There are not many limitations on the use of Club craft, but wind is one of them. All fleets except Level 3 windsurfing have a 20 knot limit; members using Club craft in excessive winds risk equipment damage, personal injury and revocation of privileges.
Each member assumes primary responsibility for their own safety when using club craft, and must make a go/no-go decision before every launch. Central to this decision is the wind speed. Double the windspeed means four times the energy, making your sailboat or windsurfer much more powerful, your upwind paddle or row much more difficult, and the sea state more turbulent.
It would be great if you could simply refer to the wind limit when making the decision, but many questions arise:
Average wind speed or maximum? The average wind speed drives the sea state, but the gusts can still affect control, capsize your craft and damage club equipment
Measured where? Local conditions can be very different from measurements taken by Environment Canada at the airport, for example. The JSCA was formerly a seaplane base, and is located in the windiest part of Burrard Inlet.
From what direction? The JSCA anemometer is on the roof of the main building, and has some shelter from trees and hills. Wind with a southerly component will often yield measurements that are lower than actual speed.
For how long? If the wind is increasing, the forecast becomes just as important as the current speed
Once you have established the wind speed that you are likely to encounter while at sea, and confirmed that it is below the fleet limit, more questions need to be answered:
What type of activity? Lessons, clinics and race events present an opportunity to expand your capabilities when there are others on the water and live boats available to intervene if necessary.
Your experience level? Experiences equips you with the skills and instincts required to remain upright and make progress in challenging conditions
Your skills, strength and flexibility? Could you recover from a capsize in these conditions?
Your current energy level? Could you recover multiple times?
The size, experience, fitness and energy levels of your crew or group? Will they be assets or liabilities under the expected conditions?
What craft? A quest with a furled jib and reefed main or the RS/500? Sedate touring kayak or a fast surf ski?
The Windsurfing fleet has this part figured out: level 3 conditions require that you have been checked out at a level 3 skill level, and you will use level 3 equipment.
There is an ongoing dialog about using the Beaufort Scale (observed sea states) instead of wind speed, to establish limits and make decisions. This is a simple and reliable input to decision-making on the open seas, but has some limitations in Burrard Inlet:
- There is only a significant fetch from the NW and West; winds from other directions will generate smaller waves, little or no swell and as a result will give a lower reading than the actual winds that are likely to be encountered.
- At lower tide levels, Spanish Bank presents a barrier to waves and swell from the west, yielding a calmer sea state at the JSCA than the wind would otherwise create.
- Tide movement in the leeward direction will tend to reduce wave size, and is especially effective at hiding whitecaps.
If all of this is incorporated in your decision-making process each time you go out, you have been demonstrating good seamanship. The rest of us should be asking more questions, and our website has great resources to help find the answers.
