July 17, 2001

Photo of the Day July 17 – Bora Bora If you’re like us, this photo of the Ericson 39 Maverick floating on the cobalt blue waters of the lagoon at Bora Bora makes you want to run out of your office, grab a little food at the 7/Eleven, then run down to your boat and head off for the South Pacific. More South Pacific photos below.

Photo Courtesy Maverick

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Ricka
Makes It

July 17 – Musket Cove, Fiji

It can be a rough – and even deadly – 1,100-mile passage from New Zealand to Fiji. Mel and Rebecca Shapiro of the Delaware-based Taswell 43 Ricka are looking happy, because they made it to Musket Cove in a little more than eight days. Although they had winds to 45 knots and 12-ft seas in the middle of the passage, which caused knockdowns to other boats in the fleet, their worst problems were a broken head, a torn main, and a halyard fouled in the roller furling. Now in Fiji, they’re enjoying the good life at Dick Smith’s Musket Cove Resort.

Photos Courtesy Ricka

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Yachts
Hitting Yachts

July 17 – Marina del Rey

On the evening of June 24, 1998, Brack Duker was sailing his 24-ft
sloop Velerito off Marina del Rey before the start of a
California YC ‘Sunset Series’ race. So was John Carroll with his
51-ft Arana. Velerito was sailing to weather on starboard,
Arana was reaching on port tack. Despite attempts to avoid
a collision, Arana hit Velerito, resulting in the
boat being a total loss. In addition, the collision caused the
tiller extension to jam into Duker’s right biceps.

The case went to binding arbitration in
April of this year. Duker’s attorney contended that Arana,
as the give-way vessel had an absolute right to stay clear of
Velerito. Arana’s attorney argued that Velerito
didn’t have sufficient look-out and should have taken evasive
measures when a collision was imminent. It was also argued that
Velerito didn’t hold a proper course. A medial expert testified
that, as a result of the collision, Duker has or will lose as
much as 50% use of his right arm.

Prior to the start of arbitration, Duker
turned down an informal offer of a $25,000 settlement. After four
days of arbitration, the arbitrator ruled that Arana was
the give-way vessel and had to but did not keep clear of Velerito,
and that Velerito had maintained her proper course. Arana
was found not to have had a proper lookout. Velerito was
also found to perhaps have had an inadequate lookout, and thus
found to be 15% negligent. The arbitrator awarded $500,000 to
Duker for personal injuries, $8,250 for property damage, and $3,010
for medical expenses. After being docked 15%, he received – before
lawyer’s fees – $434,818. Duker was also awarded $34,968 in costs.

All this according to a legal newspaper
in Southern California.

Maverick in the South Pacific July 17 – South Pacific Islands We thought the photo of the day was so special, we wanted to keep it separate from the others from skipper Tony Johnson and Terry Shrode of the Bay Area-based Maverick. The guys left the Bay Area in March, and have already made it down to Fiji to start their circumnavigation. The accompanying shots, however, are from the South Pacific. We’re not sure if they were taken by Tony or Terry, but we do know they are a feast for the eyes. Maverick from the masthead in the lagoon at Bora Bora Photos Courtesy Maverick

Sunset at Bora Bora as taken from Tahaa A motu at Tahaa The dock at Utaroa

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Baja
Ha-Ha Entries

July 17 – Baja Ha-Ha World Headquarters

4. Prime Directive / F-31 Trimaran / Dave Gilman &
Tint Khine / San Francisco
5. Still Searching / Beneteau Oceanis 440 / Ray & Rich
Mullinax / Martinez
6. Music / Beneteau Oceanis 40CC / Joe Scirica / Redondo
Beach
7. Ku’Uipo / Swift 40 / Mark & Sandy Joiner / Orinda
8. Route du Vent / Cheoy Lee Pedrick 43 / Seth & Bev
Bailey / Alameda
9. Neverland / Nor’Sea 27 / Naftula Furman / Fairfax
10. Silhouette / Cabo Rico 38 / Alan E. Wulzen / San Francisco

See www.baja-haha.com
for more info on late October’s rally.

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Local
Racing Update

July 17 – San Francisco and Monterey Bays

Last weekend, the San Francisco YC pulled off an unprecedented sweep of the annual PICYA Championships. Glenn Isaacson’s straight-out-of-the-box custom Schumacher 40 Q won the Lipton Cup; David Walker’s Mull 30 The Shadow won the Larry Knight Trophy; 85-year-old Frank Hinman sailed his Newport 30 Top Gallant to victory in the Little Lipton Cup; and Tim McGowan’s Santana 22 Summertime Blues won the Admiral’s Cup for the fifth straight year. Twenty boats, representing seven yacht clubs, competed in the three-race Cityfront series. Full results should be up soon on www.picya.org.

The shiny new Q rounds Blackaller

The first ocean race of the second half
was also held on Saturday – the pleasant 25.4-mile Lightship
II Race. Class winners were Jarlen (J/35), Dance Away
(Tuna 35), Archimedes (Express 27), Silkye (WylieCat
30) and Georgia (Van De Stadt 40). As always, check out
www.yra.org for full results.

A trio of class championships also occurred
last weekend: OneWorld crew Mark Mendelblatt topped the
67-boat Laser North Americans in a tough 10-race, 1-throwout series.
Stanford sailing coach Steve Bourdow was second, 12 points back.
See www.stfyc.org for complete
results . . . Santa Cruz Yacht Club hosted the Catalina 30 Nationals,
but haven’t gotten the results to us yet . . . The first Columbia
5.5 Nationals in twenty years were held in the Delta, with Drummer
(Alan Weaver, Warren Sankey, Adam Sadeg) topping a 9-boat fleet.
Doyle Sails head honcho Bill Colombo was second. Tune in to next
month’s Racing Sheet in Latitude
38 for more on all the above.

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YOTREPS

July 17 – 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/

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Weather
Updates

July 17 – 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/.

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 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.