IT"S EARLY< BUT MAY BE A BAD WIND YEAR

beallmd · Joined: 10 May 1998 Posts: 1154

This steady procession of cold fronts moving through the northwest has caused a number of effects, the most important being on again off again crappy winds at Norcal and the Gorge (and possibly Maui?). This may have caused cooler conditions much of the time in OR and SFO. Everytime the "normal" conditions are set up they get broken down again by another cold front. So while there may have been some good days, there have been lots of crappy or non sailing days. Another effect is a very unusual tornado season as the cold front hits the gulf air and voila; tornados. This has been one the worst years ever for tornadoes in the midwest and midsouth... This may be due to the fact that it is a LA NINA year, but sometimes the jetstream just stays lower later in the year or may even stay there all summer...Last year was a great year. Have you ever noticed that someone always says; "Weird year"? I suggest this is a bad year. Hope for 'normal conditions' soon. Then again I could be wrong (to qoute Dennis Miller).

spanker_jeep · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 4:25 pm Post subject:

You must be high or somthin' fella. This is the first no-wind week of the past 3-4weeks.
While your passing the joint, pass it to me. Gimme that thing!

kevinkan · Joined: 07 Jun 2001 Posts: 1661 Location: San Francisco

yeah, i've sailed almost every day since early March, and I've needed a 3.7 more this year than any in recent memory. even sailed a little at Candlestick yesterday. today... that might be a different story.

LeeD · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 1175

SEEMS like.......
Just another normal WS year to me, after experiencing a bunch.
Lazy non drivers or time constricted sailors get skunked.
The opposite for enthusiastic rich gas consumers who have all day to consider the best spots any given day...and dedicated to get there no matter traffic or $$ constraints.
Seems like more WS'ers nowadaze have real jobs with time schedules and all that stuff. Back in the mid 80's, lots of guys and gals show up at the sailing beaches by 2 PM, and don't need to leave till close to dark.
They got more wind more often than most of us nowadaze.
I guess we can all get high powered/paying jobs and work till 7PM, then we don't have to worry about the possibilities of a windy or less windy year.

beallmd · Joined: 10 May 1998 Posts: 1154

may be dependent on where you are. IE north wind augmented areas like Waddell/coyote/Crissey better while Berk/Rio made worse. SEE THIS RE tornadoes;http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html

laci · Joined: 22 May 1996 Posts: 180 Location: SoCal&the Gorge

As someone who divides his time between southern California and the Gorge I can say that this season so far has been unusually good for the Malibu area and not so good in the Gorge. Leo and County Line have had an excellent spring since early March, while the Gorge has been colder and wetter than anyone can remember. Must be global warming.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I have spent many months in the Gorge every year since the late '80s. I have lived here full time since the late '90s. I have been retired all that time, with windsurfing my only priority. My primary sailing buds have lived here and sailed 8-12 months of each year for decades. Every one of us agrees that this spring and early summer has been the windiest year EVER, with emphasis on many hours on end of rock-steady, July-quality, smooth-as-silk, 3.5 wind.

Sure, we've had crappygustychoppy 3.5 days, too, but we've already used our 3.2s and 3.7s more days this year than in any 3-4 years combined in the past, with some of the 3.5 days being better quality than any in the last decade. What's not to like about seven continuous hours on which a 3.5 was PERFECT every moment, shore to shore? No gusts, no twitches, no holes, no significant chop ... just smooth 4.5-in-July-type power all afternoon? What's not to like about 6 or 8 whole 3.x days in a 12-day stretch? What's not to like about the smoothest and sometimes biggest swell ever sailed by locals who sail here 12 months out of every year? It seems now to be reverting to normal, but until the past week or so this has been a record year for quantity and quality of wind on the Columbia.

Except, of course, for those who sat in the corridor all spring.

One guy who catches virtually all of them is a working stiff with three kids under 6 and a high-powered, high-tech research career in full swing. Another is a retired geezer whose motor home enables him to burn far less gas than those who commute to and from the wind every day in a Prius.

Skinning cats and all that.

\m/

andydavis · Joined: 11 Apr 1999 Posts: 319 Location: Point Isabel

sergem · Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posts: 398

46 sailing days this year since Jan 3, mostly weekends (but not every one), sometimes Fridays.

Half Moon Bay - Oyster Point - Coyote Point - Alameda.

Can't complain Razz

Windsurfing in SF rocks

bosie · Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 27

Gotta agree with Sergem. As a working stiff with a day job, I've still been out every weekend since mid-March (except when I was skiing), and apart from the no-wind weekend two weeks ago -- when I was in Tahoe anyway -- every one has had good, sailable wind. Sure, I've been burned when I've relied on iWindsurf's forecasts and played hookie from work by hitting Berkeley late p.m. a few times, but for the most part, I've got no complaints about the season so far.

Here's to a great summer.