The coming weekend is looking a little
gloomy in the Bay Area, with a forecast for showers, so we thought
we’d perk you up with some photos from the last two weekends,
which were fabulous.
Photos Latitude/JR
Banderas Bay Report
March 23 – Nuevo Vallarta
A record 59 boats are ready to go for today’s
9th annual Banderas Bay Regatta based out of Paradise Resort
and Marina just north of Puerto Vallarta. The fleet, which is
for cruising boats only, is the strongest ever. At the top of
the list are seven multihulls with an average length of 50 feet,
several of which are back for the fourth year in a row. The largest
monohull division is headlined by Tom Petty’s Wylie 65 Roxanne
and the Twardowski family’s Sundeer 65 Raven. The event
consists of three races, with terrific parties at the Paradise
Resort afterwards.
In a previous
edition of ‘Lectronic, we reported on a 40-knot storm that
whipped through Tenacatita Bay in early March. It turns out there
was a shorter but more wicked blow further down at Z-town at
about the same time. Cruisers report that up to 70-knot winds
tore through the bay for about half an hour. The Santa Cruz 52 Impulse suffered damage to her bow roller and mast. The
Cottrell family on the Kennex 445 catamaran See Life had
even more trouble. In the process of dragging, they decided that
it would be best of Shari and their two young daughter swim to
shore. Which they did safely.
Pacific Puddle Jump
March 23 – Nuevo Vallarta
While the rest of us dream on, a veritable
armada of cruising yachts is actually making its way westward
across the Pacific toward French Polynesia – by far the largest
group of ‘Pacific Puddle Jumpers’ to make the 2,800-mile trip
since we started keeping track in the mid-’90s.
You’ll meet them all – the Pacific Puddle
Jump class of 2001 – in the pages of the April issue of Latitude 38. But
we thought we’d introduce a few of them here, over the next few
days, in ‘Lectronic Latitude.
Also II
– Passport 42
Jim & Kyoko Bandy, San Francisco
The Bandys began their southbound
voyage from Marina del Rey in November of ’99, and headed up
into the Sea of Cortez after rounding the Baja cape. The highlight
of their stay there will be hard to top: Kyoko rode on a 24-foot
whale shark last summer in Bahia de Los Angeles. Sound fishy?
“It really was that big,” she swears. “A local
biologist confirmed its length, since he’d previously tagged
it.” Clearly an inveterate ‘water person’, she’s a prodigious
‘fisherwoman’ who has a habit of feeding the fleet at beach barbeques
wherever she goes.
Jim may well
be one of the saltiest guys in this year’s group. He’s lived
aboard for 22 years, and has been planning to go cruising since
1972! The plan was for Also II to be one of the first
boats to head west. En route, Jim will serve as net controller
for the Puddle Jump fleet.
In addition to the typical ‘milk run’ through French Polynesia,
Fiji and Tonga, the couple also plans to visit Kyoko’s homeland,
Japan, as well as far-flung North Pacific islands such as Truk
and Yap.
Their advice to the wannabes back home: “Go as soon as possible,
get the biggest watermaker you can and bring plenty of awnings!”
Photo Latitude/Andy
YOTREPS
March 23 – 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/
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.
Jim may well