Who would have thunk....it would be so GOOD!!

April 14, 2020

Every once on a while nature jumps up and gives us a GLORIOUS day of wind! Who knew?

This afternoon I knew we were going to take Sara to the airport. The problem there was a difference of opinion on what time it was. So I decided to clean out the CR-V because it had been use to move Dan and transport a bunch of plants from Armstrong's the other day. It was full of leaves, sand and other junk. It was time for a REAL cleaning.

Afterwards I drove down to the La Verne parking lot to chat with Hank, Todd, Matt and the whole gang waiting for the wind to come up. The all said it could really happen today.

I immediately went home to check with Ruth about the plans to take Sara to the airport. She said it was at 7:45 not 4:45......I'M FREE!!!!! HA, HA, HA I'M FREE!!!!!

Sorry I didn't text anyone but I had to go when I could go. When I got to the beach I noticed Bongo and Hank out on the water, weaving their small kites. So I decided to pump up "Big Mama." I didn't think the 15m was going to to be too big.

I self-launched and decided to take my directional out because.....that's what I decided. It only took two tacks to get up to the pier and I decided to head to the leeward side of White Island. Naturally when I got up to about Cherry the wind shadow suggested I do a reversal of direction.

This shot gives you an idea of going West of the pier and being on the leeward side of White Island.

There was a point I thought being in the shadow of White that the 15m would go down on me. I said "It's OK I'm close to the beach. I can make it home." That's when I set my sights on the back of Chaffee. This tack has become pretty easy except that when I was approaching the bait barge the wind was way over 20 mph. At one point I thought about the time I was on Lake Mead with Rijk's C-kite and I was totally over powered. I pulled the de-power line on "Big Mama" and it was no problem. We just cruised.

A few things made this Adventure: first, I wasn't trying to do anything big. second, once I kited past the pier I knew I could get to the back of Chaffee. third, this was a biggie, I didn't know how stable a 15 meter kite could be in gusty wind blowing over 20 mph. Sure there were some moments that pulled me off my tack but it never yanked me off my board.

I had never been in the shadow of Freeman Island. It's the kind of nondescript island South of White. Actually it surprised me. That's when I decided to head for home.

This is not what you see when you are on the windward side of White, this waterfall is on the leeward side. But it's a cool shot from a trip we took on Steve Nichol's boat.

From the back of White I decided not to push my luck since I didn't know how long the wind was going to last. I think at this point I had been out for over two hours. I decided to "surf" all the way home. I was on my normal port tack stance but was able to swing from toe-side to heal-side all the way back to Belmont. Not a big deal to some, but I was happy with the surfing.

I didn't bring my camera today, but this was how it looked when I arrived back at the Claremont ramp. The wind was still blowing, around 18 mph, so I decided to put my kite down, take a rest and.....then go out again.....on my other board.

I was out with Rijk, Drew, Kyle, Todd, Matt, Bongo, Trevor, Dong and a whole bunch of other kiters. I must admit this shot is of Rijk in La Ventana...OK it's a cheat, but I had to put in a shot. This part of the adventure was on my twin-tip. It was a lot of fun "playing" and not trying to work on my jibes. I'm starting to get the starboard to port (counter-clock wise) jibe down. But I'm still struggling with the clock-wise (port to starboard) jibe. But it's coming along. I'm getting about 50% of the tacks......maybe tomorrow will be better.

At the end of the day Sara got to the airport and is off to New York. Rijk came over to the house for a few minutes and mentioned that Klaus kited at Sunset today. That's all for now.