SJ Merc re. Runways/Coyote

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Date: Mon May 21 2001 - 00:01:16 PDT


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Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 03:01:16 EDT
Subject: SJ Merc re. Runways/Coyote
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Published Sunday, May 20, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News

S.F. airport expansion into bay would disrupt wind and wave patterns
New runways could ruin world-class windsurfing spot

By Aaron Davis
Mercury News

Windsurfing along the edge of San Francisco Airport's runways, jet
turbulence feels a whole lot different from the bumps you might
experience inside a plane.

``It's like getting decked by a little tornado,'' said Olympic
windsurfer Ted Huang of Los Altos. You'll be riding along and
``sometimes it spins straight down and flattens you against the
water.''

The occasional gust from a passing 747, however, is not what draws
Huang and thousands of other windsurfers and sailboaters to this part
of the bay. A steady, natural wind along the Peninsula makes for
world-class sporting. The lift it provides airplanes on takeoff is
one reason San Francisco Airport was located here.

But if the airport, in its effort to expand capacity and reduce
flight delays, builds runways extending two miles into the bay,
windsurfers will no longer be able to share in the wind phenomenon.

Like giant speed bumps covering as much as 1,400 acres of the bay,
new runways would ruin current wind and wave patterns along the
Peninsula's bay coast and possibly throughout the southern end of the
bay, effectively shutting down what many consider one of the best
windsurfing spots along the West Coast.

``They're going to bury us with millions of pounds of dirt. It will
be the end of us,'' said John Miller, an avid windsurfer who says his
Advanced Surf Designs Windsurfing Shop near Coyote Point Park in San
Bruno will fold if runways are built.

``This part of the bay is pretty much the Squaw Valley of
windsurfing,'' Miller said. ``It's as good as it gets anywhere in the
world . . . at least it is for now.''

What's more troubling, scientists believe, is that the changes
windsurfers would notice from runways on the surface may only hint at
the disruptions to marine life.

A panel of scientists commissioned by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration this month began studying whether new
runways would affect tidal action so much that they would turn parts
of the bay into what critics contend would be a ``stagnant
cesspool.'' The scientists plan to publish their findings in
September.

The scientists' work coincides with the airport's environmental
reviews of a half-dozen proposals for new runway formations. The
airport won't pick a preferred construction plan until late in the
year, according to Kandace Bender, spokeswoman for the airport's
runway initiative.

In the meantime, windsurfers are wasting no time building their case
against the airport's runway proposals.

>From signing petitions to launching bumper-sticker campaigns to
testifying before the state Legislature, windsurfers have been trying
to make their views known.

Runways in the bay ``would so greatly affect the quality of life for
the recreational community that we are not going to let it happen,''
said George Haye, 31, a Web content developer for iWindsurf.com, a
Web site that tracks real-time wind conditions at surfing spots
nationwide.

Haye said it is no surprise the airport and windsurfers are angling
for the same spot in the bay. Jets at the airport use the same wind
gusting from between San Bruno mountains to give them lift that
windsurfers use to stage some of the fiercest competitions in the
world.

It's that steady wind that allows Coyote Point Park, about two miles
south of the airport, to host the San Francisco Pro Am international
windsurfing contests as well as dozens of other regional and national
events. These events may be doomed if runways extend into the bay.

The popular park and nearby windsurfing businesses stand to lose the
most if runways are built. Between 300 to 400 windsurfers frequent
the park on weekends during the peak season from April through
September. Many tweak their work schedules to windsurf on weekdays
too.

Another reason windsurfers say they're so worried about losing Coyote
Point is that it is one of the most important places in the state to
cultivate the sport of windsurfing.

Unlike Crissy Field in San Francisco or a couple of East Bay
windsurfing spots, Coyote Point is a safe place for beginners to
learn how to windsurf, aficionados say. Public safety records support
this, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Kevin Stann. The Coast Guard
performs one to two windsurfing rescues at Crissy Field each week,
but hasn't responded to an emergency at Coyote Point in months.

Coyote Point ``is the best all-around windsurfing spot on the bay,''
said Peter Thorner, president of the San Francisco Boardsailing
Association, a non-profit group representing 1,600 windsurfers. The
group promotes safe windsurfing. ``Coyote Point is a really fun place
for experts because of the big swells in the middle of the bay. And,
near shore, there's not a lot of wind and it protects beginners and
intermediates.''

Airport officials have said they plan to do vast wetland restoration
and other measures to offset the effects of building in the bay. But,
they admit, there may be nothing they can do to preserve the area for
windsurfing.

Contact Aaron Davis at acdavis@sjmercury.com-DeleteThis.com or call (650) 688-7590.



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