May 31, 2002

Photos of the Day

May 31 – Pt. Richmond

If you’re planning on first-to-finish honors
in the Pacific Cup next month, here’s a couple of shots of your
main competition, Robert Miller’s 147-ft Hong Kong-based Mari-Cha
III. Up until last summer, she held the TransAtlantic record.
Normally, she has a splendid interior, but when racing, 15 tons
of it are temporarily removed to containers. By the way, the
boat is for sale, as the owner has a new boat on the way. She’ll
be a slightly smaller non-traditional schooner designed to smash
race records.

The other boat, with the long overhang
of the truck trailer, is Bob McNeil’s new R/P 86 Zephyrus
V. She was being fitted with her rudder and keel at KKMI,
also in preparation for the West Marine Pacific Cup.

How to Retrieve an Abandoned Ketch in
the Pacific?

May 31 – Pacific Ocean

“My wife, 10-year-old daughter,
and I sailed from Hawaii on May 2 to return to the mainland
and join this year’s Baja Ha-Ha,” reports Capt. Harvey M.
Owens of the 50-ft ketch Life Dream. “Unfortunately,
we were caught in the big storm on May 18, and rode out
winds in excess of 50 knots and seas of more than 30 feet for
three days. We were hit by a rogue wave in the middle of the
storm, which knocked us down and broke the rudder. When things
go wrong, of course, they only multiply. When I started the engine
to try to get some control, a stray line wrapped the prop. With
no steerage and no hope of getting control of the boat, we had
no choice but to abandon our boat.

“Fortunately, the 850-ft container
ship Sea-Land Innovator was just a few hours away, and
diverted course at the request of the Coast Guard to pick us
up. We had several hours to gather our belongings and to prepare
the boat. When the time came, I left the engine running to keep
batteries charged and the pumps working as long as possible –
although we’d only taken a small amount of water aboard. I dropped
the anchor at the end of 300 feet of chain, hoping to slow the
drift and to give the boat a chance if she gets close to land.
The boat was closed up and watertight when we left. Four hours
later, we were rescued, although our boat’s mast and damaged
in the process of our getting transferred to the ship.

“Life’s Dream
was built by me over a period of 10 years, and her name says
it all. She’s our home and has almost all our belongings aboard.
Most likely, she’s still floating. If I could find her and get
her to a boatyard, the repairs wouldn’t be a problem. We abandoned
ship on May 20 at 38º04N, 134º23W – approximately 585
miles off San Francisco. Based on the Coast Guard’s calculations,
she’s drifting to the southeast.”

Harvey is looking for suggestions on how
to retrieve his boat. We’ve passed on the ones we had. If you’ve
got some ideas, pass them along to Richard.

Assa
Again!

May 31 – Gothenburg, Sweden

The 1,075-mile, next-to-last leg of the
Volvo Ocean Race from La Rochelle to Gothenburg was the closest
ever – and is going to make for a dramatic final leg. For the
third time in the event, Assa Abloy, with Mark Rudiger
aboard, finished first. But they were less than seven minutes
ahead of the next four boats! The four were Team Tyco, News
Corp, illbruck, and Amer Sports One. Had John Kostecki’s
illbruck finished just three minutes earlier, the fat
lady would have sang. As it is now, the pressure is still on,
for if Assa Abloy wins the last race and illbruck
finishes sixth, what once looked like a sure thing for the green
boat will have turned to humiliating defeat. It’s possible that
it could happen, but we think Kostecki and crew will prevail.

Assa Abloy crosses the finish line in Gothenburg.
Photo Rick Tomlinson Courtesy www.volvooceanrace.com

Standings: 1. illbruck 54; 2. Assa
Abloy 49; .3 Amer Sports One 40; 4. News Corp
40; 5. Tyco 40; 6. SEB 29; 7. Djuice 25;
8. Amer Sports Too 11.

New Latitude

May 31 –
San Francisco Bay Area

The June issue of Latitude
38 is being distributed today.

Photo Latitude/Annie

Whatever Happened to That Guy from B-37
at Grand Marina?

May 31 – Alameda

“Please let everyone know that the
liveaboard at slip B-37 at Grand Marina in Alameda two years
ago is now safely in Trinidad after making a long, difficult
clockwise trip through the Caribbean Sea,” reports singlehander
John Anderton of the Alameda-based Cabo Rico 38 Sanderling.
“Leaving Panama on December 1 was not a smart decision on
my part, as I wound up in the Grand Caymans and had to spend
the rest of the time sailing to windward to get to Jamaica, the
Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgins before
turning south to Martinique and Trinidad. Next year I’ll go back
and see what I missed.”

‘G Class’ Race Tour

May 31 – France

Bruno Peyron, who just set the Jules Verne
Record with the maxi cat Orange, has announced the outline
of a new series of events for ‘Giant Class’ multihulls. It’s
to be called the Race Tour, will start in 2006, and will run
every two years between The Race, the non-stop around the world
race for multihulls. The Tour will likely have four stops, although
the course and stops are still completely up in the air.

Who Pulled in the Welcome Mat in French
Polynesia?

May 31 – Papeete, Tahiti

“My husband Chuck Fisher and our Portland-based
Cascade 36 Ursa arrived in Papeete, Tahiti, in late May,”
reports Karen Jacobson. “His visit to the Haute Command
was not full of joy, for previously it was possible to get a
90-day visa for French Polynesia at first landfall. And if you
applied for a 90-day extension while there was still a month
on the original, you’d get a 90-day extension. Well, the folks
in Papeete say that’s not going to be the case this year. The
gendarme said he had many letters from yachties requesting
renewal, but they were all going to be rejected. Plenty of cruisers
are going to be unhappy. The solution would have been to have
gotten a longer visa at a French Consulate in the States many
months ago. As it is, Ursa must be out of French Polynesia
by July 29.”

More from Master Mariners

May 31 – San Francisco Bay

As promised on Tuesday,
when we ran the story, more photos of Saturday’s windy Master
Mariners Regatta.

Looking for the mark. Note the ‘Men in Blue’ (and some women
too) aboard Simpatico in the background.

Chorus and Dauntless head for
the rounding at Blackaller Buoy.

Dauntless flew the Latitude 38 sponsor flag, a
Jolly Roger wearing a beanie with propeller. Must’ve been good
luck as Dauntless won the Dead Eye Trophy for the fastest
boat. She sailed her course in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

YOTREPS

May 31 – 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 31 – 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/stuff/southwest/swstmap.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 another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.