Update

Elephant Butte Lake:
4,343.68 feet above benchmark (add 43' for m.s.l.),
553,800 acre feet as of 1100 May 2, 2008

Down 3.6" and 1,633 a.f. in 24 hours
Down 4.5" and 5,198 a.f. in 71 hours
San Marcial floodway is running at 395 cubic feet per second (231 cfs min. in past 71 hours).
Water is flowing out of the Butte at 1,520 cfs (1,450 to 1,850 cfs).


Heron Lake as of 0900 May 2, 2008:
7,140.97 feet elev., 183,820 a.f.
Up 3.5 inches and 1,081 a.f. in 24 hours
Up 7 inches and 2,200 a.f. in 71 hours
Willow Creek flow is 969 cfs (434 cfs min. in past 71 hours).
Azotea Tunnel mouth flow is 860 cfs (458-939 cfs in past 71 hours).
All boat ramps are working.
The Heron Marina is partially open with dockmaster on duty and work crews completing final preparations for opening during the next two weekends.


Pat's year-to-date update as of the end of April, 2008:
8 days racing,
10 days other sailing,
1 day race committee signal boat,
1 day motor sailing,
1 day motoring,
4 days kayaking,
5 days in boat-related classes,
4 RGSC socials,
1 RGSC mtg.,
4 NMSC mtgs.

(20/120 days = 17% sailing; 25/120 = 21% boating)

Last weekend was pretty horrid, since Carol Anne practically had crew mutiny and/or sabotage that made her livid and almost wanting to chuck the whole sailboat racing thing. That's on top of Saturday's rough conditions, the long distance from the marina to the race course, and Sunday's flukey light air. And, we had a 2 a.m. ratpack invasion that further wore us out in the middle of the weekend, and also found out that Zorro had snuck up to the lake for sailing practice during the week without telling Carol Anne in spite of her pleas for chances to practice and making it clear she was available for practice now that she's done teaching. And, Zorro had bad news about Butte lake levels and revealed to her that her crew hadn't adjusted the shroud tension properly on Black Magic, which probably was one more piece of Sunday's bad performance. So, yet another good chance for sailing down south has been blown and Heron is looking better and better.