Re: bay area winter sailing

From: Jeff Hodges (hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis)
Date: Thu Dec 07 1995 - 12:48:25 PST


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Subject: Re: bay area winter sailing
To: "Veach, Dave" <Veach@spaceapps.com-DeleteThis>
Cc: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Reply-To: hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis
Office: Pine Hall Rm 161; 415-723-2452
Homepage: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~hodges/windsurfing.html
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 95 12:48:25 -0800
From: Jeff Hodges <hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis>
X-Mts: smtp

We winter sail on storm winds. Check out the msgs below from last season.
(sigh, we were sailing storms by early Nov last year...)

Princeton Harbor at the North end of Half Moon Bay (the bay itself, not the
town, which is further south) off of Hwy 1 is arguably the most popular site.
I've heard tell that folks also sail Palo Alto, south side of San Mateo bridge,
and Alameda (Crown Beach?) on south storm winds, tho I haven't tried myself
(would like to this winter).

You basically need to watch the weather closely, will usually have a day or two
warning that you should at least have your gear close at hand. NWS Coastal
Marine forecast is the one I kinda watch, and is the one that Ken Poulton
excerpts in his "SFO Daily Forecast" which you get if you're on one of the
wind_{thresh, afternoon, 24} lists. It can be had at...
 gopher://wx.atmos.uiuc.edu:70/00/States/California/Coastal%20Marine%20Fcst%20%2
8San%20Francisco-SFO%29

..check out...

http://www.nws.mbay.net/home.html

..for overall info and tons of other pointers.

Princeton Harbor is easy to find, just scope out a San Mateo County Map.

I sailed last winter in a 4/3 steamer, 1.5mil tanktop underneath, hood,
booties, and gloves and was fine, tho it is certainly colder overall than the
Bay in the summer, but (at least last Jan, with the warm subtropical storms) it
wasn't ~that~ much colder.

On really hairy days, you might find your 9'0 board a bit big. Mine was.

Let's pray for some decent storms (I also wanna go skiing)!

Jeff

------- Forwarded Messages

Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 16:21:47 -0800
From: James.Paugh@Eng.Sun.COM-DeleteThis (Jim Paugh)
To: Multiple recipients of list <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: Re: Current conditions

Just got in from HMB, sailed from 8-9am this morning. Gusty
conditions, sailed my 3.9/8'6" Clam for an hour, fully powered to
overpowered. Then it picked up! On my way in, I got catapulted 3
times trying to waterstart. The rain really started coming down too,
reducing the visibility. Jumpable 2-3' chop *inside* the harbor, with
flat water upwind close to the jettie. Most were on 3.5's, everyone was
overpowered in the gusts. That was the windiest I've ever seen HMB.

Don't miss it!

~Jim
_____________________________________________________________________
Jim Paugh email: James.Paugh@Eng.Sun.COM-DeleteThis
ONC Technologies phone: (415) 336-4466
SunSoft fax: (415) 336-6015
_____________________________________________________________________

------- Message 2

Date: Thu, 10 Nov 1994 13:25:08 -0800
From: James.Paugh@Eng.Sun.COM-DeleteThis (Jim Paugh)
To: hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: Current conditions

Storm winds are from the south, which makes the open ocean very
nasty, as the wind driven swell is coming in from open water,
converging with the prevailing NW swell, and creating very
disorganized conditions. Also, a south wind is straight onshore,
which means you would have to sail parallel with the beach (and
the waves) when you launch. This makes it very difficult to
punch out through the breaking waves.

Pillar Pt harbor works well for these south winds, as it's protected
by a breakwater, and has good exposure for south winds. You still
have to launch in onshore winds, but there is no waves to deal with.
I park on a deadend street, just on the north side of the pier in
the harbor. You then sail upwind from there, or you could walk your
equipment around the north side of the harbor, and launch side shore,
but it's a healthy hike with your rig (especially on a windy day).

Check it out!

~jmp

> From hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis Thu Nov 10 08:28:47 1994
> Subject: Re: Current conditions
> To: James.Paugh@Eng (Jim Paugh)
> Office: Pine Hall Rm 161; 415-723-2452
> Homepage: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~hodges/
> Date: Thu, 10 Nov 94 08:28:30 -0800
> From: Jeff Hodges <hodges@Breakaway.Stanford.EDU-DeleteThis>
> X-Mts: smtp
>
> thanks for the report!
>
> So Jim, where at hmb did you sail? Pillar pt harbor? or were you out on the
> ocean proper? I'm gathering data in hopes of trying the coast for the first
> time this fall. thanks,
>
> Jeff
>

------- Message 3

Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 10:20:10 -0800
From: Jeff Hodges <hodges@breakaway.stanford.edu-DeleteThis>
To: Multiple recipients of list <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
Subject: Re: Sunday at Pillar Pt.

I went out to Pillar Pt. sunday and basically had the timing wrong. Got there
at about 1015. Could see folks powered-up in the harbor from as we approached
on 1. It was howling reasonably and folks 15-30lb heavier than me were out on
mid-4's, so I rigged my 4.2 race. It was sorta dropping as I got on the board
and I just tried to slog out up wind. Was ok in the gusts, but slogging
otherwise. Noticed that most everyone was heading back in, so I turned around
after a reach out past the fishing boat pier toward the point (I'd parked by
the yacht club). I made it mostly on/near plane back almost to the inner harbor
breakwater, turned & crashed & couldn't get up again. Was so close to shore
that I just swam it in after two attempts at uphauling (am way out of
practice). Walked it back and wind was starting to come up again about the time
I got there. Folks who'd hit the early session right-on were leaving. Some
folks started going back out on mid-to-upper 4's, but it seemed pretty
gusty/holey to me still, so I rigged my 5.3. Went out at about noon and got
past the pier again when it died off for about 10min. stood around in the
shallows with a few other folks pissing & moaning. Then it came back & I went
out & got in some fun runs until it really started picking up (at about 1250p).
I braved it for a couple more runs (9' board & largish fin) until I basically
couldn't keep the board on the water anymore. Sailed it back, a struggle, and
crashed in the middle of the two reaches a few times. Stood around on shore for
a while trying to decide between my 4.2 and 3.7 (folks who had it timed right
with sail size (3's) and such were out having a great time), plus I was pretty
sore, hungry, and cold. I checked in with my friend Cheryl who'd come along for
the entertainment (and was a great help rigging in that hurricane) and she said
"nope, now's when you'll start making mistakes". So we packed it in. Some of
the morning folks (e.g. RJ and Linda) were coming back from getting chow and
were going back out again. Anyway, we went off and got some good solid chow at
Ketch (catch?) Joanne's. Wind had died way off by the time we were done at
2:50p.

Overall I'm glad I went out. Certainly had some fun and got a workout. Morals
learned are to get out there earlier on days like that, and also to not de-rig
if possible (equipment availability wise), just keep rigging as I go along cuz
might have to go back to given sail size (and I need a smaller, newer board,
but that's another story).

Jeff

ps: dunno exactly what the air temp was, but seemd to be mid-fifties. It wasn't
bad temp-wise overall.

------- End of Forwarded Messages



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