Where We're Sailing Today / where we sailed today

[gerritt]

11/25/12 - 84 liters with 5.8 - some planing, some slog and ride. Uppers - solid logo high, peeling with some sections to hit, and long multiple turn rides. 2-3:30 was magic.

[ctuna]

Cowells 11/29/2012 3 windsurfers and 3 kiters out at about 4 pm today
average sail size 5 . South wind and not to lumpy. Small surf.

[gerritt]

Wait - 10/29/12 they were out, or today 11/29/12 they were out?

Cowells works on S to SE??! Please tell me more...

Today (11/29/12) at the Princeton Harbor I was OP - but hangin' on - on a 4.7 and 84 liters (I'm 160). Kevin Kahn looked more comfortable on his 4.2. Little to no rain. A good time was had by all.

[zirtaeb]

Cowells and InsidePleasurePoint are the two most frequented, probably due to decent parking. Side onshore, not wave riding, but more bump than the Harbor.
Berkeley and Larkspur also proved windy, with swells at RichmondBridge easily shoulder high, or logo high in windsurfer terms. The high tide and SE wind direction made the swells really nice where the bridge is low to the water.

[ctuna]

People were riding it . The reach is between the cliff and wharf. Windsurfers usually launch at the Indicator stairs best on a - tide with some beach showing. The Cowells stairs are in the land shadow of the cliffs but people sometimes use that to. I happened to be looking at the Surfline Cam for Cowells when I spotted some action at 4:30 to late for me to get to it but went down and watched. This happens a few times each Winter.
Right 11/29/2012 my mistake.

If you can find a copy of Force 10 the movie there are some shots
of people windsurfing the Lane and Pleasure Point in the early 90's
but its not in the Winter from with a South Wind.

[rwilde]

Gerritt
All these years and you have never riden Cowells on a southerly?

RW

[gerritt]

[ctuna]

Yes you can do it but you have to work your way upwind.
And the closer you get to the cliffs the less wind there is .
Basically the wind is dead onshore, at the beach it kind of funnels
between the wharf and the cliffs.
The Indicator stairs near the statue is what the locals use, mostly.
Also the Wind is better at Indicators an upper Cowells .
Yesterday about 5 there was a small strip of land showing at the Indicator
stairs I think the tide was about -.5
One gut walked up the stairs with the board and rig over his head the other deg-rigged at the bottom and walked up with the his stuff on the board.

[windward1]

Sailed Bombora and a few breaks under the cliffs of Capitola today. Launched at New Brighton Beach. Angulo 10' 10" and Ezzy Cheetah 7.0. Only four knots of wind to start, but good enough to catch the swell. Had to pump sometimes. Bombora worked, and got some rides on the near shore breaks a few times as well.

Tide was minus about a foot and a quarter. All kinds of little breaks start popping up when that happens.

After an hour the wind was dying. Sailed as long as I could and then ghosted back towards New Brighton on glassy water. Made it most of the way, with some of it paddling the air with the sail. Then beached and carried the kit on top of my head the rest of the way.

It was fun and I was out in a shortie. One that I cannot zip up the back on due to zipper issues. Plenty warm and nice to get on the water and out there before the cold hits tonight.

Looks like Natural Bridges would have worked well as it had a lot more wind. But I was happy with my light session.

Windward1

[zirtaeb]

Really cool!
Man, you should have been around back in the '80's when we were discovering new windsurfing spots every couple of weeks. You'd have the record for the most spots nobody else has sailed.
A few in your area I've sailed.... SteamerLane 2nd reef, launch at It's, 3rd reef just cresting, but not breaking.
SwiftSt. is no biggie, as Haut sailed there. NB's also.
4 mile, launching right in front of the fast breaking left in front of nudie beach.
We sailed Wads, Davs and Scotts back in the mid '80's.
Just N of Ano, that cattlegate you walk thru, then walk to the lonely pine tree and launch. Gazo's was regularly sailed, but the cut downiwind of PigeonPt., you sail out in a channel thru non breaking swells that line up all the way outside past the Lighthouse.
That fast left, maybe Ken'sBreak (for Bergerson) just N of the PidgeonLighthouse, on WNW. I never sailed the right N of that, but saw 3 windsurfers out and picking off right reef waves.
Pesca, Pomp, and SanGregorio...too much rip for me on S winds.
But YOU take the cake, still exploring new spots in this day and age.