Tucson

I'm up in Tucson but it doesn't look like I'm missing any wind. Since I don't see any wind in the forecast until maybe Saturday, I am in  no hurry to get back. See you all this weekend. Don

Beautiful Beach Day

Saturday was a great day at the beach - we even got to kite for a while. A bunch of us showed up expecting good wind but arrived to quiet conditions and hot temperatures. Once in a while the wind would pick up and we'd hustle onto the water only to return to the beach ten minutes later. Finally, the wind came around at 4:00pm and gave us a great late session. The weirdest part of the day was how warm the water was. I was wearing my lightest shorty wet suit and was not cold at all. That is nuts for this time of year.

We'll Take It!

Yesterday was good early but then it got really light and stayed light for most of the afternoon. It didn't matter, we still all got a session in.

It was very good for people new to the sport; here's Julie (the one not smiling) after a round of body dragging.

Finally - Wind and no Work

It has been a while since I've been on the water. Today and Saturday are looking good and I'm not scheduling any work for these days. Forecast for next week calls for light wind but from the right direction so you never know - it could be good all week, or not. I'm due for a trip across the border so I'll miss the first part of the week.

Nothing to Report

Haven't had wind in a while. Today is cloudy, a little rain, and no wind. Forecast calls for wind on Wednesday, but just the one day. Monday or Thursday could surprise us with enough wind. Next Sunday may start our next good blow.

Water Still Nice

Water temp is cooling down but it still isn't bad. I'll be switching to my dry suit soon as I'm having circulation problems in my fingers and it is aggravated by the cold. The wind was good yesterday and should be even better today and Wednesday.

Missed It

It was supposed to blow yesterday so I spent the afternoon at the beach and had a  light wind session. Today the forecast was for less wind so I didn't even bother to check to see what was going on. Someone told me this evening that it was blowing out there in the afternoon and I just checked the wind history for today: http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=ISONSANC2
Sure enough, we had wind. Damn.

It's looking okay for Monday and better on Tuesday.

Does It Get Any Better?

These days have been incredible. I missed the first couple of days of this series and will miss tomorrow as well because of a lot of work, but the two days that I have attended have been great. The wind has only been blowing 15 knots and just a few years ago we would have been on 17 or 19 meter kites but now we are powered up on 9's and 10's. This means that we are kiting on flat water. And these days we don't just have flat water, but flat warm water. The warm water won't last much longer and the wind is bound to start blowing hard and we will move on to a whole other set of conditions to play in. Almost as much fun as working on tweaking old moves and trying new moves is watching this great bunch of kiters doing the same thing. We've had some new kiters just starting out and their enthusiasm is contagious. What a wonderful bunch of people to spend the day with. Thank you all. And those of you that have been missing these sessions: get your priorities in order and get your ass out there.

Cool Nights

The weather has finally changed! We've been having hot and humid days much later in October than usual but it looks like they are finally over. This should mean stronger winds. I didn't make it out to the beach yesterday because I was working late on a big project but I think that it was blowing hard and hopefully we'll have a repeat today. After that, the forecast doesn't look as good for the next week but the steady wind should be coming soon.

Sunday

Sunday ended up being okay. Carlos and his kids were already on the water when I got there and later Beau, Jeff, and Fireman John all showed up.

Unpredictable October

October has been just okay so far. Last Monday and Tuesday were fun but we haven't had much since then. Sammy and Karla came down from Hermosillo today hoping for wind but all we had was 9 to 12 knots. It was Karla's first day on the water but her 8m kite wasn't enough. We put her on a 16m kite that Sammy had with him and she did great.

Forecast looks promising, maybe starting Wednesday. We'll see. Water is still nice and warm.



The wind was great for most of a week and will probably remain kitable if you want to put up a big enough kite or if you are looking to get into the sport and need some practice flying a kite. This warm water won't last much longer. Monday and Tuesday are both forecast to be excellent (15 to 20 knots.)

5 Days and Counting

We've had five days of good to great wind and one more on the way. Nice start to the new season.

In Doubt

Yesterday was a very good day although the wind was just okay. Lots of people showed up, the water was warm, the sun was hot, and there was enough wind to enjoy. Today is looking a little more doubtful - Buoy Weather has dropped its forecast to 11 to 16 knots - but I think it will be ok. Fine for any one with a bigger kite.

Wind is ON !!!

Today wasn't perfect but it was good enough. It turned north on us and nearly completely shut it down for a while, but most of the day was nice. It looks like the wind will continue for a few more days.

A Few Days in a Row?

Weather forecast is looking better. Buoy Weather is especially positive, saying that we will have kiting wind for the next several days. The NAM forecast at Windguru doesn't look quite so positive. I guess we'll have to evaluate it day by day. Tomorrow (Friday) is supposed to be 13 to 18 according to Buoy, so I'll post tomorrow whether it lived up to the expectations.

Great September Day

September 29th turned out to be a very nice day. I arrived about 1:30 to find a windy, but totally deserted beach.

Later on Fernando and Samy showed up from Hermosillo and Scott and Jeff came out. From time to time people arrived to enjoy the beautiful day, including this group from Tucson.

The weather forecast doesn't look too strong, but I think that there is a possibility for wind any day until Monday or Tuesday.

Maybe Wind Thursday

Conditions looked like we had a possibility of wind today, and it almost happened. It blew out of the right direction but only 10 to 12 knots. Thursday looks like a better chance of kiting. The beach was empty.

Looking for a Kite?

Silent Sports out of Canada always has some good deals. Right now they are selling 10M Slingshot RPM's for about $870 USD, complete with bar and lines.
http://www.silentsports.com/store/product/24236/2010-Slingshot-RPM-10m/

Great Beach Day

With a good wind forecast we had a dozen or so kiters show up on Friday. The water was clear and calm and warm. It couldn't have been a better beach day to hang out with good friends in front of Bonifacio's.

It would have been a better kiting day if the wind blew, but it didn't.

We'll try again on Saturday.

More to Come

Sunday and Monday were about as close to perfect as it can get. We are hoping for a repeat tomorrow and Friday. What a nice surprise to have such an early start to the season. Water temps are in the upper 80's. No jelly fish. Flat conditions, no swell.

First of the Season

Sunday was great! Warm flat water, steady wind, and bikinis. Conditions couldn't have been much better. Hoping tomorrow is just as good. Kenn, Fireman John, and myself were the only kiters.

NW winds return

Looks like we may get a few days of wind starting Sunday. I'm in Tucson but I'll be back in San Carlos on Saturday. See you all at the beach!

Best Summer Wind in a Long Time

We've been having a lot of windy days on Cape Cod lately. I hope the coming hurricane doesn't screw things up.

Ross took some video of me at West Dennis. Lots of people on the water so I didn't attempt too much and the camera was a cheap still camera but it came out okay.

More Wind on the Way

This week has been good for south wind at West Dennis. Tomorrow's forecast is for 17 to 25 knots and then nothing until Saturday when we start to feel the effects of Hurricane Irene. We could get a direct hit by a category 2 storm. Yikes!

Cape Cod!!!!!

The weather has been great so far. High temps close to 80, warm water, good wind, good food, good friends.

 

West Dennis, Cape Cod

Not Even Southerlies

Hot temperatures and light winds. No change in the forecast. I'll be escaping in a week to go to Cape Cod.

Nothing

No wind to talk about. This post is mostly a note to myself so I don't forget a solution to a problem I've had. I've been using an Ocean Rodeo Pyro drysuit with latex rubber seals in the winter and it is extremely comfortable. The trouble is that at the end of the first season the seals got "cancer." This cancer is a strange softening and deterioration of the seals. Ocean Rodeo said it was my fault - that I must have contaminated the seals with suntan lotion or something. I said that was bullcrap and they eventually agreed to send me a new set of seals for free. I replaced the seals myself and was very careful to take care of the suit the next year. It didn't matter - it got cancer again. I've tried all kinds of glues and other products to stop the spread of the cancer and strengthen the seal where it was damaged. Well, I found a product that looks like it is working. It is called Vyna Bond by Performix. The label says it has excellent resistance to softening from plasticizer migration. It seems to do the same for rubber.

I would highly recommend a drysuit for water temperatures below 60 degrees but would look for a suit that uses something other than rubber for the seals. Even though Ocean Rodeo denied that there was a problem with their seals, I noticed that they now advertise that their drysuits come with poly-tex seals. (They also raised the price to almost $700 - ouch!)

Right now the water surface temp is around 90 degrees.

A Week Without

It's been almost a week since we had NW wind. Last Saturday was a great day with wind over 20 knots and water temp in the high 80's. Nothing since then. Not expecting anything until October but who knows? Every year is a bit different. The forecast calls for strong southerly on Saturday and while it will be good up at the north end of the Sea of Cortez, I'm not expecting much here. If it seems at all possible, I'll go out by Pilar to try to get a session in. Usually the southerlies are best early - before noon.

The guys at kitesurfing.com.mx have added a new video of the action down south: http://www.kitesurfing.com.mx/pages/videos/villajulio.html

Nice to see that there is wind somewhere.

Wind in July!

The wind didn't have a lot of power behind it, but it was enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Several kiters showed up and we will probably all be out there again tomorrow. Prediction is for more wind Saturday than we had today.

Weekend Weather

Friday looks promising and Saturday is looking really good. Forecast is for next to nothing on Sunday.

Thursday Wind

We had NW wind today, Thursday. The remnants of the big dust storm that struck Phoenix seemed to pass through town as well. I hit the beach about 1:30 and it was blowing 12 to 15 and later it picked up to 15 to 20. No one else showed up to kiteboard but there were other people on the beach to keep me company.

Maybe it will blow tomorrow as well.

Back to Normal

Well, we had two days of northwest winds but today it is back to blowing out of the south. Unfortunately my interpretation of the forecast was wrong and Thursday was the good day with 20 knots and Friday was only 12 knots. Consequently I was kiting alone the first day and when several people (Eduardo, Kyle, Ramon, Chip) showed up on Friday the wind was marginal. By the way, it was 120 degrees in Hermosillo yesterday.

Below is a post I put up on my facebook page.

Aquí está un video hecho por la banda de kiteos en el sur en Colima. Pienso que podríamos hacer un mejor video con nuestra banda de kiteos. Tengo una cámara que puedo traer pero yo no tengo el tiempo de hacer la redacción. ¿Cualquier voluntario?

http://www.kitesurfing.com.mx/pages/videos/pascuales.html

Buoyweather

Buoyweather is calling for WNW wind Thursday and Friday.
I have my doubts but I'll be there.

Thursday Forecast

Wind forecast for Thursday is worth watching. I'm not counting on it but I'll be ready just in case.

Two Weeks

It's been two weeks since I posted anything on this blog. As you can probably guess, it is because we haven't had any good wind. Lots of heat though. I spent a few days up in Tucson and it was pretty hot up there as well. This will be my 18th summer in San Carlos and they get worse every year. I used to do a lot of free diving and spear fishing in the summer but it doesn't have the appeal that it used to. Been there and done that and there aren't the fish out there that we used to have. This weekend I'll  head out to the beach and at least take a few bikini photos.

We normally get very few opportunities to kite here in San Carlos during the summer. Sites up north like Puerto Peñasco can be good as well as in the south on this coast (Vallarta) and the east coast (Puerto Progresso.) I've got several sites that you can scroll through the forecasts at Wind Guru.

Heavenly

These days have been so nice out on the water. We put up with cold nasty conditions all winter and normally by the time the weather changes the wind has shifted and is not much good for kiting. Not this year. With air temps over 100 in town, the beach is the only place to be - and this year we have wind.

Great Weekend

Saturday was a great day and today should be even better. Lots of kiters from Hermosillo and a real party atmosphere on the beach. We had to put up with lots of boats both anchored and cruising through and several jet skis coming and going but with air temps in the 90's, water in high 70's, and nice steady wind - who's complaining?
Here are some photos from Friday. I didn't remember to take any yesterday - having too much fun!

Not Much

We were expecting some wind today but we didn't get much. A couple of hours of 12 to 15 knots was the best of the day. Fireman John and young Fernando both got out on the water. Saturday is looking better and Sunday and Monday still look very promising.

Mexican Kiteboard Supplies

If you need kite supplies delivered to you here in Mexico, check out this site.

http://www.kitesurfing.com.mx/