October 8, 2002

Photos of the Day

October 8 – Zihuatanejo

Today’s Photos of the Day are enough to
make you sick. They are of the Long Beach-based ketch Freedom
– perhaps a Cheoy Lee 36 or Mariner 35 – being destroyed on the
beach at Z-town following Tropical Storm Julio in late September.
Weeks after the storm, the port captain still hasn’t been able
to locate the owner, who apparently left the boat in the care
of someone else, who reportedly became dissatisfied with the
situation and left. The boat washed ashore right in front of
the Z-town Port Captain’s office, so it hasn’t been looted. The
port captain tried to pump the boat out and drag her to deeper
water, but wasn’t successful. The photos are by Wayne Warrington
of the San Pedro-based Explorer 45 Elfinstar, who was
passing through on a cruise ship.

Louis Vuitton Inaction

October 8 – Auckland, NZ

Yesterday’s big race between undefeated
OneWorld and undefeated Oracle BMW turned out to be a bust, as
the wind was light and shifty. OneWorld got around the first
weather leg well ahead, then Oracle BMW cruised right by with
better wind, then the race was called for lack of wind. The only
race completed was a Prada win – finally – over the surprisingly
good Swedish Victory Challenge. Of course, Prada only won because
Victory committed the cardinal sin of not covering when they
had a big lead in light and shifty conditions.

 
Oracle BMW Racing (right) and OneWorld (left) sail a light-air
run with GBR and Mascalzone Latino in the background.
Photo Bob Grieser
Courtesy www.louisvuittoncup.yahoo.com

In a very short time, it’s beginning to
look awfully clear that Oracle BMW, OneWorld, and Alinghi, and
Victory Challenge are the best of the challenger bunch, and that
Le Défi Aréva and Mascalzone Latino are at the
bottom. Here’s the standings:

4-0 OneWorld Challenge
3-0 Oracle BMW Racing
4-1 Alinghi
3-1 Victory Challenge
2-3 Prada
2-3 Stars & Stripes
1-3 GBR Challenge
0-4 Le Défi Aréva
0-4 Mascalzone Latino

In today’s racing, Oracle BMW will walk
all over Le Défi Aréva; OneWorld and Victory Challenge,
as well GBR and Prada, should have tight races; and Alinghi is
expected to hand Stars & Stripes another loss.

Baby Onboard

October 8 – Santa Cruz

Bob Jehle sent us the accompanying photo
and wrote: “I thought you might enjoy the attached fun photo
from the recent SC Invitational.”

We replied that we found it visually intriguing
– but it begged for answers to several obvious questions: Who
is the woman? What’s the significance of the two little ones
– not wearing lifejackets, by the way – in the strollers hanging
from the lifelines?

“The boat is the SC52 Elyxir,”
Jehle responded, “but I didn’t get the lady’s name, who
seemed happy to pose for the photo.”

Photo Bob Jehle

When sending in an item or photo, it’s
good to remember the five journalistic w’s – who, what, where,
when, and why.

We’ve since been advised by several Latitude
folks that the woman is Stacy Ely, but we’re still clueless on
the significance of the two dolls in the strollers.

Cruiser Interview with a President

October 8 – Barillas Marina, El Salvador

“You meet the most interesting people
at Barillas Marina in El Salvador,” reports Bruce Winship
who is cruising there with his wife April and kids Kendall and
Quincy aboard the 30-ft Crowther Cat Chewbacca from Alameda.
“While lounging in the pool one afternoon, a nice young
man waded in and introduced himself as Francisco. Light conversation
went from the weather (hot and humid) to fishing conquests to
planned sails south. After a short while I excused myself, as
I had to download some recent pictures to my computer. So ended
my first conversation with a president of a country.

“Later, while busily working on my
laptop in the open-air restaurant, Francisco entered casually
dressed in his Colombia shorts and sandals. I glanced up, gave
a wave asked ‘Que tal?‘ – reaching the limits of my Spanish
– as he came by. Luckily for me, Herbieto Pineda, manager of
Barillas Marina, was there and introduced my wife April to Francisco
as follows: “April, I would like to introduce you to Francisco
Flores, our President of El Salvador.” Oops! My mistake
was understandable: in the United States politicians are supposed
to be slimy and aloof. We got the impression that Francisco Flores
is caring and concerned, and he’s certainly highly educated and
a nice and humble guy. He spoke intelligently of El Salvador’s
needs and its image from a bloody past. During his single 5-year
term – he has more than a year left – he has been instrumental
in rebuilding the infrastructure ruined during the civil war
that ended in 1992, and ridding the country of corruption. He
believes that education and jobs will be the salvation of El
Salvador, and is working closely with the United States to achieve
a Free Trade Agreement between our countries.

“Thinking quickly – for once – I grabbed
a nearby issue of Latitude
38 and said, “Hey, Francisco, would you like to
have your picture in this magazine?” He picked up the magazine
and said, “Mucho gusto, that would be great!”
All he had to do was wait while I ran to the dinghy, and motored
back to our cat to grab the digital camera. I got back just in
time to hear the whine of the helicopter warming up, while President
Flores lined up with cruisers from True Companion, Paraquina,
Akaivi, and Chewbacca for the accompanying photograph.”

Photo Courtesy Chewbacca

Winship didn’t identify the President of
El Salvador among the cruisers, but we think we can pick him
out.

More on Richard Van Pham

October 8 – Catalina Island

“Late one afternoon last June, we
saw Van Pham trying to singlehand into the Isthmus at Catalina,
wind on, in that same piece of crap boat with a torn jib flapping
away,” reports Steve Brown. “He couldn’t even make
the fairway when the Harbor Patrol spotted him and offered assistance.
He waved the help off, gave up on the idea of the Isthmus, and
sailed off somewhere else. We were thinking all kinds of things
– like some people have no business out there, and what the heck
was that? I guess he had his walkabout.”

Hey, the Columbia 26 Mk I got him to Costa
Rica, so we wouldn’t call it a “piece of crap.” But
your observation tends to confirm our suspicion that there’s
no way Van Pham sailed to Chile and back in that boat in six
months. Something is funky, and we think it’s Van Pham’s mental
state after having been in a coma for six months.

On a Bad Spree

October 8 – New York

Life hasn’t always been a bed of roses
for former Golden State Warrior basketball star Latrell Sprewell,
who has been playing for the New York Knicks the last number
of years. You may remember the star’s pit bull once chewed up
his young daughter, and then there was the incident in which
he choked his coach P.J. Carlesimo. Although now a long way from
the ghetto, problems seem to follow the attitudinal star. After
buying a yacht this summer, he had some friends aboard for a
late night party. Apparently, an uninvited girlfriend of one
of Spree’s guests puked on the floor, which really pissed Sprewell
off. When Spree insisted the woman get off the boat, the boyfriend
apparently objected, and fists started to fly. One of Spree’s
flew off course, hitting a wall, causing some bones to break.
Spree has now been fined $250,000 – chump change – for not informing
the Knicks. It’s unclear how much of the season he’ll miss.

No matter if you’re Martha Stewart or Latrell
Sprewell, there’s important advice not to forget: When you’ve
got to eat shit, take big bites and get it over with.

YOTREPS

October 8 – 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 8 – 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/.