November 19, 2003

Photo of the Day

November 19 – Bahia Santa Maria, BCS

Photo Alex Bly

Today’s Photo of the Day is a distant aerial
shot of Punta Hughes and Bahia Santa Maria, second stop on the
Baja Ha-Ha. Photographer Alex Bly explains: “I did the Ha-Ha
aboard Soy Libre with my cousin Andy Kopac, his wife Marianne,
and their 3-year old son Andrew. I snapped this photo on the
flight home.”

Photo Latitude/Richard

The second photo is a close-up of the point
at Bahia Santa Maria, and shows Angela the Surf Queen, dropping
into a nice wave. The SQ was crew aboard the Islander Freeport
36 Bula at the time.

Many Said It Couldn’t Be Done

November 19 – Marigot Bay, St. Martin

In May of this year, the large 1907 ketch
Iren burned to the waterline at Marigot Bay, St. Martin.
The owner, who had been lovingly restoring the boat, decided
he wanted to rebuild her in England. Just one problem, how to
get her across the Atlantic?

Capt. Paul Wahlen, skipper of the 1917
auxiliary schooner Avontuur, had a suggestion – he’d tow
the ketch, under sail, all the way to the land of Brits. As absurd
as this sounds, it’s now being reported that the transatlantic
sailing tow, by an 85-year-old schooner, was successful!

Boy, are we impressed! We’re trying to
get details.

Renamed Geronimo after Route of
Discovery Record

November 19 – Cadiz, Spain

Olivier de Kersauson’s maxi-trimaran Geronimo,
named Cap Gemini-Schneider Electric for the record attempt,
set off yesterday from Cadiz, Spain, to San Salvador in the Bahamas
in pursuit of the Steve Fossett’s Route of Discovery record.
The current record for the 4,700-mile course is 9 days and 13
hours, which the maxi-cat PlayStation set last February.
The original record was established by one Chris Columbus just
over 400 years ago. An extremely fast trimaran, Geronimo
has been thwarted in previous record attempts by rudder problems
and bad luck with weather.

Farr’s Virbac Knows Jacques!

November 19 – Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Yesterday morning, the new Farr Open 60
Virbac, skippered by Jean-Pierre Dick and Nicolas Abiven,
ghosted across the finish line in the darkness of the Brazilian
night to take a convincing victory in the Jacques Vabre, their
first ever major ocean yacht race. It wasn’t until seven hours
later that the Anglo-French team of Alex Thomson and Roland Jourdain
crossed the finish line on Sill for second. Third place
finisher Ecover, with Mike Golding and former Sausalito
habitué Brian Thompson, took third.

Photo Courtesy www.jacques-vabre.com

“Our experience of inshore regatta
racing has aided us a lot in this victory,” commented an
elated Jean-Pierre Dick on hitting the dock. “We were always
reacting to everything happening, and perhaps overdid the sail
changes! We changed the gennaker to spinnaker and back a few
times today, even on the last mile to the finish. I always race
as if it’s the last leg of a Tour Voile, always 100% non-stop,
reacting to every minute change on the boat.”

The victors covered the theoretical transatlantic
distance of 4,340 miles in 16 days and 22 hours, an average speed
of just under 11 knots. The top trimarans averaged over 17.5
knots for the same event.

Profligate’s
Progress

November 19 – Panama

We haven’t heard from Profligate
yet this morning, but last night they reported that if they could
continue staying out of the adverse current, they should be in
the vicinity of the Panama Canal by tonight. The 63-ft cat departed
Cabo San Lucas 12 days ago, and is – this never happens – a couple
of days ahead of schedule.

Graphic Latitude/Annie & Chris

It’s important that she get through the
Canal as quickly as possible, because once the winter trades
set up shop, going east from Panama to the Eastern Caribbean
is brutal. If you check the weather maps for that part of the
Atlantic and Caribbean, you’ll see there is a low just east of
the Greater Antilles, which has completely messed up the easterly
trades, and appears it might continue to mess the trades up for
the next three days or so. If Profligate can get through
the Canal quickly – from paperwork to passing through it’s hoped
it will take less than two days – she might at least get a quick
start on the 1,100-mile trip east.

Update: We just heard from Profligate
(at 10:30 am PST) and they say they’ve blown a Saildrive 50 miles
from the Canal! So the trek eastward will be delayed while the
cat finds a place to put in for repairs.

YOTREPS

November 19 – 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 Links

November 19 – Pacific
Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

Check out this guide to San Francisco Bay
Navigational Aids: http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/sfports.html.

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

The site for the Pacific Ocean sea states
has moved to http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/PacRegSSA.shtml.

For views of sea states anywhere in the world,
see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.