Curse of the Delta

From: Geoff Boehm (boehm@mri.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed Jun 22 1994 - 10:10:18 PDT


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Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 10:10:18 PDT
From: boehm@mri.com-DeleteThis (Geoff Boehm)
Message-Id: <9406221710.AA00431@mri.com-DeleteThis>
To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Curse of the Delta
Cc: boehm@mri.com-DeleteThis


                Curse of the Delta

The delta, probably my favorite site to sail, has not been good to me
this year. It all started one day in early May, I believe it was. It
was 30 at San Luis at noon, and I was itching to leave work early. I
really prefer Sherman Island, so I figured - if it's blowing inland to
the south, it's blowing inland to the north. But - I knew the lake was
happening. Decisions, decisions. So, I head out from Santa Clara
south on 101 at 2pm - rational and logical - going to San Luis. Some
second thoughts as I passed 880 north. Then, at the last minute, I
veer onto 680 north - overcome by river lust. My mother warned me
against lust. It was hard to drive up 680 - the wind was howling
through Pleasanton. Yes! Yesss! 2 hours later (stopped to pick up some
food for the night), I pull up to the river, greeted by a gentle
5.5-6.0 breeze. Mom was right. Damn! Waited and watched till 5:00,
but no improvement. So, has anyone ever wondered how long it takes to
drive from Sherman Island to San Luis? About 2 hours at that time of
day - arrived at 7:00, to SOLID 3.0-3.5.

My second attempt was 2 1/2 weeks ago on a Sunday. Left home in Ben
Lomond (near Santa Cruz), and while driving through San Jose, heard an
ominous sound from the transmission. Pulled off the freeway to
investigate - sounded kinda bad until I put it in reverse - horrible
sounds - the transmission was gone. Parked it, walked to the bus -
only took about 5 hours to get home on public transport.

My third attempt was the following Saturday - the van was fixed ($800
later), so I drove my other car down to San Jose, to pick up the van.
As I drove away, everything seemed fine - 1st ok, 2nd ok, 3rd -
what???? No power - turns out they reversed something in the linkage,
and 3rd and 4th switched places. Oh well, it still worked, though
shifting into 3rd was kinda awkward. Figured I'd harrass them Monday
when I went to pick up my other car - the wind was blowing in the
delta, what else mattered?

So, I'm cruising along, about 10 miles later, and all of a sudden the
transmission locks up in 2nd. Now, this has happened before (a 1979
van has some quirks), so I pulled into work (since I was less than a
mile away, fortunately), got out my wrenches, fooled around with the
linkage, and fixed it in about 10 minutes. I went to my office, washed up, and
checked the weather - the delta looked good, but I was a little
concerned about the health of the van. Shit - I'm going anyway.

So, I head on up Montague, go about a mile, and concern for the van
just gets the better of me - why drive all that way, when 3rd is
probably nearly as good? So, I hang a U, go about a half mile, and
WHAP!!!!! - all of a sudden the hood latch let go and the hood flies up
and smashes the windshield. Fortunately, there's no traffic, and I'm
in the right lane, so I pull over and close the hood. The windshield
is still intact - but totally shattered. I'm so pissed that I'm
shaking. I drive back to work (about a mile), and try to get a grip.
Call some glass places - looks like about $200. This is getting
annoying - I mean, $800 for the transmission was already about what the
van is worth.

The glass place assured me it was ok to drive, though. So, what the
hell - it's still early (2:30), so I head on up to 3rd. No wind - I
mean, like 6.5. I want to cry. I want to scream. I want to give up
this idiotic sport. But I remember my favorite quote - from
Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" - "A man can be destroyed, but not
defeated". I realize I should not have abandoned my original goal, and
the tide doesn't even turn that day in the delta till 6pm, and it's
only 3:30 now. So, I'm delta bound!

Head across the San Mateo bridge, and up 880. Get about 2 miles, when
the tranny locks again in 2nd! Shit! Pulled off (into a questionable
neighborhood, of course), got out the wrenches, but this time it takes
an hour to get the thing working - must have been my attitude. I did
manage to figure out what the mechanic had screwed up though, and got
3rd and 4th back to their proper places. Also finally, after 10 years,
really understood how the linkage worked.

I drive down to the mall, buy some hand cleaner (as I am covered in
grease at this point), clean up, and reassess. It's still only 5:30.
I can get to the river at 6:45, and sail an hour or so tonight, then
the dawn patrol the next day (when the tide would be awesome). It's
just that at this point, I want a meal more than I want to sail, and I
don't really want to get up at 6am tomorrow. And I don't want to have
to fix the linkage again. I just want to go home, and sleep in my own
bed. So, I turned around and went home. Defeated? Maybe - or maybe I
just made a rational decision instead of an addictive one.

So, I have yet to sail the delta this year. Still, this year in the
delta has been way better than '92. In '92, I was trying to leave work
early (by 2pm - else the traffic becomes intolerable) to sail the delta
one Friday, highly stressed because I had a ton of things to finish,
rushing like mad, when I got this pain in my chest. But that's another
story....

                Jeff Boehm
                cream and red '79 ford van with green trim and rust
                windshield still not replaced
                hot/ecstasy/cfx
                3rd/Waddell/sherman island (rarely)



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