IWT Baja Desert with Family

Here is my detailed blog from the epic family trip to the Baja Desert showdown 2018. The photos tell the story better than the text!

Friday August 17
We landed in San Diego picked up a rental car and headed right to Encinitas for a quick lunch at the Lotus Cafe. Len, Vanessa and Phillip rented surfboards at San Elijo State Beach and headed into the Pacific surf. I had a little nap and finished up some emails and calls.

The family surf session in Ensinitas 

We had a lovely drive back along the coast to our hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp district. The Padres were playing so despite being super tired Phillip Len and I we got some cheap tickets and watched innings 4-7. The food selection at the stadium was outstanding and even the foot long were memorable. Our hotel beds were a welcome rest after a long day.

Saturday August 18
We met a bunch of Solosports regulars at Brown Field and had nice flight down to Baja.

Ready for the flight down

Landing at Solosports

After settling in and a quick lunch Vanessa and I went out for a hour long windsurf warmup session. She was much more comfortable in the solid 20 knot winds and moderate waves than the extreme conditions of 3 years ago. We managed to share a wave together which was a huge surprise and wonderful moment.

A nice spaghetti dinner and then we fell into our tents and sleeping bags. My right ribs that I bruised/fractured in Bonaire were hurting from using the waist harness so I had the sleep only on my left side for the first time in many weeks.

Sunday August 19
The first day of competition and the call was for the Pro men and women. I sailed down to the staging point with Vanessa and we waited for her first heat. There were 8 women registered and Vanessa’s first heat was against fellow Torontonain Cee and also Maria from Spain.

Vanessa rigging up!

Ready to compete!

Sadly "Girl on wave" star Sarah Houser was too sick with a stomach flu to compete. Vanessa made it out through the the shore break and caught the first wave of the heat! After that it was a bit of a struggle. I was worried it was because I suggested she not take the 5.7 I’d rigged for myself. Instead it was that her 5.3 was too big in the stronger wind at the point and Chili bowl. Vanessa persevered for the full 30 minute heat and headed for the bowling ball beach. Walking back with her gear we found that her first wave was enough for 2nd place in her heat and she progressed to the semi final!

Vanessa on a wave!

After a long break and lunch watching the pro men in the distance, Vanessa rigged up and sailed down to her 2nd heat. She stopped in the deep water and adjusted her harness lines and sail and I think everyone (including Vanessa) wondered if she would sail all the way to the point for her heat. Well she did and windsurfed the full 30 minutes struggling to find waves but looking more and more confident in her jibes. Local rider Elise did find a number of good waves to secure the win and Japanese windsurfer Kana (named after Kanada) found a few waves in the last minutes for 2nd place. Vanessa then sailed upwind like a pro back to Solosports.

My ribs were feeling a bit better. Colby had kindly offered me his seat harness but I fell asleep hoping I don’t need it.

Monday August 20
Now a month after Vanessa and my firefighting adventures and so nice to be back out windsurfing and enjoying the wind and water.

There was a morning skippers meeting where we all introduced ourselves. The fleet was released for the day and Len and I went for a bike ride in the desert.

Morning skippers meeting

Then after lunch Vanessa, Phillip and I all headed out to SUP in the small waves and light winds. Len was on a surf board which is his preferred water sport.

Fun catching waves with Vanessa (caught one with Phillip too, just no photo of that!)

Solo wave at Solosports

Styling!

So much fun

Yeah!

Phillip catching some nice ones

Perfect waves for Phillip!

Phillip and I also caught a wave together which was another major thrill. After some afternoon quiet time, most of the camp headed out to the water for a 5pm SUP session. I was the only one wind-SUPing and caught a huge number of waves.

Enjoying a nice late afternoon wind SUP session

Mugging for the camera

Phillip surfing without a wetsuit - Canadian boy!

Interesting GPS stats for the day
1 hour of mountain biking = 7km
1 hour of suping = 4 km
1.5 hours of wind-SUPing = 9 km


Tuesday Aug 21
At 7:30am we were all ready for the group video shoot and then enjoyed heuvos rancheros for breakfast.

IWT BAJA 2018 RECAP from International Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo.

I went for a solo bike ride up Downhill then to the cool new Mr SSmith trail and down Stan’s. 7km in 45 minutes. Max speed 24 km/h.

After lunch, the youth fun heat was announced. At the last minute head judge Simeon convinced Phillip to enter. Phillip headed out and quickly got the first wave of the heat on his 5m sail and wind SUP.

Phillip out windsurfing with the youth fleet

Naturally the 4 youth who were actually using wave boards and had been training here for a week or more found some bigger waves. It was great fun to see Phillip in 5th place on the mock podium!

Phillip and the youths getting some tips!

After the youth expression session almost everyone in camp went out surfing. I took a wind SUP and a 5.0 and had my first ever wave ride from the Bombora to shore. Over a one minute wave ride and 400m!

After a great salmon dinner I feel asleep listening to all the Canadians laughing and drinking at the bar!

Wednesday August 22
Len, Roy and I went for a nice 9km bike ride.

Len and me on a bike ride

I love this shot of Len and Vanessa! - Thanks Amanda @sweetwater hawaii

The afternoon post hot dog lunch was pretty mellow and then at 4pm the juniors went out for their serious heat. Everyone was cheering and using the cowbell to great effect.

A quick sunset windsurfing session had everyone out tuning their gear and getting ready for the heats that are planned for Thursday!

Thursday August 23
We woke to fog and wind from the wrong direction so it looked bad for our event. But by the time lunch had been served the wind had filled in and the amateur heats started. I was in heat #2 and was completely thrilled with the one big wave I caught in the Bombora and rode all the way into shore with a few turns and one well timed smack on the breaking lip! Yeah, that felt good and I could hear the cowbell and cheering from the beach.

I came in 3/4 on that heat and 2/3 in my second which ended my amateur round. After watching and cheering the rest of the amateurs we were all released. Vanessa headed out first and then I joined her.

Some waves for me!

Good times!

Shortly after Phillip came out for his first shortboard session of the week. He rocked it doing tacks on his board, keeping upwind, even trying some jibes and catching some waves. All without a wetsuit. Phillip and I even shared a wave windsurfing on the way in which ranks right up there with sharing a wave SUPing with him from earlier in the week!

Dinner started with fresh crab and it was a noisy evening with a crew of Jeep drivers visiting camp. When I headed to bed I found a very tired monster energy dude who had mistaken my tent for his!

The visiting monster energy jeep group!

Friday August 24
Last day of competition. After saying bye to the fleet of Jeeps, we started heats down at the point. My masters heat went well and I was happy with the waves I found and even hit the lip on. I sailed back upwind for lunch and a second Masters heat was called. So I sailed back down again on the 6.3 Goya Banzai and my favourite board an RRD 108 freewave. The second 27 minute heat was also tiring but I felt happy with my efforts.

Last day of competition - master's heats

Heading down to the Chili bowl

Another long sail back upwind and then Phillip and I walked down to see the women’s final. Len was out on my board and sail which seemed to work for him for his only non surf session of the week.
Before dinner the awards were presented. Simeon and I shared the stage for the Masters.

Simeon the champ and Carl in 3rd.

Full results

Saturday August 25
I woke up and was determined to get the best out of the morning before our flight home. I went for a bike ride alone up to to the badlands and then down to the rock picking camps.

Morning bike ride

Then I went out for a SUP sail session. Another 400m, minute long wave ride in from the Bombora!

Last SUP session with some 400m long wave rides

Group photo after a great week!

We boarded the small planes and cleared customs in Tijuana. Then the shortest international flight in the world to Brown field where we saw two F18s take off. Wow.

Full culture shock in San Diego and our nice hotel rooms. A bit of danger zone undercooked Top Gun chicken BBQ food poisoning for Vanessa and me from our dinner that night but we still managed to catch our flights the next morning and got back to the real world after our wonderful adventurous vacation!

Forest fire - sad but great use of a windsurfing mast

After my 6 great windsurfing days in a row, I was looking forward to the rest of July. Sadly those plans have been dramatically changed by Parry Sound Fire #33 which has impacted many more important things than my windsurfing.

I published a post on Facebook about the amazing job the Fire Rangers are doing in our area. They used my old windsurfing mast to mount their sprinkler. And they safely stowed my Canadian flag.

The forest rangers used my windsurfing mast to mount the
sprinkler that protected our cottage from the fire

Waterbomber over our cottage July 21st - it worked - safe as of July 30th

Great source of information about the status of the fire is on our association facebook page.

The waterbombers are now using the very spot that I normally windsurf to fill their amazing planes.

Waterbombers filling up (July 29th)

Big Waterbomber about to fill up! (July 29th)

I really look forward to reporting on my next session up there but suspect the exclusion order will apply for a few weeks.

TWC Kona race makes it 6 straight days!

On Wednesday after work I went to the Toronto Windsurfing Club for their weekly race. As usual, I was late and so slow in the fleet that I only did 3 of the 4 races in the very light winds. But I really enjoyed the burger and the camaraderie after the race.

What was neat was that it resulted in my 6th straight day of windsurfing. I can't recall ever having such a straight set of days in Ontario. (I did once windsurf 29 of 31 days in the Gorge one summer!).

Here's the link to the Toronto Windsurfing Club.

The Toronto Windsufing Club for Wednesday night races

Gusty Northwest wind foil

Winds from the north are usually gusty and this was no exception. 5-15 knots. So I took the 5.4 Duke and headed out. I got one small run and then decided to have Jen go for a sail on the new Viper with the 5.4.

She had a few nice reaches back and forth enjoying the soft deck of the big 190 litre board.

After that I got a few runs on the foil with the 5.4. Here is the chart. Not much more to report.

The ride home

On the foil a few times

Late day foil

I managed to get out for a 6pm foil session after the potential for thunderstorms passed. I didn't really expect to get going, but pumped onto a plane once. I was on the 6.2 Duke and hoping that the wind would build so I could use a smaller board but it didn't.

Then, just as I was about to head in, the wind switched a bit more to south and built for 10 minutes. I got in two nice runs.

A few good moments on the foil- one 800m run!

Better than nothing and my wife and I did get to see the sun as the clouds completely cleared. I hope to install a weather station soon so I can have a more accurate wind record. There is no way it was 29km/h winds as shown in the weather report in the chart above, nor was the temperature 27.2c.

More beginner lessons! First father son combo!

I taught two more beginners! William is 10 years old and was a natural. He spent a lot of time on the simulator after my dry land lesson and could control the sail and board to keep it oriented across the wind. So it was easy to send him out on the new Fanatic Viper 80 and a small 3m flat sail. He did very well and after being towed upwind twice by the Seadoo he had the sport nailed. He even did a jibe without being taught how. His smile and joy at being in control of his destiny was very rewarding to me.

Father son windsurfing lesson success!

His father Andrew is 41 and was almost too good; he would hold the sail perfectly but wound up going sideways on the Viper 80. He was a bit too quick putting both hands on the boom which resulted in him stalling going upwind. So I set him out on the old YPSI Wayler longboard and made him promise not to take his front hand off the mast. Voila, he also got the sport figured out.

Andrew giving me a high five!

I did try going out on my foil for a bit. There wasn't much wind and I only planed up onto the foil for a few seconds. But teaching the beginners was more fun anyway and the whole family seemed to have fun in the sun!

Post session family drone shot!

Our local mascot

Little brother having fun on the simulator

My wife on the ride home

It was a great low wind bay day.

Father and son got in a second session the next day and were both way upwind chasing each other. So fun to teach a father son combo. Apparently the potential kite purchase may now be changing to a windsurfer for the whole family. Maybe I'll recommend a Viper 80.

The old YPSI goes upwind in light wind way better than the Techno,
3 tacks instead of 5. (July 14th)

Post script: it is amazing to think that the spot the beginners were windsurfing was once a busy coal harbour:

Andrew was windsurfing right where that big freighter is.

Key Harbour ca. 1916 - from www.ghosttownpix.com