Isabella Surprise
Tales from May 6-7, 2006
Hey G-man...while I was dragging my gear up the side of a hill over by the boat launch ramp I saw you flagging down the lifeguards....was that me you were searching for or some other lost soul?
--chris
Chris,
Yeah! You, Garry and his wife Patty. They were obviously waving from the island across but you just vanished suddenly so I drove around thinking that I'll drive my 4x4 across but when I saw a fishing boat crossing that "shallow" I immediately turned into the auxiliary camp and rushed to flag down the life boat who just finished the rescue of a low life jet skier. So I just jumped in and cruised across to help locate and pick up Patty and Garry.
As we rode back I tried to find you but could not, so we left you (assumed to be) dead.....or rather MIA....just kidding. Next I rushed back to my car and told the rescue guy not to go too far as we may need him later. Drove back to get my binocular and as I get off the highway I saw your red Volvo so I was certain you OK (dead man do not drive). Than Tunde told me that you just left so I was happy as lark that I don't have to give you CPR. I think I still deserve a good bottle of vine......just pulling your leg again.
I think is time to have some kind of rescue plan in place among windsurfers at this lake because of this and other numerous, similar occasions we witnessed in the past. So I'll cc this to Windjunkie/Spennie/Debbie and discuss.
G-man, Gabor
PS: About the wind shutting down, that is pretty simple: when most of us (regulars!!) gets tired we turn the main switch off on shore (next to the....no I am not telling where) and laugh at the newcomers.....isn't that right Spennie?
Gabor -
You're pretty funny. Thanks for worrying about me.
I was blasting across the lake with some old-timer, had to be blowing mid 20s, and we did the far jibe and both of us fell in. I thought I had just blown it because I was tired but when I came up there was no wind at all...nada...and I could hear the other guy cussing. I looked out and there were at least a dozen sailors swimming/floating. I uphauled and tried to get going again but there was so little wind I couldn't balance on that little board. Finally I swam in to that little peninsula thingy that sticks out on the far shore.
After about 10 or 15 mins some wind did come back but it seemed to be from the southwest. The old timer, who had been floating the whole time, gets back on his board and goes down the lake to the North (straight downwind in normal times). I'm thinking the guy is either an idiot who is gonna end up marooned even farther away, or he knows something I don't. The latter appears to have been the case as he sailed/slogged all the way back across to our launch site.
I didn't have the guts to sail North down the lake in that fluky wind.....so when it appeared to have stabilized I went down to the end of the peninsula, where the wind was coming from, beach-started and crept out to the middle....even planed partway....but due to the wind direction I was actually heading toward Spennie's camp. I figured anywhere on the East side of the lake is better than the West side. The wind got really light again and I finally made landfall south of the launch ramp but north of Spennie's cove. Drug my shit out over big rocks onto the side of a hill and walked back to our campsite and got the car.
By the time I finished derriging the sail the wind was up again (although weak) from the normal direction.
Tunde told me it had been dying and changing direction like that at 4 p.m. almost every day.
Anyway, thanks for looking for me. Most people wouldn't have bothered.
I sailed at Rio Vista once with Sam Soule and these other old-timers who told me that if I got stuck on the other side of the river I had to get back on my own...they wouldn't come for me. Never found out if they were bluffing about that but it was in that spirit that I fought/slogged my way back to the right side.
cheers,
--ck
PS: Very funny about the switch but I know you didn't throw it because I saw you get stuck too, and have to uphaul and slog back. You're just lucky you weren't on the wrong side, like me! Now Tunde could have thrown the switch but I figure she would have waited until you were on the far side. Spennie's still a suspect.
Damn! I knew someone out there had access to the wind-switch.
The wind shutting completely off in the middle of a run is the fun of sailing at Lake Isabella. It's like seeing how far past the "E" you can get on a tank of gas.
Set your sail up like it's going to come up from the last place you were sailing and swim the rig to the closest shore. Any shore! Be ready for a puff that you can see the front and the back. you'll only have seconds to get on the board to get you going.
Once up, shlog knee high, with the bottom of your sail in the water. Sometimes just the smell of a breeze can keep you going.
Or wait it out. There will always be wind coming from some direction. Even if it takes and hour or more.
Pigman out
_________________
"You can't get better if you don't do a little Trout Sniffing"
