January 25, 2001

Mistake in Mexico?

January 25 – Mexico City

“I received a copy of the ‘A Major Shock’ article published
in ‘Lectronic Latitude on January
22, the one about the newly instituted port fees in Mexico.
Although I realize we are all worried and distressed about this
new law, I am glad to see that you pointed out at the end, “not
to panic, just cross our fingers and hope for the best”
– which is exactly the way to handle this. To my understanding,
under the new law these fees should only be applied if you are
requesting a despacho to another port, foreign or domestic. However,
I understand that some misinformed Port Captains are charging
for any movement, such as going out fishing, diving or anchoring
out. As we speak, my mother. Terry Grossman, as well as my father,
Edward Grossman, and my sister, Kirsten Grossman, are all in
a meeting in Mexico City, trying to change this. I’m sure that
they will present various options that would be better than the
current one. So I agree, let’s all cross our fingers and hope
that the new administration starts making some changes in the
best interest of tourists and tourism. I did not only write to
you to agree with you, I mainly wanted to correct you on a small
bit of information. My mother is not the Head of Tourism for
the state of Sonora, and we wouldn’t want the real one to get
angry. She is, however, the President of the Marina Association
of Mexico.”

– Heidi Grossman

The Joys of Cruising in Mexico
Photos Latitude/Richard

Thanks for the information and correction. We’ll be eagerly
awaiting any news your mother might be able to provide.

Cruising

Yachtie Bars

January 25 – Walnut Creek

“Yesterday’s ‘Lectronic Latitude raised a question I’ve
been pondering since returning to San Francisco after three years
of cruising from Darwin to Barcelona,” writes Fred Reynolds
of the C&C 34 ‘Sarah’. “I’ve been to a lot of great
yachtie bars in a lot of great sailing towns, from Newport to
Antigua, to Jimmy’s Lighthouse in Phuket – and dozens and dozens
of others. Yesterday you mentioned the Cafe Sport in the Azores.
So I have to ask, what is the great yachtie bar – where cruisers,
daysailors and racers hang out – in San Francisco or even the
greater Bay Area? That one spot with just the right atmosphere,
just the right background music, just the right ‘latitude attitude’.
There must be one, but I can’t find it.”

It would be hard for there to be a single yachtie bar in the
Bay Area, as it’s circular. But in our neck of the woods, the
two most likely candidates – and they’re not really even close
– would be Sam’s Anchor Cafe in Tiburon and Smitty’s in Sausalito.
Sam’s is kind of a yuppie dining-on-the-water place in the afternoon,
but after Corinthian or San Francisco YC races, and after dark,
it becomes pretty interesting. The only knock on the place is
that they no longer allow dancing on the bar after Chip, the
bartender par excellence – broke his ankle in a bar-top dancing
accident. We find this policy to be complete rubbish. If you’re
down in St. Barts, many of the best bars and restaurants not
only allow dancing on tables and bars, they encourage it. As
for Smitty’s in Sausalito, some consider it a bit of a dive –
which is why it often appeals to mega yacht crews from Schoonmaker
looking to ‘slum it’ a little in a raffish place.

Sam’s, a small taste of neon in quiet Tiburon

The gregarious crowd in Sam’s bar

Photos Courtesy www.samscafe.com
(not surprisingly, we couldn’t find Smitty’s on the Web!)

But we’re anything but bar experts, so we’re taking nominations
for great yachtie bars, not only in San Francisco, but anywhere
in the world.

The Race Update

January 25 – Southern Ocean

Grant Dalton and ‘Club Med’ continued to stretch their lead
over second place ‘Innovation Explorer’. ‘Club Med’ covered 566
miles – an average of more than 24 knots – for the last 24 hours,
while ‘Innovation Explorer’ got caught in lighter wind and fell
even further behind. We’ve even heard speculation that Dalton
might pull into New Zealand – the course takes the fleet between
the North and South Islands – for a 24 hour fix-it and beer break.
But we doubt it, as ‘Club Med’ isn’t that far ahead.

Rankings and positions as of
25 Jan 2001 15:00:00 GMT
1. Club Med / 45°42.84’S – 82°03.28’E / dtf 15,208.3
2. Innovation Explorer / 49°40.68’S – 59°43.04’E
/ dtl 696.8 miles
3. Team Adventure / 33°54.40’S – 18°25.24’E /
dtl 2,732.7 miles
4. Warta Polpharma / 41°51.12’S – 4°00.40’W /
dtl 3,174.3 miles
5. Team Legato / 29°14.64’S – 18°11.88’W / dtl
4,196.7 miles