October 2009 eBook all pages (free PDF, 36.6 - Latitude 38

Spread; The Catana 50 'Verite' storming along
beneath the Pitons off St. Lucia. Inset; Ted and
Veronqiue, who hope to do the Pacific.
Martinique and the Los Roques Islands
of Venezuela. But nothing compared to
St. Barth. While cruising down here, we
met a really cool Italian couple our age
who, like us, have a Catana 50 but don't
have kids. They are also kiteboarders. In
fact, some years back he was the Italian
water ski champion, and this year she
won the European Barefoot Waterskiing
Championship. We plan to cruise across
the Pacific with them. Bet you guys didn’t
think we’d ‘make it." Heck, we were wondering
ourselves.”
Ted and Veronique's cruising commitment
had indeed looked a little shaky
there for awhile. They’d bought their
expensive cat new in France last summer,
and having had little cruising or
even sailing experience, had assumed
that there wasn't much more to it than
adding fuel, water and food, and taking
off on a carefreee lifestyle. But they're
both smart and both big lovers of ocean
sports, so we were confident they'd make
it. Since the couple did start their cruise
in the Med, we're going to share their
thumbnail opinion of sailing in that part
of the world:
“For us, the biggest draw to sailing
in the Med is the diversity of cultures
and the great food and entertainment.
You just don’t find that in the Caribbean.
Sailing itself in the Med is feast or
famine, however, as there is either too
little or too much wind. Our one overriding
complaint about the area is that
it’s usually so crowded in the summer.
But with the world economy
having been in shambles, we
found most places to be largely
empty when we were there.”
Bruce Balan and Alene
Rice report that they and their
California-based Cross 45
trimaran Migration are about
to leave Taha’a, French Polynesia,
for New Zealand. It's
not that they don't like French
Polynesia, they just aren't interested
in spending the South
Pacific cyclone season in the
cyclone zone — even in a seldom-hit
part of the zone. You
COURTESY VERITE
IN LATITUDES
might remember that the couple spent
nearly a month at Rapa Nui, a.k.a. Easter
Island, when they sailed there from
the Galapagos in the spring of ‘08. They
put together some comprehensive information
about where to anchor at Rapa
Nui in various wind and sea conditions,
so if you’re planning
on sailing there, you
might contact them at
AE6XT@winlink.org.
Keep your message
short.
As Latitude readers
know, Scott and
Cindy Stolnitz of the
Marina del Rey-based
Switch 51 catamaran
Beach House are accomplished
and relentless
scuba divers.
And they’ve continued
The moai are the
iconic figures of
Rapa Nui.
diving after sailing to French Polynesia.
“We had a fantastic week diving with a
parade of sharks in the south pass of
Fakarava,” writes Cindy. “The diving is
so easy, and the dive master has been so
busy that he’s basically let us and our
friends Dan and Jill dive on our own. The
dive master has the boat driver drop us
off at the right spot, and we get to do our
own thing without getting stuck with a
group. It’s been terrific, for in addition
to plenty of sharks, we’ve seen gorgeous
fields of coral, every size and shape of
tropical fish, and every dive has been an
hour or longer. There have only been two
things wrong. One time we had lunch
at a local restaurant between two dives,
and while we didn’t starve, the food was
barely edible. For example, one offering
was Spam pizza and another was
fish quiche. Yuck! Jill later saved the
day by bringing out some Trader Joe’s
chocolate-covered almonds that she’d
brought from the States. The other prob-
Cindy has been messing with sharks ever since
she and Scott started their cruise. These white
tips sleep all day and hunt all night.
SCOTT STOLNITZ