I have a friend who races Etchells who swears this is true.
He had to drive up to NYC and was trying to outrun a hurricane
that had made landfall and was moving up the Appalachians. This
was in the early-mid 70's. He said it was blowing like
crazy and driving conditions were awful, but he really had to get there.
He was driving a VW beater that had very bad brakes and a non-working
fuel gauge.
Well, he miscalculated and ran out of gas on the NJ Turnpike, but smart
sailor that he was, he
opened both doors and sailed the car to an off-ramp into a petrol
station, drove past the
pumps, did a U-turn into the wind, a luffed up, perfectly, to an empty
pump station.
The thing is, I can see this guy doing this and not even batting an eyelid
after it was over. He'd think it was perfectly normal. Surprised he
even mentioned it. Maybe it wasn't even his story, come to think of it.
nevermind.
tf
Chris Maddox wrote:
We had a VW bus (mid 60s vintage) when I was a kid - my dad used to demonstrate
how he could change lanes by opening and closing the driver's side vent window
(remember vent windows?). I think that was my first introduction to the
physics of sailing.
Chris
