Fridays are always a good day

Up at dawn today...just couldn't sleep.

Like that Rumi quote " Do not go back to sleep, the morning has secrets to tell"

I extended my visit for a few days to take advantage of wind and after a move which ironically (or perhaps synchronistically?) was from Casa Rosa, one house back from the beach, to the house we had originally wanted on the beach, Casa de las Palmas. The flight switch was no big deal but  now I  have to sleep over in Edmonton airport-oh well, worth it for a couple extra days of wind with FREE! beachfront accommodation (thanx Steve & Carolyn) and more wind in the mix.

The wind has been pretty solid 9m. the last few days and the swell is small, more beach break than anything but you can definitely bang off a few turns here and there and its sure fun to play in.

Blew a line set (too many downloops?) on the afternoon session and had to self-rescue in from the outside the little bay, havent had to do that in a while. Wrapped up my lines, grabbed the tow handles and the Smoke worked beautifully to tow myself in with asap. I was almost planing laying on my board, huh!

I watched a bit of Olympics over a nice barbecued steak & salad dinner-Go Canada!
Nine golds so far-did you know the Olympics were in Vancouver this year-laffs.

I hit a pelican with my lines yesterday. Hope he's ok. I guess they don't know the "one kite high- one kite low" rule of thumb. Sorry Mr. Pelican. I was the "upwind rider" I should have stayed clear...

I love my life!

Off the hook in la Ribera

I spent last couple days riding BIG sea of Cortez swell
a welcome change after the near shutout last week.

I also extended my trip to add a few days of wind in forecast.

Tuesday was off the hook-OMG-fricken Un- Believable on a scale of 1-10 maybe 25!-grins)

Sam Durrant, his son Charlie, and Charlie Crocker from Gorge and I kited downwind well over 15 km. along the coast from Los Barriles to la Ribera. We figured about 1-1/2 hrs but it turned into almost 3 AND we left late (oops) at 2:45 and arrived just barely before dark at 6ish.

Charlie C. and I were on surfboards and small kites and Sam( on my 140 OR Mako) and his son Charlie were on twintips and Sam was holding down a 10m! Cabrinha Switchblade.
His son, Charlie was riding unhooked waves on his 7m Rev and twintip,
I was riding probably my best ever on my 6.5 Wainman Gypsy and my 6'1" surfboard.
It was good thing I had straps, as a lot of the waves were probably 8-10' faces
-this shot (from '09 last year ) is beachbreak in front of los Palmas and its already overhead.

A lot were easily as high as I could reach up.
The ones we chicken jybed and ran from were probably larger!

Easily the best rides of my kiting "career". WOW. Even blows my Nov. Maui trip away (that day anyway). We "guesstimated" easily 10-12km  as the crow flies (straight across the bay). We hugged the coast riding a dozen or more breaks along the way so probably 15-18km. of coastline and by the time you figure in tacks we probably kited twice that or maybe more than 20 km.!


I had a serious cramp in my back foot from slashing toeside & back and we had to put in a couple times after wipeouts because we wanted to stay together for safety. Getting back out after a short rest thru big beachbreak was a challenge!

By the time we landed at La Ribera, the sun was low and we pulled a few last ditch rides on the large waves there in the beautiful sidelight. We landed at the beach with sand flying sideways. Unfortunately no photos from the ride, nothing but awesome memories!

Wed was good too! laffs

(but hey you probably shouldn't come here its not that good )

Dante says hi and Lester got his Guinness!

see y'all back on the water in Van soon. Brrr

If you wanna see more pics (coming soon)  and read more updates
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the coastalsoul
Rodrigues, Juan lucky guy!

I gotta go its getting windy

Mui Ne

My old windsurfing buddy Zev just got back from travelling Asia and made a stop in Mui Ne before his return. He sent me  a couple shots and hey waddya know they got Wainman Rabbits over there!

killin' it

This is one of the most awesome vid clips I've seen.

Oughta get you "pumped" up for  killer sesh

and its got Wainman Kites in it-natch!

Click below to open the link, press play and sit back cuz you might get wet...

killedthewind

or look for the link in the side bar-"A Year in the life"

Los Barriles, Baja Feb 2010

so... I'm headed to Los Barriles on the east cape of Baja next week with some friends for my second(!) kitesurfing trip this winter -Yay!

We are staying right near North beach with my good friend Sam Durrant from England who lives here in Vancouver now and his son Charlie and two of Sams friends Rob and Pat.

I try to travel to Baja at least once every winter. Last year I made it down twice, once in December (totally avoided Christmas at home-YES!) and then again with my sweetie Lisa, for 2 weeks including Valentines day. That was fun...

This time- its a guys only trip! Cross your fingers for wind.

See ya on the water. Pics to follow.