March 1, 2002

Photo of the Day

March 1 –
San Francisco Bay Area

Today’s Photo of the Day is the cover of
the March issue of Latitude 38 – now on the streets.

Photo Latitude/Annie

50 Seconds Decides PV Race

March 1 – Nuevo Vallarta

The San Diego YC’s 1,000-mile Puerto Vallarta
Race had good wind for the first 700 miles, no wind for the last
300 miles – but a sensational finish. After nearly six days of
racing, Class B and overall honors were in the hands of two J/160s,
Stark Raving Mad and Innocent Merriment. Raving
Mad triumphed over Merriment by just 50 seconds! Our
Racing Editor was aboard the latter, so you’re sure to hear more
about it. Third went to Lina, an SC 50 from Ventura.

Doug Baker’s Andrews 70 Magnitude
took AA and finished sixth overall. The TransPac 52 Victoria
won A and finished seventh overall. Checkmate, the old
Peterson 50, won C and was fifteenth overall.

Yankee
in Sri Lanka

March 1 – Sri Lanka

Tony Johnson and Terry Shrode of the Richmond-based
Ericson 39 Yankee have a Changes in the new issue from
Sri Lanka. Alas, they didn’t have photos in time for us, so we
had to use ones from Thailand. Now we’ve got some of Sri Lanka.

Terry The Biker
Photos Courtesy Yankee

Geronimo’s
Jules Verne Attempt Is Over; Orange to Start Tomorrow

March 1 – Brest, France

Olivier de Kersauson’s attempt at the Jules
Verne record with the 110-ft trimaran Geronimo ended just
south of the equator today with unspecified steering problems.
The report is that there are problems steering at high speed
and in certain other conditions, so she will return to Brest,
France. Unlike most modern tris, which have rudders on all three
hulls, Geronimo only has one on the main hull. We’ll have
more on this as it becomes available.

Bruno Peyron and the maxi-cat Orange
have committed to restarting their Jules Verne attempt tomorrow.
Half an hour into their first attempt several weeks ago, the
top 15 feet of the mast broke.

The Heinie Is On, and the Weather Is Perfect

March 1 – St. Maarten

The 22nd annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta
started today, with a staggering 300 boats in 17 classes from
31 countries. Conditions are an idyllic 12 to 18 knots of wind
in moderate seas, with tropical sun. In addition to the regular
regatta, there is the Scotiabank Tallship Race & Parade,
the Caribbean Big Boat Series, and a special 12 Meter Exhibition
class.

The big boat class is drawing a lot of
attention, with California’s Roy Disney having entered Pyewacket,
his Reichel-Pugh 75. Other vessels in the class include James
Muldoon’s Santa Cruz 72 Donnybrook, Bill Alcott’s Santa
Cruz 70 Equation, Trey Fitzgibbons’ Meritan 65 Mischievous,
Simon Handley’s Canadian 12 meter Geronimo, and Tom Hill’s
Andrews 70 Titan. Famed French multihull racer Laurent
Bourgnon will be on Orange, a Custom 46 catamaran.

A new class this year is the Open Class,
an informal, ‘non-serious’ class to attract the less competitive
vessels which might not otherwise enter the regatta. The basic
aim is to allow more people on a wider variety of cruising craft
to take part in the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta – without the
hassle of a formal CSA rating certificate, etc. Before the first
race, a participating vessel be given a simplified CSA rating
based upon the numerical data supplied to the race committee.
After each race, that rating will be adjusted based on performance.

The regatta Web site at www.heinekenregatta.com
has daily race results in real time, class divisions, boat and
rating data and the results of previous regattas.

Stars ‘n Stripes
Loses Mast

March 1 – Los Angeles

One of Dennis Conner’s IACC boats – the
syndicate won’t say which – lost her mast in 12 knots of wind
yesterday during sail trials off Los Angeles Harbor. Conner,
sailing for the New York YC, has three boats – two old boats
from Abracadabra and a new one that was launched last week.

Great Sailing

March 1 – Northern California

It looks like great sailing weather this
weekend – get out there!

YOTREPS

March 1 – 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

March 1 – 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 has moved
to 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/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.