September 20, 2002

Photo of the Day

September 20 – Moss Landing

Today’s Photo of the Day is of an inspiration,
namely 77-year old Ivan Rusch of Moss Landing.

Photo Latitude/Richard

Having done a little lake sailing on nothing
larger than a 17-footer, Ivan took up ocean sailing at age 75
by buying Örnaerie, a 31-ft sloop that was the last
wood boat Chris Rassy built before co-founding Hallberg-Rassy.
In October of 2000, the ocean novice took off with 23-year-old
R.J. Trippicio of Oregon, and in one year covered a lot of ground.
Specifically, they stopped in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Costa Rica, and Panama. Then they headed up to Honduras, Caribbean
Mexico, Cuba, Florida, Bermuda, the Azores, England, Holland,
Germany, Sweden, Holland, and after 11 months put the boat on
the hard in Denmark. Did we mention that Ivan was 75 years old
at the time, and that he was new to ocean sailing? Anyway, Ivan
returned to his boat last summer and just messed around in Denmark.
After another brief trip home, he’s now headed back to his boat
with the intention of sailing to England, the Atlantic coasts
of France and Spain, and into the Med and Southern Spain. He
spent three months camping in Spain last year, and fell in love
with the country – and all the young girls. He’ll be singlehanding
this time, as R.J. is up in Oregon with his Cuban girlfriend,
and won’t be able to join the boat again until later.

Ivan has three tips for living long and
well: 1) Stay active. 2) Live on the edge. 3) Be a little crazy.

We’ll have more on Ivan in the November
– not October – issue of Latitude
38.

Kevin Williams, Older Brother of Missing
Bison Dele, Found Comatose

September 20 – USA-Mexico Border

Kevin Williams of Palo Alto and Santa Rosa
– suspected by some of killing his younger brother, former NBA
star Bison Dele, as well as Serena Kaplan and Bertrand Saldo
on Dele’s 56-ft catamaran in French Polynesia – was found comatose
near the U.S. border with Mexico a few days ago and taken to
a hospital. It wasn’t until yesterday that it was realized that
he was the person authorities are looking for. Although Williams,
who remains comatose, has not been charged with murder and no
bodies have been found, he reportedly told his girlfriend that
the three had been killed during a scuffle on the boat.

Samba Pa Ti
Did Not Cross in Front of a Tug

September 20 – San Francisco Bay

In Monday’s
‘Lectronic Latitude, we made an error in our report concerning
three Big Boat Series boats which were disqualified in Race 6
for interfering with commercial traffic. The incident occurred
on Saturday afternoon east of Angel Island when the lead boats
in the Farr 40 fleet crossed paths with two tugs, one of which
was towing a fuel barge. Based on the information we had at the
time, we reported that three boats – Cavallino, Crocodile
Rock and Samba Pa Ti – had crossed between the lead
tug and the tug towing the barge. We have since learned that
Samba Pa Ti, which was running in third place at the time,
did not follow Cavallino and Croc between the two
tugs. Instead, she ended up staying to the south and east, eventually
coming clear as the tugs made a turn for the Gate after passing
Angel Island. She did come within a couple of boatlengths of
the lead tug, however, which led to her DSQ in that race along
with Cavallino and Crocodile Rock. The remainder
of the fleet ducked behind the barge. We apologize for the error.

The first photo shows the three racers approaching the tugs.

Photo two shows Samba Pa Ti not crossing in front of the
tug.
Photos Latitude/Richard

Around Alone

September 20 – Atlantic Ocean

Brad Van Liew, formerly of Santa Monica,
has stretched his lead to 135 miles over the other five competitors
in Class II of the Around Alone race, now on its way from New
York to England. Bernard Stamm, whose Open 60 Bobst Group-Armor
Lux holds the transatlantic monohull record, is in front
of Class I by 103 miles. Northern Californian Bruce Schwab with
the Wylie 60 Ocean Planet, an unusually narrow boat with
an unusual rig, has dropped to sixth out of seven boats, 251
miles off the pace.

Saturday Is the 18th Annual Coastal Clean-Up
Day

September 20 – California

Each year more than 40,000 volunteers turn
out at 400 sites to clean up some of the coastal mess in California.
Tomorrow is the day this year. For information on how you can
help, visit www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html.

The Unanskis Have Been Getting Around

September 20 – Jacksonville, FL

“We left San Francisco in October
of ’98 and joined the Baja Ha Ha fleet for the trip to Mexico,”
write Bob and Barb Unanski of the Taswell 43 Freya. “After
cruising Mexico from La Paz to Puerto Madera from November ’98
until April of ’99, we visited Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica
and Panama. We went through the Panama Canal in November of ’99
– and loved Panama. We then sailed to the ABC islands, Venezuela
and Trinidad. We spent the last two years cruising all the islands
of the Caribbean. This year we cruised from Trinidad to Grenada,
Bequia, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, the French islands, Antigua,
Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas to Florida.
We’re now at the Ortega YC Marina in Jacksonville, Florida.”

Big Boat Series Photo Essay

September 20 – San Francisco Bay

Here’s a look at the racing last Saturday
and Sunday. For full Big Boat Series coverage, see the October
issue of Latitude
38.

Farr 40 start

J/120 mark rounding

YOTREPS

September 20 – 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

September 20 – 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/.