Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.37.109.8/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA24486; Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:11:47 -0700 Return-Path: <rich@helios.mptp.varian.com-DeleteThis> Received: from falcon.varian.com by hplms26.hpl.hp.com with SMTP (1.36.108.4/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1S) id AA17359; Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:13:43 -0700 Received: from helios.mptp.varian.com by falcon.varian.com (5.64/1994050901) id AA13095; Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:02:12 -0700 Received: by helios.mptp.varian.com (5.4R3.00/200.2.1.5) id AA00645; Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:01:58 -0700 Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 09:01:58 -0700 From: rich@helios.mptp.varian.com-DeleteThis (Rich Schumacher) Message-Id: <9406151601.AA00645@helios.mptp.varian.com-DeleteThis> To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: Re: (fwd) Coast Guard and Airport Rescuing Windsurfers (fwd) Cc:
> The U.S. Coast Guard and the San Francisco Airport Fire Department
> are rescuing a windsurfer stranded in the Bay near the San Mateo
> Bridge.
> The windsurfer in distress was reported to the Coast Guard at 6:22
> p.m., a spokesman said.
I don't know if this was the guy they were looking for but ...
Two of us were de-rigging on the lawn across the street from the old
3rd ave launch. It was about 8:30, and a guy comes walking up in his
wetsuit, he looked a little distressed. We said "hi, how ya doin', did
you get blown down wind ?" His response was "yeah, can you give me a ride
back to coyote point ?". He was sailing at coyote when the wind died for a
bit, when it came back up he made the mistake of heading out (to get upwind)
and the wind was just too much for him to handle. He was 180#, sailing a Bic
Hip-Hop with a 5.0. He did some sailing in drift mode (semi-waterstart position)
and finally came to shore a little bit upwind of the San Mateo bridge. He used
one of the 3rd ave downwind emergency exit ramps (they work!) and walked up to
the launch. He had only been sailing shortboards for 6 months, and was very
happy to make it to shore, he'd been in the water since 3 pm. From the other
reports, it looks like it took about 3 hours to drift from coyote to 3rd.
I also talked to the CG auxiliary guy, he said his high wind alarm (set to
go off at 28 knots) had gone off repeatedly. We drove my van down to the end
of the road and retrieved his gear. Got to Coyote about 9 pm, his was the last
in the parking lot, the gates were open, but nobody seemed to be around.
It was the windiest day I have ever seen out at 3rd. I was totally powered
on a 3.4 (8'6" ASD & 170# sailor). After about an hour of fiddling with my gear
(more downhaul, more outhaul) I finally got up the nerve to go out to the
channel. It was awesome, swells to about 8', steep ramps with just the tops
breaking. You could actually duck behind some of the swells to get a little
rest from from the wind. It was very clean, smooth roller coaster ramps with
a thin layer of foam , my board just went "fwhissshhhhh" across that stuff. It
was actually easier to sail out there than on the inside, since the chop was
so much more organized, with a lot more smooth spots. It was blowing harder out
there.
I hope it blows again tonight !
Rich Schumacher
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 10 2001 - 02:27:32 PST