Saturday and Sunday were a 6 and 8, on a scale of 1 to 10. It was worth going to the beach.

Saturday July 12th was just a 6.

Our day started out by walking over to Bay Shore so that Ruth could swim.

I can remember this back bay back in the late 50's or early 60's, and it hasn't changed much. Most days it is so peaceful. Today was no exception.

Ruth started swimming here about two weeks ago. I have to give her credit for going for it.

When she swims she counts the white buoy's, not the red ones. She usually swims for about 20 to 30 minutes. Here she comes back to the shore.

It's working honey. Great job.

Next we headed for the Belmont Kite Beach. The wind was up, let's go kiting.

Today there was wind for everyone, catamarines, sail boats, windsurfers and kiters.

Ruth was relaxing, doing her crossword puzzle as Chad headed for the beach.

There was lots of beach action. Like catching "Bobby" years later. Just kidding.

Then there was a girl walking up the launch ramp. For a moment I thought I was watching the movie "10." Come on work with me here.

What is great about this group shot is that Luca has recovered from his accident, which he hurt his ribs and he suffered an ear infection. Today Luca got out and kited. Luca is on the left, then Naji, me and Mark.

As you can see the wind wasn't that great.
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Sunday July 13th was another chance to push the envelope with Jason.

Ruth and I were sitting in the front patio having lunch when Jason drove up. He parked on the pad and we headed for the beach. It was about 2 o'clock and the wind had been blowing for maybe an hour. Once we were rigged I asked Jason and Mark if they wanted to go on a little adventure. They said "Sure."

We warmed up by going up very close to the pier and then to the front side of Chaffee. The three of us tried to go past the pier and in front of White Island but the wind didn't cooperate so we traversed and tried to go behind Chaffee. It took one more tack to make it.

As Jason and I headed for the back of Chaffee I saw Mark start down winding back to camp. I think he and Carole had to head home. Once past Chaffee, Jason, who was in the lead headed for the end of the breakwater wall. Once past the bait barge you hit the open ocean. That's when I saw Jason throw his arms up in the air, saying "I made it." If you can see the circle I made in the tack, this is where I crossed paths with Faycal and two other kiters who were near the breakwater. When he passed me we did a passing hand slap. That was very cool.

On our way back to Belmont we tried to go to the back of White Island but the wind was not very strong so we aborted that idea and headed back to where the wind was. At this point you could see there were very few kiters out. So it was time to go home.

As we were heading in the wind dropped from a little something to a lot of nothing. Jason and I swung our big kites as hard as possible, trying to downwind and get home without dropping our kites. Jason's Best touched down twice but he was able to relaunch. The third time marked the end. Then my North fell out of the sky and it was time to swim in. At one point the Rescue boat came over, but we were almost to the swim zone. We thanked them and kept swimming.

Pilar had her camera out and took a few shots of Jason and me swimming in. Thanks Pilar.

When you finally get on shore you feel like a tired drowned rat. Thank goodness a few guys like Al Navas and Henry grabbed my kite so I could dry it off.

We made it home and we had quite an adventure. Something we can share for a lifetime. Pilar is in the upper left, she seems happy we got home safely too.

You can see from the wind graph that the wind shut off at about 5, that was about the time we started for home. Maybe next time we will head home sooner.....NAH!!!!