by One Second – and Two
Penalties

January 15 – Auckland, NZ

Yesterday’s third Louis Vuitton Finals
race between Oracle BMW and the seemingly invincible Alinghi
couldn’t have been more exciting. Trailing 2-0, Larry Ellison
was off the boat as 17th man, Peter Holmberg drove for the start
and the race, and Chris Dickson was back to calling tactics.
Oracle BMW had a 28 second lead at the final of the final downwind
leg, but needed to do a 270º penalty turn. Blessed with
a stronger wind coming down the last leg, Alinghi finished one
second ahead of Oracle, although the latter boat had to do another
penalty turn after drifting into the finish line buoy.

Photo Bob Grieser/Louis Vuitton Cup

The bottom line is that although trailing
3-0 in the best of nine series, Oracle BMW proved that in flat
water conditions at least, they could be as fast or faster than
the Swiss boat. Here’s the more detailed official report of the
race:

“Skipper Chris Dickson and his Oracle
BMW Racing crew came in to the pre-start on the favored starboard
tack, but Alinghi’s Russell Coutts pulled off a masterful start,
positioned upwind of USA-76, with pace, on the favored right
hand side. For the first time in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals,
Oracle BMW skipper Chris Dickson didn’t take the helm after the
start gun, allowing Peter Holmberg to drive the first weather
leg. Although Coutts converted his impressive start into a controlling
position, USA-76 kept it close and rounded the top mark just
8 seconds back. Holmberg immediately ratcheted up the pressure
by diving down around the mark and setting up slightly lower
and inside Alinghi. Both crews can be commended on beautiful
sets under pressure conditions and the boats started speeding
downwind just a few meters apart. A poor spinnaker drop on USA-76
gave Alinghi a bit more breathing space at the mark rounding.
Early in the second beat, the Swiss enjoyed a solid two length
lead after being overlapped just a couple of minutes before.
Alinghi maintained a lead of 12 seconds around the second top
mark with USA-76 chasing hard a couple of lengths behind. After
the first jibe, Oracle BMW set up nicely to windward and started
to roll over Alinghi. Coutts luffed, and Holmberg responded,
but the American boat was eventually able to break through to
weather and make the pass. A flurry of Y-flag protests followed,
with Dickson claiming Alinghi was sailing above its proper course,
but found no sympathy from the umpires. When Alinghi eventually
jibed, Oracle BMW jibed to leeward, and, now holding luffing
rights, immediately attacked the Swiss boat. The action was extremely
close and Dickson and Holmberg made at least two very strong
attacks with Alinghi desperately avoiding contact. No penalties
were awarded with Alinghi going on to break the overlap. The
frustration on the American boat was evident and Holmberg and
Dickson attacked one last time, the bow on USA-76 coming up and
hitting the stern scoop on Alinghi. The umpires penalized Oracle
BMW for violating Rule 17 (sailing above their proper course).

“Dickson and Holmberg recovered from
that to sail Alinghi out to the starboard jibe layline before
jibing inside and rounding ahead to make the pass, albeit at
the cost of a penalty. USA-76 led Alinghi around a mark for the
first time in this series, with Alinghi 8 seconds behind. On
the final beat, needing to earn enough room to offload the penalty,
Oracle BMW Racing made a nice little gain on the left side early
in the beat, and covered well to stretch away a few crucial boatlengths.
USA-76 made two fewer tacks than Alinghi, and that also added
precious seconds to what would be a 28 second lead around the
final weather mark. The final run was an incredible test for
both boats, with Alinghi trying to close up enough to make a
penalty turn impossible for their opponents. “This is all
about velocity, sailing our boat,” skipper Chris Dickson
told his crew at the start of the leg. While the Oracle BMW crew
strained for every meter it could find, Alinghi, benefiting from
stronger wind behind, followed on its trail. As the finish line
approached, the Swiss crew was able to claw in a few more meters
to put more pressure on the American crew. At the finish line,
the jib went up and the gennaker came down cleanly. Holmberg
spun the boat around the pin end of the finish line, and with
Alinghi charging down under full sail, USA-76 initially looked
as though it might just make it. But after tacking, and needing
to bear away to cross the finish line the boat stalled out, and
Alinghi swept past to take the gun. Meanwhile, Oracle BMW drifted
onto the buoy marking the pin end of the line and copped another
penalty for hitting the mark. The end result, a 1:01 win to Alinghi.”

Oracle Beats Alinghi in Fourth Race

January 16 – Auckland, NZ

Photo Bob Grieser/Louis Vuitton Cup

For those who enjoy speculating about what
could have been, if Oracle BMW would have been two seconds faster
in the third race, or not incurred the penalty, they’d now be
tied with Alinghi at 2-2 in the Louis Vuitton Finals. For yesterday,
sailing in light and fickle winds, Oracle BMW whomped the Swiss,
and now trail 3-1 in the best of nine series. Once again, Oracle
BMW proved to be very fast in light air and flat water. Here’s
the official report:

“After another lengthy delay of over
two hours waiting for the wind to fill, the Hauraki Gulf served
up testing conditions for both crews for the fourth race of the
Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. Oracle BMW scored an emphatic 2 minute
13 second win in a shifting breeze that saw velocities range
from 5-12 knots. At the start USA-76 crossed at the pin end buoy
with a 1 second advantage, forcing the Swiss to tack away. It
was the defining moment of the leg as USA-76 trailed out to the
port side of the course whilst SUI-64 gained gauge to windward.
As both boats sailed upwind on starboard tack, SUI-64 dialed
into a favorable windshift to advance into the lead. At mark
1 and in a dying breeze, USA-76 trailed by 38 seconds. However
on the first downwind leg the American boat, led by Team Skipper
Chris Dickson, gained separation by jibing off to the starboard
side of the course. Alinghi neglected to cover and ended up sailing
in a different wind pattern. With increased pressure, USA-76
was able to sail around SUI-64 to leeward and into the lead.
Overturning the top mark delta, USA-76 held a 56-second lead
going into leg 3. With both crews launching a crewmember high
up in the rig to spot for wind, Oracle covered the Swiss boat
up the leg to maintain the lead at just under one minute at mark
3.

“The second downwind leg was perhaps
the most telling of all, as USA-76 began by consolidating its
lead before sailing the angles and the windshifts to perfection,
showing great downwind pace. At the final leeward mark, Oracle
had stretched out to a 2 minute 34 second lead, or nearly 400
meters, as the wind increased and steadied. Keeping a close watch
on their opponents, USA-76 sailed conservatively to ensure the
win, and by the final windward mark led by 2 minutes 13 seconds.

“With the evening breeze threatening
to slacken, Oracle stayed in phase with Alinghi on the final
downwind leg before taking the winner’s gun with an official
delta of 2 minutes and 13 seconds, over 700 meters in front of
the Swiss boat.”

West Marine Buys BoatU.S. Retail Stores
for $72 Million

January 15 – Watsonville

On Tuesday West Marine announced that it
would acquire all 62 BoatU.S. retail stores and its catalog and
wholesale units for $72 million cash, including the assumption
of some debt. The BoatU.S. name will remain on the stores. Boat/U.S.
will continue to offer services to boat owners, such as towing,
marine insurance and boat financing. Under terms of the deal,
West Marine will promote membership to the association, while
BoatU.S. will point its members to West Marine to buy supplies.

As of Wednesday morning, West Marine stock
was up nearly 8.5% in a down market.

Buoys Are Saving the Bottom

January 15 – Baie Columbie, St. Barth

Photo Latitude/Richard

Over the years, a lot of sailors have objected
to the installation of mooring buoys, suggesting that they were
only for sailors too incompetent to anchor safely. However mooring
buoys are rapidly becoming a fact of life in the Caribbean, but
solely for the purposes of protecting the environment. Anchors
dragging through coral and grasses are not good for the bottom.
These buoys are at Baie Columbie, St. Barth, a happy little island
first discovered by Columbus a little more than 500 years ago.
Chris named the island after his brother.

Forget the Giant Squid, Geronimo
Is Jamming

January 15 – Atlantic Ocean

Three days into their Jules Verne attempt,
Olivier de Kersauson and his maxi trimaran Geronimo have
covered 1,460 miles at an average speed of 20.96 knots – despite
a slowdown when it was reported a giant squid wouldn’t let go
of the rudder off the Strait of Gibraltar. The 120-ft tri is
now 112 miles ahead of the record pace set by Bruno Peyron in
the 110-ft maxi cat Orange.

More on the squid: “Its tentacles
were as thick as my arms plus the waterproofs. Amazing! To begin
with it was jammed between the top of the rudder blade and the
hull, and then it sent two of its tentacles down to the base
of the rudder blade and grasped it right the way around at fence
level. I saw it astern after it had let go, and I reckon it was
about 10 meters long – absolutely enormous. It’s the first time
I’ve ever seen one so big: it shook the whole boat, and it was
rather worrying at the time.”

Is the Around Alone Race Tough or What?

January 15 – Tauranga, NZ

Graham Dalton of Hexagon sailed
into Tauranga, New Zealand, from Cape Town third in class in
the Around Alone race, having battled 60-knot headwinds and torrential
rain the last 24 hours. Just behind him was Italian Simone Bianchetti
on Tiscali, who described the conditions as being like
“a bad, bad, bad night in hell.” In addition to having
blown his headsail in the middle of the night, a drop in wind
near the finish resulted in his taking four hours to cover the
last 10 miles to the line – at a time when he’d been out of food
for three days.

As we go to press, Bruce Schwab on the
Wylie 60 Ocean Planet and Brad van Liew on the 50-ft Tommy
Hilfiger Freedom America were close to each other tacking
down the coast of New Zealand. Van Liew will almost certainly
win his class honors easily again, while Schwab is battling not
to finish last again in Class I. It’s been a very difficult event
for Schwab, who is terribly underfunded and doesn’t seem to have
the right horse for the course. But you’ve got to salute Schwab’s
gritty determination. With just about nothing going right for
Schwab, he refuses to give up. After this, most everything should
seem easy.

YOTREPS

January 16 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.

Weather Updates

January 16 – 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 is at 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/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.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For views of sea states anywhere in the world,
see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.