Received: from zonker.hpl.hp.com (zonker-fddi.hpl.hp.com) by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA082161947; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 00:39:07 -0700 Return-Path: <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Received: (from poulton@localhost) by zonker.hpl.hp.com (8.8.6/8.7.1) id AAA12675 for wind_talk; Tue, 14 Jul 1998 00:39:05 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1998 00:39:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Ken Poulton <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Message-Id: <199807140739.AAA12675@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> To: wind_talk@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: Monday at 3rd Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
============= Mon 14 Jul 98 - 3rd - 7.0/9'1 (192#)
Does it count as a Walk of Shame if you do it in the water?
Missed Wednesday (meetings at work) but was stiffed the rest of the
week when I could go. Missed Saturday and Sunday due to family trip. No
problem, here comes Monday shaping up to be a Normal Thermal Day. Three
in a row will be a record for this year!
The setup looks great - 18 kt at 270 at 1:00 predicts great things to
come! And then 2:00 - SFO drops to 13g20 ??? Well, must be some kind of
fluke. Michael and I drive to 3rd anyway.
Water looked pretty wimpy at 3rd, so I rigged a 6.0. By the time we
were rubberized, however... slogville. We stood in the water to keep cool
and pondered the mysteries of the wind, and when it didn't pick up
in the next 10 minutes, swapped up to big boards. We went out and...
it was realllly marginal, even with big boards. And even worse in the
channel. After a couple of reaches... well, there was walking involved,
even if it was only 50 yards, and in the water.
Michael went out to see if there was more way out in the channel, while
I sat on the shore and watched him through binoculars. Planing, jibing,
slog, slog, planing again. He tired of that and we got serious -
7.0/9'1 for me and 6.0/8'8 (150#) for him. We were powered up off the
beach and went out beyond the anchored barges. Out there we were way
powered and had some fun in the 2-3 foot swells. First time in two
years I have sailed the Lemon Lime Monster - those race sails really do
work well over a wide range of conditions.
While being an SOB (Sitter On the Beach) I figured out where the wind
went when I noticed that I couldn't see the East Bay at all. A thin
layer of fog had come over the airport and pushed all the way across the
bay to Hayward. When this happens, you can't sail where the wind is
best, which is in front of the fog line. All you can do is sail near or
in the fog, which blows, but usually very gustily, and the wind drops
off quite sharply as you go back towards shore. I rechecked satellite
photos and they don't show this fog. Also, the temperature at SFO never
approached the dewpoint and visibility remained good, so no fog on the deck
there. The only clue I could find as to what was happening was the
comment "Few 600" at SFO - indicating a few clouds at 600 feet, but which
was going on all day. This is standard marine layer stuff; what was
hard to read was that the fog/clouds remained well out over the bay.
Another note - to look at COTW Coyote, there was enough wind for my 5.4!
SFO had the real story:
---WIND----
TIME LOC T DP DIR AV GUST VIS PRES SKY CRYPTIC COMMENTS
pdt F F deg -knots- mi inHg heights/100ft
98/07/13-1056 SFO 64 55 290 13 . 10 30 Few 800 sosf
98/07/13-1156 SFO 64 54 280 14 . 10 30 Scattered 800
98/07/13-1256 SFO 64 54 270 18 . 10 30 Few 600
98/07/13-1356 SFO 66 54 280 13 20 10 29.99 Few 600
98/07/13-1456 SFO 66 54 280 15 . 10 30 Few 800
98/07/13-1556 SFO 66 54 270 12 19 10 29.99 Few 800
98/07/13-1656 SFO 64 54 270 14 . 10 29.98 Few 1500
98/07/13-1756 SFO 64 54 270 14 . 10 29.96 Few 1700
98/07/13-1856 SFO 63 54 270 11 . 10 29.96 Few 1700
Ken Poulton
poulton@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
"There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.
It's all a bunch of simple tricks and nonsense." -- Han Solo
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