John Dukat, our correspondent from Richmond Yacht Club, writes, “This is Brad Van Vechten and his new International 14 mast. It's from a new kind of wood called trompe l'oeil. Despite the wide grain it is as strong as carbon fiber. Graphic artist Zane Working was involved on this project. Zane used to own a ‘cold molded’ Wylie Wabbit called Tulewemia (aka Rabbit Fever).

“I showed Brad the spar from the WylieCat 30, Sylkie, which was being worked on by Steve Seal. It had a ‘Douglas fir’ paint job by Zane. Brad got in touch with Zane who ended up doing the I-14 mast and boom.”

More musings from John:

“MJO - Sure sounds like Mojo to me. Does this mean our ‘Mojo is working?’ Weather Service forecasters say Northern California may see the impact of a January-February MJO late next week.” See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden-Julian_oscillation for an explanation of MJO.

NorCal Sailing: “So in weather dummy English does that mean it’s going to rain?”

John: “I think that’s what it means.”

From Mojo to Moko, one topic leads to another. To read how Moko the friendly Kiwi bottlenosed dolphin found his mojo and became a hero, see www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/03/12/international/i021126D30.DTL&hw=pygmy+sperm+whales&sn=001&sc=1000. Sorry, but this is a cute animal story and has nothing to do with sailboat racing. Read it anyway!

Love,

Windy