Summer Already

It sure feels like summer around here. Lots of heat, no wind and we have already had some thunderstorms. Last Sunday we had some wind and a bunch of kiters showed up for what very well could have been our last session of the season.

This is Memorial Day weekend and there is a sailboat regatta going on as well as the Mexican Youth Olympic Sailing Competition, and some sort of bicycle racing event. Even with all that going on the town still seems empty. Last night, Friday night, the bars were dead.

A few shots from last weekend:

Updates

Lately, every time they update the forecast it changes a lot. Still hoping for wind Sunday but I'll be taking my big boards.

Waiting for Wind

There hasn't been much wind. Once in a while there seems to be a southerly strong enough to kite with but it never lasts. Beau and Adam went out to Cochorit Beach the other day. I think they missed the best of it and didn't have very good conditions. You always need more wind in the summer to be powered up. Warm, moist air is less dense and the wind doesn't pack the punch of the cold dry air we have in the winter. Plus, the sea is always choppy where we go to kite the southerlies so we need more wind to power through the waves.

The forecast, however, is calling for northwest wind over 20 knots on Sunday and Monday and maybe continuing on Tuesday and Wednesday. This could be the last of the north wind for the season.

Not Much Wind

Not much to report. We have had very little wind since I got back from Texas and I've been too busy working to bother to seek out other fun stuff to do. It is getting hot here, although the water is a nice cool 72 degrees. As usual, by the time the water warms up it is so hot out that you don't care.

Here are a few more shots from South Padre.

Texas

A bunch of us from Arizona went to South Padre and Corpus Christi for a week and had a blast.
The wind blew every day. It got a bit crowded at times in Padre, but Corpus has so many spots to kite that we could always find our own area if we wanted to.

By the way, someone wrote me a comment that there is an article in Kiteboarder Magazine on San Carlos: http://www.theringmedia.com/PDFS/TheKiteboarder/thekiteboarder.april2009.pdf

A Good Day

Video

Video featuring Jeff, Luque, and Don. Last Sunday.

Funny Thing?

A funny thing happened the other day. I was fixing a pair of leaking valves on my 14m kite when Scott came by. I stopped what I was doing to visit with him and showed him a visitor that I found in my house - a scorpion, which I had placed in a tumbler. Scott made the comment that this little scorpion is one of the more potent types. After a while I went back to fixing my kite and Scott asked if he could get himself a glass of water. Naturally I said yes and continued with my chore. Scott comes out back where I am working and takes a big drink from his glass. Unfortunately he had used the glass that contained the scorpion which was now wiggling in his mouth. Luckily he was able to spit it out before it stung him. Not sure if he thought that it was as funny as I did.

Sunday

Semana Santa

It is Semana Santa and traffic is terrible but not as bad as years past. The crowd seems younger and the girls are prettier, but maybe I'm just getting older and uglier. There may be fewer people but they make up for it by playing the music louder and partying later, some until daybreak.

The wind is blowing at my house so I went to the beach but it was only blowing 10 to 15 knots with nothing more offshore. Lots of people but no other kiters so I didn't bother to stay. Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be good.

Pictures

This blog received a complaint that I hadn't been posting many pictures. Well, I was without a camera for awhile and I was also usually on the water if I was at the beach. Lots of other people were always taking photos and I would give them my email address and ask them to send me a few good ones. They would always say yes. And then they would always fail to do so.

We haven't had much wind for the last couple of weeks, but today it blew all day. I went out about 10:30 and others arrived throughout the day. In all we must have had ten kiters today. We also had a lot of early Semana Santa visitors at the beach. Some years it has gotten too crowed to be able to kite without endangering the beach goers.

Anyway, here are some photos from todays sessions. If you would like to see the photos of the past year or so you can go here.

Fireman John, carving a nice transition.

Roberto

Jorge Luque attempting a board off.

Sweet

The wind turned sweet today. I got out late, after 4pm and found 16 to 19 knots of wind blowing. It blew until the sun went down. It would be nice to have those conditions all the time. It was a good day to practice all of the few tricks that I know. Should have been trying out new stuff. But my favorite thing to do is still to boost big. I had my biggest boost ever on the outside. Nothing tops that feeling. I love it.

Today we had wind slowing building all day. It bodes well for the next few days. The prediction is calling for 30 knot gusts. It has been a while since we've had a good blow. We've seen a lot more marginal days than normal for this time of the year.

March Wind?

Usually March is a good month for wind here, but it is not starting out that way this year. The past ten days have had little wind and the forecast is calling for more of the same. We still get out a few days a week but mostly in light wind. The last couple of days it has blown early (before noon) and then tapers off in the afternoon. The forecasts have been useless as they have been wrong most every day.
Air temperatures have been normal lately, getting into the low 70's but we had a real hot stretch ten days ago and it is supposed to get back up close to 90 later next week. Water temperature is still cool, but starting to warm up - finally above 65 degrees.

New Riders

Kinsley is back in San Carlos. He brought about half a dozen other kiters with him from California. Several are very good riders and it will be fun to watch them do their moves for the next few days. Bring your camera.

Lots of Wind

Starting while I was still in Tucson and continuing until today it has been blowing. Some days the sand has been blowing head high. Great for launching big jumps.

I was in Tucson most of last week but the kite gang told me I didn't miss much. It blew, but it was nasty and gusty. It gets that way here once in a while. Since I've been back the wind has been better. The rest of this week looks good. February and March are usually our best months for wind. Carnaval (out local version of Mardi Gras) has been going on in Guaymas. Because of Carnaval and some great weather there has been a lot of people at the beach.
A bunch of school age kids from Hermosillo are taking up the sport and it can get pretty crazy out on the water some days while they go through the learning process.
I heard that the Paridiso Hotel, our launch location, has been sold. We will have to see what that means for our beach access.

Wind continues to be lacking compared to most years. We have had a few days here and there but generally on the light side. Yesterday was good, but the bigger kites were out most of the day. As often happens, the steadiest winds came at the end of the day. About the time that most of the kiters are packing up for the day due to being tired and cold, the wind settles into a steady blow with flat water. It is also a great time to avoid kite traffic. Yesterday it got a little crowded, but nothing like it was last month. Joe showed up for his first day of the year, and also on the water besides myself were Gerald, Helmut, Roberto, Jimmy, Nico, Fernando, Jeff, and a newbie Bo. Luckily all ten weren't out on the water at the same time. The forecast is looking good for Saturday and Sunday and then starting again on Wednesday.

We weren't expecting any wind today but it blew pretty good for a while. Below are Jimmy, Ken and Gerald. Helmut and I were the only other kiters out that day.

The last man on the water was Gerald! He milked every bit of wind that there was at the end of the day.

Almost Perfect

Thursday and Friday were wonderful. It was nuking on Thursday but unlike most nuking days, this one had steady wind. Great for launching big air. Friday was a little more mellow but the wind was just as stable. Great for trying out all kinds of moves. We were hoping for a repeat today, but the wind backed off even more. There was very little at the kiddie pool but enough to get out at La Manga. Tomorrow should be the same and Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be better. Today was the last day for Glen and Sue. They'll be heading back to Canada in the morning. Most of the time Sue was the only female on the water. Glen has added a bunch of new moves and is always fun to watch whether he lands the move or not. He is hoping to get a group together to spend a couple of weeks in Hatteras this Spring.

As Expected

As expected, we didn't have much wind the past week. Just a day here and there of 12 to 15 knots, gusting up to 20, but only for short periods of time. Today, Tuesday, it is supposed to start blowing again and blow for the next several days. The crowd of kiters that were here over the holidays are but a memory. Even on weekends we don't get more than four of five kiters on the water at the same time.

The weather has stayed warmer than usual and the water is much warmer than last year. The sea had started to cool off a couple of weeks ago but it is in the mid to upper 60's now. Last year was the coldest I had ever seen it, and this year it is the warmest. Crazy.

Not Much Wind

The nice wind that we had to start the year is over. Expectations of a great month have been dashed. Today will be the fourth day in a row with light winds. We may get something Monday and Tuesday and then it looks like light wind for the rest of the week.
On the bright side, the weather has been great for doing anything else. Hermosillo has been setting records for warm temperatures.
The water is still cool, in the low 60's.

Parts of northern Sea of Cortez are having wind. Christian was heading to San Felipe where the wind looks great this weekend but that is a long slow drive to get there. Closer to Arizona is El Golfo, which also is having decent wind.

Good Start to a New Year

January has been good so far. Most days have been kiteable. With everybody getting in lots of days of good kiting several have made great progress in their kiting skills. Stuart and Dave just ended a two month stay. Dave is getting the hang of the sport, and Stuart successfully executed several new moves. Glen and Luque both continue to throw all kinds of moves - some more successful than others. Ken is another kiter that comes down once in a while and he left after a three day stay with a new skill level. The photo below shows Ken taking advantage of every bit of late afternoon wind.

We have been having okay wind almost every day. Today the wind was a bit light and I had the bay to myself for quite a while. A nice change from the crowd of a week ago. Tomorrow is questionable but the weekend is supposed to nuke. Get ready for big air. I think this season has been a great one, mostly because so many kiters are making great progress on their kiting skills and that encourages others to push to improve as well. Lots of crashes to watch too. Speaking of crashes, today was not a good day to crash near shore. The tide was really low and the reef rocks were above water as you can see below.

Oh, I keep forgetting that I've been meaning to share a link to another great wind forecast site that Christian turned me on to. Sailflow.com
There is a "play " button in the header that will load the maps for the next 6 days and then you can scroll them to get a good idea of the wind prospects.

The holidays are about over and the crowd is beginning to thin out a bit. It has been fun having so many kiters show up at the beach although at times it is really crowded out on the water. A lot of the kiters have been learning new moves and have benefited from the presence of Kinsley and Jamie from Xtreme Big Air in California. They do tricks that we have never seen at this beach and have been real helpful to all of us. They also have great deals on equipment at their website. I hope they have enjoyed their stay and that they come back again.

A shot of just part of the group.

Jamie throwing a nice raley.

Kinsley in the middle of a some combination maneuver.

Christmas Week

There was no wind from Monday through Thursday but we may now get nearly a week of kiteable afternoons. The last three days there has been wind, but its direction hasn't been great, resulting in some strong gusts and sudden drops in wind. Below is a picture of the result of one of those drops. A multiple walk of shame after a downwinder from La Manga Dos and shooting the gap between the islands.

There have been lots of kites on the water, sometimes a dozen or more. The space we like to kite in is small so it gets pretty crowded out there. Once in a while we'll have a close call and even the occasional collision.

The Next Blow Has Started

The weather hasn't been like Decembers of the past. It is still fairly warm, the wind isn't as strong, and the slack days are more numerous. The water is around 65 degrees, almost ten degrees warmer than at this time last year. I bought a dry suit this year in anticipation of frigid conditions and tried it out yesterday. I was toasty warm.
I don't think the wind ever got up to 20 knots yesterday - best for the bigger kites. Hopefully it will pick up more today and still more Saturday and Sunday. We went six days since the last windy session, way too long for this time of the year. Next week doesn't look any better.
I was using my 14M kite yesterday, the same one that I ripped the corner off of a while back. Helmut has a sewing machine and kite repair material with him and he did a great job at putting my kite back together even stronger than before. In the summer he does repairs for Kitty Hawk Kites in Hatteras.
Roberto is back from Brazil. He says the kiting is as good as they say it is - fantastic. He was there 3 months and kited 65 days. Warm steady winds with smooth waves.

The Wind is Back !!

We had very little wind for a week. Then on Saturday the wind came back and it has been blowing great ever since. There have been lots of kites on the beach and out on the water.

We should get a couple more days out of this blow before it shuts down.
After a fine day on the water it is always nice to relax and watch the sun set.

Saturday Massacre

The wind blew great, a bunch of kiters showed up, and 6 kites got blown out or damaged in some way. I had a line break, resulting in too much pressure on the remaining connection points and a corner of my kite ripped right off. OOPS.

I don't know how many kites were at the beach but it was a lot, and it was a festive atmosphere. Glen and Sue showed up Friday and Helmut rolled into town yesterday so we will have kiters on the beach every day .

I was too busy to take any photos, but here is one from the other day when some students from Hermosillo showed up to take photos and do a report on sports in San Carlos.

Lupita y sus compañeras de clase

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day had a lot of people on the beach and seven kites on the water. The wind was light and I needed my 14M kite. Most everyone else put up smaller kites and were struggling. Today promises to be better and Saturday and Sunday are predicted to have 20 knot winds.
The Sports Center located at the Hotel Paradiso continues to make life difficult for us kiters. Last year they put several buoys spread out in our "sweet spot" and this year they have a boat anchored right in the middle of it. It makes it particularly dangerous for beginners. The kiters provide a lot of entertainment and that brings a lot of people to the beach but the businesses there have never given us much support.

Saludos a Lupita.

More Lousy Forecasts

We've been getting out on the water about half of the days, sometimes powered up, sometimes with barely enough wind. The forecasts haven't been much help. Today was supposed to be a good day but it is looking like it isn't going to materialize. Nothing much is forecast for the next couple of days but then Friday should start a three or four day blow. Stuart and family is in town so he's been getting out on the water but besides him, Omar, and myself it has been pretty quiet. Water temperature is still nearly 70, but will probably drop again soon.

The folks from http://xtremebigair.com/ will be coming down Dec. 27 and can bring anything that anyone may want to order. They seem to have great gear at great prices.

Lousy Forecasts

Last week we kept getting forecasts calling for very little wind but we had several days of descent conditions. Then this week it was the opposite - good forecasts but little wind at the beach. Finally yesterday was okay, blowing 12 to 18 in the afternoon. Today should be even better. The forecast for the rest of the week looks lousy again.

Although we didn't get wind over the weekend, we still had reason to get out to the beach as the following photos show.

Fun in the Sun and Wind

The wind hasn't been great, but it has been blowing enough to let us get out on the water for a while almost every day. Yesterday it blew over 20 knots for a couple of hours but the rest of the afternoon was variable. It was still a great day at the beach. The water is cooling off and I've started using my wetsuit but others are still kiting without one.

I got an email from Ricardo, he is working in Playa del Carmen and trying to cope with the lighter winds that they have there.

Helmut and Peggy should be arriving the first part of December as will be Glen and Sue. Dave and Jackie will also be coming down from Canada. Jean-Francois and Karen will visit in December as well.

Stuart should be here in a couple of days and is staying until the middle of January. Gerald will be back, but not until January.

Roberto is in Brazil and has gotten in 50 days of kiting in two months. He will be here around the 15th of December.

It will be great to have a bunch of people to kite with.

Wednesday was good, but the leading edge of my 10M Nemesis blew out. It is only a year old, but it is weak where the leading edge sleeve folds flat when I roll up the kite. It always folds along the same line and that weakened it enough that it just blew out. I just ordered a new kite. I am going to go with a 10M Cabrinha Swithchblade III. I'll repair the Nemesis to use as a spare.

Thursday blew strong, strongest before 3:00 pm gusting to 30 knots. Then it mellowed out. Today's forecast is for more strong wind and hopefully we will get enough wind Saturday as well.

Still Early

We had a good string of windy days but it has quieted down again. Friday was very good - over 20 knots - but Saturday's wind never materialized, only 10 - 15 knots, despite a good forecast. Lots of kiters showed up and it got kind of crowded up at the gap because everybody was seeking more wind. I've got a feeling that a lot more kiters are going to be showing up this year, at least on the weekends.
Water is still warm and some days are still hot. I hope we get another good stretch of wind before the water gets cold. It will be coming all too soon.

Day After Day

Every day this week has been excellent.

Wind is Looking Great

Even on days not predicted to have wind, it has been blowing late in the day. It looks like we'll have wind all week. With warm flat water and hot days. Doesn't get much better than this.

Still Blowing

After three days of wind up to 30 knots, we have had two real sweet days of wind peaking out at 20 knots, and today should be the same. The forecast then calls for the wind to drop more, maybe too much, for the next several days. I finally got over my fear of throwing a kite loop and was amazed at how easy it was. I was using a 10M kite and it cranks around so quick that it really doesn't yank you too much. My landings weren't perfect, but only once did I dump the kite. I need to watch some videos and refine my technique. It is always so much fun to add a new trick!
Here is a link to a slideshow of all the photos on this blog:
Slideshow

It's Been Good

The predicted hurricane never made it here but the northwest winds have arrived. Sunday and yesterday we've had 20 to 30 knot winds. At times it's been a bit gusty and nasty but at the same time it's been great. Today is supposed to be another strong day and then we may get a couple of more mellow days. Russ and his kids are making a rare appearance on the beach. Russ gave most of us our first look at the sport several years ago when he brought down some big boards and two line kites from the Gorge. Equipment has changed a lot since then but some of that old stuff is still being used by some of the kiters here.

The water temperature is nice, still in the 80's. The wind chill can still have its effect and I've already started wearing a shorty wetsuit. It is a strong reminder of the cold conditions yet to come. I am thinking drysuit for this year. Last year the water got into the mid 50's by the end of December. Brrrrr.