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 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.

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

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.

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.

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 !
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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.

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.

April 6 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.

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.

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.

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.