No wonder the ship seemed a little slow.
When the cruise ship Volendam pulled into Colon, Panama,
they discovered that they’d ‘hooked’ a whale on the top of their
bow bulb. It was so well embedded that the carcass had to be
pulled free by a tug before the cruise ship could transit the
Canal.
Photos Courtesy David Wilson
Fastest Boat in the World Is for Sale
May 3 – France
Photo G. Plisson Courtesy Club Med
Club Med, the 110-ft maxi catamaran that Grant Dalton used
to win The Race, is now for sale for $3 million. As a result
of having averaged more than 18 knots while sailing around the
world and covering 655 miles in 24 hours, she is considered the
fastest sailboat in the world.
If you’re thinking about buying her, check out Bob Fisher’s very
interesting interview with Grant Dalton in the May 2001 Sailing
World. Among other things, Dalton told Fisher that when Club
Med was brand new, she wasn’t strong enough to sail to the
Canary Islands; that the boat suffered very serious structural
damage sailing upwind in the Atlantic; and that the boats have
to be treated carefully because they are so fragile. Dalton also
said that unlike on a Whitbread 60 in which he feels unsafe half
the time, they never felt unsafe in the cat, not even “for
half a second”. He also said that under a genniker in 25
knots of wind, the boat was four knots faster in flat water than
if surfing down waves.
Congressional Cup
May 3 – Long Beach
We were all over Southern California last week, and fortunately
had time to check out the the Long Beach YC’s Congressional Cup
match racing competition held off the Belmont Pier. According
to skipper Rod Davis, the ‘Congo Cup’ is one of the top ten match
racing events in the world, and the last to be sponsored by a
yacht club as opposed to corporations. The ten competitors were
among the best match racers in the world, most of them representing
America’s Cup efforts. This was the 37th running of the event,
although this is not the reason they sailed in identical Catalina
37s.
We’d never been to a Congo Cup in person, and were totally knocked
out by the venue and by the action. If you think watching sailing
on San Francisco Bay is great, it is, but watching the Congo
Cup from the deck of the Belmont Pier is terrific, too. The starting
line is only about 200 feet away, but the nature of match racing
often brings the boats to within just yards of the spectators.
And there’s action unlike what you’ll see just about anywhere
else. One of the things that makes the Congo Cup so thrilling
is that spectator boats are often right in the middle of the
action – by intention. Everyone is welcome to anchor in certain
areas just to the side of the starting line, and if you do, you
can be assured that the competing skippers will be using your
boat to try and peel off or block competitors at a frenzied pace.
It’s nothing for them to come within inches – literally – of
spectator boats. In addition, the action is almost non-stop,
because there are five races going on at once. Because the goal
is not to be the fastest around the course as opposed to just
finishing ahead of your competition, there’s a tremendous amount
of jockeying around on the course, so it’s not uncommon for boats
in one match to have right of way issues with boats in another
match. It’s very, very exciting, and you should check it out
next year. Oh yes, Peter Holmberg of the Oracle Racing/Golden
Gate YC America’s Cup challenge came from behind to win again
this year.
All Photos Latitude/Richard
Safe in Port
May 3 – Santa Barbara
Just to put everyone’s mind at rest, after a bout with winds up
to 60 knots and seas to 22 feet just south of Point Sur, Profligate
and her crew are in Santa Barbara and in good health. A mechanic
is looking at the one engine that conked out.
Half
a Billion Down the Drain
May 3 – Bankruptcy Court
On the way to Sail Expo a couple of years ago, Stan Honey, noted
navigator, singlehanded sailor and founder of Sail Mail, said
something to the effect that, “People are insane to think
that Quokka Sports could be worth half a billion dollars.”
Quokka, of course, was founded by Aussie America’s Cup skipper
John Bertrand, and provided Internet coverage of the Whitbread,
the America’s Cup and other sporting events. Their sailing division
closed a short time ago, and just the other day the entire enterprise
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to sell its assets.
Cruising Web Site of the Day
May 3 – Trinidad
“Jack Dausend has been a big help to me in planning our
voyage from Panama to Trinidad,” reports Pat Nolan of the
Islander 37 No Land, which is currently at Marina Flamingo,
Costa Rica. “Jack is an old San Jose Sailing Club member
who followed his dream by sailing his Westsail 32 as far as Trinidad.
He prints the Trinidad Boater’s Directory, a free cruiser newspaper
called The Boca, and in general helps cruisers in the
area. He also has cruiser seminars on how to prepare and participate
in Carnival on Trinidad. Check his site out at www.boatersenterprise.com.”
We did check it out, and it’s terrific.
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.
