San Francisco

        The weather was cool and dreary with some occasional drizzles.  I never saw
the top of the Golden Gate  Bridge, as the towers were smothered by a low
lying blanket of thick overcast fog.  However, the locals said that this was
a good sign and that were would be wind.  I was not disappointed with the
Wind Gods.  The wind blew an average of 18 and gusts of 30 mph plus on
Saturday.  Probably the best indication of how much wind there is, is by
looking for how many  wind surfers are out.  The beach was busy, but; out on
the water, it was like an obstacle course,  trying to dodge downed wind
surfers everywhere was very dangerous.  These guys like it when the waves are
up too.  Sailing in the main channel of the San Francisco Bay means lots of
current.  The more current against or with the wind can cause a huge
difference in sea state.  So Saturday, we were putting the TriFoilers to
there limits.  The boats handle these conditions amazingly well.  Lots of
wind and big waves with wind chop and some ferry boat wakes.  These
conditions made me nervous, not to mention very wet.  San Diego very rarely
gets these kind of conditions.  I was wearing a helmet with a full visor and
still could not see what was in front of me.   The wind just makes a mess of
the visor when water shears the visibility.  I will put some Rain-X on it
next time.    The day lasted until about 6 o’clock.  I was so wound up, I did
not realize how hungry I was.  We  derigged the boats and headed over to
Sausalito for dinner.  We drank and ate at Margaritaville while I showed
pictures from the TriFoiler Scrape Book.  This book covers drawings and
magazine articles back to 1988.  I gave this book to Cliff Sojourner to scan
into his web site covering the Hobie TriFoiler.  Check it out, he has already
put new pictures on it.  The address is.......
      http://www.employees.org:80/~cls/trifoiler/. 

        There were 5 boats/owners present.
 1.  John Schulthess            2.  Randy Devol     3.   Cliff Sojourner 
 4.  Robert Andrews     5.  Yours truly, Dan.

        Robert has done some modifications to his craft to enhance light wind
performance.   I wish him good luck and hope he breaks some records.   Keep
us posted of your results.

                                                Sunday

        The rest of us decided to try to get started a little earlier on Sunday to
beat the ebbing tide.  When the tide goes against the wind, it is like
increasing the speed of the water to the speed of the wind, causing say an
increase of 5 mph to the wind is a big difference in wave height.  Our
efforts were well worth it.  To me, I have never sailed so far in one
direction with so much wind and very smooth water.  The boat was like flying
on a cloud.  The wind was deceivingly strong.  If I stopped dead in the
water, the wind seemed light, this was because the current was pushing me in
the wind direction, subtracting the  wind strength.  The wind can not make
zephyrs on the surface or form waves to create white caps.  So picture this,
cruising along at 25 mph on water so smooth that the sensors never bounce up
and down. The sensors did not beat the water that can be heard for miles
around.  The spray from foils is just a fine mist deflected upward like it is
coming out of a lawn sprinkler.  There is only the wind howling through the
rigging. Just gliding over the expanse of the bay.   
         My day was glowing compared to Saturday.  A day I will always remember.  My
only regret was that I didn’t go sail around the three big islands, Alcatraz,
Treasure and Angel.  It would not have taken very long at all.   When I got
home to my computer, I checked the website :   http://www.windcall.com/
      then go to >      reports/main.html
for a accurate real time graph of various locations in California.   Crissy
Field was averaging 15 with gust about 25 mph.   Perfect conditions except
for a lack of sunshine.