• Yacht sets record from New York to SF: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A racing yacht named after one of the world’s fastest cars has docked in San Francisco after what organizers said was the fastest passage of a single-hulled sailing vessel from New York to San Francisco.

The 70-foot Maserati sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge late Saturday morning and tied up at Pier 39 Marina around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, 47 days after pulling out of New York City, said Judy Laws, a spokeswoman for the event.

The 13,225-mile journey around Cape Horn at the tip of South America is what sailors have said for centuries is one of the most challenging sailing journeys in the world.

The Maserati finished the trip in 47 days, two hours and 33 minutes, easily beating the most recent record of 57 days, three hours and two minutes set in 1998, Laws said.

The eight-member crew of the Maserati — led by its Italian skipper 47-year-old Giovanni Soldini — left New York City on New Year’s Eve.



• Bright streak of light reported over NorCal: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hours after a meteor exploded over Russia and injured more than 1,000 people and an asteroid passed relatively close to Earth, residents in California reported seeing an unusual flash of light over the San Francisco Bay area that left many startled and thrilled.

Experts say smaller meteorites hit earth five to 10 times a year but chances of a large meteor passing, such as the one that streaked over Chelyabinsk, Russia, are much rarer. Another meteor landed in the Bay Area in October and caused a loud sonic boom, a sound that could have been from the meteor traveling faster than the speed of sound, officials said at the time.

Another meteor that exploded April 22 was seen over a large part of Northern California and Nevada.



• Two hurt as ferry, pleasure boat collide: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a Golden Gate Ferry has crashed with a 22-foot-long pleasure boat in San Francisco Bay, leaving two people injured.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that two of the four people from the pleasure craft were taken by boat and ambulance to a hospital after the crash at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The ferry was headed from Sausalito to San Francisco with about 500 people aboard when the collision occurred in the Raccoon Straits near Tiburon, and continued its trip to Pier 1 of the Embarcadero after the crash.