Cabrillo Weekend Report
by Shaun Geer

   It was a great weekend at Cabrillo. Saturday, of which I thought was justing going to be ok, but since the clouds burned off early as the front was moving through faster then expected the wind also proved to be more then expected.
   It came up late, as predicted, but blew like a typical summer day. The peak of the wind being in the early afternoon around 3pm-4pm.
   I spent the night at a hotel anticipating a high probability that I would be going to the beach on sunday. When I woke up and heard that it was going to be 78 degrees at the beach, channel 7 news, I was a little worried it might be too hot. It was totally clear and not a cloud in the sky. The only thing that I could hope for was that the inland temperatures would be much hotter. As you probably already know, they had boosted up the temperatures for inland as well, as it was already warming up more then they expected. The 10-to-15 degree difference might be enough I thought.
   My friend Charlie called me at 9am, and I told him that it was a good sign that there was no offshore flow in the morning but my fear was the temperatures. I told him if he didn't see any south/west wind by noon/1pm it may be over.
   I went out to eat breakfast and there was already a slight breeze, to little to register, but it was the right direction.
   I was getting more hopeful.
   It was 12:30 and at one point the wind seemed like it was going to die down and stop, but I took out my sail as I felt 1pm could be the turn around point. I also felt that, given the number of hours in the day there was still a good chance that even if it came up at 2pm we would have a good day.
   It was still cool, like those mildly warm summer days, but I didn't think it was blistering hot like when I have seen the wind killed by an offshore flow so I was hopeful. But definitely hotter then usual. My friend charlie stepped out of his truck and said, (I didn't expect it to be this hot here). But I was still hopeful.
   After a few wind dummies went in, my self not included, we noticed that the wind was blowing, it was blowing out of the west. You had to slog out of the swimming/bay area about 200 feet or so and then there was a wind line.
   Let me tell you, it was awsome when you got out there. I would say it was probably averaging 19-25mph on the outside. I was fully powered up on a 7.0 race sail. Darrel, who rigged a 7.6 race sail came in and rigged his 6.8.
   There was so much wind that going to the floating marker up wind was easy.
   I couldn't believe the wind...Well actually I expected that if it did blow it was going to be strong due to the unusually hot temperatures inland which is what Cabrillo thrives on.
   Plenty of people were on smaller sails, Johanna got overpowered on her 5.1 race sail which usually doesn't happen at Cabrillo. It was definitely a top ten for Cabrillo.
   The pager kept more people from coming as it wasn't crowded at all. If you look at the graph, I think it was picking up gusts that were closer what was happening on the outside.
   The air was warm the water only cold when you first go in and the wind was very consistant on the outside. In fact you could just keep going and going, there was no die down as it was filled in. When you got out there you could see the wind line and the white caps.
   Well, I guess I got another prediction right. I said it would possibly blow in the mid teens on saturday and be sailable but sunday would be the better day. Saturday surprised me as it was better then my prediction, but it was not epic, just a typical summer day. I did predict that it would probably be sailable on saturday.
   Sunday was awsome, and after speaking to others on the beach they agreed. By the end of the day it was still sailable. People were plaining on the outside, as long as you turned just before the first bouie you were ok.
   But it was funny how you could just barely plain in to the beach yet it was so strong on the outside. Definitely a strong westerly wind.
   Wish you had joined us....
   Oh by the way, I wasn't surprised that Isabella blew on Saturday, but I would have been surprised if it blew on Sunday. Hence, the lesser of two evils, Cabrillo you get to sail both days, Isabella only one.
   Now, next weekend??? What will it do?
   It is too early to tell, but I would bet that there is a greater chance it will be a Cabrillo weekend? But when not looking at the roulette wheel in the sky I would still wait to see.
   Another prediction of mine is proving to be correct, so far, this season. That is that it is proving to be unusually warm earlier in the year. Many people at the beach were commenting how most of the time this time of year they are not sailing in such strong winds, in fact you are lucky to get good wind at the beach, but so far it has been an unusually good season at Cabrillo.
   As I said before, and will say again, I think it will continue to be a good season at cabrillo. We may see high pressure kill some days at the beach in the summer time as temperatures rise, but overall I think the sea temps over the cool water will keep it cool enough to sail more days then not. And those days will be analogous to what we experienced at Cabrillo this weekend, with the exception that the wind will more often be out of the southwest, the normal direction.
   Many people were saying that Isabella was 53 degrees and to cold to sail this weekend? I don't believe that it was 53 degrees. I think if you went up there saturday it would have been an awsome time, it's just that sunday was probably going to be dead and that is too far to drive for one day of sailing for me.
   So far Isabella, at least when I usually sail it hasn't been as good as it normally is, so if this trend continues, as the average temperatures go up in the approaching summer months, it may continue to kill Isabella's previous averages or number of good sailing days.
   I hope that I can go to Isabella next weekend because I prefer going there. When it is sailable I think Isabella will be more pleasant then it has been in the past because of overall warmer temperatures earlier in the year.

Shaun