Commodore's Notes: Packery Channel - From Another Perspective
Finally, a political issue of merit that I can support. I want an accessible jetty for gulfside wave sailing! I'll be the first to admit that the Packery Channel is going to remain controversial for some time to come. However, the peripheral issues of increased tourism, additional tax revenues, and more golf courses for the masses don't have the direct impact on sailing that the jetty's that channel the Packery's flow would have for me. For those of you that don't sail in the Gulf, please follow my logic. I have sailed the Atlantic as well as the Pacific and the best surf sailing is to be found near a point break. For those of you who have sailed Florida's coast as well as Texas' you no doubt realize that the nature of our shoreline deprives us of "natural" point breaks. The protection that the south jetty of Port Aransas gives us during a North wind is what brings wave sailors to the coast. However, as the north jetty is located on the inaccessible shore of St. Joe Island, we don't have the same conditions for the summer's southerly winds. This is why so many dedicated wave sailors pass Corpus Christi and head for
South Padre. South Padre has the reputation as the finest Gulf wave sailing site in Texas. The conditions created by the North Jetty down there give rise to outstanding wave sailing. If you haven't enjoyed the pleasure of sailing the gulf because launch conditions appear too dramatic, then envision a spot, protected from the stiff sideshore currents, with waves that build in intensity as you move further out into the Gulf, that affords equal protection to beginners as well as the more experienced sailors and you have the conditions created by the jetty in South Padre. I want those conditions for Corpus Christi! Many locals who sail off the Bob Hall pier can tell you of the interest in our sport that the dramatic sight of wavesailing draws. The lack of a jetty is what makes the Bob Hall launch so intimidating. Yet those of us who do sail the Gulf know that the great conditions that exist out there will be more easily experienced by all if we succeed in getting the new inlet built. However, summer wave sailing will remain a domain of the more experienced until we have the protection and accessible launch provided by the jetties that will channel the Packery's flow. So, I ask you to support my personal needs and go out and vote for the Packery Channel. Chip
Ed’s Note: The above thoughts are not to be construed as an official position of the CCWA. While its a unique perspective, it doesn’t drown out the 60’s tune that keeps running through my head (‘They tore down Paradise to put up a parking lot’). Please Vote on 04/07.
PFD Bill in the legislative hopper
by Roy Tansill
Around the middle of March a legislator from
Athens, Texas introduced a bill that, in its initial form, would have required
board sailors to wear a PFD and somehow rig lights on their crafts as well.
I first heard of this piece of junk bill from our regional USWA representative
Guy Miller. After posting it on the windsurfing news group (rec.windsurfing)
several Texans went to work trying to reason with the obviously uninformed
author. The bill had not even got to the house committee before it
reportedly was amended to apply only to motor powered craft. These
‘revisions’ are not yet on the public record so a cadre of boardhead activists
are still watching its progress closely. According to one of these
watchdogs, Brian Cunningham (AKA ‘The Dog’) ‘it ain’t dead yet but its
in the ICU with a priest standing by’.
In its original form the proposed bill states:
“By C. Alexander H.B. No. 3107
77R4217 SGA-D
1-1 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED:
1-2 An Act relating to requiring occupants
of certain boats to wear a
1-3 lifesaving device.
1-24
SECTION 2. Section 31.073(a), Parks and Wildlife Code,
2-1 is amended to read as follows:
2-2
(a) All canoes, kayaks, punts, rowboats, sailboats, and
2-3 rubber rafts, or any vessels less
than 26 feet in length, when
2-4 paddled, poled, oared, [or] windblown,
or floating with the
2-5 current, are exempt from all safety
equipment requirements
2-6 except the following:
2-7
(1) each vessel shall be equipped with:
2-8
(A) one Coast Guard approved lifesaving
2-9
device for each person aboard; and
2-10
(B) [(2)] the lights prescribed by the
2-11
commandant of the Coast Guard for class
2-12A vessels and required under Section 31.064;
and
2-13
(2) each person aboard shall wear a lifesaving
2-14
device while the vessel is underway.
2-15 SECTION
3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.”
Several folks contacted the errant author with logical rebuttals to his folly including CCWA member Guy Racette. Phone conversations with C. Alexander’s staff informed us that the bill had already been altered to cover only motor powered craft. This proposed bill generated a flood of e-mails throughout the Texas windsurfing community and all that response was all initiated by the USWA and the attention they maintain on local legislation all over the country. Without USWA vigilance, this bill might have slipped through and become law- once on the books overturning it would take years and meanwhile we all would be getting ticketed for disobeying it. On 03/26 I received an e-mail from Mr. Alexander stating the Bill has indeed been amended to refer only to motor powered craft. Look for Jet ski lighting kits to soon appear at the local Marine stores.
Editor's Final Puffs ? by
Roy Tansill
Wanted: One newsletter editor and a secretary/treasurer as well.
With time running out before the initial Whataburger windsurfing and kite
boarding event and financial protection for the executive committee still
not in place, two of the 5 member CCWA Executive committee have decided
they cannot continue as members of that committee. Therefore both
Arleen Ward, the secretary/treasurer and I will resign as of April 20 if
the often requested protection is not obtained by that date. For
me it looks like the end of over three years of a job I’ve enjoyed doing.
I would continue to do the job but I don’t have the option. Other
folks have forced me to make this decision including those who chose to
promote kite sailing within the club’s activities and my wife. Its
no secret that I don’t like kite strings around me on the water but I can
generally avoid their presence- on the water. What I can’t avoid
is the legal liability those same kites impose upon me if I am on the CCWA’s
executive committee. I was willing to ‘take a chance’ when it was
just sailboards and the reliable insurance through US Sailing covered the
club’s liability for any problems either on shore or on the water.
Kites, to me, greatly increase the odds for potential problems and to date
I have seen no evidence of reliable insurance to cover their activities.
This was not an easy decision and certainly not one made recently (see
the November 2000 issue of Currents). Serious efforts to obtain incorporation
have been initiated and inexpensive insurance to cover the executive committee
is being sought. I would be most happy to continue as editor if I
can do so without the threat to my financial stability. Mrs. Tansill
would not be as happy but she would also not object to to me being the
editor if our liability is covered by something other than our bank accounts.
Bucks for Bird
Several club members have contacted Jock Whitworth
and pledged $50 each towards the cost of implementing Alternative
Plan I at Bird Island Basin. In the past, the CCWA has offered to
help out with sweat equity when and if the National Park Service got around
to improving the beach out at Bird. Plan I does improve the
launch site and since club financial support is unlikely given our financial
status, we ought to get ready to put in some labor on this project.
Of course if you are so inclined donations of bucks are appreciated by
the NPS since right now they have a little over half of what improvements
are projected to cost. Our wind addicted brethren to the North (the
North Texas Wind Riders) have already promised $500 towards the project
and you can bet we’ll hear about it if we don’t match that offer
in some fashion or another. One item in the plan is not well liked
by either NPS or park users and that’s the bollards and steel cable to
prevent cars from driving onto the beach in those areas not designated
for vehicles. They are open to suggestions for a better way to accomplish
that end- anyone out there know of a vehicle barrier that will cost
the same (or less) and still do the job? Let Jock know if you do.
Dear, like, Club
by CCWA’s Pro Consultant: Biff
Wider, Lower, Longer is the rule for the new
stuff.
Yes, totally sailable places now have become
death traps due to the 54-58-66-70+ cm. Phin Phenomenon.
Lately low water has been the rule around here. This has led
to the latest Move in windsurfing, the 10.
HOW IT'S DONE:
I find it helps to stick my tongue out as soon
as I begin to feel/hear the tip scratching bottom. That done, make
sure you're hooked in securely. Then give the sail a pump or two
and really sit down HARD in the harness. Try to bunch up your toes,
too, so when the fin grounds firmly, you'll begin by tearing out both footstraps.
The universal joint should stretch forward making a "Ging-ging-BOOOOIIIIIING
sound, and its patented lever-action will pull your harness really hard
into Wedgie position. At that point, make it your steadfast commitment
not to let go of the boom no matter what. As you fly up and
over the nose of the board, be sure to check that you're still hooked in.
Then throw all your weight into the boom as it lands on the nose of the
board, breaking it off cleanly and crushing it into the shallow bottom.
If all goes well, your mast should at this point announce its failure
to everyone on the beach with a resounding rifle-like CRRraaAAAACK!!
Now you're almost done. The landing
is important too. The best thing is to use either a stainless steel
hook spreader or one of those Reactor bars, which are much stronger than
the regular aluminum spreaders. That way, when you land the
hook may bend out a little, but you'll be able to break both sides
of the boom while your harness rises still further into Atomic Wedgie position.
Close your eyes to prevent pesky Monofilm abrasions when you go through
the sail. Straighten out your body and bite deeply into your still-protruding
tongue as your head spears the sand, and finish with a flailing scissors
kick followed by a stream of lisping curses and bloody drool.
That's a "10" on the Crash-and-Burn scale!
Don't ask me how I know... Biff CC-BB
U.S. Cellular
U.S. Open
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
May 24 - 29, 2001
Be around the World Champion Kevin Pritchard,
Jimmy Diaz, Daida Moreno
Help the event stay in CC by donating your
time
Work a full day and get a t-shirt & a
meal
Call Kyle Krebs 361-985-1555
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Wanna a Broken Nose?
by Roy Tansill
Three years ago light wind shortboards experienced
a breakthrough of sorts with the wider, shorter, thick in the tail style
boards first mass produced by Bic in the form of their Techno. I
was working at Worldwinds at the time and before long, nearly every Techno
in the rental fleet was making the trip to the board shop to get a nose
job to repair the carnage the new style boards were experiencing.
Its not a flaw in Bic’s construction; the problem exists in all boards
that move the volume rearward and leave the nose thin and usually flipped
up at the tip. Its necessary to save weight and its part of the price
you pay to plane in winds that before were the domain of the longboard.
A year later, I bought my first such board,
a Tiga 281. I had seen better sailors than I knock the nose off the
Technos and figured I’d better work on a solution to the problem because
sooner or later I was certain I’d break my new board’s nose as well.
There were commercially available nose pads but they didn’t look sufficient
to protect my board from my crash and burn capabilities so I designed my
own.
A few days later, I was watching two kids
happily thrashing one another while armed with ‘pool noodles’ and that
gave me the idea for a functional nose protector that could stop even me
from breaking my new board’s nose.
Since the Tiga was bright yellow, I went looking
for a yellow pool noodle. I soon discovered that pool noodles are
close celled (so they don’t absorb water) very flexible, and cheap ($2.98
at Circle K). They also come in at least two forms, either
round or hexogonal. Arleen Ward had found a yellow hex type on the
beach and donated it to my project. After purchasing a fresh bottle
of contact cement I was ready to begin.
First, I split the noodle length wise.
The hexogonal variety makes this task easier since its flat surfaces provide
an easier cut location than the round type. A hastily nailed together
simple jig and a crosscut saw easily made two equal halves out of the noodle
each 4.5 feet long. Diagram 1 shows the end view of the pool noodle
before and after the cutting. I tested the noodle’s ability to take
a hit by setting in my work bench and hitting it with a hammer. Repeated
(and harder) swings all produced the same cushioned ‘thud’ and the hammer
never made contact with the bench underneath the halved noodle. The
half noodle was set onto the Tiga’s deck and a penciled outline showed
me where the glue would be needed. Glue was liberally applied to
the bottom of the noodle and inside the pencil lines on the board and after
it got tacky I carefully put the two glued surfaces together. The
color match wasn’t perfect but once on the board it was pretty good.
I suspect the blue would look equally good on an AHD or Bic as well.
The photos below show the completed job and its survived nearly a full
 |
 |
Since Arleen donated the noodle, my entire cost was the price of a bottle of contact cement and about 45 minutes of labor. That’s a vast improvement over the cost of board repairs. The long pad protects the entire nose area from both the boom’s front end hits and from boom arm hits further back from the nose. I haven‘t repeated my ‘hammer test’ on the board itself but I think it would protect the board just as well as it protected my work bench in the original test. Bottom line: a soft thud is far better than a resounding CR-RUunch.
Mark Roundings
The 2001 Whataburger race series kicked off at Bird Island Basin on
March 24th. The Saturday race played to a packed beach as Worldwinds
hosted not only the Whataburger Race but also an Andy Brandt Clinic.
There would have been more participants if the predicted winds had also
shown up but few wanna be racers have the 10+ meter sails that were necessary
to be competitive in the fluky NE breeze. With Race Director Craig
Greenslit operating the flags, Guy Racette rode his 10.4 rig to three
strait bullets before even that much sail wasn’t enough in the fading winds.
John Jay Ernst kept Guy pumping to maintain his leads taking second in
all three heats and Guy Miller took three thirds in the open fleet.
Michael Johnson equaled Guy Racette’s 3 bullets in the Master’s Fleet.
| Sailor | Sail # | Division | Heats | Total | ||||
| Bib # | Place | Place | 1 | 2 | 3 | points | ||
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||||||||
| Guy Racette
Jay Ernst Guy Miller Jon Bright Michael Johnson Roger Datisman Roy Bennett Tom Bowen |
CC111
US1166 TX1 WY5 CC17 Bib159 866 ?? |
Open
Open Open Open Master Master Master Master |
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
1
2 3 4 1 2 3 4 |
0.7
2 3 7.0 4 6 5 8 |
0.7
2 3 6 4 5 7 8 |
0.7
2 3 9 4 6 5 7 |
2.1
6.0 9.0 22.0 12.0 17.0 17.0 23.0 |
The cartoons are on the cartoons
page.