Baja 2019 PSC Pritchard Clinic

Friday
I arrived in San Diego which after 8 or 9 visits feels wonderfully familiar. I connected with TWC friends Andree and Jill and we went to check out the Mission Marina wind and kitesurf area and then up to the Surf Divas Shop in La Jolla. A fun lunch and then some swimming in the Pacific for the ladies. I found a nice 2 mil short sleeved suit which I’ve been searching for for a while.

Welcome to San Diego

The Pacific Inn

La Jolla seal lookout

No chance of rain

I returned the rental car and we headed to dinner at Queenston in Little Italy.

Saturday
Nice plane ride into camp and a quick lunch was ready for us. Saw the Gem Hall clinic folks leaving as Matt and K-Mac rolled into camp.

Ready for our flight

The Mexico / US border from the air

Arriving in San Carlos

I took out an RRD 106 single fin. Windsurfed for 2 hours which worked well. Changed to Goya 105 tri fin which was the first tri fin board I’ve enjoyed. It really felt like a skateboard under my feet. 2:45 of windsurfing in total!

Quite tired heading to bed looking forward to a full week!

Sunday
Intro to camp. The usual mix of great folks from around the world. 3 Torontonians, 1 Montrealer, 2 Texans, 1 Minisotian; 1 Colorodian, 2 Bay Area, 1 Floridian, 1 German, 1 Austrian, 1 Swede, 1 Aussie with dreadlocks. (If I remember correctly?)

This was the first time in a clinic that I heard at least two of the participants say they used to kite but wanted to go back and get better at windsurfing since it is more fun, both in flat water and the waves. Interesting.

I took out Goya Custom 118 which was a bit narrow and wobbly for the very light wind. I had to do some upside down waterstarts with the 5.7. I changed from a Chinook reduced diameter boom and 28 inch lines to the Streamlined carbon boom and 32 inch lines which was easier on my hands.

Then a super fun SUP sail session with the old white Sup and a 4.7. Man I love SUP windsurfing.

We ate dinner inside and I missed having family members with me like the last few times I’ve been here.

Monday
After breakfast we had video analysis of our light wind sessions.  It was super foggy and light.
I headed out after lunch on my favourite RRD 108 and a Goya 5.3.

Our Tents  with the fog in the distance

Emirita in the kitchen

Dry land simulator practice

Matt coaching

I caught the wave of the day and maybe my life.  All the way from the Bombora way outside into shore with a half dozen nice turns and a smooth jibe at the end and planing back out upwind. My whoops and yelps were heard back at camp! Another 2:45 session with just a quick break. Only planed a few times but it was all about the waves. Kev-O waxed poetically about how I caught that big wave as K-Mac said sorry for missing it on video.

A Baja fog and then another lead into an amazing sunset with a yoga session before dinner.

Tuesday
Morning stretch session. We watched each participant's efforts from the day before. Then at the end; A nice surprise. My wave of the day was actually caught on video and was shown last!

I'm super grateful to K-Mac for shooting the video, Kev-o for safekeeping all our videos and Kristian for sharing it with me. It makes for a great memory, especially since camp host Clark who normally does outstanding photos of PSC windsurfers was back in the US with an infection.

Excited that K-Mac got my wave on video. It was bigger in my mind...

After a slow post lunch start I had a great 2.5 hour sup sail session with a 5.0 Goya sail. Some great waves and company from curious seals.

Two BMW bikers arrived on their GS 1200s and promptly went surfing. Pretty cool.

Surf bike

Welcome to camp

Wednesday
No video from Tuesday so we watched old PSC contest videos. Then a 1 hour SUP paddle session in the windless waves. I was on the RRD ?XL whopper. I stupidly caught my first wave which Joey was already foiling on and felt like an idiot colliding with him. Such a kook. My sincere apologies were later graciously accepted but I still felt so stupid.

A lazy Hot Dog lunch and a late day 12km bike ride with Brad from Texas. We found the hole to ride through in the badlands!

Bike ride

Bike ride elevation changes

You are here

Dinner was lobster with the nice bottle of J Lohr I brought from San Diego. Much discussion of the IWT and my plans for retirement after dinner.

Not really roughing it!

Thursday
It was still overcast and windless at breakfast. Inspired by two campers who hiked to the Mesa the day before, I got a posse together and Joey took us to the trailhead. 1:48 minutes later we had climbed the 5km, 500m Mesa.

Van ride to the start of the hike

Hiking hazards

On our way

Getting closer

The Canadians up top - elevation 534m

Hike elevation chart - 500m total climb

Hike map - 10 km return

The view back to camp

Panoramic view

Heading back down

One of us didn't have proper hiking shoes AG!

After lunch I tried for a half hour and failed completely at surfing. I did better at SUPing a while later. Still zero wind.

Dinner was great steak and off to bed.

Friday
Huevos rancheros for breakfast and then some goodbyes with potential weather sending a few guests home early.

I headed out on the SUP board with a 5.0 and had a great 2 hour session. Got some nice duck tacks while riding in ahead of the wave. A truck full of Federales in full camouflage gear checked us all out for a while!

After lunch the wind built and the camp got busy rigging. I went out on a 5.5 Goya and a Quattro 109 thruster. I felt like is was shredding waves to pieces for the first hour. The fins did pick up too many weeds but the board felt great.

Then I decided to head down to the Chili Bowl for the first time this week. I got one exciting ride and spent the next 45 minutes getting back upwind. Initially I didn’t think I would make it at all and then some nice groundswell lefts took me back upwind. Yeah.

GPS trail of my trip down to the Chili Bowl and back

Super Baja Fish tacos and then video and more goodbyes.

Saturday
Departure day. The camp already felt quiet after Matt and K-Macs truck left at 4am with two campers. I was the first one out at 10am to try the high tide waves. I took a 5.3 Goya and the wide 116 Quad custom. I scared myself a bit with a few big sets coming through. After an hour windsurfing and a few big waves my arms were spent.

Heading out for my last session

The launch was actually kind of scary at high tide

Not my best wave, but the best photo!

The rest were all heading out as I came in.  After a quick lunch and getting to see Eric from previous trips, it was time to fly back in the small planes.

A few of us met in the Gaslamp district for dinner and vowed to return. The next morning it was the same group at the airport waiting for our flights back to reality.

Great ceviche at Gaslamp fish house

Good night San Diego

Checking out the aircraft carrier before heading home

8 more days on the water to add to my nice 65 total for the year. Thanks again Matt, K-Mac, Joey, Treve, Kevin, Andree, Jill and everyone for a great week.

Wednesday night on the committee boat

I was excited and a bit nervous to be on the race committee boat for the first time. Luckily, Bob S who is a regular at the club and has been on the boat many times was also volunteering. We got the boat launched, inflated the buoys, got the anchors, notepad, starting horn and flags and headed out.

Ready for my first time on the committee boat

It was great having company. Since I wasn't going to be using my Kona, Vanessa borrowed my gear and headed out for what will most likely be her last windsurfing before becoming a mom! It was fun to see Vanessa and Len frolicking in the water and then see Vanessa almost planing in the light winds.

Silly faces rigging the 9.0m sail

Vanessa and Len

Pregnant Vanessa ripping!

Bob was a pro at setting the course up and we started the races promptly at 6pm. With the sun setting earlier every week, we did two 2 lap races and one 1 lap race. The weather was quite comfortable for mid September.  It is very exciting being on the boat at the start line. Luckily for Bob and me, no one went over early on any of the races, so we didn't have any individual or group recalls.

A successful race start

Happy windsurfers

Andree between races

The last windsurfers crossing the finish line as the sun sets in Toronto

After the racing, lots of fun conversation over the regular Wednesday evening BBQ burgers. Andree and I chatted excitedly about our upcoming trip to Baja.

Like the IWT, one of the main factors in TWC racing is showing up. There were only around a dozen in the Kona fleet this year so I slotted in around average. I hope to make more races in the future.

Unreal Saturday sessions

The wind prediction for Ontario was great for Saturday. The forecast continued out to upper NY state where over 100 windsurfers attended the Unreal Windsurfing Tour.

I was up at the Launch Pad and the same wind was forecast and I had it all to myself! I took out the Skate 108 and the 4.8 Idol, the first time this year using that small sail.

Heading out to the Launch Pad in a solid SW wind

Great wind for Ontario and beyond!
(see comments below about wind power)

The view as I was changing into my 3/2 full suit

I had an audience for the last hour!

Nice shot as I landed a decent chop hop - Danke Karo

2/3 of my fan club!

GPS trail of my 61 km, 2 hour 50 minute session #1
I headed upwind to catch some swells in the wave spots

Max speed 47.4 km/h - Max heart rate 151 during a different speed section

This was definitely the longest and highest wind session of my summer - actually of my whole year since last November!  After that epic session we had lunch on the island and I did some chores and enjoyed the electric heaters inside. 

Outside and inside temps

The water was 17c, same as the air. I later checked the IESO website for stats on how much wind energy was produced in Ontario. Surprisingly only half of the wind potential was used.

The amount of wind generated on that great windy day was less than I expected
based on available capacity across the province...

Wind was producing around 11% of the province's energy around mid day
and 5.5% of the energy during my second session.

After a few hours the skies had cleared so I decided to try the Freewave 116 and the Duke 6.2 as it looked like the wind was going to be dropping to 15-20 knots. But it actually stayed quite windy and I was planing every run. I tired out quickly and only had a short sleeved old 3/2 wetsuit on so it was a shorter session.

My cousin took some video - here are some screen shots!

I think I need to lean forward more even on overpowered jibes....

Second session speed and heart rate
I don't know why HR jumped so high just once

Second session GPS trail. Wind was fully west at that point.
I definitely threaded the needle in the lower left
but the water level is significantly higher right now

So overall I windsurfed over 74 km in two sessions. I'd love to do 100 km in one day sometime, but maybe not this year.

My goal for this year was to windsurf 80 days. I'm at 57 days on the water so far. With two trips planned for the fall, that might just happen if I score a few more days at home too.

My sail locker and end of day smile.