Where We Sailed Today

[bert]

I had a breakdown at Tigers this Saturday and needed to be rescued. Many thanks to the South SF Fire Dept. for sending a boat to retrieve me and my gear from the Bay. I was a mile and half downwind of Genentech when the tendon on my mast base broke apart. Fortunately I carry and old flip phone in a waterproof bag and thank goodness my wife doesn't read my posts.

[windward1]

Bert, glad you are ok.

By the way, what kind of boat did the South SF FD use in the rescue?

[bert]

windward1,

The SF rescue boat was about 20 ft and has a 5 man crew. They told me that the boat can operate in 20 inches of water. Not exactly sure of what type of boat it is. Fortunately they're docked at Oyster Point so they didn't have to travel far to find me.

[windward1]

Hi Bert,
The San Francisco Board Sailor Association had a display at Coyote Point once, and I think it was either Coast Guard or the Airport itself that had an air propeller driven boat on display. It is like those used in the Florida Everglades. I think they said it could even go over the mud flats around the airport when it was low tide.
Being where you were rescued, I thought it might have been a similar craft.
Good on you for carrying the phone. However, are you sure your wife is not going to find out about this?
W1

[windward1]

So the rains had stopped. The sky had cleared. Not much wind predicted for up the Santa Cruz coast. Wind at Pleasure Point was as good as at Natural Bridges. Being Saturday, parking at Pleasure Point would be near impossible. Decided to launch at New Brighton and sail up to Pleasure Point and check out other breaks along the way.
Took the Angulo 10’ 2” Sail SUP and the Ezzy Cheetah 7.0. That is not a typo. I still have the Angulo 10’ 10”, but now also have the 10’ 2”. Hoping to be able to turn a bit better on the waves.
The wind was light, about 4 to 12 knots at New Brighton. I knew it would be better up at Pleasure Point and probably would be picking up somewhat around Capitola. The water was muddy from the night before rains flooding Soquel Creek which flows to the ocean across the Capitola Beach. Way out I could see beautiful blue-green water.
Sailed out and started tacking up the coast. Here and there were harbor seals sleeping with just their noses bobbing out of the water. They would wake when I was about thirty yards away and look at me and then around and then submerge. Escalona Gulch had a decent waterfall dropping down onto the beach and flowing in the ocean. If it had been higher tide it would have been dropping into the ocean. The tide was at 2 feet and rising. Again perfect as there was a south swell and all of the breaks from New Brighton Beach to Pleasure Point do well with a south swell and less than two feet of tide level. Pleasure Point itself needs two feet or higher if you are going to ride waves close into shore and not lose a fin. So at two feet, good for both sets of breaks.
The wind picked up as I tacked upwind. Plus it was shifting more WSW and so I knew the Privates Break and Trees would be frustrating as the wind would be coming off of the cliffs with long lulls and then short blasts of gusts. Not good, especially when you have to time that with catching waves. Therefore I bypassed those breaks.
I caught nice rides on swells just off of the cliffs by the Escalona Falls. Could have stayed and ridden there all session, but the blue green water farther out and further up the coast beckoned. So on I tacked. Went by Capitola. No surfers out. Sailed up past the Capitola Wharf. Wind was picking up and my 7.0 was giving me a workout. Gusts were over twenty now
Kept outside and tacking up through the kelp bed area. The winter storms and abalone farm harvesting of these particular beds recently have left them more wide open and the chop from the now twenty knot wind was everywhere. No kelp-calmed pathways to try and ease the upwinder.
Tacked into just east of Jack’s and caught a bit of nice swell and then was headed out and what should to my wondering eyes appear? A windsurfer. In the distance way outside of Pleasure Point. And a kiter as well.
As I work my way windward to the Pleasure Point breaks area, the windsurfer comes in riding on a swell as does the kiter. They are riding the larger swell nearer the point as I take some rides on the smaller swell running at Third Peak. The swell is great and there are not too many surfers because for them it is sort of blown out conditions. The windsurfer has little wind inside so he, being on a wave board, takes some time to get a puff to get up and going. Eventually we are inside of Third Peak at the same time. I find out that he is Tom and doing a downwinder from Twin Lakes Beach to Capitola. He is on a 117 liter Exocet and 4.9 sail. I, of course, have been on an upwinder and have yet to do my downwinder.
After riding the swell for a while and having a good time, I was sort of wishing I could have launched at Pleasure Point so as to spend all of the session riding the waves there. But getting there and getting back is half the fun, right? “Yeah right”, my arms seemed to respond in mock agreement. They had been working overpowered for most of the session so far.
Wanting to make sure I had enough energy reserves to make the trip back to New Brighton, my arms and I headed back after a little over a half hour at the Point. Some of it was directly downwind such as the passage I took just inside the kelp beds by the surfers at The Hook. Sometimes, the gusts were such that I had to tack downwind on broad reaches to handle the big sail without getting launched. Some wave rides were had if a decent swell showed up and I would use it to help make tracks towards home.
The last I saw of Tom, he was headed way outside off of Pleasure Point. He was going to get more time in on that section of the Monterey Bay.

[bert]

Foiled at Coyote this Sunday using a 5.3 Naish Force/110L RRD Firemove with winds about 15 on the inside and 18 further out at 2:30 pm. A good day with more than a dozen windsurfers and 8 kiters on the water. The wind increased to 20 by 3:30 pm. It's my 20th session so far this season.

[dvCali]

[tcevans]

Hey Windward1,

Good to see you at the Point! The 4.7 was definitely under-powered on the inside, but the 117 of float helps compensate. I had some fun rides, one I connected all the way from 2nd peak to down well past Jack's, using a few surfers as bottom turn buoys along the way Having a sail and a few pumps really helps connect the sections.

I took the outside path home, comfortably planning on a broad reach. I could see you on the inside, going past privates & then the pier. After a handfull of reaches I was down to Capitola.

As I was de-rigging an older couple came up and said "We had fun watching you. We don't see people doing that anymore"

[windward1]

Tom,
Do you mean this ride?
W1

[img][/img]

[tcevans]

yep, that looks like the one!