September 23, 2002

Better Late than Never

September 23 – Newport Harbor

While in Southern California a month ago,
we caught some shots of the Balboa YC’s last beer can race of
the year. Check ’em out.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble, America’s Cup
Style

September 23 – Auckland, NZ

With close to half a billion dollars having
been spent, it’s just a week to the start of the Louis Vuitton
Cup in New Zealand, which over a period of months will determine
the challenger for the America’s Cup next February. Finally,
the syndicates will be sailing for keeps.

Julie Ash of the New Zealand Herald
interviewed Russell Coutts – victorious skipper for New Zealand
in the last America’s Cup, who this time around defected to the
Swiss for big bucks – overview of the upcoming action. Coutts
said that no team would be dominant; that Oracle’s light and
narrow boats are probably the most radical; that Conner has gone
from a standard boat last time to the most narrow; that Prada
has some rigging elements inside the mast; and that Great Britain
probably has gone with a tandem keel. Coutts, an engineer by
training, says he loves the innovation.

New York Times
Missing the Beat

September 23 – New York, NY

On the eve of the start of the Louis Vuitton
Series, the New York Times has informed Herb McCormick
– their excellent boating columnist who covered the last America’s
Cup – that he won’t be needed. Apparently, there is no complaint
with McCormick’s work, but rather a shakeup in the Times
Sports Department. As a result, it’s believed that members of
the regular sports staff – perhaps a football writer? – will
cover the America’s Cup. We in Northern California are familiar
with how that works out.

Jane Eagleson, Barby MacGowan, Keith Taylor,
and Bruno Trouble – all experts on the importance of insightful
sailing coverage – suggest that sailors might write the Times
and protest the change. Send your thoughts, preferably on a company
or yacht club letterhead, to Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., Chairman
and Publisher; Howell Raines, Executive Editor; and Neil Amdur,
Sports Editor. The address is: The New York Times, 229
West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. We’ll be sending letters
and hope that you will also.

Ha-Ha Entry Stabbed at San Diego Police
Docks

September 23 – San Diego

Michael Fitzgerald and Sylvia Fox, who
will be participating in the upcoming Ha-Ha with their Mapleleaf
48 Sabbatical, have two pieces of unpleasant news from
down south.

First, Chuck Allen, who is signed up to
sail in the Ha-Ha with his wife Linda on a St. Augustine, Florida-based
Ingrid 38, was stabbed in the back at the San Diego Police Dock
at 6:45 a.m. on September 8. The assailant, whose name we’re
in the process of getting, also had a boat at the dock. There
was apparently no provocation, and the assailant, who may have
mental health issues, has reportedly been charged with attempted
murder. Allen, after exploratory surgery, is apparently healthy
enough to do the Ha-Ha. If anybody has more facts, or if Chuck
would be kind enough to call us, we’d appreciate it.

The other news is that the Amigo Net reported
that a cruiser in Puerto Escondido, Baja, had his van seized
because he was using it to transport other cruisers between Puerto
Escondido and Loreto. This pisses off taxi drivers, who get big
fares between the anchorage and the town.

Puerto Escondido
Photo Dave Wallace

Wall Street Journal Partners with Clipper Ventures

September 23 – New York, NY

If the Times is backing away from
sailing, the Wall Street Journal is jumping in, as Clipper
Ventures plc announced that the Journal will be a partner
for their 2002 and 2005 Clipper Round the World Yacht Races.
The Clipper Round the World Race is, in their words, “an
esteemed circumnavigation for amateur sailors, racing aboard
identical ocean-racing yachts, each sponsored by an international
city, over 11 months and some 35,000 miles of challenging seas.”
Hong Kong’s 60-foot racing yacht, one of eight Clippers competing
in the 2002 race, will be sponsored by the Journal.

Latest on the ‘Land Canal’ Across Baja

September 23 – San Carlos, Baja California

“Regarding Steve and Angelina’s letter in the September
issue about the current status of the ‘land canal’ across
Baja,” writes Gerry Cunningham, “I had a chat with
a disappointed Eddie Grossman about a month ago. He says that
in spite of progress made to date, the ecology people put a hold
on the project because they are disturbed by the claims of the
developers that the Mexican government’s ‘Nautical Stairway’
will bring 50,000 boats to the Sea of Cortez a year. Who wouldn’t
be upset by that, especially we cruisers. The irony is that environmentalists
have included the ‘dry canal’ in their target, when in actual
fact, the idea behind the project is to reduce the number of
boats in the Sea of Cortez. After all, those owners who are hesitant
to face the Baja Bash and remain stranded enjoying the Sea of
Cortez could use the ‘dry canal’ to reduce the Bash to a mere
300 miles. Eddie has purchased the dredge needed for the eastern
terminus at Bahia de los Angeles, and is keeping it busy at Marina
San Carlos until the dry canal project re-starts.”

Here’s Latitude’s take on the situation.
First, whatever parts of the Nautical Stairway the Mexican government
completes – and we don’t think there will be many – will be fiscal
disasters. That the idea has even gotten this far speaks to the
monumental ignorance of all those backing it. For their next
project, we can only expect they’ll be starting a string of government-backed
tanning salons in Puerto Vallarta.

Anybody who thinks 50,000 Californians are going to take their
boats
to Baja – and sail to San Evaristo, like this boat – is muy
loco.
Photo Dave Wallace

The concept of the Dry Canal isn’t quite
so dubious, but we still don’t understand it. If anyone wants
to avoid the Baja Bash, they can have Grossman truck their boat
to Tucson, where it can be transferred to another truck for shipping
anywhere else in the States or Canada. They’ve been doing that
for years. The new option is paying to have your boat delivered
to just halfway up the Baja coast, which can still be a hell
of a nasty sail to Southern California – let alone Northern California
or the Pacific Northwest.

YOTREPS

September 23 – 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 23 – 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/.