Spot X

"Hey Mike, I was thinking we should head south tomorrow. We can find sideshore wind and the waves will be bigger." Guillaume is always super motivated.
8:45am: Stocked up with Red Bulls, a full tank of gas, La Palma breakfast tacos and 96.5 The Beach we were set. Stopping off at Bob Hall, it was 30mph, side off and ankle high. Time to head south!

Any trip like this you can't help but second guess your choices. Should we have sailed Packery or Port A? Does it look windy? Do you think the current will be too strong? Is that a shark fin? The further south we went, the bigger the waves and as the sun came out the wind started to crank. Finally we turned up at Spot X. Here it is (give or take 5 miles. A to B is 15 miles):

 
Guillaume was rigged and ready first on 4.5. I joined him on 4.8. As I launched I looked up to see him boost a super nice backie attempt. "Yes. Its ON!!!". I didn't last long on 4.8, and quickly rigged down to 4.4. The waves were solid head high. Brown and meaty. The current was also ripping, the only real negative. I spent a little time getting worked after trying to hit one of those lips and quickly found myself quite a ways downwind.

Towards the end of the session Gui got out the camcorder. I really wanted to get a big forward on camera, so proceeded to crash horribly for the camera. It's interesting to watch as it shows exactly how not to loop. Maybe I will blog about that sometime.

So yeah. Awesome day. Awesome call. To make it all the better we stopped off at Port A on the way home and it was totally flat. Next time a front rolls through with no real waves to speak of, I know where to go. And if it's too offshore or the waves are too small for you, just drive another 10 to 15 miles.

Butt You Missed It!

Fun weekend at Bird. Tried more Toads and Brian got in on the action too. A bunch of attempts were caught on camera which is awesome, butt for one problem. Here is Brians best attempt:

 

And mine:

 



 

Of all the luck! Thankfully there was this one:

 



 

Errrr. Thank you Jack (my 2-1/2 yr old). Did I mention we had fajitas for dinner Saturday? Beautifully cooked on the grill. I love grilling on the beach. Now I'm not so sure:

 

 



 

Murphy's Law!!

Be Careful What You Wish For

Port A was EVEN bigger today than last Tuesday. Coupled with the lighter wind, it was purty challenging out there.

Towards the end of the session I managed to get way out past the breaking waves and was slogging my way upwind. "Finally I can relax" I thought. Next second I hear the sound of a breaking wave and look around my sail to find a monster wave breaking top to bottom right in front of me. The 10ft high lip swatted me and my sail flat and I held on to the boom for dear life as I bounced and body surfed for what seemed an eternity. Finally I surfaced. Checked my kit was still intact. And decided to call it a day.

The Toad

Great wind Saturday at Bird with lots of people. I tried some Toads!!! Here is how you are supposed to do the move:

Given enough wind, it seems like a very doable move. My first attempt was pretty decent. After that one they slowly looked more and more like clew first spock attempts, which isn't all that bad either considering I was trying on starboard tack!

I have a little bit of video, but no good attempts so didn't put anything up. It's motivating to be trying something new.

Oh! That reminds me. I have had feedback that the blog takes too long to load. Personally I like that you can page down and read lots of stuff. But I'm going to adjust it so it just loads up a few posts. If you liked it better before, let me know!

For KiteBoy

I'm suffering severely from 4 fun fueled days of windsurfing. Each day better than the last.

Saturday - light 5.2 session with 84 twin at South Packery, small waves, some jumping.

Sunday - 5.2 then 4.8 at Bird. I got my Bird freestyle mojo back! Tried clew first spocks because I was way too powered for anything else. Also thought about trying Toads on my 'can only gybe or tack' side.

Monday at work. Decided it was time to utilize some of those vacation days -  rolled up to Packery at 5pm with the sensor showing 30mph average from the South and Olivier and Enes ripping it up. First run out a nice wave kicked up in front of me and BAMM I boosted a backie. I got the usual lift but then seemed to get another boost. WOO HOO!! No way was I gonna hold that one. Bail!!!

Some random person took some video and sent me this clip via e-mail. Thought that was rather nice.

Tuesday - one word. Amazing. To be honest it was a little bitter sweet... Port Aransas. Perfect over head set waves and side off winds. The exact conditions for which I bought Alexs board. Unfortunately, my body wasn't cooperating. It was easily the best day I have ever seen at Port A but 40 minutes in I could barely hang on to the boom. Noooo! If only it could have lasted for longer.