January 22, 2002

Photo of the Day

January 22 – Southampton, UK

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from CNN in London. It shows Joseph
Vittoria, former head of Avis Rent A Car, and the head of United
Kingdom warship builder Vosper Thornycroft, standing in the mold
for Vittoria’s new boat, the 245-ft sloop Mirabella V.
CNN claims that she will be the largest superyacht in the world,
proving that although the network was started by a winning skipper
of the America’s Cup, the network doesn’t know diddly about boats.
Mirabella will, however, be the largest sloop in the world.
Indeed, as we previously reported in Latitude, she won’t
ever be able to come inside the Golden Gate, because her mast
will be 80 feet taller than the roadway.

Photo Courtesy www.cnn.com

Vittoria is no stranger to large sloops.
He set up a yard in Thailand in ’87, and subsequently built three
131-foot, Farr designed sloops. We sailed with one of them in
Antigua a few years ago, and then again two weeks ago in Antigua.
The amazing thing about these three boats is the quality of construction
. . . in a place where the boats were launched by elephants!
When she’s completed in 2003, Mirabella’s expected to
charter in the Med and then the Caribbean. We imagine there will
be teething problems, because everything will be bigger than
ever before. The working sail area, for example, won’t be much
smaller than the size of a football field. We want to see the
genoa blocks and roller furling gear for that. When all is sorted
out, she’ll have 12 crew for the 12 guests.

Vittoria’s new boat won’t be the biggest,
however. In fact, two Northern Californians are building considerably
larger sailboats – although not sloops. We’ll tell you about
them soon.

Zihua Sail Fest Coming Together

January 22 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico

“As of this morning we have 32 boats
signed up for the parade and daysail for Zihua Fest in Zihuatanejo
on February 1-3,” reports Jimmie of Dry Martini.
“In addition, we have 35 people making donations to be aboard
Profligate and Capricorn Cat for the charity race
between the two boats. In addition, 55 people are due for the
party, and we’ve sold out of the first printing of T-shirts.
We’re now putting together a raffle for prizes to be donated
by the local merchants. The parade and daysail are going to be
led by the port captain. The beneficiary for all profits of the
event will be the Nezahalcoyoltl Indian School here in Zihua,
a most worthy charity.”

What the Hail! In Paradise?

January 22 – Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

You’d think a snowball would have about
as much of a chance in Puerto Vallarta as it would in Hell. But
as these photos prove, that’s not the case. One night earlier
this month, there was some turbulent weather at Nuevo Vallarta.
Winds blew up to 50 knots, but even more unusual, it hailed 3/8″
hailstones for quite a period. Some folks staying on boats reported
as much as two inches of hail on the decks. Only a little was
left in the morning, however, when Dick Markie took these photos.

Corinthian Midwinters

January 22 – Tiburon

The first of two Corinthian Yacht Club midwinter weekends took
place under cold, sunny skies on January 19 and 20. The large
fleet had good wind on Saturday, but not much on Sunday. Each
day has its own set of results, and the list is so long, we’ll
direct you to the CYC
Web site to see it, where you’ll find more photos too. You
can also check out the February edition of Latitude
38 for the top place finishers. The series wraps
up on February 16 and 17.

Regulars at CYC summer races will notice that the wind is blowing
backwards. . .

. . .Of course, any wind is better than none.

Wired, one of five Beneteau 40.7s

The famous Saturday night raft-up

Sick of Gray Skies?

January 22 – Sea of Cortez

YOTREPS

January 22 – 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

January 22 – 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 www.nws.mbay.net/home.html.

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.