Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.18/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA094023317; Thu, 10 Apr 1997 16:01:57 -0700 Return-Path: <kzemach@faamail.fail.com-DeleteThis> Received: from fail.com (unknown-104-137.fail.com) by hplms26.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.16/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1S) id AA181113317; Thu, 10 Apr 1997 16:01:57 -0700 Received: from faamail.fail.com by fail.com via SMTP (951211.SGI.8.6.12.PATCH1502/930416.SGI.AUTO) for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> id PAA27153; Thu, 10 Apr 1997 15:58:11 -0700 Message-Id: <n1351434600.38821@faamail.fail.com-DeleteThis> Date: 10 Apr 1997 15:53:59 -0700 From: "Ken Zemach" <kzemach@faamail.fail.com-DeleteThis> Subject: One last one regarding Tues To: "Wind Talk" <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> X-Mailer: Mail*Link SMTP-QM 4.0.0
I thought I'd like to share my thoughts on the subject, since it was my ass
that was almost fish food (apologies to the people who've already read this).
Please read the part at the end regarding the strobe, although it looks like
most people are taking it pretty seriously. As far as where to attach it, one
of the coast guard guys recommended up near the shoulder (but not where you
could hit your head on it) so that if you lose your board, it will be above
water.
The way I see it, I made three major mistakes that day:
Mistake #1: Harry and I should never have underestimated the conditions, and
I should have stayed with him, circling, at least until the winds got wicked
and THEN I should have gone in to give them a better location. What if Harry
had gotten thrown off his board with no one there to help him? Luckily, Mike
had gone in to call the coast guard, but I hadn't even thought to ask if he
was going to do that.
Mistake #2: Going out again was not all that bad of an idea (especially since
I had made mistake #1 and left Harry out there alone), but there was a pretty
wicked wind line around the channel markers. When we (Brad and I) hit that
wind line, we should have turned around IMMEDIATELY, knowing that I wasn't
good enough to sail in those conditions. Going in further was just stupid.
Mistake #3: I spent about 40 min trying to sail back, only actually getting
on my board once or twice. Only when the sun was in serious setting mode did
I think to sacrifice my sail and take out 5 or so panels (which you can do
without worry on a HOT sail!). Then it was marginally sailable (STILL
overpowered and getting thrown) and sailed for about 4 minutes before it got
pretty dark. Had I thought to sacrifice my sail as soon as I realized my
situation, I'll bet that I would have easily (but with effort) been able to
make it back before dark. Instead it was a case of "Brad can sail in this, so
it's possible, and therefor I can do it." Duh. Yeah right.
OK, so now the things that were done correctly.
1) Brad was smart enough to head back to tell the coast guard when he realized
he couldn't do anything to help.
2) Mike asked me which car was mine before I went back out so he could tell if
I made it back in.
3) Mike lent me his strobe light. That saved me. When the coast guard guys
were hauling my sorry ass over the rail, I heard them talking to the
helicopter, which said "If that guy hadn't had a strobe, we never would have
found him." I believe him. Maybe on a calm night I wouldn't have had to
worry about camping on my board, but I'm not sure with those waves crashing (I
was getting turned over every few minutes) that I would have survived. When I
got back to shore, the coast guard told me to tell everyone to get a strobe.
I'm not the type to tell people what they should or shouldn't do for safety.
That's really your choice. But needless to say, I have ordered a strobe which
will be here before Saturday. It probably saved my life.
Ken
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 10 2001 - 02:31:36 PST