Photos of the Day:
Stanford, Marin Catholic Make Waves at Rose Bowl
January 5 – Long Beach
Stanford got the best of USC and 18 other
college sailing teams in the 15th annual Rose Bowl Regatta, hosted
by USC at Alamitos Bay YC Saturday and Sunday.
Sophomore Brian Haines (from San Diego,
son of Robbie Haines), with freshman Caroline Young (from Florida)
as crew, sailed Stanford’s “A” boat to three wins in
eight races to lead a combined A and B victory by six points
over the USC Trojans, who suffered in the two light-air races
Sunday. The Trojans were missing their best skipper, Mikee Anderson,
who is competing in the International 420 Worlds in Australia.
Top-ranked Harvard did not compete but
second-ranked Dartmouth was third, three points behind USC.
Schools from Hawaii to the East Coast were
represented in the largest combined college and high school regatta
in the nation.
Among 47 high school teams from throughout
California, Marin Catholic High School of Kentfield scored a
major upset in winning the Gold fleet, while Loyola of Los Angeles
won the Silver fleet.
Marin Catholic Coach Dan Malpas said, “It’s
the first time a Northern California team has done this well
ever.” Marin Catholic’s team, which draws support from San
Francisco YC, was composed of Cameron McCloskey and his sister
Michaela alternating with Delaney Lynch on the A boat, and Morgan
Gutenkunst and Becky Mabardy on the B boat. All are juniors or
seniors.
Marin Catholic won both the A and B groups
to finish a whopping 54 points ahead of Newport Harbor. Coronado
was three points behind them. A younger Marin Catholic ‘JV’ team,
which has Paul Cayard’s son Daniel as a crew member, placed seventh.
Plenty of wind the first day followed a
full day of rain Friday, but Sunday wasn’t windy enough to complete
the 15 scheduled rounds. The races were run on the protected
inner bay, where the harbormaster’s headquarters flew a red Small
Craft Advisory flag all the first day as a chilling northeasterly
wind of 15 knots gusting to 20 whistled through the rigging of
the little boats. Capsizes were common, and the sailors soon
learned that the 57-degree water was as cold as the breeze.
For Rich Roberts’ complete report and more
photos, plus complete results, see www.abyc.org.
Photos Rich Roberts
Boaters Arrive and Depart La Paz as Usual
January 5 – La Paz, BCS
Jack Swords of La Paloma reports
from La Paz, “The recent letter suggesting cruisers bypass
La Paz this year due to the supposed effects of Hurricane Marty
is like ‘the news of my death is greatly exaggerated’. This is
our fifth year in Marina de la Paz, and things are upbeat and
moving forward. Pilings are being driven, lumber delivered, docks
reconstructed, and boaters arriving and departing as usual. I
see about 35 slips with full services and more to be added soon
here in the Marina. The anchorage is vast and quite available.
La Paz is better than ever with Christmas lighting throughout,
a brand-new Malecon, and great weather (today, Christmas Day,
it is 82 degrees, 4 mph wind). Marty has left some billboards
down, but other effects are difficult to encounter.
“Been here a month and have not heard
of anyone with dengue or seen a mosquito, but a few colds are
going around. The shore and islands are green and lush and diving
has been excellent with very nice visibility. Dive boats and
fishing boats are coming in with happy customers. The people
in La Paz are friendly and helpful as usual. We have been all
over the mainland and this city is truly special and should not
be missed.”
Profligate’s
Progress
January 5 – St. Barth, FWI
With the start of the new year, there is
much to report on Latitude’s 25th anniversary cruise in
the Caribbean. The most exciting is that here, in the lee of
Fort Oscar, St. Barth, with the French tricolor flying above
us, we have something of a California catamaran corner. Just
off our port bow is Mark and Irmgard’s Livermore-based Catana
581 Aurora. They and their three children arrived here
shortly before the new year, having recently completed their
third trip across the Atlantic in 13 months. They were ocean
virgins when they started. Aboard with them for the holidays
are San Francisco Farr 40 sailors Pat and Bernadette Nolan and
son Pat Jr. Pat the elder had big news for us. He tells us that
Norman Devant of Quantum Sails and he have bought Sail California,
the Northern California dealers for J/Boats. And that he and
Mark Bernhard have decided to do World Cruising Limited’s Around
the World Rally which starts in late 2005. As much as Mark wants
to do it in a catamaran, at this time multihulls aren’t being
allowed. We sure hope Pat isn’t pulling our leg about these bits
of news.
The Nolans, left, and the Bernhards, right, on the town in Gustavia,
St. Barth. The kids were thrilled to later get an autograph from
P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, or whatever Sean Combs is currently calling
himself.
Anchored about 100 yards off our port quarter
is John Haste’s Perry 52 catamaran Little Wing from San
Diego. Many cruisers in Mexico will remember John and his cat
from having done the last four Banderas Bay Regattas out of Paradise
Marina. Haste had a tough time getting here. First, most of his
electronics were damaged during a lightning storm in Nicaragua.
Then he was robbed of the replacement electronics while in Cartagena,
Colombia. When he gets a little time, he’s going to tell us about
having to buy them back from the secret police. He’s also going
to have to fill us in on the status of Suhuey, the very lovely
former employee of Club Nautico in Cartagena, who is now aboard Little Wing. We tried asking Suhuey herself, but she doesn’t
speak English, and our Spanish is as bad as John’s. Ah, the intrigue
of the Caribbean. Aboard Little Wing for the holidays
are John and Marilyn Folvig, and John and Jenn Folvig, who have
cruised their San Diego based Perry 72 Elysium extensively
in Mexico the last few years. Also aboard is Ha-Ha vet Mark Sciarretta
of the San Diego-based Consigliare, who brought along
his foredeck crew, Sue.
Jenn Folvig of Elysium and Little Wing, looking
lovely, despite getting seasick on the ferry from St. Martin
to St. Barth, ending a long trip from Chicago
John and Marilyn Folvig of Elysium with Suhuey and John
Haste of Little Wing.
Yet another California-based cat in the
area is John and Lynn Ringsies’ Lagoon 410 Moonshadow.
The Bel Marin Keys couple had done two tours of duty running
crewed yachts for The Moorings, but will be doing select charters
on their own cat, which they bought new and just sailed across
the Atlantic.
Off our port bow is Warren Stryker’s Bounty
II Fifties Girl. We met Warren in the early ’70s in Sausalito
and became so enamored with his Bounty II, that we bought a sistership
on which we started Latitude 38. The Bounty II was the
first large production fiberglass sailboat ever built, in Sausalito
near Schoonmaker. Warren sailed to the Virgins about 23 years
ago and has been there ever since. If we remember correctly, Fifties Girl went down in Hurricane Marilyn. After three
months on the bottom, Stryker bought her from the insurance company,
raised her, rebuilt the same French diesel engine, and has been
sailing her like crazy ever since, including to St. Barth from
the Virgins, a very nasty passage, just for the New Year’s Eve
Race.
The crew of Fifties Girl, who battled very rough weather
to make it to St. Barth for the regatta: Darlene, Warren, Jean-Phillip,
and Judy. The 11-year-old Jean-Phillip puked 15 times, and Warren
and Darlene couldn’t eat for 24 hours, so it was good that Judy
came through.
Fifties Girl, at rest at Grand Saline, St. Barth. She’s
a 45-year old glass boat that spent three months on the bottom
– and still kicks ass.
Profligate, Aurora, an unknown boat, and Fifties Girl,
all on the hook at beautiful Grand Saline. The water was bluer
than blue, warm as a bathtub, and when a particularly good wave
threw boogie-boarders John-Phillip and the Wanderer all the way
up the beach, they landed at the feet of international cover
girl beauty and Wild On Travel host Brook Burke. We’ve ridden
lots of waves that ended well, but none quite that well.
The first Californian to come banging on Profligate’s hull when we got here was Pete Passano, who
along with Bob van Blaricom built the 37-ft steel Sea Bear
in Santa Venetia behind the San Rafael Civic Center. We hadn’t
seen Pete since ’96 in St. Barth, at which time he had sailed
the boat about 50,000 miles, including singlehanded around Cape
Horn. When we asked him what he’d been up to since, he mentioned
he’d been back and forth across the Atlantic nine times, had
circumnavigated Newfoundland, had singlehanded to South Georgia
Island, then to Cape Town, had hit an iceberg . . . you know,
the normal stuff. Did we mention he’s 74 years old? Obviously,
we’ll have more on him in the next issue of Latitude
38.
Pete Passano, with Marina, his current crewmember on the much
traveled Sea Bear.
It was a wild holiday here in St. Barth,
made even wilder by a cold front that came down with much more
north than normal in the wind. As a result, there were crosswinds
at the already dicey little airport, shutting it down for much
of three days before New Year’s. This meant that there were lots
of billionaires, multimillionaires, movie moguls, actors and
actresses, captains of industry and others who couldn’t get to
their villas and/or yachts as easily as in years past. The Wanderer
and Doña de Mallorca, who clearly don’t fit any of the
categories above, actually made it without too much trouble,
having flown out from San Francisco on Christmas Day, arriving
on the 26th before the winds went wacko. Unfortunately, our $1,100
Balmar replacement duel output alternator was given a side trip
to Jamaica by some baggage handler for American Airlines. Bless
American’s hearts, they had the bag to us in St. Barth just 18
hours later under the most hectic of conditions. Ever since we
arrived, the wind has been quite gusty. In fact, Mark and Irmgard
of Aurora tell us they had rougher conditions making the
15 miles from St. Martin to St. Barth than they did in their
2,800-mile trip across the Atlantic!
Megayachts in a mini town – Gustavia, St. Barth – getting ready
for New Year’s. As New Years go, it was a good one, but not a
great one.
Private note to Paul Biery: It’s a shame
you couldn’t have hung around for New Year’s, when Profligate and you-know-what cat broad-reached together in 18 to 25
knots. It was much fun and the results were surprising
P.S. The Caribbean waters are the bluest
of blue, the water is oh-so warm, and the sailing is fantastic!
A start in the New Year’s Eve Regatta. Mischievous, the
second boat, is 67 feet long, which will give you an idea how
long the ketch Sariyah might be. Photos Latitude/Richard
Want to Be a Part of Latitude’s
25th Anniversary Adventure?
January 5 – Caribbean Sea
Here are some of the major opportunities:
February 1-8: Cruise of the British Virgins.
Great sailing in one of the world’s most idyllic sailing environments.
With good breezes and mostly flat water, we expect to hit 20
knots between visits to the Bitter End YC, Foxy’s, Soper’s Hole,
and all the other fun spots. This will be a relatively mellow
week, and sailing skills are not essential. The cost is $1,500,
not including transportation to and from the BVIs.
March 1-7: Heineken Regatta in St. Martin.
As if three days of fun racing with the likes of Roy Disney and
Hasso Plattner’s new MaxZ86s won’t be enough, French sailing legend Luc Poupon, who set the Transatlantic record with Fluery Michon, has offered to race with us. And prior
to the racing, we’ll have three or four days of cruising at St.
Barth, our version of heaven on earth. This will be a very busy
week, with lots of racing, partying, boogie-boarding, and the
like. You must be or think young, be in excellent health, and
at least know the basics of sailing. The cost is $1,500/person,
and you must take care of your own transportation to St. Barth.
March 28-April 5: The BVI Spring Regatta
in the British Virgin Islands. Once again, Disney and Plattner’s
new rockets are expected to be there, as well as lots of other
great racing yachts, and a bunch of more fun-loving cruising
cats such as John Haste’s Perry 52 Little Wing. This will
be a festive week, but with not quite as intense partying at
the Heineken, which is the gold standard for Caribbean wild & crazy. $1,500, not counting transportation.
April 14-21: Antigua Classic Regatta. Profligate
obviously won’t be able to enter this most magnificent of classic
regattas in the world, but she’ll make a superb viewing platform with which to watch J-Class yachts and others,
and we hope to have some informal catamaran races between the
classic races. If you haven’t been to English Harbor, Falmouth
Harbor, or Shirely Heights for the Sunday night steel drum music, your sailing career is not complete.
There will even be a special appearance by Mike Rose, to explain
the ‘Tot Club. Furthermore, you’ll be on the scene just before
the start of Antigua Sailing Week. $1,500 not counting transportation.
April 25 to sometime in early May: Antigua
to the San Blas Islands, and through the Panama Canal. This trip
involves watching the first race or two of Antigua Sailing Week,
1,100 miles of downwind sailing in the trades, a stop at the
San Blas Islands, which are more like the South Pacific than
the South Pacific, and a transit of the Panama Canal. You must
be in excellent health and have decent sailing skills. The duration of the trip will probably be 12
days to two weeks, but we can’t know for sure until we get a
transit date. $2,200, not counting transportation. Try to get
an ‘open jaw’ with American Airlines.
American Airlines is the best way to get
to the Caribbean. It only takes 30,000 frequent flier miles from
the West Coast, making it one of the very best possible uses
of miles.
Profligate
will also be available for charter in January and February if
you want to put a group together.
We run an ‘adventure’ program on Profligate,
so everyone is treated as a working part of the crew. Profligate
has very large accommodations, but is functional rather than
luxurious. If you want a flat screen TV and air-conditioning
in your cabin, would have a problem with showering on the aft
deck in the tropics, or clink on your glass when you want more
wine, this isn’t the program for you. You belong on a cruise ship.
For the same events in the Caribbean, we’d
also recommend John and Lynn’s spanking new Lagoon 41 cat Moonshine,
$1,500 per person, or the new Gunboat 62 Tribe, about
$15,000 a week for eight people. These are great boats with
great crew.
YOTREPS
January 5 – 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.
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.
