Utah Windriders Association

1st Annual Downwinder Donnor Party Windstyle Opener Event

Ok, so we haven't come up with a final name for it... (And I have trouble calling it a full on downwinder because, it's also a crossing and from Pelican to PVU it's somewhat cross/downwind...) ALSO, it won't be a race necessarily the first time... But a fun group event... Buddy systems of at least three even with support boat... Starting same to keep us together somewhat. Keep it easy on the support boats.

We'll try for a Thursday, Friday, or a Saturday ideally. But I do like Sarah's ideas to add some fun categories eventually. Sky really is the limit if we have a recurring tradition like this...

In practicing, see if you can get on a direct vector to the "Y" on the mountain from Pelican. If you can stay on it... You'll be able to make it to the Provo boat harbor... With close to the right gear it's actually pretty easy to do...

This first time, we'll keep it relatively simple... The high alert time would be Pelican to PVU, after that, you'd be on your own...

Give us a little time to work out the details... As Sarah requested... Craig's of course on weather... But because of logistics with the boats and because of all of our concerns for safety this really needs to be well executed. So keep your eyes open for the OFFICIAL HEADS UP...

We have no idea how many people would be interested in joining on this... So if you are a local and think that you'd like to be joining in... Please either email me or just post an "I'm game" so that we can get an idea of how many would be in...



WEATHER: As far as the weather question goes. Here's my proposal... We watch the forecasts... If we see a good north option day... Ask Craig about it or have him give us a good 3 day heads up... I post a 2 to 3 DAY OFFICIAL HEADS UP UTAH LAKE CROSSING ALERT (Still coming up with the best name for it... First Annual Cocoa Crossing, First Annual Donnor Party Windstyle, etc. Ideas?)... Then the day of we make a more confirmed call for that day... YES or NO... Plan on a start of around 3:30PM to 4:00PM NO LATER... It's 7.8 miles to PVU. If you make a bee-line, that's ~10MPH to finish in an hour... One ZigZag is about 12 miles... But we'd really make the call of yea or nay, at the launch. Hopefully Craig would be there! We'd have a "Skippers Meeting" 30 minutes before start... Go over the safety reminders, rules reminder, to see groups of 3 or more, make sure everyone is part of a mini group...

"STARTING LINE": I'm not sure what they call this start or if it even exists... But 15 minutes before start the boat would put up a flag... Then 5 minutes before start, blow a blow horn and wave flag... Kiters start lining up on a vector behind/not crossing the perpendicular 150ft to the back of the boat that will be heading toward the Y (just north of the Provo Boat Harbor) at about 5 MPH... Then when the 5 Minutes is up, flag goes down and boat punches it... Kites are off... 15 minutes later, the windsurfers would be off... So the kiters leaving would signify the beginning of the 15 minutes before windsurfers leaving... The reason for a vector start and not a rabbit start is to get people on the right "trajectory" and ensuring that people are relatively together... Especially windsurfers...

"FINISH LINE": Imaginary line perpendicular to the North Jetty within reasonable view of the jetty... Once you cross that you're done... Get out where you are comfortable getting out... Hopefully we'll have an observer there keeping track of people...Eventually, we could have categories, like, best freestyle trick after the finish line, a bouy course after the finish line...

SAFETY: Manditory groups of three. Pick your group according to relative predicted crossing time. Groups must stay relatively close... A buddy system... You don't leave that group... Stop, stall, do whatever you'd have to in order to stay with group... Boat(s) would do their best to keep an eye on people... Signals for distress... Stand up on your board as well as possible and wave arms if you are in trouble... Kites, have an advantage that they stay above water, windsurfers are a little harder to spot... Maybe require a kite to stay close to a couple windsurfers, vice versa... How's that for building comradery between the sports...


DISCLAIMER: I WOULD NOT TRY TO CROSS UNLESS YOU ARE EXPERIENCED AND KNOW THE WIND CONDTIONS ARE GOING TO REMAIN WITH HIGH CERTAINTY.

ALSO, GUARANTY THAT YOU HAVE PEOPLE ON SHORE WHO KNOW THAT YOU'LL BE SOMEWHERE AT A GIVEN TIME. OR THEY CALL RESCUE.

ALSO, HAVE ONE OR MORE BUDDIES.

FINALLY, FOR WINDSURFERS, I TIED A BACKUP LINE AROUND THE DOWNHAUL AND OUTHAUL AND UPHAUL, AND CARRIED AN EXTRA UNIVERSAL. Note: Extra line is about a foot and a half of outhaul or downhaul line, through both anchor points and tie a knot of your choice and approval. You wouldn't have to sit in the water trying to downhaul.

COMMON SENSE IS YOUR BEST ASSET

I'm in as a kiter, and I also have a boat if needed.


Arpi

Dead man downwinder party/Dead mans party/who could ask for more? everybodys comin leave your body at the door/beach..

Sorry... I have been outta the action since I went to Maui in Dec and was humbled by Kanaha and the mighty Buzianas.. (stories for the beach this summer)
Its good to see the stoke is still going and Rick is leadin the way.. I am excited to get some sailing in this year..
I look forward to seein all ya on the beaches this year..

Count me in for any of the shenanigans that Rick puts on!!!
peace out

Brett Linde

Sweet Brett... Actually, Craig, Sarah, Marty, Jason, and many others are right there with me on this!

It'll be an interesting event if not a blast!

Can kites even launch safely at Pelican?

Last time I was there, it didn't look very kite friendly.

I agree that this is now a crossing, not a downwinder.

-Marty

Im in!

What would be ideal is a stalled dry front down by St George that had
gone by Provo within the last 12 hours.

I'm presuming the safest crossing for windsurfers would be
on floaters, so you want steady but not nuke'n winds.

Kiters would benefit from a similar (say 18-20 MPH) wind. Yes?
Marty's point about where Kiters might launch from is a good one.
Maybe with launchers, they coud use the Jetty for launch.

Long range, this could be possible next Friday. Maybe that's too soon.

I'd love to do this, or anything to do with Windsurfing, but I'm currently
red shirted for the forseeable future.

If I'm in town I'll be happy to watch from the beach.

Also, info you get from me is just informational, the decision to launch
and engage will be strictly the responsibility for the Sailor/Kiter.
You might wanna put that on the "permission slip".

-Craig

Count me in! I suggest taking fishing line/hooks so that if anyone gets stranded they can survive for an extended period of time feasting on the large supply of carp and catfish . Plus, there is plenty of fresh water in Utah lake . Disclaimer: Anything harvested out of Utah lake and consumed shall be at your own risk!!!

I'm not good enough yet to attempt the crossing but I'm happy to help in any way. We live in Lindon now just off the 1600 N. Orem exit so I could help ferry people/gear.

If I had a telescope I could watch the race from my front yard.

Kevin Simmons
801/870-5839

i'm in provided i get a few more days out under my belt. you guys can be the judge of that though. if my skills are up, i'm in for sure. i only worry about my sometimes finicky upwind combo....

Ha ha... Layne, you sent me the catfish swallowing the basketball! I'd hate to have to pry you and your rig from a Utah Lake Catfish's mouth!

Craig, yeah... I think people will sign up at the site... Permission slip... Of course, our disclaimer is EVER PREVALENT! Ride at your OWN RISK!!! hmmm... I'll call you on the next friday thing...

Arpi, email or call me... It would be good to have more than 1 boat.
Kevin, great... But it's not as tough as it sounds...

Quite a few more people have emailed me than posted about being interested in doing a downwinder... Which is good...


ABOUT THE "DOWNWINDER CROSSING"

A couple of questions people have emailed to me about it:

Is it that difficult/strenuous?

Actually, it isn't difficult really... As long as the wind is 18+ and you have a sufficiently floaty board and big enough sail for your weight to keep you on a plane... It's really about a 30 minute trip for people with the fast down/up wind gear... And you'll want to make the trip back... It's not strenuous... And kiters are probably going to want more! Don't fear the downwinder... They're not as bad as people think...

So, there might be a bus to take us back to Pelican?

We're thinking about the bus thing... It a sweet ol' school bus company that has said they'd do it for $100... Somebody, will stay with the gear until you come back around to get it... Or we can have a few vehicles that come around to taxi gear back to Pelican... I'll bet, this guy would probably allow us to put some of our gear in the bus for the trip back... That would be ideal... Then we could go back to finish up a sailing session...

When approximately to do this?

I think we'll pick out a "window" of opportunity... Like May 8th to May 25th... If it doesn't happen in that window, then it's pushed to the fall or pushed to Deer Creek from Utah Lake... There are many options... Keep your eyes open for the posting... Ideally, it would be a great north coming through on MAY 12th... DAY OF THE SWAP MEET!!! That's a REMINDER! SWAP YOUR GEAR!!! CHEAP GEAR!!! IT'S TIME TO GET SOME GEAR!!! A BUNCH OF GEAR!!!

small soapbox, here I go again <<<< As you can tell, I've tried to help make posting "in public" something that doesn't make people feel uncomfortable... Obviously, I have posted personal things sometimes, that make even me feel uncomfortable... In fact, I've looked at some of my postings and have said, man, that dude really says too much... But I've figured if I set the bar "low enough", people will post with the idea that there's no way what they'll post will be more embarrassing than what I post ... Actually, Carl C. is a great Ambassador also to shameless yet very poetic posting, along with many others... This forum is to get your thoughts and ideas out there and to share your experience so we who are work can live vicariously for an afternoon or morning... It's obvious that we love the these sports... And that we have more to do in life than just Windride...

Windsurfing/Kiting has tended to be kind of a solitary sport, which has at times be to its detriment... Remember when we were proud to be in such a unique sport... ha ha... Seriously though... I remember being 16 years old and it was fun to watch people look at the 30 foot long board on the top of my car in awe... Now there are so many extreme sports it's now just our simple love for the physical activity than the 80's hype... This is really the best chance we have to subdue a little of the extreme solitary nature of these sports... (this being the message board and social events)

I was talking to some people in Maui a couple years ago about this... We are too worried about being judged ... It is a syndrome that almost all MESSAGE BOARDS have... If you post here it doesn't mean that you have NOTHING else in life to do... People know that in your non posting time you're doing business, mountain biking around the world, making things happen, so don't be worry about being judged for posting... That said, there STILL is such thing as TMI, just in case! >>>> small soapbox (PS I may post this in its own post sometime down the road) (PSS I learned to type at a young age, 60+ WPM so that is part of the blame on my longwinded posts sometimes)

It sounds like fun - I am in.

I'm in if Rick can keep his postings under 50 words.

I'm in. I will see if a can around up a couple more.

Nice work Rick!

I missed the season kick off party, I'll miss the swap meet, I SURE HOPE I CAN DO THIS CROSSING!

It would be so much fun all these sailors going for it (and this time nobody will have to worry about me like last year when I "forgot" to tell people on the beach I was going for a quick crossing.. that turned to be a bit of a slog at some point ).

Anyway, my advice: floaty board, big sail and adjustable harness lines to change position when tired!

Later,

Mani.