Where We Sailed Today

[ERROR!!!]

Ideal day on the river.

[windoggi]

Friday Berkeley around four. The sailing was weird and somewhat frantic. Fluffy parts mixed with big gusts. It was a short and physical session for me.

[windward1]

Good day...Sunshine...at Natural Bridges today. Two windsurfers out. 5.3 and 7.0. I was on the 7.0 and overpowered, but out to do speed runs along the kelp, so 'twas what I wanted.
Got a 27.7 mph on the first run. Many runs in the 28+ range and one at 30.8 mph. Using a Naish Titan 138 with the Ezzy 7.0 Cheetah.
Wind was 20 to 30 mph and filled in pretty well to the beach. Of course lighter right near the beach.
So good to be out on the water...

[tstizzle]

[Goodwind]

Finally a good day at the stick today (Friday). Forecast is off lately. Wind never materialized on the days with high wind prediction. Today was supposed to be west wind 9 to 15mph, instead we had solid NW 20mph wind from 2pm to 5:30pm.

[ctuna]

Yep a nice day at the stick 8/26/2017(Saturday)
Bert was finishing his Foiling about when I arrived
he's getting good at it now.
Lots of people there from all over the bay area looks
like it was one of the few places going .
Kevin and a few other people were Trunking it. (no wet suit)

[windward1]

Went to Natural Bridges today (Sunday). Wind was light, but hitting the upper teens at times. Fog was doing 'touch & goes' with the coastline. Talked with another windsurfer before rigging and he thought it too light and left. I rigged the Angulo 10' 10" SailSUP with the Ezzy Cheetah 7.0. Watched a hawk take down a crow in the air and they ended up in the parking lot about 25 feet from where I was rigging. Guess the hawk did not like the venue and did not finish the job and flew off. The crow was dazed and addled for a bit, but when he got himself somewhat together, he flew off in a different direction from what the hawk had taken.
Sailed out into the fog. It was beautiful in its own way. Going out, the water reflected the fog gray. Headed landward, the sunny skies over the land reflected a beautiful blue with some green from the water. Occasionally outside would open a window to the blue sky and sun and the surrounding water would be this beautiful blue. Often could not see land as the fog was that thick.
A sailing yacht came out of the fog to race around the yellow buoy that is a half mile out from the beach. It had gray sails and a white hull. Named the "Buena Sera" (Bright Future). It rounded the buoy and popped a spinnaker for the downwind leg. No other boat in sight. Of course it was foggy. I had sailed near the boat but out of its way as I could see the race directions planned. Sailed back into shore along the kelp doing a speed run. Going back out I see another yacht coming out of the fog. I sail closer to it. Beautiful shiny blue hull. Turns out to be "Merlin", the yacht famous for winning the TransPac (California to Hawaii) long ago showing what a yacht designed specifically to be a downwind sled could do. It had held the record for the longest time, before it was finally broken. I sailed downwind along side for a bit trying to see if it was Bill Lee at the helm. Could not tell as the person had this large white hat with side ears that obscured just about all of his head. Probably could not see who it was unless standing directly in front of him. New way to keep yourself focused?
Later a third yacht made the rounding, but the name was painted in small size and I could not decipher it.
I was doing speed runs along the kelp, coming out of the fog and jibing not far from shore. 'Twas a SailSup, so speed was limited, but I did get a 22.7 mph for a high for the day. Not bad for teen wind.
Another windsurfer came out with a blue-green sail. I did not recognize the sailor. Watched him as he sailed and followed him outbound. Saw him jump the board with the nose higher than his head and the tail out of the water. Could not understand why he was jumping while still going relatively slow. But was impressed that he could get that much board out of the water at that slow speed. Then I see him rise out of the water and cruise along. Oh. He is on a foil!
First foil I have seen at 'Bridges. So watched as he sailed and compared it to what I was doing on a SailSup. I was often faster in the flatter water inside in the channel between the kelp beds. He was faster when on the outside in the windswell and waves. I would lose speed there and he would maintain speed. He could point higher than I.
When he had finished his session and headed in to the beach, I followed to see what he had and who he was. He had a home made board converted recently to have the foil and was using the Go Foil. He was using a Simmer 5.3 sail, but said he could have been on a 5.0. The amazing thing was this was only his second time windsurfing foiling. He had SUPped foiled with it about three times prior. It was impressive how good he was with so few sessions under his belt.
I went back out after he left and got some more windsurfing in although the wind was decreasing. With the sun lower there were Fogbows on the side of me opposite the sun when out in the fog with an opening to the sky. These are sort of like rainbows, but all white and rather than just an arc, the whole area below the ark is white as well, against the gray surrounding fog.
Another pleasant and eventful day at Natural Bridges. So good to have been out.

[SPQR]

As a surfer in Santa Cruz, how did the foil guy get through the kelp?

[loopy]

could be jonah. that would explain the very fast learning curve. he's a natural.

[windward1]

To SPQR and loopy:

It was Jonah. He had sailed Davy for his first windfoiling time and then did 'Bridges. He said there was less floating kelp at 'Bridges than he experienced at Davy. At Natural Bridges their is a channel between the kelp beds and so if you stay in that channel you can avoid the kelp except for loose floating strands.

W1