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Th;;, Orion - September 19, 1990 Page 22 BACK PAGE
Windsurfing ;.,,:{ ~ Riding currents at Black Butte Lake on an Adventure Outing " ./.l'.f~$~~~~~2j~i:;~~,:_:~:., ...
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Deb Speer, master's candidate 1.._'" in public administration, ~ ... catches ~l small breeze of . ,.!~~~~""2't. One thing quickly becomes readily apparent: It's pretty diffi success. cult to windsurf without any wind. Consequently, the small group of Chico State University students and faculty which travelled to neighboring Glenn County's Black Butte Lake for an Adventure Outings-sponsored windsurfing excursion spent most of their time just learning the basics of what can be an enjoyable but physically demanding sport. Since the closest most of the group had ever been to a windsurfboard before was a magazine,the first order oflhe day was to break out kayak oars - sans sail- for a leisurely paddle around the immediate vicinity of the Buckhorn Recreation Area at the lake. Using a craft resembling a bastardized surfboard, windsurfing is actually a melding of surfing and sailing, with a basic board that varies in size, but is generally between six- and seven-feet long. Complete with a skeg, or tail fin, that's about where the resemblance with a surfboard stops and a mutated sailboat begins. With 15-foot masts, assorted sizes, shapes and colors of sails, and a mean looking object called a dagger blade protruding through the bottom of the board - which is similar to a keel on a sailboat - a well-prepared Maree Fitzgerald, transfer windsurfer will take its rider just as far and as fast as the wind will allow. Story and photos by Ed Farrell student from New Zealand, Operating under the able eye of windsurfing instructor Sally Ward, takes her turn in the lake. whose Chico Windsurf Co. provided the boards for the day, the group first learned how to assemble the craft before: adventuring out into the calm, placid waters of the lakc. Putting together a windsurfboard is just about as complicated as manuevering one once you've made it out into the water. And before Ward would allow any of the group to hitthe water, everybody first had to practice mounting the board, getting to one's feet, and hoisting up the sail, which is mounted to a swivel-based mast that can move in virt'ually 360 degrees. After everyone got the somewhat false impression of how easy it was to get the sail and mast into a vertical position, it was time to get out into the water, which presented an entirely different perspective on the problem. While the mere act of getting onto the board didn't seem to pose much of a problem for most of the group, from that point on, it was a case of anything goes. With straining muscles and occasional miscues that put nearly everybody into the lake at one point or another, one by one the windsurfers eventually got to their feet on the boards and began to master the technique of getting a water-filled sail hoisted up into its proper position.
Once the sail was up, the fun really began, as cries of "Whnt am 1 supposed to do now?" nnd "How do I tum this thing around?" filled the air as the wind-blown boards made their way out towards the deeper parts of the lake. Fortunately, everybody remembered Ward's warning of not to panic, and before anybody got too far away, they either jumped from the boards or pushed the sails over to stop the momentum. To prevent anybody from getting too far away, Ward broke out several long lengths of tether cord, teamed up the group into pairs, and the . practice continued on. While no one, really even came close to mastering the art of windsurfing on that one trip to Black BUlle Luke, most were promising to come back again as soon us they could for another shot atit .
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