Re: A day in the life of a windsurfer - survival story

From: Eyes4Hire (Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis)
Date: Thu Apr 09 1998 - 17:18:09 PDT


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From: Eyes4Hire <Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis>
Message-Id: <6fcb0adb.352d6543@aol.com-DeleteThis>
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 20:18:09 EDT
To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: A day in the life of a windsurfer - survival story
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The focus on systems to keep the board and the rig or the board and the sailor
together is a good one but...

I really think that any of us that like to sail more than a mile from shore
(3-4 miles out at Coyote or Third when you really push it) need to also have
safety equipment that will come in handy when there is no way back. We have
all lost track of our sailing partner at one point or another even when we
were on the buddy system. Even if your gear stays in 100% working condition,
sudden weather changes or an injury (like breaking a foot in the strap or
breaking a rib on the boom) can render you unable to return to shore by
sailing in. My flares don't give me a lot of confidence because I've heard of
misfires and each one only burns 6 seconds or so. I think a STROBE could be
the greatest lifesaver you could have there is someone who will call the Coast
Guard when you fail to come back in. In a perfect world we'd all have a
telephone or radio but I don't see that anytime soon. There have been a couple
of rescue attempts by Coast Guard helicopters in the past 12 months where they
were right on top of a party at dusk or after dark and couldn't find them. It
just isn't as easy to be spotted as we think and I guess the infrared isn't
worth a damn looking at a body in the water since a pilot who ditched in San
Pablo Bay last Fall spent the whole night sitting on the tail of his plane
waiting for sun up while all the helicopters and boats called it a night even
though they knew the vicinity where he went down. I also heartily endorse a
4/3 WETSUIT on almost any day of the year after having an adventure rescuing a
friend that kept us in the water until four hours after dark.

Peter



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