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Big thank you to Coast Guard and friends at Crissy Field.
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Benton



Joined: 28 Mar 2003
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 4:09 pm    Post subject: Big thank you to Coast Guard and friends at Crissy Field. Reply with quote

On May 18th, a windy day. I landed flat after a jump snapping my windsurfer in 2 pieces. I was holding on to the rig attached to the front half and watching the back floated away. If conditions allowed I would have swam. But flood was kicking in and I was far off shore with sun setting. So I turn to my radio to call Coast Guard for help.

The Coast Guard came out lightning fast and had me on board in no time. To these five crew members, you are my hero and I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping us safe.

During the time, a kiter in a blue kite along with windsurfers Diane Portnoy and Dan Siskind spotted me. They were kiting and sailing around me so the Coast Guard can easily locate me in the rough sea. Then Matt came to pick me up at where I was dropped off. It was a collective effort to my rescue. I am just feeling grateful to be in this great community. Thank you so much everyone.

Have a great season!
Ben
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good you got in OK, and KUDOS for those sailing around to keep you in sight.
Nice to know Dan and Diane are still windsurfing. I used to park near Diane back in the mid '90's, and still have two of her old sails in use.
Dan and I worked for Cal Ventures, with a year of crossover only.
In case this ever happens again, and nobody is around, you can sail back with the front half of the board quite easily, nose in the back like rocker in a kiteboard. Obviously can't plane, or you'll spin out, but slog sailing is pretty easy, and I"ve done it twice at Crissy from near the outgoing tanker/freighter paths on the N side of the bay.
I've snapped 3 boards cleanly, and had to tear the tail from 3 other's.
It's also easy to sail slog back to shore with a lost or broken fin. I've done that many times, but going downwind is very hard and takes a bunch of spinouts. Across or slightly upwind is easy, without a fin. Don't plane.
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MalibuGuru



Joined: 11 Nov 1993
Posts: 9293

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 5:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good story, glad you are safe.

OTOH, I've been sailing in larger ocean waves for 30 years. I've never broken a board. WhAt am I doing wrong? In my little icon you can see I'm over 20 feet in the air, and weigh 230.
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wave sailing can also break boards, but wave sailors know to land tail first after what happenned to William Riedel and Chis Chang.
Flat water sailing can be just as abusive, because the sailor is going fast in choppy waters, pounding the bottoms of the mast track area, softening that area, and delaminating that area sometimes within 30 days of use in rough conditions.
Also, wave boards have more rocker to cushion flat landings, and generally more V or double concave across the bottom under the mast track area, and they can be narrower in general.
I know several sailors who have snapped more than 6 boards in a 5 year span of time, and yes, they sail hard and land quite a few very flat.
I"m a tail first lander, but can claim over 6 fractured boards, usually starting with compression fractures across the bottom, the top skin still holding the pieces together in 3 of them. It was easy to check in the days of poly glass poly foam boards, but with epoxy boards, the solid pain schemes often hide the stress fractures.
One DOES have to be known as a big jumper in order to snap the bottoms of boards.
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koogzah



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 530
Location: right here

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad you made it home in one piece. Sorry your board didn't. Very Happy Good to know the Coasties will jump on it when you need them.


As a public service, I have edited the other replies above to remove excessive egotism:

LeeD wrote:
Good you got in OK, and KUDOS for those sailing around to keep you in sight. Nice to know Dan and Diane are still windsurfing.

MalibuGuru wrote:
Good story, glad you are safe.
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nah, you gotta KNOW you can get back to the launch all by yourself, in crunch time.
No doubt, calling for help is the quickest way into shore.
Story for you. Back in '86 or so, this guy lost his board while sailing Flying Tigers. Dennis was 200 lbs., using a 6.4 North of some kind, I was using a 4.7, my g/f then was using a 4.3. He lost it on the N side of the mouth, the old Flying Tigers where the launch was the S side, past Flying Tiger's freight.
He was starting to panic.
G/f towed him across the mouth of Tiger's, on her 8'3" Haut glass, and 4.3 sail. Took her 3 total tries. G/f was 132 lbs., Oneill fit model for women's size 10.
I went to search for his board, riding a 8'3", but this one 23" wide Haut poly glass. Found his board about a couple hundred yards PAST, that's EAST of the light platform that looks like an oil rig. Rolled up his gear, sailed upwind about a mile to the airport runway, where a security guard took the rolled up rig and drove it to the gate.
I met him at the gate after sailing upwind for at least a mile, to the car and Dennis, where we took g/f's Toyota wagon to pick up his gear.
Dennis was still shivering from the cold. Of course, he was wearing a spring suit. It was probably late June.
Now, if YOU lost your board at the mouth of Tigers, kinda windy day, and couldn't see it, would you have called the Coast Guard? Which was conveniently located by the N Airport access runway?
Of course, this was before cell phones.

Now, another little story for you. Steve Young, the tiny Asian dude who used to sail Chrissy a lot, is credited with over 20 rescues at Crissy. Give him KUDO's when you see him there. He is 5'2" tall and 116 lbs., and towed in sailors of all different sizes, including Rick Vogel at 210 lbs. once.
Moral...you can make it in, but it often takes time, work, effort, and sacrifice.
I know TWO different windsurfer's, possibly 3 if the stories by Tom Lloyd are true, who tossed 3+ rigs at Crissy from the wind dying, and the sun setting.
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LeeD



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 1175

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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koogzah



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 530
Location: right here

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Strange, but I feel as if I have heard these stories before...

zirtaeb wrote:
The mouth of FlyingTigers is just over 1/2 mile. My 132lbs ex g/f, using a 8'3" Haut wave and 4.6, towed a 210 lbs guy, no board or rig for him, across the mouth from the shore on the N end to the launch at the S end. She did it in 4 tries, getting launched, of course. She'd been windsurfing for 2 years, this was her first non daggerboard style board.
Dennis's rig drifted downwind, past the second oil platform, easy 3 miles downwind into the bay. I sailed down on my 9' Haut slalom, tossed his battens, rolled up his sail, tied the managerie together, and towed it upwind to the airport runways, about 2 miles upwind on the maps. Took almost an hour. And no, I did not butt drag.


zirtaeb wrote:
If you ask Crissy sailors from the mid '80's thru 5 years ago, I'll BET every single one has nothing but admiration for Steve. At 5'4" and 112 lbs., he is credited with more rescues at Crissy than any other TWO sailors, maybe 3.


Poor Steve... gaining weight and losing height. Wink
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summertime



Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 89

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great stories all. Koogzah - get over yourself. Got anything positive to say? I love hearing windsurf stories.
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U2U2U2



Joined: 06 Jul 2001
Posts: 5467
Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Benton: thx for posting your adventure , pleased it has a happy ending.
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