Received: from zonker.hpl.hp.com (zonker) by jr.hpl.hp.com with ESMTP (1.37.109.24/15.5+ECS 3.3+HPL1.1) id AA197888516; Sun, 18 Apr 1999 19:21:56 -0700 Return-Path: <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Received: (from poulton@localhost) by zonker.hpl.hp.com (8.8.6/8.7.1) id TAA00694 for wind_talk; Sun, 18 Apr 1999 19:21:54 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 19:21:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Ken Poulton <poulton@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> Message-Id: <199904190221.TAA00694@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis> To: wind_talk@zonker.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis Subject: calling your shots Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
============= Sun 18 Apr 99 - 3rd - 6.0/257 (198#)
When I called Michael with a 19 knot report at 2:00, his earlier
feelings of ambivalence about windsurfing today vanished. We arrived at
a packed 3rd Ave parking lot about 3:00, but apparently the wind had
come up long enough to get people rigging down and then backed off
again. I rigged on the large side (6.0) "to be safe"; Michael did his
standard 4.9 (155#). But when we were ready to launch, lots of sails
were just standing up out there.
Says Michael: "You know what's going to happen, don't you? I'm going to
plane and you're going to slog and end up having to walk back."
Says I: "Yup. And it's a long walk, so we better get started."
It was not quite so black and white. :-) Michael only planed 2/3 of
the time and I planed for long enough to get way out into the channel,
thinking the wind was coming back up. Wrong. From the channel I
slogged and sank, slogged and sank, and eventually water-started my way
back to one of the downwind ramps. Michael then drove my car down there
for me - what a guy!
No doubt about it: I need more than 86 liters for days like this.
When I count equipment weight, I figure I'm short about 50 pounds of
flotation for light wind. I do have a bigger board, but I don't like
sailing it very much.
As an all-too-frequent visitor to the downwind ramps, one of my peeves
has been the difficulty of spotting them. Well, no more. They
installed a nice marker for one of them - that new pair of buildings.
Look by the western end of the west building of the pair.
Ken Poulton
poulton@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
"This life is a test. It is only a test. Had this been a real life,
you would have received instructions as to what to do and where to go."
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