May 23, 2001

By Grzegorz | May 23, 2001

Photo of the Day

May 23 – Napa River

A couple of weeks ago, we had great response to a caption contest
about a powerboat on the rocks in Catalina. Let’s see what you
folks can do with this powerboat ‘up the reeds’ in the Napa River.
Email your answers to Richard.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Ellen MacArthur Does It Again!

May 23 – Terragona, Spain

Sailing as part of the five-person crew aboard Alain Gautier’s
60-foot trimaran Foncia-Kingfisher in the 2,705-mile Challenge
Mondial Assistance from Cherbourg, France, to the Azores, to
the Mediterranean coast of Spain, Ellen MacArthur, sailing’s
biggest heroine, finds herself in the winner’s circle again.
As you’ll recall, she came out of nowhere a year ago to win the
Europe New Man One Star with her Open 60 Kingfisher, then
finished second with the same boat in the around-the-world Vendée
Globe.

In France – and much of Europe – the Challenge
Mondial and the 60-foot trimaran racing circuit is huge. While
this year’s race was one of the slowest ever – the winner only
averaged a little over 10 knots, which is pathetic when you consider
these boats have covered 625 miles in 24 hours – it was also
one of the closest ever. With just 150 miles to the finish, the
standings looked like this:

1 – Bayer en France, Yvan Bourgnon, 154.8 miles from the
finish.
2 – Groupama, Franck Cammas, 1.3 miles from the leader.
3 – Belgacom, Jean-Luc Nélias, 4.3 miles from the
leader.
4 – Foncia, Alain Gautier, 4.4 miles from the leader.
5 – Gitana IX, Thierry Duprey, 200.6 miles from the leader.
Retired : Banque Populaire, Lalou Roucayrol.
Retired : La Trinitaine / Team Ethypharm, Marc Guillemot.
Retired : Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam.

But in the last miles of what turned out
to be match racing on a calm sea, Alain Gautier and his crew
bested Jean-Luc Nélias and Belgacom at the finish
by merely 12 minutes. “It was absolutely fantastic!”
said MacArthur. “We were a great team and had a very good
time. We never gave up, even when we were 40 miles behind. These
boats are amazing. We were reaching at 30 knots in a very confused
sea during the first days of the race. It was just amazing to
see these boats perform so well in those conditions.”

The starting line in Cherbourg
Photo P. Garenne

The happy winning team in Terragona
Photos Courtesy Challenge Mondial Assistance

For details, visit www.challenge-mondialassistance.com.

PlayStation Smacks Miami to New York Record

May 23 – New York

Steve Fossett and his international crew of 12 aboard the 125-ft
maxi catamaran PlayStation set a new Miami to New York
world sailing speed record of 2 days 5 hours 55 mins. This beats
the previous mark – set by Bruno Peyron and Cam Lewis in the 86-foot
Data Explorer – by 17 hours. In the first two days, they
covered 1,008 miles. The crew included Dawn Riley of Sausalito,
West Marine’s Chuck Hawley, and Peter Hogg of Mill Valley.

Congratulations are in order of course,
but this record can’t be considered a big deal, not when PlayStation
and Data Explorer are the only two big multihulls to have
ever done it. The real test will come shortly when PlayStation
will take on the Transatlantic record that has stood for 11 years.
First, however, the record-hungry Fossett will jet to the balloon
with which he’ll attempt the first Solo Around the World Balloon
Flight. The last time he tried it, you’ll remember his balloon
was struck by lightning and fell 29,000 feet to the ocean, where
Fossett was rescued by a yacht.

May 23 – San Francisco Bay

Whale in the Bay

As we headed into Raccoon Strait yesterday
from Richardson Bay, we looked out toward the Gate and saw this
whale. Yes, we know there’s not much to see, but he was camera
shy. And when he did come much of the way out of the water, we
couldn’t get our camera on him fast enough for a good shot. You’ll
just have to trust us.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Hay Schooner on the Bay

While just about to enter Richardson Bay,
in addition to the whale, we saw Billy Martinelli’s lovely hay
schooner replica. She’s busy now, taking out children on educational
sails. She’s also looking good.

Photo Latitude/Richard

YOTREPS

May 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/

Weather Updates

May 23 – 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/.

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/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.

Pacific Sea State

Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you
might check out the Pacific Ocean sea states at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.

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