Received: from opus.hpl.hp.com by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA165726166; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 09:36:06 -0800 Return-Path: <Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis> Received: from hplms26.hpl.hp.com by opus.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA205046161; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 09:36:01 -0800 Received: from imo17.mx.aol.com (imo17.mx.aol.com [198.81.17.7]) by hplms26.hpl.hp.com (8.9.1a/8.9.1a/HPLabs Relay) with ESMTP id JAA23989 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 09:36:00 -0800 (PST) From: Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis Received: from Eyes4Hire@aol.com-DeleteThis by imo17.mx.aol.com (IMOv18.1) id 3UCRa16066 for <wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis>; Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:25:35 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <e0f2968d.36793e8f@aol.com-DeleteThis> Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:25:35 EST To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: Re: Davis Point/Lone Tree Point on NE wind? Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 236
I wrote:
> Anyone ever tried Davis Point/Lone Tree on the kind of NE wind we are
getting today?
> The real time wind map at USGS shows 15-20 knot side shore winds. I find the
model to > usually be accurate.
Zeev wrote:
> A NE wind direction would be sweet there as you would not
> have to endure the slog which is required in SW winds. As I
> am sure you know, you would also want to time your sailing
> there with the current - it's not like Crissy, but it exists. Flood
> is best for NE winds (opposite of SW/ebb).
I watched the real time wind map for a few hours and finally bit when the 1:00
pm map showed lots of little yellow 15-20 knot arrows on the map right off
Rodeo. The one major problem with the real time wind map is that it posts one
hour after real time, so the when I left at 2:30 pm the 2:00 pm map showing
many green 10-15 knot arrows was not posted yet. I got to the launch and it
was puffing up and down, teasing right around the "maybe I could pop a low
wind water start" range. I took some time to check out the park which is
actually a pretty cool spot with little cliffs and bluffs rising up south of
the main beach. Then the instinctual self conviced the intellectual self that
we should go out anyway. The smoke off the refinery stack was pretty
horizontal so there was lots of wind up high (maybe some of it will drift down
here!) and even though it seemed like it should be ebbing, it sure looked like
low tide so it had to be moving to flood... might as well get wet. By the time
I rigged, the wind had backed down, but once your in the suit you have to go
(don't you?). I sailed my 288/6.0 out about 200 yards witha strong upwind
point of sail. There were a couple moments when the wind hit about half of
planing level. I figured I'd be content to just tool around and practice light
wind tricks. I cranked around a pivot jibe to face back to the beach. I
immediately noticed that I was definitely downwind from my launch. I tried
pointing but the wind was definitely lighter. There definitely was some real
ebb going on. I tried to be patient as I was the ebb made my downwind progress
noticably faster then beachward progress. Forget the beach anyway, it's gone
by now. I flashed back to the night my buddy broke his mast 2-3 miles out in
the middle of San Pablo Bay. We towed and then swam and then finally waded
over the last quarter mile which was mud flats. It must be shallow below me,
especially at lowish tide. I jumped off the tail of my board fully expecting
to plop onto the mud once hip deep. I felt rather humiliated as I sunk
completely under water while still hanging onto the boom over my head. I
climbed back on and uphauled. I continued trying to sail in to shallow water
and realized that I was going to have to come in behind those pretty little
bluffs and cliffs... behind as in downwind of! Anyway I made the shallows and
avoided the swim. While I was wading back upwind, the water five feet in front
of me churned up suddenly leaving me woundering if that big upwelling was one
big thing or lots of little things. I ended up seperating the board and rig to
climb up over the smallest of the bluffs. All in all pretty pathtic, but
really beautiful out there.
I suspect that at 1:00 pm the wind was water startable and maybe even
planable... definitely would have been good on a flood. I just headed out as
it was going down the toilet. The water was glassy by the time I de-rigged.
Zeev was exactly right about the tide. With a flood I could have tooled around
for 1/2 and hour and had a good time. I think I'll keep and eye on it if we
keep getting NE winds but only on the floods.
David wrote:
> As I'm sure Zeev would agree, it's liable to be extra lonely at this time
> of year. Also, NE winds sounds relatively offshore to me. Both conditions
> encourage buddy sailing if at all possible.
In this case I had my VHF radio, strobe, etc. It is a lonely launch much of
the time, but at least there is scheduled ferry service going by in the
channel, so there is someone to radio to. I suspect there may be some remote
places where the radio gives a false sense of security because there aren't
many vessels to pick up a line of sight transmission. Also air and water temps
were great. The wind was mostly side shore with maybe 5-10 degrees offshore
Peter
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