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| Retro Air Canada to San Diego |
Day 1
Here’s the very detailed diary of my recent trip to Baja. The goal was to get some training on how to ride ocean waves from pro windsurfer Matt Pritchard. And it was a great reason to visit Solosports in Punta San Carlos again.
My friend Paul and I met at the airport in Toronto and had a nicely uneventful flight to San Diego on a neatly branded Trans Canada Air (Air Canada) Airbus 319. After we landed we bumped into Paul’s brother and sister in law who were driving their van down to Baja to windsurf the same week as us. We explored the city and then all had a great dinner at a cosy restaurant in little Italy.
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| I love the cars in San Diego! |
Day 2
We met the Solosports van and the other guests at the Days Inn. After regrouping at Brown Airfield we headed down to San Carlos by air, as did 11 of the 13 Saturday arrival guests. The flight was spectacular and we flew right along the shore.
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| Paul's brother's cool van |
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| Meeting our coaches at Brown Field |
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| I'm the co-pilot? |
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| Flying low on the Baja coast |
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| PSC action from the air! |
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| Our tents and camp |
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| Great waves and wind on our first days |
We were greeted by a very busy camp, with many of the outbound guests enjoying their last few rides. After a quick lunch I was out on a 6.1 and an RRD 108 litre Freestyle Wave board that suited me very well. I felt totally in control and didn't have any issues getting back in. I have different memories of my last visit here in 2007 when I found it quite frustrating.
Day 3
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| That's me tearing up a tiny wave |
This was the first formal day of our clinic. After introducing ourselves and getting some general clinic info, we headed out to the water. Kevin McGillivray (Kmac) is one of the coaches and is a pleasure to watch on the waves. A highlight of the day for me was sharing a wave with our head coach Matt Prichard. Matt and I were doing alternating bottom turns and I thought he was saying "you rock", but of course he was saying "ROCK!" as I tried to squeeze in one more turn. Oh well, after 5 waterstart attempts among the shorebreak and boulders I got going again.
It was a bit harder getting back in but I managed to catch a last wave and ride it left almost to the beach. I rode a 5.3 then 5.7 again on the 108 all day.
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| And sharing the bigger ones |
Dinner was great - pork ribs and corn and beans. Actually all the meals have been great; huevos rancheros being my favorite.
Day 4
Today started with no wind at all so most of the clinic participants went stand up paddleboarding before breakfast. I went out but have to admit it is hard. I did catch one wave, and will have to practice more, as I fell down around 20 times.
After video analysis of yesterday's riding and a delicious pozole soup we headed out again.
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| Camp life |
I took a 5.0 sail and a small SUP to play in the waves and 12 knot winds. It was incredibly fun as I was able to catch almost every wave I wanted, and also worked on my heli and duck tacks.
My buddy Paul ran onto the rocks that afternoon and sadly put a small hole in his sail and his hand.
The clinic crowd are a diverse bunch. 6 Canadians, 2 Swedes, 2 Dominicans (one of whom competed in the 1984 Olympics the first time that windsurfing was a sport) and a number of Americans from a broad variety of states and origins. There is definitely a good amount of experience in the group though. And it was great to see repeat PSC guest Dave S. who I last saw at the camp in PSC in 2006.
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| SUPing is hard |
Six of us went for a pre-dinner bike ride in the last bit of daylight. The mountain bikes and terrain here are first rate. It would be hard to get bored here.
Day 5
I realized today that both of the women in the clinic are Canadian! There were more women visiting at San Carlos than in my previous trips, including a grandmother who regularly gets 4 seconds of hang time on her kite.
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| I'm getting it.... |
I had another great afternoon of SUP windsurfing in light winds for almost 3 hours. Sadly I do get the San Carlos “Rock Star” award for breaking one of the thruster fins off the stand up paddleboad.
The wildlife is remarkable. The first day I saw a whale 20 metres from me, every few days we see dolphins or porpoises and there are always seals to be seen.
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| Oh yeah! |
Having dinner sitting next to pro windsurfer Matt was great, I really enjoyed hearing his stories of life on the pro tour. Later that night I saw shooting stars and a distinct milky way under the clear Baja night sky.
Day 6
After reviewing video from the first few days we headed out to the water. There wasn't much wind so I tried stand up paddleboarding again and finally had some six good rides and a dozen falls. SUPing with just a paddle in your hand is hard and at 210lbs I need the biggest board they have to have any chance of being able to balance in the waves.
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| All smiles |
Day 7
A bit more wind this morning so after our jumping and looping lecture we all headed out. This was a bit more how I remembered San Carlos, as I found it really hard to get upwind on the 5.7 and 104l wave board but I did get a few rides.
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| SUP Windsurfing - slow but fun |
In the afternoon I had another very enjoyable 3 hour SUP sailing session. I caught a ton of waves and found being out on the water to be easy and addictive. Now that I'm consistently remembering to keep my head up and move my hand back, my heli-tacks are consistent for the first time in my windsurfing career.
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| Smiling on the stand up paddleboard |
Today the seals were actually curious about us all on the water and one was following my board and was swimming right behind and underneath my skeg.
At dinner coach Kmac and some of the other guests were suggesting that I should consider entering the
AWT Maui Classic as an amateur. The waves here are a lot smaller than Ho'okipa but I'll admit to being excited by the idea.
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| One of the few good rides on day 8 |
Day 8
What a frustrating day. Both in the morning and afternoon sessions I went out on boards that were too small for me. At least in the morning there was enough wind to keep the 104 and 5.7 going, and Matt apparently got video of the two of us sharing another wave which I'll post later.
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| Video of Matt following me coming soon... |
In the afternoon I tried a Quatro 110 quad fin board and really didn't like it. I couldn't catch waves, stay upwind or even get planing. It was pretty humbling. I finally came back in and got a nice big RRD 120 single fin and had a last few good rides. Gear selection continues to be a key factor in this sport.
Day 9
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| The truck leaving the camp with our luggage |
As the truck departed in the morning with the majority of the luggage, we reviewed some more video with Matt and Kevin and had our final lecture. We got to go out SUPing one last time in the light winds and sunny skies. I managed to get 6 solid wave rides and only fell in 6 times, so my wave to wipeout ratio improved significantly.
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| John and Christina's campsite |
We said our goodbyes to the campers who were staying on and welcomed the new crew of kiters who were arriving.
We also said goodbye to Paul's brother and sister in law who are staying in PSC until they get some huge waves or run out of supplies.
After a last delicious lunch we then boarded the small planes to head back to San Diego and home.
In all, the trip was a success. More wind or bigger waves would have been awesome but we made the most of the conditions. The group really bonded and learned an awful lot from our terrific coaches. I suspect most of us will keep the Solosports client return rate at 90%. Thanks again to Kevin Trejo, Clark Merritt (who gets credit for most of the photos) and the rest of the Solosports crew for an excellent adventure.
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| The full crew! |
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Paul, Kevin, Carl & Matt
Thumbs up! |
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| The return trip |
What a great event the 2013 Aloha Classic was! Many weeks later, I'm left with a few strong memories:
The pros - on my way through security at OGG I saw a familiar face. Josh Angulo was ahead of me walking through the airport. I recalled how nice Josh been on the beach after Brawzinho secured the PWA world title. Josh told the photographers to stop taking pictures of Brawzinho and him, and instead have them take pictures of Brawzinho's father with his son in a very touching moment. I said hi to Josh and introduced myself. He was very gracious and excited to hear about my first AWT competition and now I've got an invite to Boston (or Cape Verde) some day!
The fences - yes looking through my camera pictures the fences made of old windsurfing boards was another strong memory and likely the best one to use in this blog entry.
