Seneca 9-8

[genevan]

Two strong wind lines moved through Seneca today. Several kiters from Syracuse and the usual Rochacha clan showed up. Was on my 8m all day. Heavy rains deluged us twice. A few windsurfers out also (hope we were courteous . Recovered a nice PFD Penny observed in the water earlier.

[Windydoug]

Yup, a few windsurfers out as well. The wall of water that doused us was impressive. Ken and I were in a holding pattern until Greg gave Ken a good onsite report. Off we went. Windkid Bill was finishing rigging up a 4.5 when we arrived, just behind Joe. On the water was a 2004 Ezzy sail that was also seen a couple weeks back at Seneca. It ended up belonging to Dave from Victor. A nice guy and California transplant who used to sail Rio Vista, and in the Bay, he is a good sailor and has the most impressive windsurfing trailer I have ever seen. I hope we see a lot more if Dave at all of the other launches. Dave and Art have the same color Ezzy Se's and I got them confused as they were both ripping upwind when the wind was good. The swell set up really nicely with the SSW direction with some good ramps and swell rides. The most entertaining thing for me was hearing Bill yell "Duck" repeatedly as I passed him in the water. I thought he was yelling my name. I figured it out eventually and in my first duck jibe attempt I managed to duck the sail and get ahold of it before it was ripped free. He managed to do the same, and we will both be nailing them soon after some Teddy sail handling practice.

Who was the kiter that was able to ride during the rain and drastically changing wind direction?! You kite guys were plenty courteous in my opinion. I am not entirely sure of the rules of the road, I jsut try to stay clear up or down wind.

Cheers!
Wd

[genevan]

Jason rode the squall out. We had an incoming que on the beach and he was last in line and headed back out...visibility almost Zero from the beach and his kite was disappearing from view.. Great to hear him discuss this strategy afterwards... I had an olive green kite and was traversing to the marina. When sharks were close I put the kite up and waited for folks to pass. I need to brush up on sailing etiquette...

[jgordon]

Great to see everyone having fun on Saturday! My "strategy" genevan Brad spoke of was to stay the hell away from hard objects (aka shore) whilst the strongest part of the squall came through. Worse comes to worst i could always jettison my rig and swim back.

[genevan]

It was amazing, plus I thought it was a great learning opportunity to observe the event and see how one can deal with an extreme situation safely. Bravo.