A Year (Windsurfing) en Provence: AWT Solosports Baja Desert Showdown

It was pretty exciting to be in San Diego getting ready for our trip to Baja.

After some passport adventures my son Phillip also joined my sister, niece and her boyfriend in San Diego. We had two days of tourist adventures including visiting the Midway aircraft carrier and surfing in Encinitas.

Saturday August 1

After a hearty breakfast at San Diego's oldest pub we headed to Brown field for our flight. Travelling with us was masters windsurfer Scott from Hawaii who turns out to be the only person ever bitten by a shark at Ho'okipa.

Scott's Ho'okipa shark bite scar

The small plane flight was awesome and we landed for a late lunch. Vanessa, Phillip, Len and I headed out for a quick session. It was a bit gusty so they ‎cut their sessions short after gaining a bit of confidence in the challenging conditions.

I stayed out on my 4.5 Taka and 108 R&D and had a ‎very enjoyable session. We got to know our fellow campers over dinner and fell asleep under the quickly rising full moon.

Aug 2

This was the day to get to know each other and learn about the format for the upcoming event. We were on standby waiting for the waves to come. So it was just a short session for me later in the day as we anticipated the coming waves and event heats in the coming days.

Aug 3

Today ‎started with my favourite; heuvos rancheros. We had some great breakfast conversations with Oliver from Paris. Sam shared some plans for the 2016 tour.

Then my four team Spiess comrades headed out to surf. ‎The waves were gentle and even smaller than normal. Every got some good rides and returned with smiles.

Late in the afternoon the first AWT heats were ‎scheduled. The youths went first and I was in heat 3 of the amateurs. (Phillip was actually scheduled to be in my heat as well but decided not to risk sailing in the offshore conditions.) I caught two good waves in a row on my first two runs in. I could hear my family cheering from the cliff. I wiped out on the 3rd wave and heard an even louder cheer when I finally got out of the shorebreak with my gear still in one piece. 18 minutes passed pretty quickly and the heat was done and I sailed back upwind to the beach.

I came in 3rd in my heat which felt great. ‎It was fascinating to see the different vibe in the Solosports camp with a bunch of nervous first timers before lunch and then everyone relaxed and laughing after the first sessions had been sailed.

‎Aug 4

It was a slow start to the morning with fog overhead and no wind. The rest of my family went and had fun surfing while I tried to get my head ready for the day ahead.

Smiling Carl

After lunch the call was on. I went back out on the 5.7 and RRD 108. My first masters heat was great with me getting two nice waves right at the start. I came in 3/4. Then my 2nd ‎heat was for masters and I also got some nice rides. My wave selection was rewarding with some quick jibes onto nicely forming swells. But the best part was actually right after the 18 minutes were done, I jibed onto one last wave knowing full well that the heat was over.

In the 2 minutes before the next heat started I rode that wonderful cresting wave all the way into the Chili Bowl. My nickname is now 'Smiling Carl'. Even though that last wave didn't count I still got 3/4 sending me to the next Amateur round.

Here are the two videos that I'm in - including slow mo of my smile!

Baja Roundup Talkshow from American Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo. I'm at 10:00

(Minor corrections, I'm on an RRD 108, there were 5 of us, my name is pronounced Speece, and I'm not going to Peru. But if a world champion is talking about me, I don't really care about details!)

Women, Amateurs, Youth and Masters at the 2015 Baja Desert Showdown from American Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo. I'm at 2.45

My last Amateur heat began with me falling at the point right on my first ‎wave. I never got my rhythm back and missed the good sets and rightfully came in 4th ending my Amateur run.

We had a wonderful salmon dinner and were captivated by Scott's stories about the first years of windsurfing. The milky way was spectacular and joy to watch with my son and niece before heading to our tents.

‎Aug 5

The morning was completely still so it was perfect for Len to surf and for me to SUP. I had 4 nice rides but after that wasn't balancing as well on the board and paddled back.

After a quick thunderstorm watch which didn't materialize more waiting ensued while the fog burned off. So Phillip, Len and I continued our epic fussball games.

Finally at 4:45 the c‎all came to run amateurs but I was already established in 11th place. So I sailed a SUP with a 5.0 down to watch the event. SUP sailing is definitely one of my favourite light wind activities. They got two amateur heats completed before the wind got to be too light.

After dinner there were some epic fuss ball battles with the highlight being the two handed Phillip and Carl Canadians vs one handed Len and Santi ‎Dutch / Argentinian combo.

‎Aug 6

The epic day. We started off slowly with a bike ride in the desert. San Carlos regular Dianne took Vanessa, Veronica ‎and me for a comfortably paced ride to the badlands.

Then came the windsurfing call. Pros were on first. I got to watch my favourites compete in several heats before my first masters (age 45-54) heat.

After 10 minutes and two good wave rides my heat was called off. One of the competitors had been given the wrong time for our heat which explained why there were only two of us. (I think I was winning at the time having had some good rides).

After a break we were back on the water. I was sailing fine for the first half of the heat but fell on the ‎inside. By the time I'd been washed a few times I realized my universal tendon had snapped. Luckily there is a cord the connects the board and I sailed out to deeper water to evaluate my options. It was hard making ground upwind and I was worried about poking a hole in the board. I dropped into the water and took a look. But then my universal had unscrewed allowing my board and sail to separate.

I got the universal screwed back into the ‎board and decided to sail back through the wave impact zone and down to the rock boulder beach. I think a few people on shore were curious why I didn't do any turns and disappeared from view.

As I started walking back to the event area I got word the even though I only sailed half the heat, my two wave rides were good enough and I'd made it to the final! AWT regular Ruben kindly got me a new universal and I was ready go again.

First though we got to watch the Pro final. ‎Boujmaa was ripping up the waves but KP found one wave and got a spectacular aerial. Before they finished I was out in the water for my 4 man masters final. KMac gave me a Shaka as I headed in on my first wave and he was heading back out upwind.

I got a few waves and spent a fair bit of time in the water trying to waterstart in the wind shadow. It was a mediocre heat for me but fun to be on the water right after the pros.

‎After dinner the awards were given out and I came in 4th of the 7 masters. It was nice to hear head judge Chris Freeman name me as the most improved sailor.

Inventor of the Streamlined tendon

I got a photo with Dave Domini‎, the inventor of Streamlined windsurfing parts and Tracker trucks. He was pleased to see that the safety line he installs on his universals worked for me.

A wonderful fireworks ‎display capped off the evening. The vibe at the bar was much more chilled and everyone was super chatty and relaxed.

‎Aug 7

We had pancakes for Veronica's birthday breakfast. Despite secretly opening her presents in the tent, everyone in camp knew it was her birthday with an hour.

While Len and Veronica went for an epic 2.5 hour mountain bike ride Phillip and I ‎watched the youth, women's and grand master's finals.

After a delicious chicken soup lunch, Vanessa and I had a 2.5 hour windsurfing session. The wind was consistent and I was really comfortable once again on my RRD freewave 108 and Ezzy Elite 5.7. We shared a lot of rides, waves and smiles. As we ended the session I went up and out to the Bombora and rode a single breaking wave all the way into the challenging high tide beach. The view back out to the water revealed a playground of windsurfers and kiters enjoying the wind and waves.

While waiting for dinner Phillip impressed us all with his rapidly advancing fussball skills. The 1980's first wave music on the stereo seemed to be the right era for the average guest.

The last awards were given out and the prize table was shared among all the competitors and guests. Kevin Pritchard shoes us the excellent videos he made of the Amateurs and Pros.

People started saying their goodbyes as many of the trucks and RVs would be leaving in the morning.

Aug 8

Our last morning and it was time to decide what last sport to take advantage ‎of. Luckily the wind was already on full so I went out to windsurf on the exact same gear I'd used all week. Fittingly the AWT stickers on my sail started falling off. I had a blast doing duck and monkey jibes. I also tried some planing tacks but still can't get close.

The highlight of the session was sailing into a pack of jumping dolphins. I'll admit to begin super quick on my water starts after that though. I sailed back in after ‎an hour and a half with a super big grin.

We had lunch and boarded the planes. In total there were 4 planes to take us all back with our luggage.

It was a very successful week. I'm looking forward to going through ‎the photos I received from Dawn, Joey, Mark and especially these ones from Clark!