Received: by zonker.hpl.hp.com (1.37.109.8/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA26456; Tue, 5 Jul 1994 14:18:48 -0700 Date: Tue, 5 Jul 1994 14:18:48 -0700 From: Ken Poulton <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Return-Path: <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Message-Id: <9407052118.AA26456@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> To: 72017.461@compuserve.com-DeleteThis, Fred_Sporon-Fiedler@hpctg.desk.hp.com-DeleteThis, Gerry_Owen@hpctg.desk.hp.com-DeleteThis, Phaman@ccmail.apldbio.com-DeleteThis, Walt_Menge@hp5400.desk.hp.com-DeleteThis, alison@pyramid.com-DeleteThis, cleland@cup.hp.com-DeleteThis, cord@hpoemb.sj.hp.com-DeleteThis, coussens@hplczu.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis, ghs@hpisod9.cup.hp.com-DeleteThis, jlabat@us.oracle.com-DeleteThis, lenb@ssd.intel.com-DeleteThis, matt@cup.hp.com-DeleteThis, mfabrega@raynet.COM-DeleteThis, missimer@hpisod9.cup.hp.com-DeleteThis, rob_hartman@logitech.COM-DeleteThis, schofiel@sid.hp.com-DeleteThis, sjn@hpisod9.cup.hp.com-DeleteThis, wind_talk@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: A San Luis 4th
=========== Mon 4 Jul 94
The Bay was looking iffy and San Luis was still on at 11:00 AM, so Will
and I went there. There was lots of fog rolling down from the Salinas
gap towards Gilroy, but nothing over Pacheco pass as we went though. We
arrived around 3:20 and the wind had backed off slightly according to
people there but was still 4.5 or better. (The windtalker was calling
about 21-37, avg 28 mph at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00 and 3:00.) I rigged
4.2/Tiga257(8'5) and Will rigged 4.3/HipHop(8'4) and we started sailing
around 4:00. The wind was mostly okay for what we had rigged, though
Will felt underpowered sometimes.
The water was quite low, but we were both hoping our wave fins would
shed weeds well enough. Will's Ian Boyd fin seemed to work, but my
stock Tiga fin is a bit more upright and it gathers weeds very
efficiently. The weeds were in fairly solid strips running up/downwind,
with about the middle third of the forebay fairly clear. You could
actually see 3" wide slices of dark water though the weeds where other
boards had passed.
I found myself stopping twice a reach to remove clumps of weeds the size
of my head! I was able to hop the board enough the clear the weeds
sometimes, but in the forebay's flat water that's a lot of work. With
all the stopping and being unable to point for very long, I was drifting
downwind. The worst part was that I knew I had a weed fin, but that it
was for a standard A finbox, not the Tiga box. (A pox on the board
manufacturers for saddling us with all these incompatible fix boxes!) I
finally gave up and made the Walk of Slime back up the shore.
I switched to my CFX 9'0 since it has the A box. I had only used this
fin once before and hated it since it moves the center of fin resistance
back by about 6 inches. I still disliked it, but it sure solved my
weed problems.
The weed fin feels terrible on a reach, but must have made the CFX
easier to jibe than my usual blade. I found myself making 80% of my
jibes; when I made 10 in a row I decided to see if I could learn to duck
jibe. After about 20 flops, I made one, then another; I made 6 duck
jibes of my last 12 attempts! All the successes came on the north side
where the water was flatter and the wind was lighter. About 7:00, the
wind finally started the late-afternoon buildup. It was holey 4.0/4.5
on the north side and filled-in 3.5 on the far side. I finally ran out
of arms about 7:40 and came in.
As we drove home, the stratus was very heavy rolling through Pacheco pass,
the wind was strong and my body was pleasantly weak. We passed downtown
San Jose around 9:40 and got a nice view of the fireworks from the freeway.
A very nice day!
Jibes: ~24/30 on 9'0 w/ weed fin
Duck Jibes: 6/32 !!!
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