A paddler at Coyote Pt

From: Jack Greenbaum (jackg@crc.ricoh.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Thu May 02 1996 - 11:15:51 PDT


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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: A paddler at Coyote Pt
Reply-To: jackg@crc.ricoh.com-DeleteThis
Date: Thu, 02 May 1996 11:15:51 -0700
From: Jack Greenbaum <jackg@crc.ricoh.com-DeleteThis>


I went to Coyote Pt yesterday because the water was going to be too low
at 3rd, and after last month's walk in the mud I decided never to let
that happen again.

Hit the water sometime before 4:30, 5.1 and Tiga 254 (140#). Started
planing as I passed the swimming area. Well powered. Then I saw him,
someone paddling in sans mast. I stopped to help. It was probably close
to 1/2 mile out. I offered a tow, even though I knew it would be a hard
thing given the low volume of my board. He was on a Tiga 260, but didn't
want to transfer his gear over to my board because he had it tied down
already. I pulled out my tow rope and we started to get tied up when
luckily someone with a bigger board stopped to help. Phew! Since I get
seasick in the chop I left them to do the work. I felt bad about that
but didn't think that me puking would help the situation. I sailed out
to the channel very well powered, then decide to go back to shore to try
a different mast foot position. I was fully powered the whole way, even
marginally planing through the inside.

As I sailed in I saw the towing party making slow progress, but not too
far downwind. Then I saw a "personal watercraft" head for them. When I
got to shore I talk to a guy who had also tried to tow the paddler, but
had given up. He later saw the jetskiers, and they agreed to help. They
are credit to their sport. After some of the things I've seen happen at
places like Lake Issabela I'm very happy to see folk on these water
based motorcycles act like humans. Anyway, off the soap box. They towed
the guy the rest of the way in, and I got my tow rope back. The paddler
(I think his name was Steve) said that he'd been at the Delta over the
weekend and wacked this mast on a rock.

Two lesson here:

1) Steve was wearing a shorty. When I found him he was shaking with
cold. Look folks, DON'T WEAR A SHORTY ON THE BAY. A full may be a bit
warm when your sailing, but you aren't just wearing it for comfort. It's
for safety too. Hypothermia isn't something to mess with.

2) If you wack your mast on a rock hard enough to make a mark, then
perhaps you should just admit that this sport has consumables, and masts
are one of them. It could save you a long swim, and could save your
life.

I figured that when I stopped to help that my karma would keep the wind
up for the rest of the afternoon. Wrong. After greeting Steve on the
beach I headed back out. I never got on a plane. I kept going out
further hoping to hit the wind line like often happens at 3rd. Never
found it. Came back to shore below the wheelchair ramp along with about
four others. At times I was standing ankle deep not moving. At least I'm
light (140#), I saw other folk knee deep. Yuk. Oh well.

Jack Greenbaum -- Research Engineer, Ricoh California Research Center
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