Lake Lab Codex

Lake Lab Codex
(draft 2012)
1. B v.s R sails: Only take the R sail in Heavy Wind conditions. You must also have a
heavy wind rating to take the R sail. In light days, if you can not find a sail in the size you
are looking for (within one square meter) you can ask for special permission from a
Windsurfing instructor. In heavy wind conditions, however, you should always be taking
the R sails.
2. Flags, Conditions, and Ratings
a. Green Flag: You need a light weather rating on the board you are taking out.
b. Blue Flag: You need a heavy weather rating on the board you are taking out.
c. Blue+Red: You need a Short Board Extreme rating.
d. To test out for the Windsurfing Heavy rating, you must use the 175L board
(Mambo or Beach 175) or smaller.
e. Tandem board: always ask an instructor for your first time. The person in the front
should have at least a long board light rating, and the person in the back should
have a short board heavy rating.
f. Yellow Flag: Stay inside the yellow line connecting the Oscar Mayer chimney and
the tip of the Picnic Point.
g. No flag: See ground school manual for the instruction/lakeleader policy
h. You may seek special permission to practice in heavy weather conditions under
the supervision of a Windsurfing Instructor. Follow the direction of the instructor
regarding the selection of equipment and the navigation plan. The instructor may
use discretion and deny the request if the conditions are deemed unsafe. Be sure
to check out at the boat house under Instruction.
i. Prior to seeking the Short Board Heavy and Short Board Extreme rating, you
must have extensive hours of practice experience in heavy weather conditions.
To earn the Short Board Extreme rating, you must get the consent from two
instructors.
j. Practice­rated sailors should also seek instructor to monitor them during their
sessions and check out at the boat house under Instruction.
3. Understand the condition
a. Think about the wind direction and the speed, waves sizes and frequency,
water and air temperature, and the sun.
b. Make sure you understand your limits on conditions under which you can either
uphaul or waterstart
c. On side shore wind days, have a plan for self rescue (possibly a walk of shame) if
you get pushed down wind.
d. On north wind days, be aware that waves are high near hoofer shore, and that
one may need to tack several times to get past the piers, making the launch very
challenging
e. On south wind days, be aware that wind near Hoofer is extremely temperamental.
Making upwind progress to reach the shore for landing is especially challenging.
Think carefully before taking a board without a centerboard on a south wind days.
Think very carefully about your ability to make upwind progress when launching
on a heavy south wind days. (In a broader windsurfing community, off shore winds
are considered very dangerous, and most generally choose not to go out on such
days)
f. Harvey is there to respond to life threatening emergencies. Do not rely on Harvey
as a ferry service to get you back on shore. By the time you are granted a long
board heavy rating, you should have enough awareness to know your limits
regarding the condition in which you can launch, sail, and land safely without
assistance. Also, be aware that even for Harvey, rescue operations becomes
extremely challenging in heavy weather.
4. Equipment Storage: Store all equipment properly.
a. Hang the sails in the appropriate area. Keep the B and R sails separated. Large
sails goes to the center, and small sails towards the sides. Hang the tack of the
sail on the back wall of the Lake Lab. The 'B' sails have been rearranged so that
they're now easier to take in/out and less likely to fall when knocked. You'll notice
that the lines have been shifted back so that they're now pulling the sails in ­ this
only works if you put the sails back on the right hanger! There are labels near the
lines so please follow these (the old labels have been crossed out). A little bit of
effort here will make life easier for everyone!
b. Booms: Boom clamp should be closed, up haul should thread the harness loop
and tied to the out haul. Do not let the uphaul dangle on the floor.
c. Hang the large and small booms in separate racks. Store the boards in its
designated racks. Hang the wee booms for the 3m sails separately, on the
hooks between the B­sails and the long­board racks.
d. Wetsuits should be hanged in the designated area
e. Do not hang the adult life jackets in the Lake Lab racks designed for the Youth
Program.
f. Generally, make the point of hanging all wet gear (sails, harnesses, life jackets,
wetsuits, boards, booms, especially the uphaul line) such that it will dry itself in a
sanitary manner.
g. The BIC Melodies go to the horizontal rack VI on the west wall of the Lake Lab.
Mistral Prodigies and Startboards go to the vertical rack VII outside. The
Prodigy boards should be stacked left to right facing the rack with the skeg
pointing toward the left. The Starboards should be stored on the two right­most
slots with the skeg pointing to the right.
5. Youth Equipment
a. Hang the Youth Life Jackets, only, on the designated rack. Adult life jackets
should be returned to the sail room. Do not leave a pile of life jackets on the floor.
b. Hang them neatly on designated racks, preferably without touching the floor.
6. Broken Equipment
a. Generally speaking, deposit all broken equipment in the repair area behind the
toolbox at the back of the lakelab.
b. If the a sail suffers major damage, de­rig, roll, and deposit in the repair area
behind the toolbox. Do not deposit damaged windsurfing sails in the Hoofer’s
main sail repair bin. (It will get lost or will suffer further damage.)
c. If the sail suffers minor damage that can be repaired by a sail tape, secure the
sail by leaving a secure tag. It will be tended to when the sail is dry.
d. Small broken items such as the universal joint, harness loop, fin, etc, can be
deposited in the “items to be repaired” box in the cubby area
e. Indicate damage on boards (dings, cracked nose, etc) using a blue tape clearly
and visibly.
f.
Report all incidents of equipment failure and damaged equipment to the
Windsurfing Fleet Captain at windsurfing@hoofersailing.org
g. If unsure, ask an instructor or fleet captain before implementing DIY equipment
repair such as applying sail tape.
h. There is now an on­line inventory and tracking system for the status of board
damage and repair. Contact the Windsurfing Fleet Captain at
windsurfing@hoofersailing.org if you are interested in getting involved with board
repair.
7. Security
a. Turn off the lights
b. Keep the ventilation fan on
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Lock the doors
Store the simulator
Hang all youth life jackets.
Return all adult life jackets to the sail room.
Return all whiteboards to the sail room. Do not leave the whiteboards in the
lakelab.
h. Do not leave any life jackets piled on the ground.
8. Stewardship
a. Resist the temptation to take the newest sails when other sails are available. The
primary source of damage and deterioration of sails is the exposure to sunlight.
Save the nicer sails for the days that you can really justify to yourself that it is
worth taking that sail. We encourage the habit of choosing the oldest, crappiest
sails as a general rule in a green flag condition.
b. Avoid contact between sails and concrete. (This should go for all gear, including
both windsurfing and non­windsurfing equipments.)
c. Don’t leave trash like empty cups and bottles in the lake lab. If you find them, be a
good steward and throw them into a proper receptacle.
9. Proper Launch Sequence
a. Use proper sail toss technique when launching from the Hoofer windsurfing deck.
Keep your back against the wind, hold the boom with the hand that is toward the
lake, and the tack end of the mast with the hand that is toward the shore. You
may need to aim high on low­wind days to gain sufficient clearance. On high
wind days, you may need to aim low to prevent the sail from being picked up and
somersaulted by the wind.
This is the correct sail tossing technique if the wind is blowing from the west.
Back is toward the wind, the front hand is on the boom, and the back hand is on the joint.
This is wrong because the top of the sail is toward the shore
This is wrong because the back hand is holding the boom. It should be the front hand, with the back hand
holding the universal joint.
b. Deck starts and deck landing using Hoofer equipment are explicitly forbidden.
Making contact with the pier or a deck while the sail is up will be considered deck
landing. Violators may be subject to suspension of ratings.
Always treat the Hoofer equipment as if it is your own personal gear.
Comments:
Nice job, IMO. Pretty detailed, so if posted on the Lake Lab door, it may be that few will read
through it. But it can’t hurt to be posted, that’s for sure. Possibly consider segmenting this into
installments and sending one installment per week to all light or practice rated windsurfers. Call it
the Hashimoto Newsletter. This could be in addition to whatever other publication plans you
have. Comments below in blue [CL]
I have updated the draft to reflect most of the comments which were in line. [AH]
I updated the sail storage per Matt’s updated system. [AH]
I received feedback that “Lake Lab House Rules” sounded too oppressive (It was a reference to
Cider House Rules but apparently the reference was too obscure.) so I re­titled it to “Lake Lab
Codex” in reference to the Pirates of the Caribbean. [AH]
I think you need to add where the yellow secure tags for sail repair can be found [Cliff]
I will work on Cliff’s comment when the layout for the summer is clarified.[AH]