San Francisco Bay Crossing
Bill Martinson
Yacht Club. The course is 22 miles long and starts off Crissy Field. The
upwind mark is the Red nun outside the South Tower, the next mark was just
inside the North Tower, then reach to the Red nun by the coast gaurd station
(just upwind of the starting line) and back to the Red nun outside the South
Tower reach to the North Tower then reach to Anita Rock of Crissy Field
followed by a series of reaches accross the bay to Berkley.
The conditions were challenging. There was a 4-5 knot flood and the wind
was 12-18 on the top half of the course and 18+ on the bottom half below
Alcatraz. Board and sail selection was difficult. Boards ranged from
9' slalom boards like the Mistral Energy and custom baords by Mike' Lab and
ASD to course boards like Mistral Equipe XR's, IMCO's, and a Fanatic Ultra Cat.
Sails varied from 5.7-7.3.
The most challenging part of the race was getting around the South Tower and
the Red nun. The chop and current were incredalbe. One racer on a slalom
board (mayber more) just missed getting around the Red nun, fell tacking and
found himself flushed 200-300 yards passing the South Tower (He droppe out).
For many others it took more than one attempt to round the Red nun. First
triangle I finally made it on the third try and I was on a course board. By
overstanding the mark alot you had the impression it would be easy to make the
mark by by the time you got there you were 10 feet below it. So the next time
you would really overstand the mark.
Tim Dunlap led much of the race on an Equipe with a 6.6 IMCO sail but was
finally over taken near Berkley by the winner Jim Johnstone.
1 Jim Johnstone Mistral Energy/Waddell 1:19:48
2 Chip Wasson ? 1:20:09
3 Steve Sylvester Mikes Lab/Wind Wing 1:20:16
4 Paul Coutts Stretch/Waddell 1:20:34
5 Greg Fowlkes Mistral Equipe XR/Waddell 1:21:51
6 Zack Beekler Mikes Lab/Wind Wing 1:22:33
7 Tim Dunlap Mistral Equipe/Mistral IMCO 1:23:09
Out of 60 registered competitors only 38 finished. This was a great event
and we would like to have twice as many participants next year.
PS: The author finished 22nd in 1:35:50 on a Mistral IMCO with a 6.6 sail.
George Skillman x2921
water starts down and learning to handle the chop at 3rd Avenue, I'm
amazed that people can windsurf a course like what you described. Don't
people get carried out to sea when screwing around the Golden Gate
bridge like that? In the big chop, isn't it hard for larger vessels to
see a down'ed windsurfer? How do you keep out of the channels to avoid
the big boats? Did the Coast Guard (or anyone) provide a "sag-wagon" to
pick up people who found themselves in a situation bigger than they
could handle?
I also want to ask the rest of you guys: what do you do when after
you crash and let go of your board, you find your board racing away faster
than you can swim after it? This sort-of happened to me this weekend
but the board was heading to shore and I had a vest on anyway. I suppose
eventually the board slows down to current speed and you eventually catch
up with it?
And another thing. Why is it that the SF Bay is so ugly. When I first
got into this sport, I imagined myself casually sailing on some beautiful
lake. Now that I'm into it, I find it's the opposite: screaming along
at a ridiculous speed on a huge smog-covered bay with beaches covered
with scrap. I know Crissy is an exception, but 3rd Avenue, Coyote Point
and Candlestick leave alot to be desired for scenery. Perhaps I should
go back to my big board and head for Lake Tahoe. Anyone ever sail there?
Can anyone tell me of gorgeous places to sail that have lots of wind
(other than Hawaii of course).
--
=============================================================
George Skillman (408) 433-2921
bra...@tdd.sj.nec.com
NEC America
Will Estes
>And another thing. Why is it that the SF Bay is so ugly. When I first
>got into this sport, I imagined myself casually sailing on some beautiful
>lake. Now that I'm into it, I find it's the opposite: screaming along
>at a ridiculous speed on a huge smog-covered bay with beaches covered
>with scrap. I know Crissy is an exception, but 3rd Avenue, Coyote Point
>and Candlestick leave alot to be desired for scenery. Perhaps I should
>go back to my big board and head for Lake Tahoe. Anyone ever sail there?
>Can anyone tell me of gorgeous places to sail that have lots of wind
>(other than Hawaii of course).
Picky, picky, picky. :) And I thought I had problems just finding
wind. He wants wind and beauty at the same time. I hear the falls at
Yosemite get great storm winds, and you are guaranteed major air when you
hit the edge. :)
But seriously, there are some places with cleaner water. San Luis has
nice fresh water, if you can handle the site of nothing but wasteland in
all directions. Alameda beach is nice-looking, and the water is usually
clean. But the wind at Alameda is lower than 20 knots most of the time.
Rio Vista usually has pretty scenery and fresh water. As I found this
weekend, Santa Cruz water is a nice color.
If you will only settle for *gorgeous* places to sail, try Hawaii,
Crissy, Scott's Creek at Santa Cruz, Lake Siskyou under Mt. Shasta,
etc. But your odds of matching up beauty and wind consistently limit
your choices of sailing locations pretty severely.
Will Estes Internet: wes...@netcom.com
David Abraham
bra...@delaware.tdd.sj.nec.com (George Skillman x2921) writes:
>Can anyone tell me of gorgeous places to sail that have lots of wind
>(other than Hawaii of course).
If you will only settle for *gorgeous* places to sail, try Hawaii,
Crissy, Scott's Creek at Santa Cruz, Lake Siskyou under Mt. Shasta,
etc. But your odds of matching up beauty and wind consistently limit
your choices of sailing locations pretty severely.
Will Estes Internet: wes...@netcom.com
Or for those of us on the 'right' coast, lots of beautiful spots!
Hatteras, Southern Jersey, Delaware coast, Kalmus, Newport (!), Long
Island (believe it or not) or take a 4 hour flight to any number of
GORGEOUS spots down south. There are places there which combine
consistent wind and beautiful scenery too.
--
David Abraham dwa...@watson.ibm.com
IBM T.J. Watson Research Laboratory
(914) 945-2573
Kirk Lindstrom
and we would like to have twice as many participants next year.
PS: The author finished 22nd in 1:35:50 on a Mistral IMCO with a 6.6 sail.
----------
Congrat's! I've considered using my Malibu for this but I'd probably get
beaten by IMCO/Equipes in the light air and the slalom boards in heavy
air. At least I could probably finish. Maybe I'll try next year.
Is the race held on the 4th of July weekend every year? How much to enter?
Do ya get t-shirts, etc?
Kirk out
Juri Munkki
>Can anyone tell me of gorgeous places to sail that have lots of wind
>(other than Hawaii of course).
Lots of wind? You'll get bored in a few years... :-)
The wind here in Finland leaves something to be desired (this summer the
conditions have allowed slalom sailing about 3-4 days per week on the
average), but it's really easy to find beautiful and clean locations to sail
at.
I often go sailing just to meditate and to be in touch with the sea.
There are thousands of islands near our coast, so you are never really
out at sea even if your equipment fails. The longest distance I have
out with a slalom board is about 8 km and that was on a day when the
wind wasn't strong enough for planing. I just wanted to relax and be
alone.
The islands also provide venturi-effects for almost all wind directions
and totally kill any good waves that we might otherwise have.
--
Juri Munkki Windsurf: fast sailing
jmu...@hut.fi Macintosh: fast software
Dan McGee
admit that the Gorge is a very scenic place to sail. It's relatively
clean, the water and air are clear, and the natives are pretty nice.
Funny thing, I grew up in Portland and moved to the bay when I was about
20. I only took up windsurfing after I moved here and never realized
how much wind had been in my back yard all those years.
Dan
David Abraham
Funny thing, I grew up in Portland and moved to the bay when I was about
20. I only took up windsurfing after I moved here and never realized
how much wind had been in my back yard all those years.
I lived in Berkeley for three years, and the year after I moved to No
Wind, I mean New York, started sailing. Even a sadder tale. Sorry
Dan, I can't generate an enormous amount of sympathy :}