Re: Windy Daze at 3rd and Coyote

From: sdubois@Advent.COM-DeleteThis
Date: Wed Apr 09 1997 - 12:59:31 PDT


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Date: Wed, 09 Apr 97 12:59:31 PDT
From: sdubois@Advent.COM-DeleteThis
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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: Windy Daze at 3rd and Coyote


     
     Amazing... This certainly speaks to the conditions and the difficulty
     of spotting someone in that kind of water. Justin and I were sailing
     around marker 8 between 5:30 and 6:30, oblivious to all this action...
     and I had a radio with me... I wish I could have helped...
     -stephane

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Windy Daze at 3rd and Coyote
Author: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis at Internet
Date: 4/9/97 9:00 AM

============= Fri 28 Mar 97 - 3rd - 5.4/257 (190#)
     
I had Good Friday off, so naturally I went to worship at my temple of
choice. Reports from the water said 5.0, but instruments showed less,
so I put up the 5.4/257, Michael the 4.8/8'6. It was good that we
didn't go smaller - the wind was often a bit light for us. But it was
nice sailing, with just a minor swell.
     
About 5:45 it seemed to be getting lighter, so we headed back in. I built
a great lead on Michael until we got about 1/4 mile out, at which point
the wind got so light I fell in. Michael danced his board in. I found
that I had enough wind to waterstart, but not enough to get my sinker up
on top of the water. I didn't have the arms left to sail w/o harness,
so I kept falling back in.
     
Eventually, I swam in. In all, it took me 40 minutes. Ugh.
     
============= Fri 4 Apr 97 - Coyote - 4.7/257 (190#)
     
Strong winds, but no water left at 3rd, so the 3rd gang all went to
Coyote. The wind was very strong starting about 100 yards offshore,
so you just had to walk that far before starting. The famous Coyote
chop never got more than 3 feet, but the faces were often very steep,
leading to much airtime (and also a few times that I hit chop so hard
and fast that I fell in).
     
============= Tue 8 Apr 97 - 3rd - 3.7/257 (188#)
     
Major wind! Michael and I both started with 4.2's. We found somewhat
less wind in the channel, which was what we needed; I was spending
a lot of time in the water.
     
After about 45 minutes, we went in and I rigged down to 3.7. When we
got back to the channel, it was up and down - I slogged some and held on
for dear life a lot of the time. I got some pretty good air, and
had a few spectacular crashes. Michael, at 25 pounds less than me and
still on his 4.3 (his smallest) kept making his jibes and must have
sailed twice as much as me. The wind continued to build and the swell
got up to 8 feet! but was not very clean. I was pretty much in
survival sailing near the end - SFO reported 30g38 knots at 6:00!
     
Rescue Time:
     
I lost Michael in the last half hour of sailing - it turned out he had
happened on Harry, who had broken his mast. Ken Szemak(sp?) was trying
to tow Harry when Michael left them about 5:30 by marker 8 (halfway to
Coyote), but not making much progress, so we called the Coast Guard.
While the 41-footer was coming down from Yerba Buena, we tried to spot
Harry, but no luck. Ken Szemak turned up at the launch to make sure the
Coast Guard was called, borrowed a strobe, and went back out to find
Harry!
     
When the cutter arrived on the scene, it saw no sign of Harry, but
cruised over towards two other windsurfers sailing mid-channel about up
by marker 8. Just before they got there, one of them broke his mast cap,
collapsing the sail, and turned around to find the Coast Guard was there!
 Unfortunately, the 8 foot swell had the 41-foot boat tossing so much
that the Coast Guard was afraid of injuring him if they got close. So
they stayed nearby for a half hour, waiting for the helocopter to come
and make the pickup, much to the windsurfer's puzzlement. But before
that happened, the windsurfer in the water lost his rig in a gust, and
rig and board just skated away from him. He swam to the boat, they
picked him up, and then went to get his equipment. His friend sailed in.
     
By now (~7:00) the sun was going down. We were worried about Harry,
who had not been seen since 6:00, and also about Ken, who we had lost
track of way out in the channel. While taking their first pickup in to
Coyote Point Marina, the cutter found Harry about 1/3 mile from the
harbor. He had simply paddled steadily in and would have eventually
made it on his own.
     
We thought Ken had come in to Coyote Point as well, so the Coast
Guard Auxilliary left. But then it turned out that it was some
other sailor from 3rd who had landed there, and Ken was still missing.
At this point the strobe paid off big time - Ken was found by the
cutter relatively soon after dark (I don't know where). He was dropped
off around 9:00.
     
     
Critique:
     
Harry obviously did a great job of self-rescue. Other people helped
by carrying in his boom and sail so he could paddle more effectively.
     
Even so, I think we were right to call the Coast Guard. Others have
not fared nearly so well at getting to the shore under their own power.
Remember it takes an hour for the Coast Guard to get to the site
and usually takes another hour or more to find the person, so you have
to call them early.
     
Ken Szemak's (sp?) going back out to find Harry was a brave and selfless
act. But I think he underestimated the difficulty of finding someone
down in the water again; even in much lighter conditions, this is not
usually successful. It was sure a good thing that he got a flasher, but
this doesn't help until dark. He could have taken a radio if anyone had
thought of it. I think anyone going out to aid a distant windsurfer
should at least try to borrow a radio.
     
It took quite a while to account for all the cars at 3rd - there were
still 10 cars at 8:00. One guy had left his while going out to dinner.
Please leave a note if you do this!
     
It would help to have a phone at 3rd. A cell phone will not always
be available.
     
If you find a downed sailor and you have safety equipment that he does
not, consider giving it to that person.
     
Also, if you are going in to call the Coast Guard, make sure the downed
sailor knows. Then the next person can stay with him. If nothing else,
he should know so he will call the Coast Guard if he gets to shore by
himself so they're not kept searching in the dark.



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