Kite Heaven

No Wind....Wind

9/6/09

I am still in Cape Cod and the weather has been nice, but not much wind.

I can't complain, though, because back home in San Carlos they just got slammed by tropical storm Jimena. Lots of damage. No serious injuries but a few homes lost and many damaged, roads washed out, loss of electric, water, and phone. Click here for pictures.

I also don't want to complain because we had good wind today.

The Season is Coming

9/22/09

Not much to report. I've been back in Mexico for a week now. San Carlos is slowly recovering from the historic storm that hit a few weeks ago. Only a few area still have problems with water service and in general it is business as usual in town. The main road before you get to Charlies Rock will be out for a while more and other parts of the road are still in sad shape.
The Soggy Peso is open. The beach was reshaped by the storm, washing a lot of sand into the bay and covering up the reef that sits just offshore.
The wind has been shifting to the north in the afternoons the last three days and we may get enough to kite today or tomorrow. At least it is a sign that the season is coming.

First Session

9/22/09

I had my first session of the season today. It was northwest, about 12 to 18 knots. I didn't last long, only a couple of hours, but it felt great. The beach was deserted. Soggy Peso is open but still no water or electricity and the road out to it is terrible. They did a good job of cleaning up the crap off the beach in front of the bar, but a lot of sand is gone. Here are some fotos. We need to do some serious clean up to make the beach kite friendly.

A lot of the sand was washed out into the bay, making it shallow a ways out and the waves break further from shore. Wave action is already pushing sand back up onto the beach so this beach configuration may not last long.

Season is Looking Good

9/27/09

The season hasn't really started, but this was a good warm up week. Saturday was probably the best wind of the week. Fernando came down from Hermosillo and had a decent day. Here he is in the photo below throwing a nice move.

Roberto is back in town after the river water ran low in Colorado, and he had good time on the water although his normally flat water spot near the gap had waves coming over the rocks and entering his kite area. Jeff showed up but his session was cut short with equipment problems. My day ended early. Fernando launched me and at first all seemed well as the kite was high in the wind window and just sort of hung there for a moment. Then it fell back into the power zone and instead of rising smoothly into the sky, it went into a spiral. One line was tangled into a loose knot at the kite, either from the wind flapping the kite or from some debris on the beach. It yanked me off my feet and then drove me into the ground. I don't remember much, I think I was knocked out for a moment. Next that I recall, I was in the water pulling my safeties as Fernando was trying to get to my kite. Obviously I survived but such a simple accident could have been disastrous as there was a rock wall just downwind from where I launched. I will be out of the line up for a couple of weeks as I crunched my shoulder pretty good and can't lift my arm at all right now. It feels like torn muscles. Time will heal all.

More Rain

10/4/09

Tropical storm Olaf came close enough to send us 24 hours of rain. I don't know how much rain fell but it had to have been at least a couple of inches. The rain has stopped and the sun is shining now so maybe we can get some normal seasonal weather soon. Windguru is calling for northwest wind later this week. I expect the forecast to change often, but right now it is looking good for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We can hope.

Afternoon wind

10/9/09

We've been getting a few afternoons of wind lately, although nothing too spectacular. I had been out of action since hurting my shoulder a while ago but I got back in the line up Thursday. Here is Roberto wrapping it up for the day while Fernando is still out on the water.

Good Turnout

10/16/09

We've had a couple of good days and should have one more before the wind shuts down again. Thursday, Ken and Christian flew down from Phoenix to join Roberto, Adam, Fireman John, and myself for a very nice session. It was blowing over 20 knots most of the afternoon.

There is still a lot of crap on the beach that makes launching and landing a bit tricky. One of these days we need to do a serious cleanup.

Marina Real

10/19/09

Last Friday three of us, Christian, Ken Francis, and I, tried kiting in front of Ken's house at Marina Real. There were waves to play in but the wind wasn't quite strong enough or steady enough although Christian said he had a great couple of sessions. Later we went to the usual spot by Soggy Peso and we kited until after sunset. It was really, really good. Blowing 15 to 20, fairly steady, with flat water. It is so easy to get your timing right in conditions like that. We didn't want to come off the water.

Great Day

10/21/09

Hurricane Rick was the second strongest hurricane that they've ever had on this coast and it pushed up some pretty nice waves that started arriving at our beach today. The combination of a southerly swell and northwesterly wind made for an awesome day.

We also had a beach cleanup going on thanks to the hard work of Ricardo and Nesto, and the the generosity of Ken Francis. Ken donated a kite to be given in exchange for someone to clean the beach and these two accepted the offer. Below is a photo of day one of the cleanup. Later we had a big bonfire to burn the wood pile which made for a good excuse to sit and drink beer until after sunset. Thanks to all of you guys, the beach is a much safer place to kite now.

Frustrating Week

11/1/09

We had strong wind most of the week, but it was too northerly to be kitable. Finally, it was the right direction on Saturday, even if it was pretty light. A couple of people tried to milk the last of the afternoon wind and paid the price, having to self rescue from a ways out in the bay with almost no wind as the sun was setting.
The water is still warm, around 80 degrees, but the wind can be chilly. Most of us are using at least shorty wetsuits and thinking about going with something warmer soon. It won't be long before I'll be wearing my dry suit again.

Out of Town

11/18/09

I had to go up to the USA to take care of some business and will be gone for a couple more weeks. I'm not real happy about being away during the windy season but the wind has been pretty spotty so far this year. I also missed the annual Veteran's Day party that comes to Algodones Beach each year. You can see photos from previous years: 2006, 2007, 2008.

New Month, Same Lack of Wind

12/7/09

Hardly anything to report here. Roberto keeps track of the kiteable days and he says that we only had 8 days of wind for the month of November. December hasn't started out any better. We did have decent wind on Friday. But just one day! It never blows just one day this time of the year.
A bunch of people showed up to kite Friday and despite the fact that the wind was a bit northerly and thus gusty, we all had a good time. There were as many as 9 kiters on the water at one time. Kenn flew down with a couple of buddies and of course Roberto was there and Beau and Adam and Ricardo and Fernando and Jimé from Canada.
The water temp is way too warm for this time of the year, the chart shows it is still above 70 degrees. I took my dry suit to the beach with me, not realizing how warm the water was. I kept it stored in a vacuum sealed bag but when I took it out the neck gasket was all gooey with little stretch left. Not usable at all. When I had put it away last spring it had a small area with this problem but I never figured out what caused it and it was small enough that I wasn't too concerned. Now I'll have to order a new neck gasket.
I received a report from Glenn and Sue, who went to South Padre this season instead of coming here. He says that he's "not impresses with the wind so far." Many people love South Padre but I've never been too impressed.

12/13/09

I haven't had much to report until this week. We finally had a decent four days of wind and this coming week is also supposed to be good. Water temperature is still warm, right around 70 degrees.

Here is Roberto, boosting well on a quiet day.

We Have Wind

12/15/09

We had four days of wind last week and it looks like we will have five or six days this week. The air and water temperatures have been unbelievable. The beautiful conditions brought people here from Sinaloa, Hermosillo, and Phoenix for some great kiteboarding sessions.

Christmas

12/27/09

Last year we had lots of kiters in town and up to a dozen on the water at the same time. This year we've had only a few people show up. Wind has been okay. Sometimes a little light, sometimes a little gusty. In other words - pretty normal. Water temperature has cooled off to around 65 but that is still about 5 degrees warmer than usual. The air temperature is about the same as the water today as a cold front has moved in. Wind should start again Wednesday or Thursday.

We have had some changes out at the beach. A good change is that the road has been bladed and is in great shape. Not so great is that the parking lot has been stripped of most of the palm trees that weren't removed the last time they "improved" the parking area. They replanted the trees along the entryway road but they aren't being watered so they will all die shortly. This work was done by the owners of a hotel in El Fuerte, who have taken over the old disco building at the point to make it into a reception/bar/restaurant. They are going to use that and two of the Paradiso room buildings to make a new hotel. It is supposed to open in a few weeks. They have done a lot of work fixing up the building and bringing in new furniture and fixtures and stuff but I don't see much else going on to indicate enough of a commitment to make it work. I hope I'm wrong. It would be great to have a nice bar and restaurant on the beach.

Happy New Year

12/30/09

Some days the wind has been pretty light but it has been blowing. The end of 2009 is turning out to be okay and the first of 2010 is looking very promising as well.

Making the most of a light day. Even Jeff made a rare appearance.

Erika braved the cold to watch the action.

New Year

1/1/10

The wind was great, the weather was great, and all the kiters were great.

Beau

Adam

Excellent Days

1/10/10

What started out as a disappointing kiteboard season has turned out to be one of the best we've had. The water is still in the mid 60's, air temperatures have been around 80, and the wind has been lighter and steadier than usual. Several days of 15 to 20 knots, which is light enough to result in flat water conditions. These conditions have been perfect for everyone, but especially for the younger kiters, to make some real progress. Everyone is jumping, spinning, and attempting all kinds of new moves. Fernando has been dazzling us with several versions of powered up raleys. I haven't been able to get out as often as I would like due to having to work this year, but Roberto has taken over my role as captain of the beach and can be counted on to be on the beach early with wind reports.