Pt. Isabel status report

[shitan]

Good point koogzah,

Sherman M14
Sherman M 12
Third Ave Channel
San leandro off shore
San Pablo bay
Potrero reach
Sierra point
Crissy Field

All these sensors are mounted on Channel markers or something similar, What would make Point Isabel case so special??

[tomg]

Pt Isabel gets downright hammered with sailors when the sensor works and the wind is shut down at other sites. Before I started sailing TI, I remember days when I couldn't find a parking spot and had to park down by Costco and shlepp my gear a fair distance.

I am happy to hear that EBMUD is responsive. Mike and Co: PLEASE Let us know if they are not - they are a public agency and one of the better ones IMHO. If they blow this thing off , we can get SFBA involved, go to the board meetings, etc.

But here is a question: Why can't the sensor be mounted to a length of alum channel or whatever and bolted to somthing out of the way? ie why wait for the light standards to be replaced?

Tom G.

[windfind]

To: windsrf, David US212, shitan, tomg, andydavis, winddoggie, Steve and rest of the Pt. Isabel crew.

Sorry for the delay getting back to everyone I have been on the road checking out all the Bay Area launch sites. At Pt. Isabel I checked out the telecommunications pier and what we used to call the "bird cage" the derelict piling structure between Pt. Isabel and Marina Bay.

koogzah and Shitan asked why we don't install a wireless sensor on the piling structure

Although they are expensive to install and maintain we have, in a program with the Coast Guard, installed water based sensors as an aid to Search and Rescue (SAR) and other boating needs. The other sensors are mounted on federal day marker aids to navigation. Most of these are smooth vertical steel posts that are 10-15 feet above the mean water level. To get to them we need a stable boat with ladder arrangement and fenders to protect the boat. These sensors are in niavigational channels with strong current so you need to time work on the sensor at a time when the wind is calm and the tide is slack. All of this makes it difficult for us to schedule a time when we can access the sensor and makes the window of opportunity for vandalism or thief very small. Since the sensors are on federal property and are maintained by the Coast Guard any boater seeing someone messing with a aid to navigation could make a quick call to the Coast Guard on ch-16 which might deter thief.

The low structure between Pt. Isabel and Marina Bay is very close to the water and the current is near zero so any one could easily climb onto it using the cross braces. It appears to be abandoned so a thief would not hesitate take any equipment on it. A 12V gel cell battery, solar panel, weather station are all easy pickings in this location. In addition we could no do an install here unless we could identify who owns the derelict structure. I suspect that given current environmental law the owners of the apparently abandoned would not readily come forth. So we have dropped this location as a site for a wireless sensor.

Tomg asked about EBMUD. The people at the sewage plant have been very responsive. It just takes time for special order light standards to be produced and mounted to OSHU standards.

Tomg also asked "Why can't the sensor be mounted to a length of alum channel or whatever and bolted to something out of the way? i.e. why wait for the light standards to be replaced?"

We have custom masts that we can readily install to mount a sensor. On private property all we do is get the owners permission and do the install. Here we are dealing with a city bureaucracy and getting permission to modify their buildings not easy. But despite this the sewage plant has contacted us about a way to jury rig a sensor mounting. We will be checking to see it this idea would work i.e. would if give an accurate reading and be free or turbulence.

So that leaves us with 2 options:

Option 1, we are proceeding with contacting the large corporation that owns the radio station, KNEW and the telecommunications pier just upwind of the Pt. Isabel launch. It turns out we have done business with this corporation before and have found it a tedious process. Moreover they want a large amount of money for rent for sensor sites. But since this would be a perfect Pt. Isabel siting we are proceeding on this front but this will be a potential long term solution.

Option 2. Wait for the sewage plant to get new light standards but in the interm install a jury rigged sensor. We are sending Stuart and Jeff from the Gorge and east coast to Pt. Isabel in August to try to work out a temporary solution if the light standards are delayed.

Thanks for all your patience and all the great help. Oh, I did not get to sail at Pt. Isabel while I was there. Those @#%$#!! forecasts!

Mike Godsey
mike@iwindsurf.com

[windsrf]

Mike,
Great to see that you are approaching this so systematically - and also keeping sense of humor!
Also pleased that the radio tower location is deemed superior by you (even if it must be in the long run).
Thanks for update, David

[jse]

Thanks Mike,

Meantime, Pt. Potrero Reach. I've been trying to use that but with little success. It seems to have a very limited correlation between its reading and true wind. For example, take a look at the graph for yesterday, July 24th. I got in the water at 5:30 and sailed til about 6:45, powered up on a 5.5. Mostly I sailed right in Pt. Potrero Reach below the sandbar. Wind was up til 7:00 when I left. But the graph indicates it died at 6:00. So any information on the sensor would be helpful to understand the variances and plan for the future.

Steve