October 30, 2002

Photos of the Day

October 30 – San Diego

The Baja Ha-Ha fleet began their day, and
their rally, yesterday under overcast skies, but soon the sun
broke through and the breeze picked up.

Following a spectacular Halloween costume
party (sponsored by West Marine) on Sunday, 105 boats left in
separate starts on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday’s conditions
were 8-10 knots of southwest breeze (hence the white sails) on
moderate seas. The Rally Committee is getting weather reports
from Commander’s Weather via Globalstar phones.

The fleet expects to reach Turtle Bay on
Thursday, and we hope to have more photos on Friday.

Tuesday’s start from Pt. Loma

Some local scenery

Meet the Rally Committee

Louis Vuitton Gossip Column – uh, Report

October 30 – Auckland, NZ

Squalls swept through the Hauraki Gulf
yesterday, further disrupting competition in the Louis Vuitton
Cup. Oh, and there was some bad weather too.

Stormy skies over the Gulf
Photo Bob Grieser/Louis Vuitton Cup

The bad weather caused a two-hour postponement
of Flight Five on both race courses before action resumed on
the shorter, 12.5 mile Course B. Once racing got underway, frustration
soon set in as the wind died and massive wind shifts gave fits
to tacticians, sailors and Race Officers alike. Leg time limits
saved OneWorld and Victory Challenge who were losing their matches
when the leading boats ran out of time to cross the finish line.
Luna Rossa and Alinghi beat the clock however, and both
scored their fourth point in four outings in Round Robin Two.
All Flight Six matches were postponed without starting.

After racing, GBR Challenge submitted a
Request for Redress, claiming the Race Committee made significant
errors in GBR’s match with Alinghi. At the post-race press conference,
GBR Challenge skipper Ian Walker said his match with Alinghi
was simply not a fair test of sailing.

“It wasn’t much of a race. On the
first beat we didn’t tack, and on the next run we laid down on
port,” complained Walker. “We want to have good racing.
Even if we don’t win the race, we want to have a race. There’s
a number of errors ranging from where the course area was, the
length of the course, as well as procedural errors. It’s probably
the first America’s Cup race that’s gone around an island since
1851. Had we known that we probably would have had a different
set of charts on board.” Both competitors racing on the
same course in the match ahead of the GBR vs. Alinghi contest
­ OneWorld and Stars & Stripes ­ were flying
protest flags before their match was abandoned for breaching
the leg time limit. For the complete story, see www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story802.html.

If necessary, race organizers can hold
races on the reserve days, November 2-4.

Oracle BMW has protested Stars &
Stripes for postponing their scheduled race Tuesday, which
led to an abandonment of the match. Stars & Stripes
had first asked to be excused from their second race that day
due to gear failure in the first race. They then asked to switch
to a 45-minute postponement, for which they would not have to
give a reason. The postponement put the start of the match past
1600 hours, but Oracle BMW said they would still be willing to
start. Stars & Stripes declined the option to start
after 1600. In their protest Oracle BMW (USA-76) claims that
Team Dennis Conner (USA-66) radioed the Race Committee and stated
that they were damaged in the first race; that USA-66 was in
fact not damaged in the first race; that USA-66 used this “ploy
in an attempt to get today’s afternoon race with USA-76 ‘killed’
rather than using their one-time per round 45-minute postponement”;
and that USA-66 failed to comply with recognized principles of
fair play and sportsmanship. For a more detailed explanation
of the rules involved, see www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com/story797.html.

In other Louis Vuitton Cup antics, Greenpeace
inflated a 50-ft tall bomb-shaped balloon outside the French
base in the Viaduct Tuesday, as part of their ongoing protest
of the French Challenger’s sponsorship by the French nuclear
company Aréva. The balloon was tethered to large yellow
barrels marked with ‘Aréva’ and radiation warning symbols.

Over on the Defender side, Team New Zealand’s
second yacht, NZL-82, has had her maiden voyage in the Gulf.
NZL-81 sailed alongside her new sistership yesterday, as the
design team checked the new boat for problems. If all goes well,
two-boat testing should begin by the end of the week.

Need a Place to Stay Near the Cup?

October 30 – Auckland, NZ

Bill Rehm writes, “When I got to New
Zealand eight years ago as crew on a bluewater cruiser, I liked
it so much here that I decided to stay and live in this beautiful
place. When I sailed here there were many cruisers needing reasonably
priced berths and some needed a place to rent to get off their
‘keelers’.

“I’ve recently mortgaged myself up
to my butt to own a brand new fully furnished 3 bedroom, 2 1/2
bath house on the
canal up in Gulf Harbour – 35 minutes from Auckland. The house
has a 12-meter berth that I rent out with or separately from
the house.

“The current rate the local agent
is renting it out for over the Oct-March season is for U.S.$750/week.
I would also rent the 12m berth separately for U.S.$25/week but
note that living aboard is not allowed.”

Bill sent us lots of pictures, but we can’t
run them all. Rest assured, the place looks real nice. Anyone
interested should contact Bill.

Photos Courtesy Bill Rehm

Pizza Delivery in the Sea of Cortez

October 30 – Puerto Escondido, Baja California

Michael Miller of Uhuru writes,
“The attached photo is to assure all of this year’s Baja
Ha-Ha participants that just when they think they’ve had enough
rice, beans, carnitas, tortillas, fish tacos, and all of the
other wonderful gastronomic delights of Mexico, a delicious American-style
pizza delivered to the anchorage can still be found. After
befriending Denise and Jorge of Tiffany’s Pizza Parlor in Loreto
in May of 2000, I returned again this year to enjoy the best
pizza in all of Mexico! After taking pizza orders from 16 boats
in the Puerto Escondido anchorage I called Tiffany’s and
scheduled delivery for 6:30pm, and nobody was disappointed.”

Photo Michael Miller

Around (not so) Alone

October 30 – Equatorial Eastern Atlantic

The Around Alone fleets are passing the
Canary Islands and the Equator on their second leg to Cape Town.
Bernard Stamm still holds the lead on the Open 60 Bobst Group-Armor
Lux, and he reported today crossing into the Southern Hemisphere
at 1300 GMT exactly.

Bruce Schwab aboard Ocean Planet
reports on some visitors to his boat, but we don’t think he’ll
be disqualified from the solo race. “The dolphins came to
visit for a while yesterday, and they always have a blast. One
came up and said he liked our AMD logo, and would only
use an AMD-powered computer himself.

“Our most interesting recent visitor was a tired little
bird that kept trying to find a place to rest on the boat. If
I was anywhere on deck it would only try to land in really precarious
spots, and wound up in the water several times! I thought it
was a goner until it finally sat on the cockpit floor in exhaustion.
There was another, healthier little bird flying around too; at
times both were on the boat. The tired bird went hard to sleep
even through a couple of sail changes, and I had to be careful
not to step on it! Finally, late at night when it looked too
soggy and bedraggled for me to bear, I gently caught it and brought
it below and into a little bowl/blanket house. I kept it covered
all night and put a little granola bar in the bowl. But I don’t
think it was really hungry, given all the poop it dropped in
the bowl.

“So this morning I uncovered our now
rested little friend, who slept a bit more, then went on a tour
of the inside of the boat, even chirping a few times. Eventually
it went out the open foredeck hatch, to sit and sing (and poop)
on the staysail bag for a while. Then it was off to who knows
where. Nice to have a visitor.”

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

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/.
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

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

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