Ticket to Ride

The Golden Ticket. A week in Punta San Carlos whenever you choose. No restrictions. Absolute genius. The only thing better would be life time membership. Imagine that!

It sat there on my mantlepiece. Beckoning. "Ride me" it said "Quick!".

A two week window in May opened up. Exercise it! Week #1 didn't look too good for swell so I plumbed for week #2 and booked the flight. Fingers crossed!! As it got closer the forecast degenerated. Wednesday night as I moped around the house Julie casually commented "My work trip is cancelled, why don't you go the week after?".

"Wha....???? Really? Really?! Really!!!!!"

A few emails to the campo. Rescheduled flight to San Diego and week #3 was ON! Surfline called for a week of 3 to 4ft SW swell at 15second. Oh baby. The beauty of the Golden Ticket.

So, windsurfer magazine style, here is my Top Ten, both good and bad:

1. The people. Staff, clientelle and especially the Afficionados

Human Baja Fog Table

2. The proper good conditions. 8 days out of 8 in head high plus waves. Wind every day, albeit some days were lighter than others. Conditions like this:

Love this pic. Think I made it?

3. The kiters advantage. On the lighter days they were all over it. Catching all the set waves at the Bombora. Ripping the waves. Compared to wave sailing, so much easier...

4. SUPing. So much fun! It doesn't get much better than the beach break for long easy rides. I decided to buy one.

5. One aerial. I can still feel it. The ease, the power, the float, the projection. All in slow motion. A moment to cherish.

6. Injury. Day 2 I got rolled in the footstraps. Wearing booties because of my foot issues I couldn't get out. Something popped. Pain and nausea. Distraught.

7. Medical care. Within minutes I had ice packs, a compression bandage, copious ibuprofen and a Baja Fog. A remarkable recovery followed.

8. The Pilot. He joked that he hadn't flown in 20 yrs and couldn't find the on/off switch. Uh-oh! 30 minutes into the return journey. "He pulled out his wang" (Jasons words from the copilot seat) and proceeded to fill a ziplock bag.

9. The Bar Man. He mixed a mean margarita, ripped in the waves and took great pics. All blog pics courtesy of Mark the barman. Rumour has it, that he is payed in scotch.

10. Next Time. I already started saving for another ticket to ride!

Love this sequence. Click it to see better. Can't wait for the next trip!

Alligator Encounter

Last week at Xmas bay the kids were playing in the long grass next to the launch. "They really shouldn't be doing that" I thought, "there could be all sorts of things in there". Lo and behold, we pulled up yesterday at the same spot and there were three large brown snakes sunning themselves on the edge of the grass.

It got me thinking about the numerous run-ins with nature from the last few years. There was the 9ft tiger shark caught at Packery Channel, or the creature that grabbed and sucked on Julies leg at Cole Park, or the thousands of stinging jellyfish at Port Aransas that I fell in to the middle of one time, or the girl who got stung by a scorpion whilst windsurfing at Bird. It seems it had hitched a lift on the boom.

But probably the wildest was Noels alligator encounter. Noel was sailing at the Levee on a sunny spring day. Not a popular hang out for alligators as it is sandy beach and salty water. Plenty of people were on the water having fun. Windsurfers, kiters, fishermen and swimmers.

Noel was blasting out when he hit something hard. The impact catapulted him over the front of his board into the water. Thinking that he had hit a piece of floating debris he collected himself, he reorganized his kit, finally waterstarted and started heading back towards the launch. However, in the back of his mind there was a nagging feeling that something was wrong. As he started to pump the sail to get planing he glanced backwards to see an 8ft alligator swimming right behind him just inches from his board. It was glaring at Noel, straight in the eye. Noel had never got planing faster in his life and quickly put a safe distance between him and the angry alligator, luckily injury free with quite a tale to tell.