#1 First Day on the Med

After a few family visits, it was time to drive off to Gruissan, and my first views of the French Mediterranean coast. Driving from Toulous, home of the Airbus A380, the landscape has become much more arid, feeling a bit like the Oregon interior. The strong, hot, dry wind that was tailing us helped with that Columbia River Gorge reference as well. 

Luckily, there is a windsurfing rental shop where the dry wind hits the Mediterranean, in Gruisson. There were dozens of cars and trailers and RVs, and about one hundred windsurfers out, with some really good freestylers laying down some great tricks. I quickly rented some gear (a nicely rigged 5.5m sail and a tiny 85l board) for 22e for an hour, and headed out into the offshore gusty winds. Smiling, I returned an hour later. Gruisson is where the annual 1,000 person Defi-wind windsurfing race is held, so we also did some research about where to stay, preparing for our hopeful return in June next year.  
http://www.defiwind.com/


A good first session.  I didn't get blown offshore into the middle of the Med, I managed to do a few duck jibes, a carving 360, an upwind 360, and basically got used to sailing a short board again for the first time since April.  It wasn't a long enough session, but the family really didn't like being sandblasted on the beach by the Tramontane wind.