Surfski Knowledge Base

Larry Goolsby
08/16/10 #9042

Don't know what I said in my sleep but DJ has taken to sleeping in the bathroom with the door locked. Today we went out early and paddled out to the Point Bonita buoy. It was as flat as Reivers monotone. We chose to do it while the conditions were mild so tht Larry B. wouldn't wander off and get lost like he did yesterday. We didn't see near the amount of Sea Lions that we did last year but we did run into a few Dolphins on our way out. It appears that the herring run hasn't started just yet. There has been a lot of talk about the amount of Great Whites in ths area since a paddle boarder put a camera underwater and found that he was being followed. So we are not going to paddle board while we are here. Been getting some great video that I am saving up for the film festival. After paddling, we went shopping out at the Huki factory and also picked up Whitlock's new S1-R. It was 100 F at Jude's shop when we arrived.

Sounds like we might be possibly bringing back a couple of Fenn demos from Oceanpaddlesports. If this happens, these boats would be for sale. Looks like we could be getting a Mako XT Carbon with the new single footwell. Impressively light and should fit a multiple of paddlers. I saw the Mako 6 that John Dye has for sale and it has a sexy paint job. He did well with it in Sundy's race.

Tomorrow we ae going to do a downwinder in the southern half of the bay. Supposed to be epic waves like in the gorge.

LG

Downwinder in San Fran
kathleen petereit
08/17/10 #9044

Craig Tanner and Jeff invited us for a downwinder further up the bay where the sun and water was warm and the winds were about 20 knots. Nine of us went out. The two Larry's, Reivers, DJ, Don K, Craig and Jeff ( locals ), my friend John the Aussie and myself. I was a little leery at first being in unknown waters so I asked the boys if they would take their VHF's so I could call them if need be.

Craig was the perfect gentleman and looped back a few times to check on me….what a guy ! Rumour has it he never checks on his buddies…

The two Larry's, Reivers and myself stuck together, they kept a close eye on me which made me feel comfortable enough to hammer on the waves….and they were beauty waves. We caught ride after ride for about 18 kms. A few times I went so fast my nose ploughed through the wave in front….lot's of times we just surfed and surfed and surfed. When we got to the San Mateo bridge it was pretty confused but we all handled it well.

Thanks all you guys for watching over me….you are the best !!!!

Kathleen

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Larry Goolsby
08/17/10 #9045

This ws actually a geat downwind run with enough technical factors to make it fun. The water was as warm as the gorge. In fact, the entire 11 miles reminded me of the gorge. We started at a park called Oyster Point, passed under the San Mateo Bridge and pulled out 1/2 mile below it. Gotta remember this one for the future. Thank you Craig Tanner and Jeff Schwing for taking the time to show us this run.

Kiesling needed a place to stay, so he is crashing with us tonight. After a short conference with DJ, the two of them have locked themselves in the bathroom for the night.

Tomorrow we might do another Baker to Berkley run since we have two cars here.
One piece of advice; if your wife says that she wants her parents to come overand stay for two weeks, say “No, they can't stay because don't want to re-wire the kayak trailer.” I'll explain later.

LG

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Reivers Dustin
08/18/10 #9046

That Coyote point run was a blast. Ripping great rides and warm water. It is a dang big body of water though, so I loaded up both GPS and tried to stick with a bunch of people. Even so, it's always disorienting to paddle unknown waters. There's some areas where the reflection waves can be tough. Also, each person is highly dependent on their equipment. DJ had a rudder problem: the bungee that holds the adjustable cable into the correct slot came loose and he lost steering. It would have wiped out the average paddler. He had to muscle his way straight downwind into the lee of the San Mateo bridge jump off and do a McGuyver fix-it on his system. That was groovy, but it was a long hard hammer back to the rondesvous. He was missing long enough - I thought he had paddled back up to Alameda Navel Air Station to sign up for Top Gun training.

Anyway, that's the closest thing I've seen to DJ in a sour mood. Needless to say, I'm going over my similar system with a hard, cold eye this morning.

So now for the juicy gossip: LB and I are sharing a room and we've been refering to DJ and LG as the sweethearts (this protesting about the locked bathrooms - right, sure). This morning LB pulled on his scheduled T-shirt for Wednesday and gasped and took it back off. It was the exact same as the one I was wearing. (Matching T-shirts = brutal payback). But last night Don K joined LG and DJ and who knows what ungodly manage-a-twa we'll find in their room this morning. Stay posted for more.

rd

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Brandon Nelson <brandon@…>
08/18/10 #9047

Great story, Reivers. Good thing DJ has skills. This works, too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAknFR3-rjE

dnjacobson79
08/18/10 #9049

I was told by captain Larry to post our paddle info the afternoon for those around who want to join. Tanner, it's too nice of a day to be working and we need to get you tired before the weekend.

Ft Baker to Berkeley this PM, meeting ready to hit the water at 3pm at the put-in. I'm sitting today out to try get these old guys and Don tired, so that means I'm the shuttle bunny.

Thanks for the post Brandon on the emergency rudder fix, and big thanks goes out to Don who hung out in the water while I ferried across the bay after fixing the steering. I felt like a spanked monkey after the paddle, brings back memories from paddling whitewater - but I was not made to drink a beer out of a bootie at the take-out. - DJ

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Jeff Hegedus <jhegedus@…>
08/18/10 #9052

Or, get a bungee cord, tie a loop in one end, and join a plastic hook to the other end; if a rudder cable malfunctions, slip the loop over the stern and hook it to the rudder yoke on the side of the good cable. One foot then steers both directions. The main consideration is having to disconnect a leash and get to the stern while not getting separated from the boat. I made one of these last week for the nationals, and it is in my pfd pocket as a safety item.

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Reivers Dustin
08/18/10 #9053

Good paddle across the bay to Berkely today. DJ's master plan is going well - I'm flat pooped. I'm done until race day on paddling.

On the emergency rudder fix. I'm having trouble thinking that the force of the bungee would be enough to work with on the kind of waves we were dealing with. I'm putting some pretty heavy force on the counter side peddle in order to stay on a wave diagonal. If that were the off-side with bungee vs. the desire of the boat to broach? She's going over, kids.

DJ has understated what that scenario was like. These were good waves like the first couple of sections of the gorge. I guess I'm just putting this out there, because until it's tried we don't know for sure.

rd

Re: Downwinder this PM:Surf it like you stole it
Larry Goolsby
08/18/10 #9054

Good run today. Winds picked up again but the route was flat for the first few miles(we did 9 miles today). There were 7 of us including Kiesling and Gabe Newton. DJ drove over since he is resting up for Saturday. Tomorrow, Kathleen, LB and I may go out to a park where you can paddle with sharks and manta rays. I'm bringing some bologne to test the waters with. Trailer is filling up fast with boats going home with us. I'm becoming one of those paddlers that does not want to paddle upwind anymore.
LG

Re: Downwinder in San Fran
Jeff Hegedus <jhegedus@…>
08/18/10 #9055

Hmmm, dunno, my bungee is thick and is set short and tight; my concern was getting a tired foot from keeping the pedal depressed. Mebbe I'll test it in Berkeley Friday…

San Fran Day 5………..
Larry Goolsby
08/19/10 #9058

We started winding down finally. No downwinders for us, just rest. So today, Larry B., Kathleen, an Aussie and I drove up the coast to a place in the Pt. Reyes National Park called 'Drake's Estero'. This is the place where you can paddle with Bat Rays and Nurse sharks. We didn't see any sharks but there were plenty of Bat Rays. They are much like Manta Rays and their size varied from 1 foot from wing tip to wing tip. The largest that I saw was about 4 feet across. Between the 4 of us, we probably saw about 25 of them. The Estero is only about 5 feet deep at the max with most of it being about 1 to 2 feet deep or less. Saw some actual storks there to.

We moved over to the Doubletree Hotel today and there are lots of other paddlers here. I am now rooming with Larry B. and the ony reason I agreed to that was because he hotel staff said that they would take care of turning him and changing his attends.

We have filled the trailer with 16 boats but still have room on the roof rack if necessary.
I get 3.5 hours of free internet here (only in the lobby) before they shut me down. Up in the room I can get high speed access but they want my credit card for that.

Rybcyzks gonna hate me when he sees my new R, it's just like his only it has a faster motor.
Later
LG

wind and tides for tomorrow…
Dale McKinnon
08/20/10 #9062

It blew up last night on the Bay, but the wind is subsiding throughout the day. Right now it's blowing 5 mph on Marin beaches. It will be mild Saturday morning with the wind doing its usual pickup into the afternoon. High slack tomorrow will be right about the time the long course race starts and the ebb will be 1/3rd the strength of the flood, somewhere a little over 1 knot at max ebb. The current won't be much factor in creating chop. You'll have the usual freighter wakes and swell to deal with between the Bridge and Pt Bonita.

Currently, offshore buoy data show a 3' wave height at 8 seconds. Even that will subside overnight and pick back up to maybe 2' at 10 seconds by noon. Wave height will increase by a foot or two as it approaches the Bridge. The westeries will push that another foot higher. You'll be lucky to get 5' swell at somewhere around 15 to 18 second periods… long lazy stuff. Sorry. It may be a bit of a slog outside the Bridge, with freighter wakes throwing in some good fun.

Inside and on the way to Berkeley keep your eyes open. Traffic will be your chief problem, except for the point off Angel Island. You might hit some choppiness there compounded by boat wakes.

Regardless, it will be a typical GG late summer, drizzly, thin fog along the coast and at the Bridge in the morning, burning off, hopefully by race time. Surfers are a little bummed that there's nothing much out there.

Best of luck! I'll be in Dover, England to see my swimmer across the Channel by the time you all get back. Hopefully, this will be it. Does someone have an SR-1 I can try out when I get back?

SR-1 or S1-R
duncanhowat
08/20/10 #9063

Dale, as you've probebly been reading,Larry G wants to give away his “light weight S1-R”,and as we all know it's the boat not the paddler, so if you want to go really fast you should try a Epic V10 fat boy. However their as scarce as good waves a gonna be on sat out side the bridge. That English Channel swim, yow, 23.69 miles in 60 degree water. I'm thinking that Larry B should take a page from that one and grease his whole body with pig fat to stay warm, come to think of it so should Mike G. Larry B I am expecting top placeing in your div.As they say “speed is safety”.

Duncan

Re: SR-1 or S1-R
Dale McKinnon
08/20/10 #9064

Pick my * up off the floor, I'm laughing too hard. If Larry greased he wouldn't be able to remount. He'd keep sliding off one side or t'other. As to top placing, I presume you're the only one in that classification? You rock. Go, Duncan, woohoo! Good luck to all of you!

Re: SR-1 or S1-R
Larry <lbussing@…>
08/20/10 #9065

Pig fat? Wouldn't that attract the sharks? Hey, I'm feeling good. I came up with a new mantra: Fun (stay relaxed, no anxiety) + Foward (keep paddling) = Fast Finish (meaning “finish”). Duncan, good luck on the surgery. Think of yourself as finishing right behind me if you could of been here.

Larry B

Re: SR-1 or S1-R
Larry Goolsby
08/20/10 #9066

Mike and Larry B. are now in a class all their own. This year for the 60 and over, there is a 'Golden Masters' class. This means that there is hope for me in 5 more years.
LG

Pre race routine for S.F.
Reivers Dustin
08/21/10 #9069

Quite a scene at registration ceremonies at Berkeley Marina last night. Saffas, Aussies, Canucks, Californians all mixed it up. They fed us snacks and the beer was handy. There was a shortage of bottle openers so we saw some creative techniques for opening bottles. In my day we used our teeth, but I guess nowadays people smile more - so it's all about keeping your teeth. The beer wasn't flowing quite as heavy, not so many of us were paddling hard on demo day. I noticed fewer folks pounded down the dessert plate after diner (but Morris upheld the monster carbo-load tradition). The atmosphere is more 'game on' than I remember. Team Think gave LG one of their shirts and he's very proud of it. It's rather like a uniform. People at the restaraunt were asking him to park their car. Thanks for the tide/current data, Dale. They've added turn buoys and waypoint bouys this year that take a bit of the creative path out of the race. Maybe they heard about my habit of wandering off course. Its been more foggy than usual these last couple of days, so that could be the reason. Maybe I'm getting too old, but this big of a road trip is heavier than I remember. Things are expensive down here. I can't get my plain oatmeal with raisin breakfast so I'm eating various forms of starch, sugar, BBQ spice and fatty foods. LG is a master of expedition planning, but for many it's a challenge to handle the logistics. It's quite the thrill riding with him as he muscles the stratocruiser w/ trailer along the itty-bitty roads with the 'vettes, porches, bentleys, and even more exotic cars. (Oh, and the hordes of non-english speaking bicycle riders who think they are in HongKong). game on for the B-team.

rd

Re: Pre race routine for S.F.
Dale McKinnon**
08/21/10 #9070

Heads up! Looks like you're going to have a good downwind run. Small craft advisories are up. Wave period will shorten up, with swell a smidgen steeper than yesterday. Best of luck to you all…