Fri/Sat at Coyote

From: Ken Poulton (poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Mon Apr 29 1996 - 15:15:07 PDT


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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 15:15:07 -0700
From: Ken Poulton <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>
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Subject: Fri/Sat at Coyote


============ Fri 26 Apr 96 - Coyote - 6.0/257,5.7/9'1 (190#)

The wind was kind of late, so I was, too. Kirk was about to go out on
6.2/8'11(?)RKT as I arrived.

It looked wimpy inside and choppy outside, so I went for the somewhat
odd combination of 6.0 sail and 257 (8'5) board. This actually seemed
to work just great. I planed off at the swim area and the wind got
steadily stronger as I went out. On my first reach out, I was feeling
powered to way-powered when I blew a jump landing. As I was going over
the handlebars, I managed to unhook and thought "Well, that should be
easier on my rig than all those hooked-in crashes I've taken lately."
NOT! I landed on my back on the sail, and completely shredded the third
panel from the top.

Oddly enough, the sail worked pretty well with one panel missing;
felt like a 5.4 or so. I was even able to plane (noisily) back in.

On the beach Jeff had just finished rigging down to 5.3 (he's pretty light).
He let me take his rigged 5.7. I tried to go back out on the 257, but
could not get out of the now-becalmed launch area. I went out on 9'1
instead and this turned out to be the right call for the rest of the day
- the wind backed off a bit so the 5.7 was just right most of the time,
and just enough to get back to the beach when it died around 6:00.
Thanks a lot Jeff!

============ Sat 27 Apr 96 - Coyote - 5.2/257 (190#)

Went to Coyote again due to low water. When I arrived around 3:00, it
was steady 5.2 when almost to the beach. I quickly went from being
powered to waaay powered. It was kind of up and down, but I only hit
one big slog-hole about 4:30 up near Crown Sterling. The rest of the
time the wind tended to run in bands parallel to the wind direction -
often there'd be a 4.5 band for about a half a mile near the nun buoy,
then a 6.0 band on either side. The chop was not bad for Coyote, with
occasional swell to 3'. On the small swell, my jumps were smallish, but
I had this unusual experience of actually landing most of them. I could
get used to that.

Will showed up about an hour and a half later. We sailed together for
a bit, but then I lost him. By constantly reminding myself to use
the harness instead of my arms, I was able to sail for three hours. I
still got the first blister of the season. Oh well, I went home with a
big grin.

Ken Poulton
poulton@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis

"Windsurfing is like comedy: timing is everything."
                                        -- Ken Poulton



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