Epic end of summer - Sherman report from Sat Night ;-)

From: zeev_gur@peoplesoft.com-DeleteThis.com
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 12:39:14 PDT

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From: zeev_gur@peoplesoft.com-DeleteThis.com
Subject: Epic end of summer - Sherman report from Sat Night ;-)
To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com
Cc: mike@iwindsurf.com-DeleteThis.com
Message-ID: <OF6F8D840A.FA640202-ON88256C3D.006A8572@peoplesoft.com-DeleteThis.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 12:39:14 -0700

The weather pattern has been driving me crazy. The normal winds @ Sherman
are not around, 3rd is hard to predict and I suffer a terrible case of
kitaholicism - the need to have a great kite session every 24-48 hours.

This weekend has some promise, so I arranged our schedule to enable me to
be @ Sherman in late evening/early am. Fri evening - skunked. Went
wakeboarding w/a good friend. After long hike on Saturday morning in
Oakland hills, we headed to Sherman in hopes of a session in the sunset.
One of us , not Joani but ME, was rewarded. On an 18m X2 I had a great 1
hour end of day session. It was incredibly fun to be flying across the
water to the last moments of the day. This short session delivered some
relief, but not satisfaction. After a few beers, we noticed the wind
picked up a notch. We decided to fly a trainer - B3 - on a skateboard in
the parking lot of the access. Tahoe Tom ripped it up - big ass turns at
mach 2. We noticed that the wind got more steady as the evening
progressed.

At 9:30pm, Nat comes by and says "hey, the moon is bright and I am thinking
about throwing my kite up, are you in?". He did not need to get an answer,
as I was in my suit before he was ready. By 10 pm we had pumped up kite,
the lines checked 5 times, 2 spotters and a crowd on the beach cheering us
on. Nat goes out on 15.5 perfectly powered. The moon is so bright that
you can read the logo on his kite. He rips away from shore throwing a
double spin on the way out. I leave the beach next on my 18m x2. Perfect
power. The water is butter smooth as we are in slack tide mode (from ebb
to flood). Our eyes got used to the low light - you could see every bump
in the water. The moon angle was perfect as well, and the reflection made
for great light. It was so silent on the water that you could hear the
sound your rooster tail makes when it hits the water - sublime.

At around 10:30, Bruce Sheldon joined us on the water. He was powered on a
12m x2. To add spice to an amazing experience, he duck taped fireworks to
his kite. Yes, fireworks: sparklers, Chinese fire rockets, screamers, etc.
It was wild. On one reach, I was in front of him, he was chasing me and
his kite was casting so much light that I could see my shadow on the water.

We continued to kite until 12:15am: we got the last session of Saturday,
and the first session of Sunday. The feeling of flying across the water in
silence, just feeling the ripples below your board are hard to describe.
Making screaming jibes in the playpen and throwing a huge rooster tail is a
blast. All your friends on shore cheering every jump and trick only adds
to the experience.

The next morning served up some good kiting until around 9 am.

An epic way to ride on the last day of summer.

Good winds to all, Z.

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