Sailing Report

Betsy Russell's report of the meeting with the Corps of Engineers, about Barclay Bay:

Eddy, Jack and I met with Joyce Dunning, the head of the park, and Monty, who does the maintenance work, and Richard Turner, their civil engineer. It went well and they were very interested in and responsive to our needs for windsurfing and kitesailing there. As you all know, there's a handicap-accessible swimming beach and dock in the process of going in, along with other improvements, as part of a grant-funded project. Already, the project has been modified to keep the right-hand side of the beach (as you stand on shore looking at the water) open for us to launch, and to add gravel as we specified for rigging and launching.

Now, Serpentina is going to be moved over to the left—pretty far over, it sounds like, which is great news for kiters who can snag lines on her where she is now. Eddy volunteered to bring a crew of interested folks up to help with the move and replanting of Serpentina. Monty will have heavy equipment. Date to be determined, but it will be before May 30, when the new dock is scheduled to go in.

The new dock will also be off to the left of where the existing dock is, but it will be a T-shaped, handicap-accessible dock that at its widest point, at the end of the T, will be 30 feet wide. We're pushing for it, too, to go as far to the left as possible. If you go up there now and see the depth-marker poles that are stuck into the sand of the swimming beach, the far-left one will roughly mark the far-left, outer corner of where the T of the dock will be. The existing sign on the dock will be removed, and hopefully replaced with a lower-profile sign at the new dock that will attach to the front of the life ring.

Also, more pea gravel is being ordered, to go in over some ¾-minus gravel for a base, to extend our graveled area at our launch, extending it farther over to the right. Some big rocks also will be removed. Jack is going to serve as the "gravel coordinator." When we know the date, he'll put out the word for folks to come up and help spread the gravel. The existing large pile of sand likely will be moved way over to the left, to be spread at the new Serpentina site.

Longer term plans include a concrete pad where the middle picnic shelter is (the first one you come to when you walk down), and an actual road down from the parking lot to a single handicap parking space at that shelter. A paved path would then extend from that shelter to the bathroom just beyond it, and eventually down to the new dock. It's likely that no concrete work would start until the end of this year's sailing, swimming and picnicking season, once the water in the lake has dropped (it will start to drop in mid-August).

As part of this, the existing gate (with those awful upright railroad tie posts) will be removed or replaced. It may even get removed or replaced much sooner. Another possibility is that a combination lock could replace the current lock on the existing gate, and we could be given the combo so we could open it to more easily walk down with our gear, and then close it when we leave to prevent people from four-wheeling down there and tearing things up.

There was even discussion of a possible future trail out on the far side of Turner out to where beginning kitesailers can more easily launch. That's long term. Also, Joyce mentioned that she's working with our own Jim Van der Heyden on a future wind-talker, including working with him on writing a grant. Those funds could come in July 2008.

Jack has asked me to take over from him as chairman of our BSA organization (he's going to the venerable past-chairman position), and I've asked Eddy to take over from me as secretary (with the understanding that he'll then be chairman next year). We'll try to cycle people through these positions and keep both a boardsailor and a kiter involved to make sure we represent the interests of those using both types of gear. Jim is our wind-talker rep. The Lucky Peak folks like having an organization to contact, rather than hearing from lots and lots of different people. So if anyone has any thoughts on the wind-talker, please contact Jim, and on anything else, please contact me (Betsy) or Eddy, and we'll pass it along. I have to say, I feel really good about this. I think we're going to have a good season up there. I was even wondering if perhaps, with the predicted 80-degree weather, morning wind might happen this weekend...

NOAA observations for Apr 25, 2007

 Time    Weather               Vis Tem Dew RH  Wind         Baro     dP*
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boise
6:53pm  prtly cldy            10.0 64  41  43  NW   17G23   29.96  +0.04
5:53pm  mstly clr             10.0 67  40  37  NNW  15      29.94
4:53pm  Clear                 10.0 69  40  35  NW   14G21   29.94  +0.05
3:53pm  Clear                 10.0 68  39  35  NW   14G21   29.96
2:53pm  Clear                 10.0 66  41  40  WNW  9       29.98
1:53pm  Clear                 10.0 65  39  38  NNW  9       30.01
12:53pm Clear                 10.0 62  39  43  WNW  7       30.04  +0.12
11:53am Clear                 10.0 60  39  46  NE   7       30.05
10:53am Clear                 10.0 58  38  47  N    3       30.06
9:53am  Clear                 10.0 55  38  52  CALM         30.07
8:53am  mstly clr             10.0 51  38  61  NW   7       30.06
7:53am  Clear                 9.0  47  38  71  NW   3       30.06
6:53am  Clear                 10.0 45  35  68  E    6       30.06  +0.09
5:53am  ovrcst                10.0 48  35  61  SE   3       30.07  +0.07
4:53am  Clear                 10.0 47  36  65  CALM         30.07  +0.07
3:53am  Clear                 10.0 51  34  52  E    8       30.07  +0.08
2:53am  Clear                 10.0 51  35  54  ESE  9       30.08  +0.07
1:53am  Clear                 10.0 51  36  56  ESE  8       30.09  +0.07
12:53am Clear                 10.0 51  36  56  ESE  6       30.10  +0.06

Mountain Home RAWS
06:52pm                            61  44  55  NW   9 G17
05:52pm                            61  44  55  NW   7 G17
04:52pm                            60  46  61  SW   7 G18
03:52pm                            64  43  47  S   12 G24
02:52pm                            65  39  39  W   10 G23
01:52pm                            71  39  32  NW   6 G14
12:52pm                            68  40  37  WNW  5 G11
11:52am                            67  37  34  SSW  4 G13
10:52am                            64  37  38  SE   8 G16
09:52am                            57  39  52  ESE 12 G16
08:52am                            53  40  62  SE  10 G13
07:52am                            41  36  85  E    4 G 7
06:52am                            40  34  79  E    5 G12
05:52am                            40  33  78  ENE  7 G10
04:52am                            39  32  78  ENE  6 G10
03:52am                            41  35  79  ENE  5 G 8
02:52am                            43  34  73  E    5 G 6
01:52am                            44  33  66  NE   1 G 5
00:52am                            45  33  64  N    0 G 7

Caldwell
6:55pm  prtly cldy            10.0 64  41  42  NNW  15      29.99
5:55pm  prtly cldy            9.0  64  39  39  N    17      29.98
4:55pm  Clear                 10.0 70  43  38  N    18      29.96
3:55pm  Clear                 9.0  70  43  38  NNW  12G21   29.99
2:55pm  Clear                 9.0  66  45  46  N    12G18   30.01
1:55pm  Clear                 9.0  64  43  45  NW   9G17    30.03
12:55pm Clear                 10.0 63  45  52  N    9       30.06
11:55am Clear                 9.0  61  45  55  WNW  9       30.08
10:55am Clear                 9.0  55  41  58  CALM         30.08
9:55am  prtly cldy            9.0  54  39  58  NW   5       30.09
8:55am  mstly clr             9.0  48  39  71  CALM         30.09
7:55am  Clear                 9.0  43  37  81  CALM         30.08
6:55am  Clear                 10.0 39  34  81  CALM         30.08
5:55am  Clear                 10.0 39  34  81  SSW  3       30.08
4:55am  Clear                 10.0 43  34  70  WSW  3       30.09
3:55am  Clear                 10.0 43  34  70  ENE  5       30.09
2:55am  Clear                 10.0 43  34  70  CALM         30.10
1:55am  Clear                 10.0 46  34  61  E    6       30.10
12:55am Clear                 10.0 45  34  66  E    6       30.11

Lucky Peak RAWS
06:31pm                            66  37  35  WNW  7 G19
05:31pm                            68  38  34  NW   8 G20
04:31pm                            68  39  35  NW  13 G25
03:31pm                            71  42  35  NNW  4 G21
02:31pm                            68  42  39  SSW 11 G17
01:31pm                            67  43  42  SW   5 G13
12:31pm                            65  45  49  SSE  6 G13
11:31am                            60  40  49  ENE  5 G 8
10:31am                            54  37  53  NW   5 G14
09:31am                            49  38  67  NW  10 G19
08:31am                            43  34  72  NW  10 G20
07:31am                            39  34  82  NW  13 G20
06:31am                            41  34  78  NW  15 G22
05:31am                            40  34  79  NW  15 G20
04:31am                            41  33  75  NW  12 G21
03:31am                            43  34  72  NW  12 G21
02:31am                            46  36  68  NNW 13 G21
01:31am                            47  34  61  NNW  9 G17
00:31am                            48  35  61  NNW  6 G16

* dP is the pressure difference between Hailey and Boise; +0.10 or better and easterly flow is good.

Tom von Alten      tva_∂t_fortboise_⋅_org