January 16, 2004

Puddle Jump Party Announced

January 16 – Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

When we met newlyweds Garry and Lisa Blackwood at last year’s
Pacific Puddle Jump Party, they told us they considered the Puddle
Jump to be an extended honeymoon. They’ve now sailed all the
way to New Zealand in their Westsail 32 Scot Free. The
honeymoon continues!
Photo Latitude/Andy

Down in the sunny latitudes of Mexico,
early spring is the ideal window of time to set sail for the
isles of the South Pacific – or, as we like to call it, make
the Pacific Puddle Jump. In anticipation of March and April departures
for the Marquesas and points west, would-be Puddle Jumpers are
already comparing notes and sharing crossing strategies in anchorages
from Cabo to Z-town.

In order to honor them, Latitude 38 will host its annual
Pacific Puddle Jumpers Party, February 24, at the new Vallarta
Yacht Club, which is located at Paradise Village, just a few
miles north of Puerto Vallarta. If you are in touch with cruisers
who plan to ‘jump the puddle’ this year, please help us spread
the word. Each crew will receive an official Puddle Jump burgee
and will attain their 15 minutes of fame in the pages of Latitude.
(Sorry, only bona fide Puddle Jumpers may attend.)

5 Continents, 50 Countries, Around the
World. By Bicycle and by Sailboat.

January 16 – Skipton, UK

Yorkshire lad Alastair Humphreys is traveling
around the world by bicycle for a good cause. What’s the sailing
tie-in? He explains, “I heard of your illustrious publication
while hitching a ride on a yacht from Colombia to Puerto Vallarta.

“I left England 2.5 years ago to cycle
around the world raising funds and awareness for Hope and Homes
for Children [www.hopeandhomes.org].
I have now ridden 25,000 miles through 42 countries and will
shortly be entering the U.S., where I will ride up the West Coast
to Alaska.

Photo Courtesy www.roundtheworldbybike.com

“Unfortunately for round the world
cyclists most of the world is covered in oceans. To try and retain as much purity to my circumnavigation
as possible I am attempting to not use an aeroplane and to use only pedal
and wind power as much as possible. I managed to get from Africa to South America
aboard the ex-Whitbread yacht Maiden in the Cape to Rio race,
and skirted round the Darien Gap of Colombia and the Panama Canal
aboard Hannah Rose, a Tartan 37.

“After Alaska I need to get somehow
from the American Coast to either Asia or Australia. Also, I
am hoping while in the U.S. to give as many slide show presentations
as possible, which may perhaps interest yacht clubs?”

For more, see www.roundtheworldbybike.com.

Frequent Flyer

January 16 – Tiburon

Loran ‘Doc’ Mebine aboard Machree at CYC
Photo Latitude/JR

If you’ve been reading the print version
of Latitude 38, you’ll know that we’ve been gathering
information on the ‘most frequently sailed boats’ on the Bay.
These are the boats – and there’s at least one in every marina
– that seem to be out enjoying the Bay constantly, winter or
summer.

The photo here is of Loran ‘Doc’ Mebine,
who probably got more ‘nominations’ than anybody else. Doc joined
the Corinthian YC back in 1940 and has been taking his lovely
old wooden R-class sloop Machree out regularly pretty
much ever since. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are his usual
sailing days and only pouring rain will keep the boat in the
slip. This regimen puts Doc among the top five most frequent
sailors of our Bay waters. A retired optometrist, Doc may also
be worthy of the title ‘elder statesman of Bay sailing.’ He turned
90 last year. Despite the mileage, his legs remain as agile and
quick as his mind. Who says sailing doesn’t keep you young?!

We also found a guy who sails (engineless)
in and out of his slip, a sailor who spends half the year living
and sailing out of Monterey (and the other half in New England
working), a fellow who does all of his sailing in the morning
and has the boat put away by lunchtime, and a solo sailor who
most enjoys his sailing at twilight.

Find out more about Doc and these other
‘frequent flyers’ of Bay sailing in the February issue of Latitude 38.

The River That Didn’t Run Through It

January 16 – We Know It’s Somewhere in
Central America

Thanks to the alert readers who have let
us know that Rio Magdelena runs through Colombia, not Panama
as we wrote in a Sightings caption in the January issue. What
can we say: fresh water was never our strong suit. Our apologies
for the error.

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 Links

January 16 – Pacific
Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

Check out this guide to San Francisco Bay
Navigational Aids: http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/sfports.html.

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

The site for the Pacific Ocean sea states
has moved to http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/PacRegSSA.shtml.

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