Candlestick Highrises and Wind Study

[pthorner]

There are proposals to build high rise buildings in the Executive Park area that is approximately 1,900 upwind from the launch at Candlestick. The taller buildings are proposed at 200' and 240' tall. During the analysis of the impacts that could have resulted from the buildings that were proposed to go upwind of Coyote Point (drive-in property), there were citations of wind speed impacts at 10x height and turbulence impacts at 25-50x height. These are general estimates and there are other factors that make a difference like the width of the building and the shape (hard corners vs. curves).

As a result of SFBA comments, the San Francisco Planning Department plans to have a wind tunnel study conducted to estimate the wind impacts. One key question is which areas are regularly used by windsurfers. The key area of concern will be the main launch at the waters just south of the launch. I seem to recall that people also sail upwind of the launch but generally east of the fishing pier. Do people sail west of the pier with any regularity? If anyone wants to sketch the area of use, feel free to e-mail it to me or post it.

The good news is that the plan to close Candlestick State Park is off the table. SFBA join in a coalition to oppose the closure along with other groups that included one of the Executive Park developers, so hopefully their appreciation for the park and nearby recreational opportunities will translate into a willingness to make changes if impacts are identified.

Peter Thorner
San Francisco Boardsailing Association
thorner@sfba.org

[SWE106]

hi peter,

thanks for the heads-up and great efforts. It would be such a waste if candlestick gets skunked by high-rise buildings. The wind is already gusty enough at sticky. I've attached a picture of candlestick area, where I've drawn in the most commonly used launch and sailing area these days. Although I don't see my self as "the" candlestick local/expert, I do sail there regularly and from those experiences I have made the sketch. I am pretty sure it captures >90% of where the sailing activity at sticky goes on.

Please update the picture if you, the reader of this post, have more, better and detailed info that I don't have.

[Jrobb]

People regularly sail West of the pier. In fact the sailing area isn't really linear, the wind fans out so your sailing area on most days ends in a sort of crescent shape curving towards the West. Typically people head West of the pier to get the better wind when the wind seems to be light at the launch. Too far to the west in the cove and it's too gusty.

Rarely do you get to use the entirety of the sailing area ( about 2miles from the launch to Sierra pt. ) Most of the time at best one can make it out a mile from launch before hitting the wind line's outter edge.

I can send some google map screen caps of GPS tracks laid over the sailing area. I may be able to overlay 20-30 tracks for a good sample.

Where exactly do they plan to put the buildings?

J

[mtnview]

Agreed, people often sail west of the pier. If the wind comes up and you get overpowered you're very likely to get pushed into that patch west of the pier. When it's very light, the best wind is sometimes west of the pier. The sailing area shown in the picture is basically right, just needs to extend to the west of the pier by 100 yards or so.

Thanks for your help on this, today is a great example of how valuable Candlestick is too. Blowing 18mph there right now while it's 5 at the SF Buoy, 3 at 3rd ave channel, 7 at Sherman and Wadell and 11 in Palo Alto...

[harris52]

I just updated the map supplied with where Executive Park is. It's hard to say exactly what would happen. I can't imagine it helping the inside area, which is typically where the wind is worst. I think wind is mostly sideshore with the pier being 90 deg to wind by the shore and as you get farther out, you start heading up towards the freeway higher. From this map it seems to me either like the wind mildly affects the inside which requires a little slog to get out of, with a more obvious direct effect west of the pier in the little cove. But if the wind comes in a little more northerly than I think there might be some effects into the main launching area. It's hard to tell w/o being there.

Candlestick is a treasure to anyone seeking flatwater as well as having wind when other places don't.

[harris52]

[Jrobb]

Here's about 10 tracks covering the limits I've been able to stretch there. From the Executive park blob I'm not sure how that would affect the wind. It definitely would make things any better on the inside. It may make things more gusty...if you can imagine that?

J

[pthorner]

The proposed heights and their locations can be found in the Executive Park Subarea Draft Plan (page 19 of 3

http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=42414[/img]

[pthorner]

The proposed heights and their locations can be found in the Executive Park Subarea Draft Plan (page 19 of 3

http://www.sfgov.org/site/planning_index.asp?id=42414

[salty-skin]

I've also sailed west of the pier, although I've never launched from there. There are several reasons why I tend to end up there:
1. In the case of an equipment failure, I'd rather be upwind of the launch to assist in getting back into shore.
2. In overpowered conditions, it's easier to sail close to the wind, which leads one to end up farther towards 101.
3. Avoiding the crowd coming straight in and out of the main launch area (this is mostly a safety issue on overpowered days that are gusty).
4. For video taping of jibes, if someone's on the pier with a camera, and you start to the west as you approach, you can jibe right in front of them.
5. There's a spot which you can pull up onto and tune your equipment without having to crawl over the sharp rocks and broken glass bottles at the main launch.
6. Flatter water to the west

Regards,
Anthony