Sailing with Spennie at Candlestick
S.F. Bay Area - July 2006
It was pretty busy at the Stick for a Monday – iWindsurf must have made it look like the only place to be on Sunday, so when Monday dawned warm and windless, everyone headed this way.
And I guess it was pretty much a repeat of Sunday, only less extreme (in that on Monday I did not get OPd [overpowered] at the peak on a 5.4 and my brand new (to me) JP SuperX 104, I did not switch to a sinky little wave board just as the fog appeared in the gap and the wind began to get really gusty, I did not make one last jibe and head out again just as the wind really died at 6.30; I did not swim, climb the rip-rap, and have to carry my gear back through the park to the car. (Don’t try doing the walk of shame at high tide at the Stick unless you’re 8ft tall and/or have titanium ankles and shins)
No, Monday was a good day.
Met a dude called Spinny or Spenny or something while rigging – he has really cool business cards anyway, and couldn’t help noticing the probably not brand-new (to him) JP SuperX 104 that he was about to go out on. What a pretty board! And whether size matters or not, that fin made my JP 31 cm fin (30.975cm after yesterday’s encounter with the rip-rap) look a little sad.
Eventually I got out on the water with the same 5.4 and not quite so brand new anymore JP. As I tootled around getting the hang of the board, some guy kept whizzing past me – hey I thought this brand new (to me) JP was supposed to be fast, what’s going on? Oh, it’s Jason Voss, Okay, he’s allowed to go fast, I guess.
I noticed Spenny/Spinny/whoever seemed to spend the best part of his first hour on the water towing broken down sailors (no offense, I mean the gear was probably broken down not the sailors) from way out – they probably had to climb the rip-rap and and walk back through the park, if not you’ll know them by the scars on their ankles. How thoughtful, I thought, not to let them swim, I mean they’d probably have made it to the last fishing pier if they were lucky, it wasn’t even ebbing yet, and what’s wrong with a little late night sightseeing in the East Bay anyway?
A while later I was still tootling, the wind was coming up a little , and I was beginning to feel quite comfortable with JP. Some other guy started whizzing past me – hey, etc (see above), only I knew it wasn’t Voss this time ‘cos I could see him chasing someone around, around 100yds downwind – AHA, I realized it was the Spinny dude, and Okay, I guess the JP really is fast, only not necessarily with me on it!
Eventually I started to feel a bit OPd, there was some fog appearing in the gap, and the wind was beginning to get really gusty, so I headed back in to switch to a sinky little … no, that was yesterday. This time I was just going to apply a little more downhaul and head out again – only here’s that Spenny to point out exactly why the downhaul is already maxxed out and I’ve got the outhaul all wrong … maybe that’s why I’m so slow?? So out I went again, now with a perfectly rigged sail, only today I was really lucky, because just as the wind really died I failed that last jibe in by the beach, so no “one last run”, no swimming, no climbing tip-rap, no walking. Definitely a good day!
Thanks for the rigging tips Spennie, and I reckon just as soon as I get one of those monster fins I’ll be blasting past all the guys on my JP. If not I’ll just head upwind and sail by myself by the freeway, so I’ll never know how slow I’m really going.
Happy Sailing,
Sarah (at the Stick)
