by "ho-hum, just
another beautiful day in San Diego" weather, the Pacific storm track dropped
further south and gave us a couple of really good days last week. The
wind kicked
in about 10am and blew a consistent 25kts for the next 6 hours. I didn't get
a chance to sneak out of work, but others told me that there were lots
of people
out on MIssion Bay with 4.5s - not a sail you see often around here!
Saturday brought us another storm - classic gusty wind/rain conditions.
I sailed
a 5.0 for about 4 hours in rapidly changing conditions. At times, the rain was
coming down so hard you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you, and the wind just
completely shut down. 15 minutes later, the rain stopped and the wind really
started cranking. It didn't take long before there were 2-3ft wind swells (a
*very* rare site here) and I was hopelessly overpowered on the 5.0. It must've
been blowing close to 30kts at that point. Unfortunately, it didn't last long
enough to go rig down... but it was a fun day overall.
On the down side, I snapped my new carbon mast (North 1-piece) - while rigging,
I had to leave my rig unattended for a moment to dig some stuff out of the
truck. Of course, a big gust came along and picked up the rig and my board
(which was sitting on top of it) and slammed it into a parked car. Snapped the
mast just below the booms. :-( :-( Incredibly, no damage to the car or
the board.
I should've known better than to think the rig would be safe for 30 seconds...
Another real problem here in SoCal has been the major sewage spills in LA and
San Diego. All totaled, I think over 100 miles of beaches have been closed
because of sewage spills into the bays and the ocean, and some of them will not
be re-opened for many months. Because of the heavy rains, raw sewage backed up
out of the sewers in Pacific Beach (a San Diego coastal suburb) and
dumped right
into Mission Bay. Because of the high winds, the "DANGER - Contaminated Water"
signs all blew down and I was sailing in contaminated water all day Saturday.
Luckily, I haven't gotten sick (yet?).
Sometimes, I really wish I could sail *once* in an uncrowded wave-sailing
location with toasty-warm, clean water and lots of sunshine, and it wouldn't
cost me a second mortgage on the house to do it...
---
Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences UUCP: ...!ucsd!rolf
University of California at San Diego Voice: (619)534-5414