Ahoy Dangerous Shoals

Waffling on the next America's Cup Venue.

Ski Racing Drones

Baseball Drones

Under My Radar

Sochi2014 is a week old today, and it's been fascinating to be sure. It's no wonder a lot of news that matters to me has been overlooked in the day to day of the Winter Games.

I've been streaming most of the events I care about, and not watching the NBC Broadcasts that much, except as Family-Time entertainment for the Marquee Events. We still love the American Figure Skating Pair that skates to the James Bond theme music.

Watching the LIVE Stream, you see every racer in the downhill...all 50 bibs. NBC showed All the Americans and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze runs...and every crash...these events are much more interesting viewed as they happen, in order, in full. Sochi's balmy weather and the venues' deterioration are a story that NBC barely acknowledges, but tells itself when viewed start-to-finish.

With Sochi twelve hours ahead, I'm losing a little sleep in my quest to enjoy these Games...

California's reservoirs got a shot in the arm from a nice Pineapple Express. Folsom Lake near Sacramento caught 23.8ft and gained 102,870 acre feet of water. Salmon and steelhead are grateful...

A week after NorCal's Big Gulp, record high temps have been matched or recorded in Reno, Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe. Our poor TV weatherfolks are bored already, and the forecasters and TV weather people are starting to act like shell-shocked walking wounded again.

Forecast Model Ensembles are coming into agreement on another system for Saturday night/Sunday, but it's tracking north of Interstate 80. Both Noon News shows I caught today said snow on the passes...just what the Resorts and Mountain Businesses don't need...another Holiday Weekend Rain-Out. If precedent holds, the crowds will avoid the mountains...and the 'storm' will miss wide north...This pattern is three winters old now...

Sadly, the last big International Sporting Event, the 34th America's Cup Regatta has been getting some ink...the Organizers and San Francisco's Powers-that-be are scrapping over the next regatta, scheduled for 2017. As you can imagine, it's all about money and outsized egos.

Larry Ellison, tech giant Oracle's Top Dog, and winner of the 'Old Mug' with his ORACLE Team USA syndicate is making noises about taking his ball and going home...which is his newly purchased Hawaiian Island, Lanai. Organizers are looking at San Diego and Newport, Rhode Island as well as Hawaii...

Even the design of the regatta and the challenger's feeder regatta are being argued, though I hope it's just Ellison trying for a negotiating advantage. It would be a shame if the Organizers artificially kept the Challenger Fleet small. When SturgeUrge and I went to the first Louis Vuitton Cup race between Italy's LunaRosa and Sweden's Artemis, the Aquatic Park Jetty was packed with European tourists...the majority Swedes.

The Regatta was so incredible, set against the breathtaking San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin County shores, the Organizers would be fools to go anywhere different. Contesting the next Cup in some other venue without the television eye-candy quotient, would be suicide for potential sponsors. Anyone who watched the excellent TV coverage from San Francisco Bay would be channel surfing before the first tack.

Last year's America's Cup Regatta was so hotly contested that it took me weeks to get my breath back...Sudden Death races for ORACLEteamUSA...two a day, for the final week of racing...what a spectacle! It would be criminal to lose it.

To be fair to The City, it should cost less next time around...no new venues are required, in fact the city and National Park Service could make enough cash to offset their costs just by selling access to the Aquatic Park Jetty, where SturgeUrge and I watched the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup. At $5/head, they could bag an easy $2000/day!

There's baseball news too! SF Giants' Pitchers & Catchers report to Spring Training today! The club is streaming live from Scottsdale at 9AM PST If you can't see the full screen stream, clear your browser's cache.

Ugghhh... @NWSReno just tweeted:  Very windy on Saturday with more snow expected for the #Sierra on Saturday night into Sunday. pic.twitter.com/LCQoRFXa3X

Not what the resorts want to see going into Presidents' Day Weekend...The math is hard. The resorts have lost half of the Christmas Holidays, most are at best half open, the 49ers copped another two weekends...it's gotta be pretty grim in the accounting department...

Hey! On the bright side, Squaw's KT22 opens Friday!

Annual Autumnal Light Review

Well I reached my annual milepost on the way to Winter. I’m up The Hill for a weekend of National Championship Air Racing at Reno/Stead Field. This is the 50^th Anniversary Championship.

I rolled out to Stead Friday afternoon about 45 minutes before the Unlimited Gold Heat, under partly to mostly cloudy skies. I wasn’t thinking about the quality of the sunlight while chewing the fat with the fenceline regulars I know from previous years in The Valley Of Speed.

The impending thunderstorms encroaching on the race course cancelled the final race of the day…the same Gold Heat I’d bet my whole stake on…time-wise…

Saturday morning I ran downtown to poach the Truckee Library’s wifi signal to post Saturday’s blog, and through the narrow slice sky of my street, I could see a pretty thick smoky haze partially obscuring the Carson Range…on the bright side however, I see where the Great Smoky Mountains got their name...

I arrived in the VOS a half an hour before the Unlimited Heat Silver 3B. Catching up on the day’s news with my fellow Fenceliners, I learned that the Unlimited Bronze Class was cancelled due to a dearth of entries.

Three time defending Unlimited Gold Champion, ‘Strega’ would race her way in via the Silver Class.

There was an AT-6 Heat, and the highly promoted “Jetman” did his show…from our vantage point he wasn’t even a spec in the sky…

Finally the big warbirds launched for the Silver Heat. ‘Strega’ easily went from worst to first.

It was hot out in the High Desert…I took shelter in the car…it’s like the seats fold down into a chaise lounge! I’m reading “Hidden Warbirds” by Nicholas A. Veronico a new book chronicling the finding, recovering and restoring of lost WW2 aircraft.

Still a couple of hours to kill, I looked at Twitter. Oh my God! @AmericasCupLIVE tweets: TIM TNZ Capsize! What? Via Twitter I sussed that the Kiwi

S capsize wasn’t terminal…TeamOracleUSA won the first race, the second race was abandoned on the second leg due to the Wind Limit.

Finally the Gold Unlimited competitors took to the sky. Large puffy Cumulus clouds filled the sky. Their shade was more than welcome. It was almost 5PM, winds were still MIA

Fenceline view of show center in the distance

‘Voodoo’ the P-51 lead them ‘down the chute’ and it was ON First lap was over 500MPH! Sadly we heard a pop pop pop  sound and Race 232 ‘September Fury’ pulled up, called May Day and made an emergency landing with Space Shuttle Astronaut Hoot Gibson at the stick.

‘Czech Mate’ finished second, ‘Rare Bear’ third and ‘Precious Metal’ fourth.

With ‘September Fury’ likely down for the count, there’s still three planes with a shot at Gold Sunday afternoon: ‘Voodoo, ‘Strega’ and ‘Rare Bear’

I got home to the DaveCave just in time to watch my San Francisco Giants destroy the LA Dodgers in their house. Final score? 19-3 The most runs scored against the Dodgers ever in Dodger Stadium!

After the ballgame, I caught the replay of the America’s Cup Race. The Kiwi’s didn’t capsize ‘all the way’, their wing never touched the water…it was close. The blew a turn by not reversing the wing. It didn’t ‘pop’ and over they went. 45° of heel easy before the wing popped and the yacht righted itself, committing a right of way foul on the Americans in the process! Wing trimmer error…perhaps a hydraulic problem?

The bigger news is the Americans made some changes to the boat, and I suspect fitted it with new foils, they looked faster Saturday. The proof in the pudding awaits Sunday.

Saturday's skies were too busy to get a glimpse of Autumnal Light conditions...I know it's there...it's time...

Win Some, Lose Some

Yin and Yang…whatever…

So I shorted my Reno Air Races week so I could take in at least one America’s Cup Final race…The way things are going for TeamOracleUSA against TeamEmiratesNewZealand, there might not be any more races to see after this weekend.

The Kiwi’s boat is slightly faster until the winds are knocking at the upper safety limit of 23 knots, and it really outshines the American boat on maneuverability. Even the untrained eye can see that the Kiwi’s zoom through their turns while the American’s boat visibly lumbers around the corners…

SturgeUrge and I took in the race Thursday, though as it turned out, through reduced circumstances…back in early August, we took in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals. I blogged about the difficulty I had finding parking info via the AmericasCup.com site. We got lucky and stumbled onto the best free seats in the house!

We headed across the new bridge and back to our Valhalla only to find the Park Services have closed our spot because it was too good…which is to say, neither the National Park Service, or San Francisco Parks & Rec. could be bothered to police the wharf, so closed it was…

Thursday’s race was contested in lightish winds…which favor the Kiwi’s. Our alternative viewing perch was OK, but crowded…some young woman dropped her iPhone5 on my shoulder and into my camping chair (luckily for her, no case on her expensive phone) while her friend kept bumping into SturgeUrge’s hat from behind…

We didn’t hang around for the second race of the day opting instead to beat the afternoon rush across the new bridge.

I’m thinking: “Great, I’ll have time to get packed before the Giants/Dodgers game, and head up the hill after the game, thereby missing Sacramento’s afternoon rush too”…

Ooops…I thought the game started at 6:05PM…1^st pitch actually 7:15PM…who’da thunk it? Yep…extra innings…sigh I finally hit the road at 11PM…Giants lost…Winning pitcher? exGiant’s Closer Brian “The Beard” Wilson…oh the humanity…

Into bed at 0230, alarm rattles me awake at 0800…still not done sleeping…

After doing the post office/post office box shuffle, I wasn’t going to make the Air Races in time to catch the Silver Heat at 1:10PM, so I opted to go later and catch the Gold Heat.

I got out to the fenceline about 45 minutes before the scheduled time…I caught up with the regulars who’ve been out there every year since the lion’s share of the fenceline was closed.

I was anxious to hear how the Silver Heat went at 1:10PM.

Three-time defending  Breitling Gold Reno Champion, Race 7, Strega had some drama in qualifying Tuesday. Just after takeoff, his canopy ‘exploded’. Not the windscreen, but the ‘bubble’, that portion of the canopy above the pilot’s helmet, came apart…Strega may-day-ed and landed safely.

Repairs were made, but not in time to get into another qualifying run, so Strega will have to race into the Gold, by winning the Silver on Sunday, forfeiting the win for entry into the Gold field, and he’ll start last in the Breitling Gold Race Sunday. Drama anyone?

So, there was a Jet Heat, and The Patriots Jet Demo Team before the Gold Heat was scheduled…then some thunderheads began to intrude on Stead Field, a few large raindrops fell, and before too long, all the pylon watchers, got into their trucks and drove towards the pits. There would be no Gold Heat today…

My fellow fenceliners said: “Strega was faster than all the Silver racers…like twice as fast”…

So there’s four genuine contenders for Gold on Sunday…oh, boy!

Sometimes you win, sometimes you have drama…

Déjà Vu

I was out the door early today. My plan went this way: COSTCO Gas, COSTCO, Saw Shop, Chick-Fil-A for lunch, Drug Store, Safeway...all so I could get home to the Ancestral Digs and do a little baking before things heated up too much.

Too late... it was hot when I left...but when I returned it was 93°F.

As I was getting ready to leave, I strode down the driveway to get a clear view of the sky and I was struck instantly with a sense of the ol' déjà vu. I could feel the sun's heat on my skin, it's heat reflecting up from the driveway, and I smelled wood smoke...my encoded memories took me south of the border...all the way to Los Cabos, at the southern tip of Baja.

That's how it felt...Tropical, though the relative humidity was only 22%, and not a breath of wind.

That smell of smoke is coming from the newest wildfire to settle into my consciousness, the Morgan Fire, on the southeast flanks of Mount Diablo.

As the crow flies, the Morgan Fire is the same distance east from the Ancestral Digs, as San Francisco is flying west from the Digs. It takes 30 minutes from the Digs to go through the tunnel, across the bridge, and into The City. It's funny, Mt Diablo seems so much closer...I guess it's a human thing...almost everytime I go anywhere out of town, there's Mt Diablo towering over everything. It takes almost an hour, given the tiny neighborhood roads to get to the South Entrance to Mt Diablo State Park from the Ancestral Diggs.

KirkVallus and I made the trek up the Devil Mountain in 2012 to see a stage of the Amgen Tour of California Pro Bicycle Race.

The last time Mt Diablo burned was in 1977. At that time I lived in Walnut Creek with a buddy. We could see the peak from our kitchen window. Back in '77, I was at the kitchen sink when I saw lightning strike Mt Diablo's southwestern flank. It burned for three days.

I did Chick-Fil-A for lunch because their parking lot has a panoramic view of the mountain...there were no spaces that faced Mt Diablo, so I headed south and pulled into one of the many alleyways between small businesses, found a shady east-facing spot, and had lunch.

The mountain looked fully engulfed...at least the backside did from my vantage point. Even the North Peak had a pall of smoke rising up from behind it. As I took in the scene, a commercial-sized aircraft came into view as if it came from the Livermore Airport.

It flew high above the fire, and just past the summit, it turned 180° and dove towards the southern ridgeline. It was a huge jet air tanker, and it laid a line of pink fire retardant just west of the ridgeline. That swath was nearly a half mile long!

I recorded a video of the whole thing...sadly my vantage point was through a bunch of powerlines and the camera's auto focus had trouble coping. However, I found a photo from the backside of the mountain capturing the same drop! Thanks Twitter!

By the time the 5 O'clock news came on, the almost 800 firefighters on the line and the air attack had really tamed things up on the mountain. The near lack of wind helped a bunch too!

Once I got cooled off in the pool, I settled in for some Giants Baseball pre-game radio blather, and I went online...fired up twitter and searched #MorganFire.

Through the magic of twitter, i was treated to an almost continuous stream of tweets loaded with photos, news and views. Much less dramatic that Sunday night, when photos from AT&T Park showed the towering plume of smoke over the East Bay Hills!

I found out the big jet air tanker is called a VLAT DC-10 that is, it's a DC-10 widebody, converted into a Very Large Air Tanker. You gotta love government-speak...

Last I heard it was 'some kid doin' illegal target practice in his yard' that sparked the thing off. At 8PM Monday night, CalFire is reporting the Morgan Fire stands at 3,718 acres and 20% containment.

Reports from Reno/Stead Airport, home of the Reno Air Races say the unlimiteds have arrived, speed trials are underway...and oh yeah, the smoke from the Rim Fire has dissipated!

My next shot at an America's Cup race (and my first trip across the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is Thursday, so I won't be in the Valley Of Speed until Friday morning.

This Sunday afternoon photo covers all the bases...so to speak...

The whole story: America's Cup recer, new Bay Bridge, Morgan Fire pyre.

More later...

Sporty Too

The America's Cup got off to a roaring start Saturday. Close racing and great pictures on NBC's broadcast.

I think Emirates Team New Zealand has a slight edge speed-wise, though it could be sailing prowess not a design weakness on Team OracleUSA's boat.

We'll see tomorrow...

Friday night I witnessed a near miracle while watching the SF Giants play the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With Giants' starting pitchers Chad Gaudin and Matt Cain on the 15 Day Disabled List. Giants' journeyman right hander, Yusmeiro Petit got the call. I watched his last start at Arizona where he was the winning pitcher, going six innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and ten strikeouts. Swing and miss stuff, too...

Friday, Venezuelan Petit looked sharp. When he retired his twelfth batter in a row it dawned on me that he had a 'Perfect Game' going.

Now baseball players are credited with being 'The Most Superstitious Athletes', and no facet of the game carries more superstition baggage than the perfect game and no hitters, or No-Nos...

In dugouts across The Fruited Plain, there's one Ironclad Rule...If there's a No-No underway, you don't say No-no, no-hitter, perfect game, or any other combination of words that indicate same...'You'll jinx it' they say.

By the sixth inning, AT&T Park was abuzz...it got more electrified as Petit retired each batter.

Giants' Manager Bruce Bochy made some defensive substitutions to help keep the No-no going, and that paid off instantly when speedy outfielder Juan Perez made a circus catch.

In the bottom of the ninth, everyone in the sold-out AT&T Park was standing, cheering every pitch...one out, two outs...one strike, two strikes...and with the count full, pinch hitter, Eric Chavez hits a line drive to right, Speedy Giants right fielder, Hunter Pence races to it, but it bounces inches from Pence's glove...the Perfect Game dashed.

Petit got the final out on the next batter...ballgame, Giants win...but 40K+ fans in the park and millions tuned in around the country only thought of what might have been...sigh...

Had Petit rung up Chavez, it would have been the 24th perfect game in baseball history. Alas, he became the 12th pitcher to have the perfect game escape with two outs in the 9th...he did tally his third victory since the Giants brought him up from AAA Fresno.

Today I heard first baseman Brandon Belt say: "It's my fault. I didn't sit in his spot" I couldn't tell if Belt was kidding or not.

No superstitions I'm aware of in "The World's Fastest Motorsport" This week is Air Race Week! The 50th Anniversary Reno National Championship Air Races kick off Wednesday September 11th.

I can't wait to get out to "The Valley Of Speed"

Gotta turn in early now...my alarm (and DVR) are set for 0430. Formula One races in Italy tomorrow...Monza, Ferrari, Tifosi...high speed and history on display.

Good Night!

Sporty

Whew! It's finally time for the America's Cup Regatta on San Francisco Bay!

In the first week of August, SturgeUrge and I made the pilgrimage across the Old Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge to watch Race 1 of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals between challengers, Team Artemis of Sweden, and Team Luna Rossa of Italy. The semis would decide which syndicate would race Team Emirates New Zealand for the right to challenge the Cup's Defenders, Team Oracle USA in September.

This afternoon Race 1 of the Cup goes off at 1:15PM PDT, followed by Race 2 at 2:15PM

I was thinking of hitting two birds with one stone...driving the new eastern span of the bridge, and taking in the race. I clicked over to the America's Cup website and the homepage has the "Buy America's Cup Tickets" button above the "Continue to AmericasCup.com" button...I clicked the Tix button...

Cheap Seats: Starting at $140!

Alternatively...NBC has the races LIVE starting at 1PM today...

Where There's Smoke, There's Burners

Friday SturgeUrge and I were driving to a neighboring town to pick up the F/V SturgeUrge's Tow Vehicle from the auto shop. Heading north on I-680 during the afternoon commute, we saw a polished aluminum duck decoy-looking trailer being towed north...

An 'Art Car' heading for the Black Rock Desert for the Burningman Fesitval.

It was a very artistic piece...think Airstream Trailer-style.

I told Urge: 'I'm gonna miss being in Truckee this week...all those Burners with all their crazy art on trailers in every parking lot in town (Well, at least every grocery store and hardware store parking lot!)

Some of them are invisible for all intents and purposes...especially those who's artform is self display. However when their week on the Playa is over and they head home, they all sport the telltale Playa Patina on their rides.

This morning, @NWSSacremento tweeted: "Latest updates on #AmericanFire and #RimFire, with hi-res satellite image from yesterday. #cawx pic.twitter.com/JqxaBwFLe0"

The Burners are gonna have a lot more smoke than that from 'Burning The Man' Saturday night! Smoke from the huge 'Rim Fire' is already over the Black Rock Desert as I type. Here's the NWS Sacramento's High-Rez Satellite View:

You can see the smoke from the 'Orleans Complex' and 'Salmon River Complex' in the satellite picture...look at the red squiggles to the left of the 'Latest Fire Updates' title at the top. These are the two fires that the Siskiyou Wing of the family have been dealing with this month...

Back to my neck of the woods, I look forward to seeing the smoky photos from this year's Burn...meanwhile there's San Francisco Giants baseball, Formula One racing and, the America's Cup to enjoy before I head up the Hill for the 50th Anniversary Reno National Championship Air Races, where I traditionally see my first 'Autumnal Light' reminding me that winter is coming.

Competition Breakdown

Day Three: Louis Vuitton Cup Finals
Another race, another breakdown...

It's getting to be like a stuck record...three races, three broken boats. Even the defenders, TeamOracleUSA suffered a broken rudder in practice. It turns out they hooked the rudder on a mooring buoy line the day before they broke it off during a foiling gybe.

So in Monday's Race 3 it was Team Luna Rossa's turn to break. This time it was a sheave that controls the wing. Sheave (pronounced shiv) is Salty Dog for pulley, on boats they're called blocks too...think block and tackle...

After watching these big fast AC72 catamarans race on the Bay, I'm reminded of several old saws from motor racing....about how weight offsets horsepower, if something can break, it will break...it's always a 25 cent part that fails and stops the million dollar race car...blah, blah, blah...

Louis Vuitton Cup Finals: Scorecard
2-1 Team Emirates New Zealand in the Best Of Thirteen Finals

Blow By Blow:
Race 1 Luna Rossa loses control of their starboard Daggerboard rounding the first mark. A broken attachment point where the line lifts the Daggerboard fails. DNF, ETNZ wins uncontested. Score one point for New Zealand

Race 2 Team New Zealand wins the start, then loses hydraulics on the first downwind leg. DNF. Luna Rossa wins uncontested. Score one point for Luna Rossa

Race 3 Luna Rossa wins the start, trails by 3 seconds rounding the 1st mark, and breaks a wing sheave tacking away. DNF. New Zealand wins uncontested. ETNZ leads Luna Rossa 2-1

Two races were scheduled for each race day (Monday was supposed to be a Rest Day, but both Saturday and Sunday's afternoon races were postponed by too much wind) Mondays second race was also postponed for high winds.

Tuesday will be a Rest Day.

So  what of the Red Flag Warning forecast? Any effects on the racing today? None that I could see from the HDTV Broadcast. Twitter was alive with weather tweets however. @NWSBayArea: Radar picking up a cell around 30 miles west of #SantaCruz and #SanMateo Counties. 2 lightning strikes. #bayareawx pic.twitter.com/QTR0oCqn4P
about an hour before the start of Race 3

@NWSBayArea tweeted a satellite photo of the offshore T-storm action:

An hour or so later @NWSBayArea tweeted a wrap-up photo:

To my eye, the Fire Weather isn't here just yet, though in the High Sierra, some storms are firing off. @kcraFinan: Getting rain on Donner Summit on I-80.

I don't have the heart to check on the wildfire situations in The West in this heat (90.3°F) this afternoon...I'm sure it will find it's way into my Twitter Feed later this evening...

Red Flag Warning

From the WeatherUnderground active Warnings Page:

"... Red flag warning in effect from midnight tonight to 3 am PDT
Wednesday for thunderstorms. The red flag warning covers most
inland portions of the San Francisco Bay area...

The National Weather Service San Francisco Bay area has issued a
red flag warning... which is in effect from midnight tonight to
3 am PDT Wednesday.

* Affected area: all inland areas of the San Francisco Bay area
except near San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley.

* Timing: shower and thunderstorm chances will begin by late
Sunday night and continue through at least Tuesday
night... possibly into Wednesday as well.

* Thunderstorms: gusty winds and lightning are possible through
the period. Thunderstorms may initially be dry but should become
wetter with time. Stronger storms may produce abundant lightning
and small hail.

* Outflow winds: speeds to 25 mph are possible near thunderstorms.

* Impacts: dry fuels along with the potential for abundant
lightning may result in new fire starts even with storms
that are wet.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions
are either occurring now... or will shortly. A combination of
dry fuels and lightning strikes could result in numerous fire
starts."

      To quote Lance Armstrong: "Not. Good."

As I type, it's 97.7 °F at 5:40PM in the Inland Valley. I spent some time sittin' in the pool between the Giants game and the NBCSportsNet replay of today's Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race 2, and watered all 360° of the Ancestral Diggins...Saturday's High was only 76.2°F, and I transplanted two little Artichoke plants Saturday as well...

The Beaver Creek Fire continues to balloon out of control. Evacuations are up to 2600 according to the 6 o'clock news on KSFO...with another 1300 under Pre-Evacuation Orders. The news reader said 160 square miles now have burned. InciWeb has it over 100K acres.

The Siskiyou County Wing of the family is sitting pretty, the Orleans Complex is moving away at 10+ miles away and counting. InciWeb says they expect 100% containment by September 15th at 6PM PDT!

The Red Flag Warnings cover Truckee, Reno,NV and the Tahoe Basin, as well as most of the Sierra...I've cancelled my trip to Truckee for the time being...to avoid the smoke from the 'American Fire' and the thunderstorms the NWS is promising for the week...

Reno's NWS Office posted this to their Facebook Page

I'm curious what this weather regime will do the the America's Cup Regatta on San Francisco Bay...The challengers are into the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals now to decide who will challenge for the Old Mug come September, and they've been more than exciting!

After two days, where four races were scheduled, equipment failures and high afternoon winds, just two races were contested. Each race had the winner crossing the finish line while their opponent limped to shore after an on-course equipment failure.

Monday, the Organizers have moved up the first race of the day to 12:10PM for Race 3 & 4.

These 72ft catamarans are like 'Floating Formula One Racers'...carbon fiber on the bleeding edge, racing at speeds not even dreamed of two years ago, not to mention back in 1986 when I first dreamed of America's Cup racing on The Bay!

I finally found a decent, printer-friendly TV schedule of the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals: Thanks San Jose Mercury News! I scrolled to the bottom of today's story, copied it, and made a Word.doc for the clipboard.

Let's be Fire Safe out there...We can get thru this!

Dreams Do Come True

Tuesday, SturgeUrge and I went to San Francisco to watch the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals featuring Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge versus the Swedish team, Artemis Racing.

We went with less than our usual pre-trip intel, thanks to the America's Cup's lush but practically impenetrable website, that was holding on tightly to whatever parking info it was hiding.

So we headed across the Bay Bridge and set a course for the Golden Gate Bridge. We hit almost every red light on Van Ness Avenue, before the bridge traffic turns left on Lombard Street, and we went straight down the hill to the waterfront where we turned around and decided to head a little more west towards Chrissy Field...

Through the eucalyptus trees I saw the curved wharf that defines the western boundary of Aquatic Park, just as Urge spied a free four-hour parking space...we took it, and trundled out the wharf to what turned out to be a fine viewing spot!

As it turned out, the racing had been delayed an hour to 1:15PM which allowed the American team, TeamOracleUSA to train with both of their AC72 boats.

You get a fine view from the San Francisco shoreline as the action can be less than a quarter mile from shore! These are big boats, 72ft hulls sporting a 130ft tall wing-sail, that are unbelievably fast on the water...

Or should I say above the water? The designers have added a 'foil' to the bottom tip of each rudder and each daggerboard, that allows these six ton craft to rise above the water with only the foils in the water, thereby reducing the drag to almost nothing, and allowing these yachts to reach speeds of over 40 knots (46mph) downwind!

We were about halfway to the end of the long arc of the wharf, and roughly in the middle of the race course, so we had a view of the boats going both ways...upwind and downwind.

Both TeamOracleUSA boats appeared from the east and put on quite a show with the beautifully illuminated Golden Gate Bridge as a background under high wispy cirrus clouds and the lingering 'marine layer' against a nice blue sky.

Here's TeamOracleUSA up on her foils doing nearly 40 knots in 16 knots of wind. The teams have about 70-80 days training in these boats now, and they're just learning how to sail them, and what the limits are.

Their newest trick is called the foiling gybe...that is making a turn...while up on the foils...while running downwind at speed...yikes! Gybe is Salty Dog for turn, or shift the mailsail from one side to the other.

TeamOracleUSA stayed out training on course until the last possible seconds before Artemis and Luna Rossa began their Pre-Start.

Artemis has only been on the water in their new boat 'Big Blue' for seven training days after suffering a fatal capsize on May 9th that not only killed their Olympic Medal winning sailor Andrew 'Bart' Simpson, but destroyed their first boat, 'Big Red'. Big Blue was launched barely two weeks ago, July 22nd!

Luna Rossa has been training more than 70 days by contrast. Artemis acquitted themselves well, and even won the start. They ran a cautious race and lost by 2 minutes in the 45 minute contest.

The America's Cup website has the blow by blow recap of the first semi-final race.

I snapped plenty of photos:

Pre-Start Action between SWE and ITA

Two minutes before the Start

You can watch the race from 'The Rock'

The television coverage is just great...we marveled at the wild flying the TV helicopter did to get the great shots!

The Louis Vuitton Cup Regatta will decide the Challenger this month, and the America's Cup Regatta will begin in early September. 

As I looked through my pictures and videos, I thought of the late great San Francisco sailor, Tom Blackaller who gave me the dream of seeing the America's Cup contested on San Francisco Bay way back in 1986.

In 1986, Tom was skipper of the 12 meter America's Cup hopeful 'USA' USA 61 was a very fast boat with experimental fore and aft rudders...she turned on a dime, but was prone to control problems (software glitched in the steering system, I think)

USA 61 and Blackaller made it to the semi-finals of the '86 Louis Vuitton Cup, but lost to Dennis Conner sailing Stars & Stripes 87 who went on the wrest the Cup from the Australians sailing Kookaburra 3 at Freemantle.

I remember thinking that if there was just one more week of the LV Cup, Blackaller might have ironed out the problems and been the Challenger...and that the America's Cup might come to The Bay...

Dreams do come true...but not exactly the way you wish for...the technology on display on San Francisco Bay is light years ahead of the budding innovation on the single-hull 12 meter America's Cup Racers of 1986. Tom is surely smiling down on this Regatta!

Pattern Change

Bay Area TV Weatherfolks rejoice, pattern change is coming!

This morning, the NWS Reno Office posted this graphic to Facebook:

Still three days out, they're forecasting more weather than they did a few days ago.

On Twitter I see @borealmtn still holding out hope for an October opening. A foot of natural snow would make it a lot easier...again, we'll see...

Boreal looking Autumnal, fans await snowmaking temps

This pattern change may play havoc with the National League Championship Series which returns to AT&T Park Sunday should the Giants and Barry Zito win tonight's Must-Win Game 5 in St Louis.

Another 72 ft America's Cup racer having troubles on San Francisco Bay:
Sweedish Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing had a bit if trouble during Tow Testing it's new AC72 Thursday. As fast as these racing yachts are, so far they seem a little fragile to this observer.

Knock on wood...this could be the end of Fire Season...let's hope!

ENSO

So El Niño looks like a fading memory for 2012/2013 according to the Climate Prediction Center's October 90 Day Outlook Discussion published today.

I'm guessing we'll have another slow start to Ski Season...call it a hunch.

Wednesday we had widespread Red Flag Warnings for the Sacramento Valley, Inland Valleys, and Bay Area ridgetops.

Here in the Inland Valley our nights are cooling rapidly, but the forecast is for warming through the weekend. There is some buzz about "pattern change" on the horizon, but the jury's still out on that one. It's time for the local TV weathermen to get antsy...they've gotta be bored to death with the same ol', same ol' summer forecast regime...

Back to the Drawing Board:
My San Francisco Giants will fight to get back on track this evening in St Louis. Tim Lincecum makes the start, and looks like 2010's "I've Got This" Lincecum in the post season.

Also going backwards back on San Francisco Bay, TeamOracleUSA pitch-polled their new AC72 catamaran America's Cup racing catamaran. They dug both hulls while bearing away in 25 knot winds into the biggest ebbtide currents of the season. The fast current swept the overturned cat out under the Golden Gate Bridge and four and a half miles out to sea!

Fortunately all hands are accounted for and no major injuries to the crew were reported. It took most of the night to tow the cat back to TeamOralceUSA's Pier 80 base.

Upside down at Pier 80

I'm no expert...but it looks like a total loss to my eyes...News reports place the value variously at $8-$10 million...the wing sail is a total loss, and the teams next AC72 won't splash until early next year. Ouch!

No forecast necessary here...this is a big setback for the Home Team