May 14, 2003

Photos of the Day

May 14 – Aruba

Today’s Photos of the Day are of Carla,
who while in Antigua signed on as crew of Mike Harker’s Manhattan
Beach based Hunter 466 Wanderlust. Harker, you may remember,
got into sailing big time three years ago when he did the Ha-Ha,
then singlehanded the Baja Bash back home. A little more than
a year ago, he bought the Hunter 466 and singlehanded her across
the Atlantic, sailed around the Med, then back across the Atlantic
to the Caribbean. That was like 12,000 miles in 10 months, which
is a lot. He then sailed the boat to Miami to be in the boat
show, then right back to Antigua for Sailing Week – which is
where we believe he met Carla. The two are now in Aruba, headed
toward Panama and probably Manhattan Beach.

Carla, Mike and Wanderlust

We don’t know what kind of relationship
Carla and Mike have, but we have an idea. From Harker’s point
of view, at the very least having Carla along is much better
than singlehanding. As for Carla, she’s getting the opportunity
to have a sailing adventure with a guy who has lots of proven
ocean experience – and who as a professional photographer is
probably making her feel more beautiful than ever. We say good
on both of them.

Photos Mike Harker

Were the Boundaries Pushed Too Far?

May 14 – Cape Town, South Africa

On October 8 of last year, 61-year-old
insurance man Frank Guernsey departed his homeport of Redondo
Beach aboard his 22-ft Pearson Electra MF intending to
sail 10,000 miles singlehanded to Cape Horn and then across the
Southern Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa. According to a front
page story in last Saturday’s L.A. Times, he refused to
take along a long distance radio, a liferaft, or even the EPIRB
his wife had bought for him. He’s not been heard from since leaving
Catalina, and is now more than a month overdue.

If you think taking a Pearson Electra around
the Horn and across the Southern Ocean is a suicide mission,
we agree with you. But Guernsey was not without somewhat similar
experience. He’d previously sailed around the Horn in a Pearson
Gladiator, which is only 24 feet, and had previously sailed to
Japan, Hawaii and Tahiti. During his 128-day passage on the Gladiator,
he lost 30 pounds, gashed his head, and broke three ribs when
he fell from the rigging onto a stanchion. Compared to an Electra,
a Gladiator is a big boat with a much larger cabin.

Mary Guernsey, Frank’s wife, is trying
to get the U.S. Coast Guard or the South African Coast Guard
to search for him. The Coasties are sympathetic, but where along
the 10,000-mile route are they supposed to start looking?

We hate to say it, but if we had to speculate,
it would be that Guernsey never even made it to Cape Horn. The
way we figure it, he would have almost certainly crossed paths
with Hurricane Kenna off the Mexican coast – Kenna being the
worst Mexican hurricane in 50 years, packing winds of 145 knots.

Not so Good Vibrations

May 14 – Santa Catalina Island

In Monday’s
‘Lectronic Latitude we ran a photo of a boat with a portable
generator hanging from her boom – and asked what was up with
that.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Among the answers we got:

John Farnsworth – “I’m surprised the
Wanderer would allow such trifling concerns as the occasional
bludgeoning in a seaway to blind him to the obvious benefits
of a boom-suspended generator, specifically: 1) Weight of the
generator eliminates the need for a boom vang; 2) Increased generator
visibility discourages other sailors from anchoring too close;
3) Boom suspension augments air-cooling system and allows operator
to start generator’s gas engine without needing to run a blower;
4) End-boom mounting preserves precious cargo space on deck and
in lazarettes, an especially important consideration on boats
carrying multiple outboards on the pushpit; 5) Vibrations discourage
sparrows and finches from nesting within boom; 6) Gyroscopic
inertia of the generator flywheel works to prevent accidental
jibes while underway; 7) Generator serves as counterweight to
increase heeling after accidental groundings. I suspect that
the only reason you don’t see more of this sort of installation
is that local PHRF committees have been a bit parsimonious with
generator/boom allowances in situations where the generator is
not permanently affixed to the boom.”

Chris McKesson – “Sure, I can explain
why someone would hang their generator from the boom: It significantly
reduces the vibration imparted from the generator to the boat,
reducing noise below decks. This might be especially important
if the boat’s construction is such that it tends to ‘boom’. The
Navy even did this on one of the noise observation vessels in
the Bahamas. Of course, in their case it was a big tens-of-kw
diesel genset, cranked up on dozens of bungee cords. The purpose
of the noise observation vessels is to be extremely silent so
that they can take acoustic measurements on U.S. subs, to help
tune the submarine’s quieting features. To accomplish this goal
they have to be quieter than the sub, and that takes some special
effort – like hanging gensets from bungee cords.
Of course, the flaw in your assessment is the implication that
the boat in the photo ever goes into a seaway. As you know, there
are plenty of boats in Avalon – especially tucked up to the west
side next to the Casino – that haven’t moved in years. Speaking
of which, how is Trader Sam these days?”

Others mentioned a hanging generator would
prevent gas fumes from collecting in the cockpit.

We know something about onboard gas generators.
We started on Profligate with a nice unit from Yamaha.
We didn’t use it much, and after two years it gave up the ghost
due to problems with the salt air environment. We next bought
a cheapo Coleman unit from Home Depot at midnight before leaving
for Mexico. That unit went south, functionally speaking, in less
than a season. We got what we paid for. For the last two or three
years, we’ve had a little Honda unit that has been incredible.
It’s super quiet, has very little vibration, is all set up for
use with computers, and can be hooked up with other Hondas to
increase the power. It costs about twice as much as the Coleman
model, but we think it’s four times as good.

Dodging the Weather Bullet

May 14 – Sausalito

The trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco
at this time of year can be a nasty one, particularly from Conception
to Monterey, where it seems the northwesterlies never cease and
the seas are often wicked. But when Bruce and Doña de
Mallorca left Redondo Beach Monday morning aboard Profligate
on the boat’s ninth trip up the coast, there was a ray of hope.
The weather service was predicting “no more than 15 knots
of wind” along the Central Coast for Tuesday. We all know
how unreliable weather forecasts can be, but son of a gun if
this one didn’t prove accurate. Most of the time the wind was
in the single digits, and even more important, the wave period
was between 14 and 17 seconds, meaning the sea was smooth. They
arrived in Sausalito at 0200, about 43 hours out of Redondo,
including a fuel stop at Oxnard. The weather service has posted
small craft warnings for the coast starting today, with the normal
15 to 30 knots and 9 to 12 foot seas predicted in the coming
days. Close call.

Behaving Badly in Southern California
. . .

May 14 – Avalon, Catalina

As many of you know, there’s an area just
off the casino at Avalon that is reserved for scuba divers, but
is also a marine reserve. It’s not only clearly marked as such,
but roped off. While going by the area last Sunday, we couldn’t
help but notice this family being very naughty.

In the first photo, it’s clear that while
part of their boat may be out of the reserve, their hooks are
clearly where they are not supposed to be. In the second photo,
from a different angle, it’s clear that they have also pushed
the rope way inward, allowing their hooks to do their dirty work
far inside the reserve, making it easier for them to catch a
naive fish – or even a scuba diver’s air hose. This is a perfect
example of living up to the letter of the law but not the spirit
of the law. We were pleased to see that a Harbor Patrolman came
over a few minutes later and put an end to this shameful – and
possibly dangerous – behavior.

A Total Eclipse of the Moon

May 14 – San Francisco Bay Area

Greg Retkowski of Scirocco writes
to remind us of the total lunar eclipse (the moon being completely
in the earth’s shadow) tomorrow evening, May 15. “This is
the first total lunar eclipse for North America in three years.
For us in the Bay Area, the eclipse will already be in progress
as the moon rises; it will be visible at 8:05 p.m. local time.
The show will be even more dramatic for those on the East Coast,
where they will be able to view the moon coming into and going
out the shadow of the earth.

“Space.com covers all the important
points for viewing the event: www.space.com/spacewatch/lunar_eclipse_news_030425.html.”

YOTREPS

May 14 – 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

May 14 – 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.