Photos of the Day

November 29 - Mystery Island

Today's Photos of the Day represent a quiz. Can you name this island? Hint: It's not Catalina. Email Richard.

Photos Gene and Sheri Seybold

Team Dennis Conner and Victory Challenge Dismissed

November 29 - Auckland, NZ

Seattle's Team OneWorld celebrated Thanksgiving by beating Team Dennis Conner for the fourth time in a row, eliminating them - pending the obligatory legal challenge - from the America's Cup competition. It was not close. Italy's Prada did the same to Sweden's Victory Challenge.

OneWorld will now face off against Prada. The winner of that series will move on to face the loser of Oracle BMW and Alinghi. Since Oracle and Alinghi have a collective 8-0 record against OneWorld and Prada in the previous round, it's very likely that Oracle and Alinghi will meet a second time to decide who goes up against the Kiwis.

For what it's worth, all the remaining syndicates are funded by billionaires.

ARC Starts from Canary Islands with 217 Entries

November 29 - Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, 2,700 miles from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia in the Eastern Caribbean, got off to a smashing start. Winds were light at the beginning, but quickly turned into night breezes of 20 to 25 knots, with occasional gusts to 35 knots. Photos from the fleet show some of the crews already down to shorts and reporting having a great time.

Exercise downwind on Tarok VI
Photo Courtesy Challenge Business
www.worldcruising.com

With the Azores High well established, it's expected that the northeast trades will continue strong giving everyone optimum conditions. Aurora, a Northern California Catana 58 catamaran, is the only California entry we're aware of.

Maverick Ready to Cross Atlantic

November 29 - La Gomera, Canary Islands

Tony Johnson and Terry Shrode, well into their circumnavigation aboard the Richmond-based Ericson 39 Maverick, have departed the Canary Islands on their way to the Eastern Caribbean.

Captain Tony and family earlier in the year at an island off Italy.
Photo Terry Shrode

"We just departed La Gomera for the passage across the Atlantic. A high has begun to settle in and should soon provide strong northeasterlies for our trip southwest to a waypoint Mr. Shrode has named 'wind' for the trades we expect to follow, as Columbus did, to the Caribbean. When we get to our waypoint some 650 miles out, we'll turn right and head just south of due west for Grenada, our planned landfall, which will then be about 2,100 miles away. We won't be able to use the engine, as we have not been able to resolve the problem with the prop shaft, so we'll have to sail all the way. The Captain has some butterflies, and that's what we're here for, thrillseekers. We haven't had what we would call an adventure since we left the Red Sea six months ago, and now there's a little excitement in the air."

Van Liew Victorious to Cape Town

November 29 - Cape Town, South Africa

Former Southern Californian Brad Van Liew once again distinguished himself with a brilliant six-week, two-day passage from Torbay, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, aboard Tommy Hilfiger Freedom in leg two of the Around Alone. In the process of claiming Class Two honors, Van Liew set a new 24-hour record for 50-ft boats of 345 miles (!), and beat his nearest competitor by 800 miles.
Bruce Schwab, still dealing with various difficulties with the Class One Wylie-designed 60-ft Ocean Planet, finished a short time later. Schwab may be underfunded and sailing a boat that's off the pace, but he's standing tall when everything seems to be going against him.

YOTREPS

November 29 - 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

November 29 - 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.