Torresen Sailing Site Around the World of Sailing - Star North Americans, Around Alone, Weather Links

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In This Issue:
Star North American Results
Around Alone Report
Modern University for the Humanties Report
Torresen Sailing Site Weather Links Users Guide

Star North American Championships

The Star North Americans
concluded with a brutal boat busting
finish. This regatta was sailed on
Northern Lake George which is located in
Hague NY.
    The carnage list for the 6th and
final race was long and included the
following mishaps:
6 broken masts
2 sheered off booms
3 completely swamped boats
2 men overboard
1 exploded mainsail
    That said world class sailor
Mark Reynolds and crew Magnus Liljedahl
took home the first place prize. They
sailed a dominating series finishing up
1-1-2-2-1 and not having to sail the 6th race.
    John MacCausland and crew
Phil Trinter took 2nd, 4 points back. 3rd
were Peter Bromby and Lee White hailing from
the island nation of Bermuda. They ended
up with 16 points.
    For much more extensive information
please visit:
http://members.tripod.com/~NLGYC/StarNAreports.htm

Around Alone Report

    A new situation now rules the fleet. The
farther south you get, the faster you go
and the bigger your lead is. Somewhere continues
to lead the fleet and is located at 17 degrees
north latitude. Next is PRB also at 17
degrees north. 3rd in Class I is Gartmore.
Josh Hall has his yacht at 18 degrees north.
Somewhere's lead is 41 miles over PRB, and
70 over Gartmore.
    Although PRB continues to do well,
all is not necessesarally well. For one,
the forestay has broken. Isabelle has
managed a jury rig, but can no longer fly
her large genoa. As the fleet approached
the equator and the variable breezes, this
could put her at a huge disadvantage.
Second, she reports: "In the beginning,
when I was able to sleep only three hours
per day, it was OK, but now, it's much
more hard." Research shows that less
than 4 hours of sleep per day will cause
a deterioration in performance. Here's hoping
Isabelle can get some sleep, if not we will
see if she slows down.
    Class II is still led by Cray Valley.
2nd still is held by Magellan Alpha who is
6 miles back and 3rd is Balance Bar 61 miles
back, with a 28 mile gain in the last 6 hours.
At this point these 3 Class II leaders are
ahead of former race leader Fila. In fact
Cray Valley has a 153 mile margin over Fila.
    Also in Class II Rapscallion III
has overtaken South Carolina for 4th place.
Robin Davie e-mails in: "Gudday from
Driftsville, Another night of calms."
Surely this largely explains his now nearly
100 mile deficit to Rapsacllion III.
    Weather wise the fleet is very
concerned with Tropical Storm Lisa. This
storm is currently located at 19.8 degrees
north latitude and 47.5 degrees west
longitude. This storm is moving in a north
east direction at 10 knots. The current
position of Lisa puts the lead boats in
Class I very near this storm. Lisa can be
expected to produce winds of 45 to 55 knots.
Cray Valley's J.P. Mouligne sums up the
ideal strategy: "This kind of depression
moves counterclockwise and so I want to
stay on its western side to take advantage
of the Northerly flow." And if you
can't take advantage of it, Group 4's
Mike Golding presents this option: "With my
recent damage record I want to avoid contact
with this storm at all costs and am prepared
to lose miles to do just that."
    Also, you have a navigational
consideration. If you go too far south
and west to avoid the storm you will have
to go to windward to be sure of clearing
the horn of Brazil. Not an easy decision for sure.
    If the leaders make the right choice they
should speed up with the good following
winds from Lisa, assuming that they suffer
no damage from the storm conditions.

For daily updates on Around Alone please visit:
http://www.torresen.com/aroundalone/aanewshtm.htm

Modern University for the Humanities Report
    The Torresen Sailing Site sponsored
Open 60 sailed by Fedor Konioukhov continues
on Around Alone Leg 1.
    At last report MUH was 5980 miles from
Cape Town. Konioukhov has consitently
maintained a more southerly and westerly course.
So far, this has not produced great results.
    Also, for those of you who have been
seeing MUH come up as DNR (Did Not Report)
on the Around Alone position sites we have
an explanation for this. It seems as though
Fedor has been shutting down electronics at
night. It is not clear why this is. Perhaps
he has electrical troubles. Or perhaps he
is trying to outfox his competitors by
maintaining a very 90's style of radio silence.
    We hope to speak to Fedor soon and
will report what we find out.

Torresen Sailing Site Weather Links Users Guide

    Regular Torresen Sailing Site visitors
are likely aware of our Weather Links Page.
If not, the you need to visit:
http://www.torresen.com/weather.htm
    What follows is a users guide for our
weather links page. We'll attempt to show you
which sites to visit depending on the type
meterological information you seek.
    If you are from our home waters of
Lake Michigan you will want to start with
Go Sail link. This takes you to all sorts
of Lake Michigan specific weather. You can
utilize a system of pull down menus to get
the forcasts and conditions you are seeking.
    Most of the data comes from NOAA.
To get more of NOAA's information you will
want to click on the NOAA/Great Lakes Weather
link. This will get you to a comprehensive
index page. You can access near shore, and
offshore forecasts, current weather
observations and water temperature data.
Also, the bottom navigation bar takes you
to other NOAA weather pages.
    Also on our weather links page are
links to weather sites run by private
companies. The Accuweather link takes you
to Accuweather's main page. By entering a
zip code you are taken to a page loaded
with local weather info. On this page
you get a 5 day forecast, U.S. weather map
and radar, and satellite data. You also
get a local radar image. You can enlarge
any of these. Accuweather provides quick,
basic weather data.
    For those who like to utilize radar
images in weather forecasting, the United
States Radar Link is for you. This
takes you in Intellicast's national radar.
Mouse around and you can click in on more
detailed localized radar pictures. Especially
helpful in searching for that daysail
ruining rain !
    If you want to use a weather map
and concoct your own forecast then
follow the Intellicast Weather Maps Link.
The page you go to has all sorts of maps.
You can see the path of the jet stream,
look at isobars, high and low pressure
systems etc.
    Also, if you know of weather links
that should be featured on this page please
let ike@torresen.com know.
    Again, the Torresen Sailing Site
Weather Links page is at:
http://www.torresen.com/weather.htm

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