March 19, 2003

Photos
of the Day:
Jammin’

March 19 – Daly City

Two sailors are lucky they lived to tell
the tale – as we reported in Monday’s
‘Lectronic, Steve Klein’s J/35 Jammin’ was rolled
and dismasted by breaking waves on the way in from Saturday’s
Doublehanded Lightship Race. Steve and crew Jamie Quevado were
rescued by the Coast Guard, but the boat sank near buoy five
in the ship channel while being towed. It ended up on the beach
in Daly City on Monday.

As we post this edition, our managing editor
is meeting with Steve Klein, so look for a complete description
of the incident in the April issue of Latitude
38.

Osaka Cup Underway

March 19 – Melbourne, Australia

This weekend kicked off a 5,500 nm doublehanded
race backwards in time (starting with autumn in Australia, traveling
through summer at the Equator, finishing with spring in Japan)
from the southern tip of Australia to Osaka, Japan.

This is the fifth running of the event
begun in 1987 (to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the opening
of the Port of Osaka) and held every four years. After the start
of Leg 2 on Day 2, the yachts have no scheduled stopovers until
they reach Osaka a month or two after leaving Melbourne.

Rough weather (40-50 knot northerly wind,
20-ft seas), however, prompted about a dozen boats to anchor
for shelter last night in the lee of tiny Tullaburnga Island,
a few miles west of Gabo Island, on the northeastern edge of
Bass Strait. They’ve inaugurated the ‘Gabo Island Yacht Club’,
but hope to head off again early Thursday morning (our Wednesday
morning). To follow this gutsy event, see http://osakacup.com/2003e/index.php.

Start of Leg 2

Spring One Design Invitational

March 19 – San Francisco

Spring must be here, because the St. Francis
Yacht Club hosted its Spring One Design Invitational this past
weekend. Just three classes raced, the J/105s and 120s and the
Express 37s. Of the 45 entries, 34 were J/105s, led by Bruce
Stone’s Arbitrage. Barry Lewis topped the J/120 fleet
with Chance, and Mark Dowdy’s Eclipse, always at
or near the head of the pack, beat out four other Expresses.

Last weekend’s regatta is the third in
the St. Francis YC’s triumvirate of March invitationals, following
the Spring Keel for smaller one design classes and the Spring
Dinghy for really small one design classes. We’ll have full coverage,
including a bunch more photos, in the April issue of Latitude
38. For complete results right now, work your way through
the maze that is www.stfyc.com.

YOTREPS

March 19 – 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.

Weather Updates

March 19 – 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 is at 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/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.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For views of sea states anywhere in the world,
see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.