We’re back in St. Barth after a couple
of weeks in the Bay Area helping finish the March issue of Latitude 38, which
comes out tomorrow, and getting reacquainted with gray skies
and cold temperatures.
Photo Doña de Mallorca
While away, we missed Carnival in St. Barth.
While it’s not Rio or even Trinidad, everyone seemed to have
a grand time. Doña de Mallorca was there to take photos,
and we’ll have a big selection on Wednesday.
Zuni Bear
Wins SORC on a Tie-Breaker
March 1 – Miami Beach, FL
The fleet completed one race yesterday,
on the last day of the 2004 Acura SORC, held just off Miami Beach,
where two classes were decided on tie-breakers.
In the Farr 40 class Peter De Ridder and Mean Machine of Monaco took first place with 54 points
overall. John Kilroy Jr.’s Samba Pa Ti, from Los Angeles,
featuring Paul Cayard, earned second place overall with 60 points.
Jim Richardson’s Barking Mad of Boston finished in third
place with 63 points. HM King Harald V of Norway and Fram
finished in 16th place overall.
Daniel Meyers’ Numbers, featuring
Brad Butterworth and Ken Read, earned first place in the IMS
class, tallying six first place finishes on the week.
The Sailing World Course saw fierce
competition in the PHRF and J/105 classes. Richard Bergmann’s
J/105 Zuni Bear, of San Francisco and San Diego, and Jim
Doane’s Flame, of Boston both finished competition with
16 points. Zuni Bear, with two first place finishes, won
the tie-break to take home top honors. A tie-break between two
Miami-based boats saw Bob Berg and Love That Chicken edge
out Gordon Ettie’s Sazerac for first place in the PHRF
3 class.
Race management was provided by volunteers
from the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, the Coral Reef Yacht Club,
Miami Yacht Club, Lauderdale Yacht Club and Nassau Yacht Club.
For more, including complete results and photos, see www.acurasorc.com/reports/index.php. Also
see our report in the April issue of Latitude
38.
Profligate’s Progress
March 1 – St. Barth, FWI
The greatest boat show in the world continues
in St. Barth. When we dinghied in yesterday, side by side at
the Charles de Gaulle Quai were Georgia and Ranger.
Georgia is a big, fat, 150-ft plus maroon cruising boat that
to our eye has a striking resemblance to a multi-tiered wedding
cake. Ranger, on the other hand, is the latest, and most
likely fastest J Class yacht ever. That means she’s about 140
feet, and as low and sleek as Georgia is big and fat.
Our sources tell us they are both owned by John Williamson, a
big developer out of Atlanta.
Georgia and Ranger, the odd couple, from the sterns.
Ranger,
alas, didn’t have the best start in life. On the day she was
launched, so the story goes, somebody discovered that the Morse
cable to the transmission was reversed, meaning when put in reverse,
she’d go forward, and vice versa. While that was being changed,
the boat was apparently turned around. So when the order came
to put the boat in reverse, she was actually put into forward
– and
slammed hard enough into the dock that she had to be hauled,
repaired, and repainted – a three month delay that resulted in
their having to sail down the North Sea in the horrible month
of November. Anyway, the yacht looks
magnificent.
Another shot of the ‘odd couple’. The boat in the foreground
is Ticonderoga. She’s only 72 feet.
All the talk in the area is of this weekend’s
Heineken Regatta, and largely of the upcoming battle between
Roy Disney and Hasso Plattner’s new MaxZ86s with canting keels
and canard rudders. While flying down to join Profligate,
Charlie, one of our crewmembers for the Heinie, found himself
sitting next to Stan Honey, navigator on Disney’s Pyewacket.
Honey was very gracious, and invited Charlie to have a tour of
the boat.
First thing yesterday morning, we were
awakened by Cherie Sogsti, vet of many Ha-Has, banging on the
hull. She’s down here as part of a group, many of whom are from
Newport Beach, who have chartered two 50-footers with about eight
people on each boat. Anyway, we took Cherie and a bunch of her
friends, with Guy, one of our Heineken crew, up to Grand Saline
for boogieboarding, swimming, and looking at all the topless
women. Everyone had a great time and the water was spectacular.
After stopping in Gustavia to pick up more of our crew, we continued
around the island to Baie St. Jean, for more swimming and fun.
As beautiful as the day had been, the forecast
was for a strong front with 25 to 30 knots to come through. And
it did. We made it back just in time to get the hook down before
the sky turned dark, the wind howled, and the rain poured down.
Nonetheless, when Cherie and Guy checked their skin at the end
of the day, they found they’d gotten quite a bit of sun. As the
photo shows, Guy needs to work on more coverage with the sunblock.
By the end of the day, it was raining and blowing, but Cherie
and Guy had still gotten more than enough sun. Guy, obviously,
needs to get longer arms for better coverage on his back.
When reading the Heinie rules, you can’t
help but be struck by how different attitudes are in the Caribbean
versus back in the States. Back in the States, safety is everything,
and fun is whatever might be left over after the lawyers get
done. Not in St. Martin. In order to be eligible for the ‘spirit
of Heineken’ trophy, each member of the boat’s crew has to drink
a minimum of 10 cans of Heinie a day, and preferably three or
four times that. And at least one member of the crew had to have
drank so much that he/she puked profusely. Furthermore, contestants
are advised that in order to win the award, they have to party
– “and we mean really party,” say the instructions.
Not that folks here need much encouragement. Apparently 360,000
cans of Heinie were consumed during last year’s event.
The not quite so wild BVI Spring Festival
is at the end of March.
Today’s last thought is about following
the weather. A couple of months ago there was considerable discussion
about whether lots of cruisers in Mexico were obsessed with weather
reports, even when making very short sails up the Sea of Cortez.
It turns out that the French have an expression about those who
follow the weather to the extreme: “He who follows French
Meteo (French weather service) never leaves the disco.”
You’ve heard of ‘doctors without borders?’ These are ‘sailors
without suits’. Photos Latitude/Richard and Doña de Mallorca
10 Years after the First Ha-Ha, and Still
out Cruising
March 1 – St. Martin, FWI
Rob and Mary Messenger, who did the first
ever Baja Ha-Ha in 1994 aboard the 46-ft Maude I Jones,
report they are in St. Martin and still cruising after more than
10 years. But not for long. Their money is finally running so
low, they will have to consider the four letter word . . . ‘work’.
But we’re hoping we can get them to crew for us in the Heineken
Regatta this weekend aboard Profligate.
Fun and Fixes with Capricorn Cat
March 1 – Aur, Marshall Islands
Vallejo’s Blair Grinols checks in on fun
in the Marshall Islands with his 46-ft Capricorn Cat and
fellow cruisers, some of whom are also from Northern California.
“All of the boats here at Aur, C’Est
La Vie, Roxanne, Karmaladen, Cardinal Sin, Infidian, and
a French boat, Ramonvert, have been loading on the Cat
each morning and we have been going out to the pass to dive the
outside of the reef. Awesome. 150 to 200-ft visibility.
“We were scheduled to go out again
today but I suffered a couple of breakdowns that required a lay
day so I could fix things. One of the water bladders sprung a
leak. Easily fixed. Port engine reverse gear refused to work
when anchoring yesterday. Not so easily fixed. Took a couple
of hours of sweat to replace the shifting cone with my spare.
While anchoring, after returning to the anchorage, I caught a
dinghy painter in the starboard prop and stripped the zinc collars
off the saildrive. I also damaged a slinger/washer in front of
the propeller hub, so I have to get the hooka running and go
down and remove the prop and install new zincs and try to straighten
the little slinger. Got to take the bad with the good.”
Dumb Luck at Pt. Bonita
March 1 – Marin Headlands
Doug Frolich of Larkspur has a cautionary
tale about the rough waters just outside the Gate.
“I sail a Moore 24 named Low Profile.
I just read your story about the boat that was lost in the surf
off of ocean beach – very sad. I am writing to you because I
witnessed an event on February 24 that nearly turned out the
same way. That Tuesday I went out to the headlands above Pt.
Bonita after work to check out the sea conditions, before the
big storm predicted for Wednesday. The tide was just turning
to ebb, and I thought it might be interesting to see some breaking
waves on the shoal. The conditions did not disappoint me. Over
falls were developing with the combination of the ebb and the increasing swell. The
wind was light however.
“Much to my surprise, I saw a sailboat
approaching from the north, and heading across the north shoal.
As I watched the progress of this boat I contemplated calling
the Coast Guard, because large over falls would develop every
couple of minutes producing huge amounts of jetting whitewater,
randomly over the shoal. It was just dumb luck that the position
of the sailboat and one of the deadly waves did not coincide.
The boat did make it around Bonita, but I do not think he knew
how fortunate he was. Some pretty hazardous conditions can develop
suddenly this time of year, off our coast.”
YOTREPS
March 1 – 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.
