From the Beginning



Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Sea Lion Frenzy

For about a week now we have had more sea lions in the bay in front of my house than I have ever seen here. There are several groups that probably total around two hundred in all. They are very approachable, curious, and love to play. I went out to see them by kayak last Saturday , the 25th of March, and had a blast.
I would chase them and then they would chase me, coming right next to me, leaping out of the water, and then speeding away. They obviously enjoy showing off and competed for my attention. There was one huge male that suddenly stopped in front of me and forced me to turn to avoid hitting him. I almost rode up on his back, but he was just waiting for me to get close and then he rolled on his side and made a tremendous splash that completely drenched me. That got my attention.

I went out again yesterday with a couple of girls from next door that are here on vacation and the sea lions gave them a great show. Anybody that is currently in San Carlos should get out there and check this out, who knows how long they will hang around.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Finally Some Wind

We have gone several days without much wind but finally we got enough to go out and play today. It was blowing 12 to 18 knots when I got out to the beach about 2:00. I rigged my 17 and Jeff rigged his 16. The first hour was good and then the wind dropped down a notch. Quite a few people on the beach but just the two of us and a guy trying to learn, Scott, were out on the water. The wind died down as the afternoon progressed, but at least we got a session in.





Saturday, April 01, 2006

March is Over


March, which wasn't as windy as usual this year, is behind us and April has started off on a good note. Jeff and I headed to the beach
earlier than usual, about 10:30 am. We had steady 13 to 18 knot wind and we rigged big. By one o'clock it had picked up to 15 to 20 and we rigged smaller kites but the wind backed off again for most of the afternoon. There were a few more kite boarders today. Besides the regulars, Carlos was out for some good afternoon sessions. He shows up most Saturdays, and has really kicked it into gear this season after struggling for a long while due to getting out only a very few times a month. Good to see him out there.

Another local kite boarder that gets out when he can and often only for the end of the day as he did today was Ricardo. He is another one that had a hard time due to lack of time on the water but he is coming on strong now. Still only gets out a few times a month but we are always glad to see him.

The forecast is for a little less wind tomorrow. By the way, the water is still a chilly 65 degrees. Also, the sea lions that I wrote about in an earlier post have left the bay in front of my house and several of them were out in front of the kite shack today. They were jumping and splashing all day right in front of us.
Oh, about the wind - not much today. About 10 knots from the west. Enough to go kite boarding with a big kite but not enough to be powered up and we didn't bother to go out. Nice day at the beach though.


Monday, April 03, 2006

Ouch !



Sunday was a good wind day, starting early at 14 to 20 knots and blowing all day, easing off in the afternoon. The regular crew showed up plus Carlos made a rare two days in a row appearance. Everybody was trying to work on their moves and Jeff managed to smack his face with his board. He'll survive, but it ended his day.





Monday, April 03, 2006

A Good Day

It was a good day out at the beach. It was blowing 15 to 25 knots all afternoon without the gustiness we had much of last month . I've been working on getting my 11M Globe Rider Sonic dialed in, and today was almost a perfect day for it. You have to get used to it to be abe to find the power, but it is there. Great for floaty jumps. I let Jeff use it and took a couple pictures of him getting some good air. He gave this kite his approval. Good to see him back on the water after splitting his head open yesterday.












Thursday, April 06, 2006



Tuesday was an okay wind day except that we got caught way out when the wind died. Scott and I had to swim a couple of hours to get back to the beach. Wednesday was better wind but no one got out on the water. Today (Thursday) was blowing big for a while. Measured a gust of 30 knots on my hand-held. I had a session on my 9M Crossbow. That's a fun kite. Big floaty jumps and great instant de-power for the gusty days. Jeff tried my 11M Globe Rider in these winds and it got real unstable when we de-powered it too much. Scott managed to blow out the main bladder on his kite and Carlos was out for a short session. Weather is great, with temps in the low 80's.





Sunday, April 09, 2006

Faulty Weather Forecasts

The wind forecasts have been way off lately. They have been predicting light winds, but we have been having 20+ knots every day. Yesterday, Saturday, was no exception. Strong winds, a bit gusty, had everybody rigging small except for a visitor that rigged a 15M kite upwind from our normal spot. I didn't even notice him go past, but he was soon down the beach and walking back. If anybody who reads this blog comes down to join us, please come to the Hangout to get the low down on the site and some friendly advise, not to mention a cold beer afterwards.
I use the wind forecast sites of Wind Guru and Bouy Weather to keep track of how other places are faring and in order to plan possible kite boarding trips but I have to question their accuracy. If anybody out there has some first hand wind reports of other areas you can send them as a comment below or email me at kite420@gmail.com and I will post them.

Anyway, the wind has been great and here are a couple of photos from yesterday's session.

















Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Big Swell

There has been enough wind to get out on a big kite late in the day Sunday and Monday. Today, Tuesday, I got out on my 11M. There was a big swell, but it breaks too close to shore to take advantage of it. This week is Semana Santa, which is a big holiday week here. The beaches are already getting busy but it will really get crazy in a couple of days.








Not only did we have big swells but we had a big kite being launched by a big idiot directly upwind of people on the beach. Moments after this photo was taken this kiter got lofted and crashed through the people seated on the beach. What is worse is that he was instructing a novice at the time.



Saturday, April 15, 2006

The Semana Santa Fiesta


Nothing like a religious holiday to get people drinking and acting crazy. Just like Mardi Gras that starts off the period of Lent, people here celebrate the end of Lent during a week long celebration known as Semana Santa. Officials here say that something like 250,000 people enter our little town during this week, and it appears that maybe 30,000 visitors or more are here at the peaks of activity. On a normal weekend I doubt that we have more than 300 at a time.

The photo above was taken at 6:30 in the evening on Friday when the party was just getting going. Traffic, especially foot traffic picks up more as the night goes on and continues into the wee hours of the next morning. I haven't tried to make it out to the beach for a few days because of the traffic and because the wind prediction hasn't been favorable, but today we are supposed to have wind so we will try to get out there early enough to avoid the crowds.

I recently got an email from Glen, who was here kiteboarding this winter. He and his buddy, Dave, came down as novices and left as accomplished kiteboarders. They recently made a trip to South Padre in Texas and Glen said that he kited all ten days he was there, with several days of 30 - 40 knots. Below is a photo of Glen when he was here this winter, getting some good use of an old kite that I sold him for $50. Way to go Glen !


Monday, April 17, 2006

Back to Normal

Now that the crowds of Semana Santa are over, the beaches are accessible again. A bunch of us did manage to make it out last Saturday for a decent session but it was a long ride home due to bumper to bumper traffic. Sunday was less traffic but also less wind. The weather prediction for today called for very little wind but I measured gusts up to 26 knots. There were people on the beach, but I was the only kiteboarder.







Thursday, April 20, 2006

Wind is Still Blowing, the Water is Still Cold

As the title suggests, the wind has continued to blow even though the forecasts keep saying that we shouldn't expect much. The only bad news is that the water is still a chilly 67 degrees. Most days the beach is pretty empty. Most of the winter visitors have already gone back home, Easter vacation is over, and summer vacation hasn't started yet. Nothing new to write about, so I'll just post a photo of Carlos out doing his thing all by himself two days ago.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Water Temperatures

Below is a water temperature chart that includes the San Carlos area. Click on it to see it full size.
San Carlos is approximately at 28 degrees latitude so you can see what color the chart is where the 28 degree line intersects with the mainland of Mexico. From the key you can read the temperature in Celsius. For those of you from the USA and used to temperatures in Fahrenheit, I have included a conversion chart below.
12 C ..........53.6 F
13 C ..........55.4 F
14 C ..........57.2 F
15 C ..........59.0 F
16 C ..........60.8 F
17 C ..........62.6 F
18 C ..........64.4 F
19 C ..........66.2 F
20 C ..........68.0 F
21 C ..........69.8 F
22 C ..........71.6 F
23 C ..........73.4 F
24 C ..........75.2 F
25 C ..........77.0 F
26 C ..........78.8 F
27 C ..........80.6 F
28 C ..........82.4 F
29 C ..........84.2 F
30 C ..........86.0 F
31 C ...........87.8 F
32 C............89.6 F
33 C............91.4 F



Friday, April 28, 2006

Friday Report

It has been blowing all week but it has been very variable and when it has been blowing strong, it has been cold and gusty. Still, it is a lot better than no wind. Most days the beach is empty.

Below is Carlos arriving by bike to the kite beach and to the right is Carlos getting some nice air.















Sunday, April 30, 2006

Gusty Winds

Saturday we had seven people out kiting at various times. In the early afternoon the wind was really strong and I was getting some scary high jumps on my 11 meter GR Sonic. Something is not right with that kite, though, and I am about ready to give up on it. In strong gusty wind it doesn't handle well at all.

Later in the afternoon the wind mellowed out a little but it was still real gusty. A few people were getting beat up by the conditions including getting picked up and getting slammed in the water and on the beach.

I was too busy to get any photos when everybody was out on the water but here is a photo of Carlos Spriu earlier in the day tearing it up coming in toeside with a 7.5 meter kite and an old pickle fork board.







Friday, May 12, 2006

Is the Season Over?


I've been gone for a while, went up to Tucson, and just got back Tuesday night which meant that I was here for the first good blow since I left. Scott and I both had good a good day on 9M kites. I tried to use the 11M GK Sonic but it was like work. No more. I've had it with that kite. It was blowing 12 to 22 and should have been perfect conditions. In a lull or if I swing under the kite too far on a jump or transition the kite starts to fall backward and if you pull the bar in to power it up it just gets worse. You actually have to push the bar away to power it up in a lull. That is crazy. I already fly it slightly more depowered than what I've read is correct because it still seemed over-sheeted. It is sluggish compared to any other kite I fly. Anyone want a barely used kite for half price? Lots of people on the internet say that it is the best kite out there. The Cabrinha Crossbow is much more fun and has much more range and power and smoothness.

Enough ranting about a bad kite. Better I should be ranting about the wind, or lack thereof. I am told that there was very little wind for the week that I was gone and now the prediction doesn't call for anything but light southerlies for the next week. According to windguru they are having better wind a little south of here, at Altata. I think that they used to have a Red Bull King of the Air competition still further south at Puerto Vallarta in June. It may be time for a road trip.


Saturday, May 20, 2006

Still no Wind

We are having day after day of very little wind. The water has warmed up to 75 degrees, but what good does that do us? There have been some Portuguese man o wars seen already. The fishing of dorado has started in earnest and lots of reports of dolphins, whales and even orcas. Dave, who runs the San Carlos Sailing School got some good photos of the orcas and as soon as I can I'll get them from him and post them. All of my photos have been wiped out when my hard drive went down. I had everything backed up but I accidently knocked my external hard drive off the table and it stopped working as well. Maybe someday I'll have the data recovered but in the meantime I have a new, totally blank hard drive in my computer. I have a few photos that were still in my camera that I am posting below. We did have one day of steady 15 knot wind that was absolutely wonderful.



Three Good Days

5/25/06

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were good northwesterly wind days. Possibly our last good northerly session of the season. Wind gusting up to 30 knots. Not many kiters got out to take advantage of the wind. The first day I started off with my 9M Crossbow and when I came in Jeff was just arriving and I let him take it out for a while. Unfortunately he had a mishap with it that leads me to emphasize a point to all kiters reading this blog. If the kite looses power or crashes into the water and is about to restart or power up in the high power zone, you must depower the kite or you run the risk of blowing it out. The sudden powering up can be more than the kite can handle. With the bow kites you can completely depower them by pushing the bar away but with traditional kites you will have to pull the safety. It is a pain in the neck because probably 90% of the time you can get way with it. But that tenth time you will do serious damage to your kite.

Tueday Scott and I did a session at the other end of San Carlos near the condos Pilar and had fun with the waves and all the space. Didn't take any photos there, so here is one from Wednesday back at "the kiddy pool."

Road Trip to Altata

6/1/06
Scott, Chino, and I took off to seek wind and adventure in Sinaloa. We got to Culiacan Sunday evening, got some food, saw a movie, and drove into Navolato to stay at a hotel that I had stayed at before. A room for three was 400 pesos, about $12 each - not bad. There isn't much going on in Navolato but it is a very pleasant city of about 30,000 people and just 15 minutes to the beach. There are two parts to the beach community of Altata, where we spent the next couple of days. Old Altata is on the bay and has several blocks of sea food stands and restaurants right on the waters edge. We had some great food there. New Altata is a resort on the ocean side. Very nice. Everything is beautifully done and well maintained, and the beach is gorgeous. We didn't have as much wind as we would have liked but had some surf to play in that more than made up for it. Probably the thing that has impressed me the most about this beach is the people that I have met there. David Garcia and Hector are two guys that work at the beach and do whatever they can to help out including loaning us surf boards and launching and catching kites. I met them the last time I was here and it was great to see them again. On the last day we met Marcela, a beautiful girl from Culiacan that just started to kite in January. She ended up showing us around a bit and taking us out to a great dinner. I wish I could have had more time to kite with her as she is just fun to be around. Meeting great people is a big part of what makes kiting such a great sport.

Above and below are photos from the beach at Nuevo Altata.

Food, drink, and live mariachi music at the waters edge.


In the center of town in Navolato.

Quiet Summer Days

6/12/06

It has been a long time since I did an update, but there isn't much to report. The wind has been light and variable, not enough to power up a kite. Did get in almost an hour of kiting today just before sunset. Wind predictions sometimes look good a few days out but then fizzle out as the day arrives. So I've been forced to find alternative things to do and the other day I bought a motorcycle to get me out into the desert and mountains. It is a 200 cc trail bike made in Mexico, and while it doesn't compare with a Yamaha, it cost less than $2,000 new and has a dealer here in Guaymas.

The visibility in the sea has gotten decent and the water temp is up to about 83 degrees so the snorkeling is good too. Still the heat is oppressive and I have been spending lots of time looking for other places to go. Dominican Republic is looking real good for kiteboarding. I think that I'll be making reservations very soon.

A couple of weeks ago I had my ripped up Crossbow kite repaired at a local shop, Marine Mart, and they did an excellent job for only 300 pesos, about $27. They have also done other repairs for kiters including things like harness repair and zipper replacement, usually while you wait and for as little as $10. The shop is located on the way to the beach so it is a great asset to the kiting scene.

A Nice Sunday


6/19/06

Well, there wasn't enough wind Sunday. What else is new. It was blowing 10 - 12 knots, which was enough to go out on a Hobie Cat. Rodolfo, his 5 year old son, and I had a nice sail, pulled the boat up on the rocky beach near the tip of Deer Island and had a nice time snorkling in the warm, fairly clear water. There were lots of fish, especially hiding in the sargaso seaweed that reaches from the bottom almost to the surface. I didn't take my speargun, but I should have. Later, back at the Hangout which has a new bar called The Soggy Peso, it was time to enjoy a cold beer and listen to some live music. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Earlier in the week we tried out the conditions at a beach the other side of Guaymas, called Cochorit. It was fun to go someplace else but the sand is oily, the result of being downwind from the sardine packing plant. Below are a couple of photos from that day. We also got in one good day this week kiting near the condos Pilar. A bit gusty, 12 - 24, and big choppy surf but it was fun.




San Carlos Beaches Most Polluted in Mexico

6/27/06

Wow, what a report that just came out about the beaches of this area. The worst in Mexico. If the bacteria count gets to 104 they close the beaches in the USA. The bacteria count was as high as 22,000 at our beaches. I don't know how it can be this bad and there not be a lot of people getting sick, but the testing was done by an official government lab. Maybe we locals that are in the water all the time are immune to this level of bacteria but it could make an unsuspecting tourist very sick. Green Peace Mexico has started a campaign called "Queremos Playas Limpias" or We Want Clean Beaches. I know that of all the places that I have been in Mexico, Guaymas is the most polluted, and I have read that the levels of skin and respiratory infections are extremely high among the children of Guaymas. It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be from the local business leaders. Will they demand action to clean up the pollution, or will they try to cover up the facts and downplay the risks. Would you swim in water or let your kids swim in water that you know is more than 200 times the established at risk level for bacteria? You wouldn't if you were in the states because the risks would be well publicized, but I'll bet that most people here will ignore this report. Swim at your own risk !

July Update

7/9/06

First, an explanation for the environmental report on the polluted beaches. It appears that it was just Sonoran state officials being (take your pick:)stupid, incompetent, lazy. The state is in charge of testing the coastal waters and reporting the results to the federal agency. Apparently the state's testing came up with bad numbers. Off the charts. Ten thousand times higher than normal. Instead of questioning these numbers and double checking the methods or results, they just sent them in to the federal authorities who then published them and advised that the beaches should be closed. After the reports made headlines in the newspapers the state health officials cried foul and showed that all previous tests and subsequent tests showed that the beaches were very clean, that there had to have been something wrong in the testing procedure. Why didn't the health officials question the numbers before sending them to the feds?

Anyway, as to more important things - we had wind ! Wednesday and Saturday it blew out of the northwest up to 22 knots. Very unusual for us to get wind out of that direction this time of year. Usually all we get are southerlies, which are never as nice. So we had a couple of really good days which felt great because it has been an unusually non-windy summer so far. Non-windy enough that I am taking off this week to go to Cabarete, in the Dominican Republic.

And, speaking of unusual things, there was a parade and party on the beach on July 5th. It was a cross dress affair. I was told a story behind this event. Apparently five years ago a group of people new to the area read about a transvestite show in Guaymas and decided to dress the part and go. The show never happened that night, and not only were they the only gringos at the bar, they were they only people in drag. They had a great time and decided to do something similar every year. They live in the subdivision, Costa del Mar, and recruit neighbors and friends to participate. The theme changes a bit from year to year and seems to make for a great excuse to party on the beach.

Cabarete

7/17/06

Well, I am in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. The flight was long to get here, but not too bad. The trip was worth it. The weather and water are warm, and the wind starts out 10 - 15 knots in the morning and picks up in the afternoon up to 25 knots. The area has plenty of restaurants and the night life goes all night. Maybe the best part of the Republic is the people; friendly, helpful and always with a great attitude and an ability to enjoy life. It seems like they are always smiling. The resort where I am staying is Kitexite where the staff and equipment are great. I am renting their kites and boards for $200 a week and I am trying out different stuff daily. It does get a bit crowded out there but crashes are surprisingly few considering the number of people here that are new to the sport.

Still Hot in San Carlos

8/7/06

I've been back in San Carlos for over a week and the weather has mostly been hot and humid and it is pretty quiet in town, as is usual for this time of year. After having a great two weeks in tropical Dominican Republic it is hard to get used to the conditions here. Too hot for most land excursions, diving visibility locally tends to be poor for days after a storm, and there is enough wind to keep the sea stirred up but not enough to go sailing or kite boarding.

Yesterday was a nice exception. We had strong wind out of the northwest. A little cooler and drier. And enough to go kite boarding. Jeff and I had a great day. We put up our big kites but really could have gone smaller as we were over powered much of the time. It blew all day from around 11:00 AM until sunset. Didn't get any pictures; too busy playing in the wind and water.

Two other notes: There has been enough rain that everything is nice and green. And Kellie from the Hangout is still patiently waiting to have her baby. She is 41 weeks or so.

Out of Here

8/18/06

It is time for me to get out of town for a while. It is HOT ! A lot of people who are still in San Carlos will tell you that it isn't so bad. They are delusional. You cannot spend more than a few minutes outside without dripping from sweat. I used to think that the diving and spearfishing conditions in the summer made up for the inconvenience of hellish heat. After twelve years of diving the same spots and having only so - so fishing conditions, I am more than ever ready to leave this year. This is my usual trip back East, back home where I grew up, to spend time with my folks and other relatives and friends, relax a lot, eat good food, and do some kiteboarding.

East Dennis, Massachusetts.

Cape Cod.

I'll try to write a few blogs from there because it is really a great place.

I made the drive up from San Carlos to Tucson (where I'll fly out of) a couple of days ago and everything was lush from the recent rains. We have had an extended dry period and things were looking pretty brown and dead but the desert has bounced back as it always does.

Back in San Carlos

9/21/06


Well, it has been over a month since my last entry. Not much kiteboarding going on. In Cape Cod there were only a few days of good wind and it was mostly too cold to get me out on the water. I should have brought my full wet suit. I got back to San Carlos a couple of days ago and although there hasn't been much wind there has been a lot of anticipation for the coming season. Jeff went to North Carolina and got his teaching certification and besides the latest teaching techniques he brought down lots of new stuff. New kites, new boards, new videos, a land board, and a great trampoline with an enclosure that allows you to try out all kinds of moves without any danger of bouncing off and killing yourself.

Noah
I thought that I had already posted a photo of San Carlos' newest resident but I don't see it anywhere so I will post it here. His name is Noah. He is only two days old in this picture. He was born to Jeff and Kellie, who stayed here in Mexico for the birth which was around the 11th of August. Congratulations.

The Start of a New Season

10/10/06


The weather hasn't changed much yet but it seems that it is trying. We are getting more north-westerly winds, although they have mostly been weak. We get at least one good session in a week. I went out today from the La Manga beach and had an enjoyable afternoon ride but it was marginal and I had to really work it to stay upwind. It should just get better from here on out.

The cooler weather has been good for taking the motorbike out into the desert. We are still getting an occasional rain, making this summer one of the wettest I've seen. The often barren desert is covered with grass and all the bushes and trees that just a few months ago were dry and brown are now lush and green.

Windy Weekend

10/16/06

Saturday and Sunday we had good north westerly winds.

Both days had several people on the water, and the beach was full of sunbathers. We also had a few quadrunners that kept racing through the area causing havoc, running over boards and peoples belongings.

The weather is great this time of year. The air temperatures get into the upper 80's and the water is in the lower 80's. Unfortunately, the water will cool off quickly and it will soon be wetsuit time again.

One sour note for the weekend was that Carlos Spriu lost his board when he got blown down wind, crashed his kite and got separated from his board. Usually when this happens the board is found when it washes up on the beach on the other side of the bay but being the weekend there were jet skis on the water and lots of people and vehicles on the beach so it must have gotten picked up before Carlos had a chance to find it.

The Good Wind is Back

10/21/06


The strong northerlies are back, at least they were for the last two days. The forecast doesn't call for anything for the next five days but they have been wrong before. Yesterday Jeff and I were powered up on 9M kites, first time since last season. I forgot how quick those kites are. So much fun, such big air.

I tried out a couple of new boards that Jeff picked up this summer. I was a little skeptical of his Cabrina Icon 138 because it has a lot of rocker and I was going to use it when the wind was already dying late in the day, but it felt great. The next day I used his 142 Airush in powered conditions and does that board ever dig in. No sliding around the turns, that board grabs the water more than my small boards. It goes where you point it.

The water and air temperatures are still great, but I am already using my shorty wetsuit as the wind gets chilly late in the day. It will be full wetsuit weather in two or three weeks as the water cools off quickly this time of year.


Cooler Weather

10/28/06

The northerlies are back but still a bit sporadic. We have had some really good days with wind getting over 20 knots but the wind doesn't stay consistent all day. A bit hit or miss. After a couple of good days we have to put up with two or three lousy days. The water temp has already dropped below 75 degrees so I am having to wear a shorty wetsuit to be able to stay out for extended sessions.

We've had a couple of new people show up and it is always interesting to check out other gear. There is so much stuff out there now and an equal amount of hype about all the gear.


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