Going Bezerkeley

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buckidge
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Going Bezerkeley

Post by buckidge » Tue May 21, 2013 7:35 pm

Aaagh. What a day. Watched the sensors at work, then was at Pt. Emory right afterwards ~5:30.
No one was there... kinda weird.
Wind was very on-shore(pretty much NW)... kinda weird. Maybe that explained why no one was there.
But the wind was great.

Time for a decision about which rule to break:
1-Don't kite alone. (Drive 25mins to Alameda? - wind looks good but could die)
2-Don't leave wind for wind. (and it was blowing through my ears calling me out).

So I pumped up... launched myself and went out.

STRUGGLED getting out. Had to body drag my ass upwind so I didn't end up on the rocks.
NOTE: Berkeley sucks with NW wind.

Then I got Berkeley-ed: (check out 6pm)
iKitesurf.com - Berkeley Marina Current Wind.png
iKitesurf.com - Berkeley Marina Current Wind.png (48.79KiB)Viewed 1333 times
Then a friend in A-town texts me telling me how windy it is there. Damn. Should have decided to break rule#2.

Hope all of you had fun in Alameda... I should have headed to join you when it died in Berkeley.

See you there tomorrow?
"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are built for"

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Post by tgautier » Tue May 21, 2013 7:39 pm

Meanwhile third was nuking so hard no one was out and crissy looked more sane but was flooding.

Strange day.

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Ron
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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by Ron » Tue May 21, 2013 9:02 pm

A-town was the place to be today...i mean if you couldn't make it to the coast. I almost pulled my 7m which would have been a first!

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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by Bulldog » Tue May 21, 2013 9:23 pm

There is such a thing as "too windy to kite", and days like this do happen (although usually in April). If it's gusting over 40 in the usual spots, for example (coast, third today). Or if it is so up and down that you would need to re-rig every 1/2 hour (see the Sherman Island graph for today). Survival kiting ain't much fun.

On these days, Alameda is usually epic. Solid mid-20s, side-shore wind and respectable windswell coming straight at the beach from across the bay (where it's blowing offshore) means that you can almost pretend you are at the coast.

Meanwhile, all the kooks, er, newbies are on sitting on the beach because the big kites they bring to Alameda every day are so big they can't even get them out of the bag without them blowing away.
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It says 10M, but it's really a 9.

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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by Bulldog » Tue May 21, 2013 9:26 pm

Oh yeah, and one more thing. It's a rule, actually.

If it's really windy and no one (NO ONE!) is kiting at a kite spot, there's usually a reason why. They are kiting somewhere else, somewhere that is better. And not just a little better, because if it was "just a little better" they wouldn't have gone out of their way to avoid the spot where you are standing, thinking "I can do this!".
Paul
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It says 10M, but it's really a 9.

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buckidge
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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by buckidge » Tue May 21, 2013 10:03 pm

Bulldog wrote:Oh yeah, and one more thing. It's a rule, actually.

If it's really windy and no one (NO ONE!) is kiting at a kite spot, there's usually a reason why. They are kiting somewhere else, somewhere that is better. And not just a little better, because if it was "just a little better" they wouldn't have gone out of their way to avoid the spot where you are standing, thinking "I can do this!".
I think it's 'lesson learned".
At least it's not late season and I'm suck wondering if there will be another time....
"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are built for"

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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by androka » Tue May 21, 2013 10:19 pm

Toll Plaza was working for us, started on 10's then went to 12s

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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by WindMuch » Tue May 21, 2013 10:31 pm

Dillon. 6m. A+++

amir
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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by amir » Tue May 21, 2013 10:50 pm

I had to make the after work call as well around 5 as well. The central east bay sites are my go to spots, but I went to alameda. Here are some of the reasons ...

Morning info...
IKite model forecasts were pink.
Mike had a blog about packed isobars.
NWS had gusts to 35.

5 pm info...
TI reading much lower than berkeley, indicating major north and angel island wind shadow. Isabel reading north making RT crazy gusty. TP looked favorable but iffy with TI readings.
No marine layer all day.
SFO over 30 means alameda is on.
3rd crazy windy.
Alameda high reading over 20 consistantly means its blowing over 20.
Lots of newbs standing around on wind cam.

This doesn't mean Berkeley wasn't good at some point, but that it's up and down and less reliable than alameda.

Took me a a few years to make reliable calls between the 6+ east bay launches. At least one is always on...

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buckidge
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Re: Going Bezerkeley

Post by buckidge » Tue May 21, 2013 11:52 pm

amir wrote:I had to make the after work call as well around 5 as well. The central east bay sites are my go to spots, but I went to alameda. Here are some of the reasons ...

Morning info...
IKite model forecasts were pink.
Mike had a blog about packed isobars.
NWS had gusts to 35.

5 pm info...
TI reading much lower than berkeley, indicating major north and angel island wind shadow. Isabel reading north making RT crazy gusty. TP looked favorable but iffy with TI readings.
No marine layer all day.
SFO over 30 means alameda is on.
3rd crazy windy.
Alameda high reading over 20 consistantly means its blowing over 20.
Lots of newbs standing around on wind cam.

This doesn't mean Berkeley wasn't good at some point, but that it's up and down and less reliable than alameda.

Took me a a few years to make reliable calls between the 6+ east bay launches. At least one is always on...
Wow. Hugely helpful. Thanks!
"A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are built for"

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