Re: [Paddlewise] Revised Beaufort Wind Scale

From: Rex Roberton <rexrob_at_mac.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 14:14:27 -0700
Rex wrote:

><snip>
>Side note: The cool thing about a 50 knot wind is seeing a gust rip
>across
>the surface and lift the water up and rain it down.


Doug wrote:

>Is that from an observation area or first hand from the cockpit?

Doug also wrote: 
>I'll
>crawl back into my "pink" hole now (my wife has me currently renovating
>the entire house with deep-pink painted walls and new snow-white crown
>moldings). Life will never be the same I fear.

>From the cockpit.  This was one winter about 7 years ago.  We put in on the
Skagit River (Washington State) and paddled into Skagit Bay.  I was in a
Eddyline Sea Star which is not a good boat for wind.  When we entered the
bay I was blown sideways to the wind and no matter what I tried I could not
get turned back up into the wind.  I could not even back the stern into the
wind.  Paddling backwards I worked my way back into the mouth of the river
and was able to get some protection from the wind along the shoreline.  When
I went back out into the bay the second time I was able to stay in control.
About a half hour later we encountered these powerful gusts which would lift
the water right off the surface several feet.  I'm not talking about spray
blowing off the crest of a wave.  There were no big waves because of the
short fetch.  This "lift" would be from a surface area of about 6 meters by
18 meters.

--------------
Revised Beaufort Wind Scale

Doug, you left some information out of the "Revised" Beaufort Wind Scale.
You are a humble guy and are just trying to avoid the appearance of being a
braggart so I'll go ahead and complete the scale.

No. 8 -  36-43 mph, Gale: Self rescue skills quickly becoming irrelevant.
Doug wakes up and looks out of the window in his pink bedroom.  He yawns and
goes back to sleep.

No.9 - 44-51 mph, Strong gale: PW members with Bipolar disorders thinking
about heading in.  Rex seen singing "spume drops keep falling on my head."
Doug gets up and looks out of the window in his pink kitchen and makes
coffee.

No. 10 - 52-70 mph,  Insane;  Harvey Golden seen spinning through air in 30
lb. skin boat performing Inuit air barrel-rolls.  Doug looks out the window
of his pink living room.  Neighbor homes are being crushed by falling trees.
Doug loads up kayak and gear just in case some real wind blows in.

No. 11 - 70+ mph, Double insane;  Doug launches to take advantage of a good
opportunity to test some new equipment and hone his paddling skills.  A
tornado touches down nearby and Doug paddles over to check it out.  He goes
air-borne and ends up in the land of Oz where he meets up with Harvey
Golden.  After Doug answers the Munchkins questions about why he has pink
paint under his finger nails, Harvey and Doug have a grand adventure
paddling the uncharted waters of Oz.  The Wizard help them get back to
Victoria in time for dinner.  :)


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Received on Fri Jun 15 2001 - 14:33:42 PDT

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