Finding That Message in a Bottle

The romance of finding a bottle containing a message, washed ashore from far over the horizon, never fails to stir the imagination.

Penelope Judson, of Baltimore and summering in Bermuda, found such a bottle on a beach in July. It contained a $1 bill and the Laguna Beach address of Mrs. Bruce Bare. Mrs. Bare had sent the bottle adrift from the Royal Viking Star cruising in the Azores in April of 1982.

Curiously, Judson had announced to her husband and two children that she was going beach combing and that she planned to find a bottle with a note in it.

Balboa Yacht Club’s challenge for the San Francisco Perpetual Challenge Trophy has been accepted by the Saint Francis Yacht Club. The race will be held Sept. 7 on San Francisco Bay. BYC will be represented by Ron Melville’s Impact, an Andrew 39.

The BYC Stag Cruise to White’s Cove, Catalina Island, will be held this weekend. Coop Johnson, Bob Rude, Don Franklin and Dick Jones say, “No planning has been made, no organized activities for prizes; we have nothing to offer but relaxation and food and booze.”

The United States Hobie Cat National Championships will be held in three places: Hobie Women’s, Sept. 3-6, and Hobie 16’, Sept. 8-14, both in Travers City, Mich.; Hobie 18’, Sept. 29-Oct. 5, Clearwater, Fla., and Hobie 14’, Oct. 27-Nov. 2, Lake Mead, Nev.

The largest assortment of Italian Riva motor yachts ever assembled in one place will go on display at the Lido Power and Sailboat Show at Lido Marina Village, Sept. 18-22. Count them, seven: the 60’ Corsara, the 50’ Superamerica Special, the 42’ Malibu, the 39’ Bravo Special, the 37’ Riva 2000, the 31’ St. Tropez and the 28’ Aquarama Special. Taken together, these luxury vessels are valued at more than $3 million.

In addition to impeccable craftsmanship and design, Rivas come with designed linens, fine china and flatware engraved with the Riva “R.” The Riva Shipyard in Sarnico, Italy, plans to produce no more than 10 60-foot boats a year. Riva owners include King Hussein, Sean Connery, Prince Ranier and Sophia Loren.

At the same in-the-water boat show, the Hinckley 42-foot Sou’wester sailing yacht will make its West Coast debut.

The Eagle Syndicate, sponsored by the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, plans to ship Magic, the 1983 12-Meter America’s Cup test boat, to Perth, Australia, this fall, along with Eagle’s crew. The Eagle, the newly-built challenger, will follow later. Magic and the crew, headed by Rod Davis, will stay in Perth from October to December.

More than $35,000 was raised from an auction to help fund the Newport Beach Nautical Museum.

Sailing Notes

A special warning has been issued by the State Dept. through the Coast Guard of several incidents where privately owned U.S. vessels have entered the surrounding waters of Islas Marias, Mexico, and have been detained by Mexican authorities. Islas Marias and surrounding waters are a Mexican penal colony and entry is prohibited.

- The Coast Guard Captain of the Port, Los Angeles/Long Beach, will establish on Sept 2 a safety zone within the territorial sea south of Santa Cruz Island. No vessel may enter this safety zone without permission of the Captain of the Port. Hazardous operations will be conducted in the area through Nov. 30. Smugglers Cove, on the eastern end of the island, will be an open port at all times.

- Geophysical/seismic/geological surveys will be conducted off the California coastline by the R/V R. G. Sproul from Sept. 7-16 and by the David Starr Jordan, Sept. 18-27. Vessels engaged in such surveys may be towing cables, marked by tail buoys, up to two miles in length.

- Shoaling in the entrance of Oceanside Harbor continues to cause severe surf conditions.