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From: Mike Godsey (windfind@metro.net-DeleteThis)
Date: Fri Feb 19 1999 - 12:12:46 PST

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Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 12:12:46 -0800
Subject: <no subject>
From: "Mike Godsey" <windfind@metro.net-DeleteThis>
To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
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Ken

I will probably not be able to get to the meeting. Can you see that the
following is presented to the appropriate officials.

If you have any suggestions please mail them to me.

Mike Godsey
Call of the Wind

City of Burlingame Planning Department
Attention: Meg Monroe, City Planner
501 Primrose Road
Burlingame, CA 94010

Dear Ms. Monroe

I have been the wind forecaster for Micro Forecast Inc. and more recently
Call of the Wind Inc. For the last 6 years I have issued twice daily
forecasts for Coyote Pt.

In preparing Coyote Pt. forecasts I have spent hundreds of hours studying
the Coyote Pt. wind patterns using our on-site weather station that updates
wind graphs every 15 minutes via pager and the Web. Our web page,
www.windcall.com, receives 6 million "hits" per month and customers are
quick to complain about inaccurate forecasts. This promotes a special
diligence in studying Coyote Pt. winds since there is a critical threshold
wind necessary to allow sailors to get through the wind shadow. Consequently
I have developed some expertise in understanding the variables that produce
the very local winds at Coyote Pt.

I see fatal flaws in the wind tunnel study described in Jan. 21, 1999 Draft
EIR for the 301 Airport Blvd. office development.

Atmospheric stability: The study ignores atmospheric stability. The size of
a wind shadow is a function of: a buildingąs height, distance from the
building AND the stability of the passing air mass. In a wind tunnel the
air is a homogenous mass. The air above the buildings and at the surface is
at the same temperature. In such conditions the wind will hit the buildings
rise over them and gradually return to the surface. In the real world such a
homogenous air mass is uncommon during the windsurfing seasons.

Summer Season: During the lighter winds of summer the incoming air is
usually very stable. It streams through San Bruno gap as a mass of cool,
heavy, fog laden air. This stable air flows over buildings and reattachs to
the surface more rapidly than the wind tunnel studies indicate making for a
smaller wind shadow. Unfortunately, the summer wind is much lighter than the
spring winds so even a slight wind shadow effect would impact the sailing
given that the wind near shore is already near the threshold strength..

Spring Season: The strong gusty winds of spring contain unstable air that
follows the passage of a cold front. Heated by its passage over the land
upwind of Coyote Pt. this air becomes lighter than the air aloft. When this
unstable air hits a building it lifts and its buoyancy makes it slow to
reattach to the surface. Basis meteorology predicts that in unstable wind
conditions the office buildings will produce a wind shadow far larger and
stronger than suggested by the wind tunnel studies. This would severely
impact the windsurfing during the best part of the windsurfing season.

Turbulence: Windsurfing requires a steady wind direction. Sudden wind shifts
can violently slam a sailor into the water. Sudden direction changes
combined with light wind can make it impossible to water start and leave a
sailor at the mercy of the strong tidal currents. The wind tunnel studies
ignore the turbulence likely to be created by the buildings.

In 1989 I wrote the book A Windsurfing Guide to the S. F. Bay Area. On page
28 of the book I noted "Coyote offers more amenities that any other sailing
site in the Bay Area". I also noted that "At CoyoteŠthere have been many
rescues of beginners who were unable to return from outside" Any factor that
impacts the wind near shore would compound the make it difficult for the
windsurfing public to access the waters of the Bay. On any give spring and
summer day there are more people enjoying the waters of the Peninsula at
Coyote Pt. than anywhere else. It would be a great disservice to the public
to destroy this world class windsurfing site.

Mike Godsey, Forecaster for Call of the Wind Inc.
College of Marin
Kentfield CA 94904

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