October 30, 2001

Photos of the Day

October 30 – San Diego

As we write this, 90 boats have started
the eighth annual Baja Ha-Ha
Rally off Coronado Roads, San Diego. A few boats will start
late and a few more will join the fleet later today off Ensenada,
for a total of around 100 boats. In the next day or two, we hope
to have photos of the start; today’s photos are of Sunday’s barbecue
Halloween party sponsored by West Marine at Cabrillo Isle Marina
(pictured below). Also tomorrow, check back for more Halloween
madness from the Great Pumpkin Regatta.

San Diego’s finest got into the Ha-Ha spirit.

Some costumes were a sign of the times.

The Pillsbury Doughboy

Assa Abloy
Protests illbruck

October 30 – Cape Town, South Africa

Assa Abloy
has lodged a protest against Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1 winner illbruck
over an alleged misuse of the Internet. On the protest form,
Assa Abloy states that, “Access to a site containing
extensive meteorological information can only be obtained by
adding the suffix ‘/rsm’ to the illbruck Challenge nominated
site http://atmosfera.lma.fi.upm.es.

“The required suffix is not publicly
known and it is not mentioned on the site nor was it published
in the Leg 1 Sailing Instructions, Annex C.”

Under new rules introduced for the Volvo
Ocean Race each team is allowed to list ten Web sites they want
to view during each leg. Navigators pick sites from which they
can download all the information they require for a leg. Prior
to the start of each leg these lists are compiled and published
as part of the leg sailing instructions. The idea is that allowing
teams to view the same Web sites creates a level playing field.

The hearing was provisionally scheduled
for 1400 local time (1200UT) on Thursday, November 1, at Race
Headquarters in Cape Town. You can follow this issue on the official
Web site, www.volvooceanrace.org.

Three boats have yet to finish the first
leg. SEB, djuice Dragons, and Amer Sports Too are
stuck in light and variable winds caused by a low pressure cell
parked northwest of Cape Town.

Amer Sports One
skipper Grant Dalton left Cape Town for Auckland to meet his
new daughter, Olivia Anne, born on October 23 as Dalton was racing
to finish Leg 1. Olivia entered the world seven weeks early weighing
only 3 3/4 lbs. After holding her in his arms, Dalton commented,
“She’s perfect, but very tiny. She is still in an incubator,
but she is putting on weight, really thriving.”

Dalton will return to Cape Town on November
5 to make final preparations for
Leg 2 and the Southern Ocean.

Fall Dinghy and Olympic Classes

October 30 – San Francisco Bay

Six classes of 98 dinghies and 9 windsurfers
raced in six to nine races in St. Francis Yacht Club’s Fall Dinghy
& Olympic Classes Regatta this weekend. You can find all
the results at www.stfyc.com/race-office/2001/falldinghyolym.htm,
but here are the winners:

Laser: Andrew Campbell, 11 points; Byte
(Nationals): Griffin Hewitt, 21; Europe: Anneli Clea Bolund,
11; Finn: Darrell Peck, 7; Vanguard 15: Matthew Sessions/Avery
Patton, 36; IMCO (Mistral): Ted Huang, 5.

We’ve had several phone calls to the office
asking for Great Pumpkin results. They have not been posted yet,
but we hope to have them for you here tomorrow.

YOTREPS

October 30 – 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

Tropical Storm Warnings

October 30 – Atlantic Ocean

All is clear for the Baja Ha-Ha fleet,
however, on the other side of Mexico, Tropical Depression 15
is tracking north toward the Yucatan peninsula, and “interests
in the North Caribbean Sea should closely monitor the progress
of this system.” Out in the middle of the Atlantic, Tropical
Storm Lorenzo is also northbound, kicking up winds of up to 45
knots and seas of up to 12 feet. You can track these two systems
at http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/2001/index.html.

October 30 – 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/.
(Note: This page seems to be working correctly again.)

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.