March 27, 2001

And The Race Goes On…

March 27 – The Atlantic Ocean

At 03:00 GMT on Monday, Bullimore and his boys had a 141 mile
advantage in terms of distance to Marseille, but are 72 miles
south of Warta-Polpharma‘s latitude and have still to
cross through the Doldrums which could slow them today. The disadvantage
for the Poles is that they are 390 miles to the west of Team
Legato and facing head winds.”In effect, we are neck-and-neck,”
said Bullimore earlier. “This could be a really close race
all the way across the Atlantic and I can see us finishing in
Marseilles on 7th or 8th April almost together.”

Another leveller is the fact that the Poles
have had to leave two of their number ashore after Richard Block
and Piotr Cichocki failed medical tests. The Team Legato
crew have been four short since setting out from Wellington,
New Zealand a month ago. According to St James’s Yachting, Team
Legato‘s weather routers, the Doldrums, that area of calms
that divide the north and south trade wind belts and stretch
right across the Equator are currently between 01 and 01:30’N
but it will not be until they reach 04 N that Bullimore &
Co can expect the 15-17 knot NE Trades to kick in properly. Their
only advantage is that they currently hold a 330 mile upwind
advantage.

Positions at 0300 GMT 26 March 2001:

1. Club Med Finished Marseille 19:56GMT
3.03.01
2. Innovation Explorer Finished Marseille 11:32GMT 6.03.01
3. Team Adventure Finished Marseille 09:30GMT 24.03.01
4. Team Legato +3,193 miles – Crossed Equator 25.03.01
5. Warta Polpharma +142 miles – Left Fortaleza 24.03.01
6. PlayStation – RETIRED 14.01.

Pacific Puddle Jump

March 27 – Nuevo Vallarta

On Friday,
we began a series of profiles on the Pacific Puddle Jump class
of 2001 – cruisers making the jump from Mexico to the Marquesas.
We’ll have more in tomorrow’s ‘Lectronic, and you’ll find all
of them in the pages of the April issue of Latitude
38.

Illusion
– Custom 36-ft cutter
Bob & Cary Deringer, Bellingham, WA

“Before we left, a friend
told us, ‘There are only two things you need to know:
1) Don’t hit anything hard and 2) you can get used to anything.'”
During their year of cruising thus far, they’ve found those warnings
to be pretty astute and have developed a few profundities of
their own: “The only thing you really need is a seaworthy
boat and a safe and positive attitude – a little luck never hurts
either.”

Photo Latitude/Andy

Having sailed for many years prior to heading
south, Bob and Cary had a pretty good idea what the cruising
life was like, but there were some pleasant surprises. “We’ve
really been impressed with the strength and closeness of the
cruising community: meeting people from different countries,
learning to become more flexible in our day-to-day lives. And
we’ve come to appreciate the ‘wealth’ of having a simple life.”
They hope to complete a ‘westabout’ circumnavigation, but are
in no particular hurry.

Irish Melody – C&C Landfall 38
Dave & Linda Allen, Santa Rosa, CA

If you were lucky enough to sail in Baja
Ha-Ha III, you may remember Dave and Linda. Here’s an excerpt
from our bio on them from that 1996 event: “If you’re out
on the ocean and you hear a lively jig floating on the wind,
don’t assume you’re being followed by the miniature mountain
men from Darby O’Gill and the Little People. It’s probably
only Dave sawing away on his fiddle.”

Photo Latitude/Andy

He and Linda have been fiddling around
in anchorages all along the Mexican mainland and up into the
Sea of Cortez. “We came to Mexico for one season and stayed
for six,” admits Linda. “The families we’ve met, from
La Paz to Palenque, have been caring, wonderful people that we
will miss — and we plan to return someday.”

During their stay, they’ve been annual volunteers on the humanitarian
homebuilding project at Chacala and have explored many inland
regions of the country — a practice they highly recommend. “Travel
to inland Mexico is like visiting a different planet after coastal
cruising.” Taking a different tack on the typical SoPac
cruising plan, they expect to do a slow South Pacific circuit
over 3 to 5 years, flying home to California during the cyclone
season.