D & S 2011 Delta Adventure

Debi & Spennie’s 2011 Delta Adventure
by Spennie

Wednesday July 6, 2011:

You guys probably already know that it’s been pretty funky here so far, with very little wind and plenty of heat. One day was 97 degrees, which is hard to take with no A/C. Luckily we have unlimited water & sewer here, so we would just wear swimsuits all day and jump in the shower whenever we got too hot. It cools down at night nicely, too, so we’ve been able to sleep OK.

I realized the other day that one of the things I love about the Delta is the quiet. Not just at night, it’s very quiet almost all the time. There’s very few cars on the road, and near zero motorized traffic on the water. When a boat does come by, the levee blocks most of the noise, too. There’s no drunken asses woohooing at 2 AM, no loud music playing anywhere, no jet-skis, no powerboats, just the sound of the wind, and maybe a little overheard conversation from time to time. It’s frigging LOVELY, and I’m going to miss it when I go home.

I haven’t been out sailing yet, preferring to let my rib injury heal up rather than re-injuring it in crappy wind. I’d rather re-injure it in good wind! Debi’s been getting an hour or so each evening of 6.6, usually with just Cliff & Janice on the water with her. Debi on her 6.6 equals Spennie on his 8.2, so I’ve been waiting. This morning it was windier than it has been, 20 for a while, but very early and she missed it. It’s cooler, too, supposed to be 10 degrees cooler by Friday, and the NWS says it’s going to continue getting cooler right through the weekend, which should translate into wind for us. Yay, finally! Hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy it with everyone else, if not it’s back to the trailer with the Kindle to read a few more books.

–Spennie

 

Update: Wednesday, July 13, 2011

It’s really not fair. I plan a vacation months in advance, choosing a time at the peak of what would normally be the sailing season in the Delta, which is normally one of the most reliable windsurf destinations on the mainland U.S. at this time of year. We arrive and have to endure 5 days of windless (almost) heat. Finally the wind comes back, and I find that I can sail about an hour each day before my injured ribs start to ache. OK, not too bad, still makes for a good vacation, I just have to wait for the best hour of the day to sail.

Monday it cranks up in the afternoon, which is perfect because it’s ebbing and the ramps are quite spectacular! I run outside barefoot to shoot a short cell-phone video of my big Sailworks flag snapping like a string of firecrackers and trying to tear itself off the mast to send to Bruce Peterson…..and step on a bee. There’s been a lot of bees around here at Rio Viento, since the lawns have been taken over by clover, which the bees love. You’ve probably seen clover honey in the store. I’ve been careful to wear flip-flops all the time, since my neighbor got stung on his foot a week or so ago, but I was just running out for a sec to shoot a ten-second video, I’ll be OK, right? WRONG! ZAP! OWW! Man, that stings, but I’m a big badass construction worker, I can sail with this, and I do. It’s the best day of the trip up till then, crankin’ wind, pretty good ebb tide, got the Mistral Synchro 86 and a 5.2 Revolution, which it way too big, I’m lit out of my mind but making it work, hitting some pretty good jumps, if I do say so myself. I’m also driving bee poison into my foot with the footstrap, but didn’t know it then.

Oh but I found out the next morning! My foot gets big and red, and so sensitive I can barely wear my flip-flops, much less stuff it into a footstrap. Debi gets to have a rigging slave and gear valet, which she took full advantage of. It’s 2 days later, and I still don’t think I can sail. WTF is it with these bees? Is the military breeding super-bees to set loose on terrorists? I’ve been stung by bees before, you try to get the stinger out without squeezing the poison sac, it hurts a little for a while then goes away, maybe 12 – 18 hours later. Take a look at the attached photo, taken this morning, my whole foot is swollen up and red, and still very sensitive.

To her credit, Debi’s trying not to cackle with glee at having her gear valet another day, or the fact that her big bad carpenter husband was taken out by a friggin’ bee sting.

Sheesh!

–Spennie