Wyatt and Tyson’s La Ventana / Baja Report Season 3 and 4

[wyattmiller]

One of our guests was super stoked to do some sportsfishing so Tyson and I hired our local fish slaying captain Lalo for a day of sports fishing. $240 for the boat for a day is a steal for some full service fishing. Lalo knows all the spots and has all the gear. We have literally seen the guy put a sardine on a hook throw it in the water and say "watch this" as he counts to 3 and the thing gets nailed by a massive dorado.

We rolled to the boat ramp a little sleepy at 5:30AM and since we have never been early before we were getting a little worried when he was no where to be found by 5:50. But sure enough the boat came roaring out of the darkness at 6:00 (when he was supposed to meet us). We joked with him about beating him to the launch, but he laughed and told us he was out at 3:00AM catching some Balleyhoo for bait and hat nailed it bringing in about 35 of them to use as bait all day. The guy is AMAZING!!

We cruised about 45 minutes North past the North tip of the island to a seamountain they call La Reina (The Princess). From there it was a full day fish slaying where we ended up with 5 nice size dorado (Mahi Mahi) a couple of Bonito tuna and a few too many needle fish for our liking.

Such a blast. Followed by a massive fish cookout back at the compound.

[wyattmiller]

First big Norte since our arrival is hitting right now. Solid 4.5 -4.7 yesterday, though a little flat for our liking. Wind blew all night and we woke up to some nice swell up at the General's. Should probably be out there right now instead of writing this as it is fully cranking. Big decision for the day is if we are gonna load up the van and go sail the butter flat secret spot, or sail up to the Generals for some jumping. Either way its going to have to wait until after Joseph the fresh squeezed juice, doughnut and empenada guy pulls in the drive way and delivers breakfast.

Got some fun shots from yesterday with the clew-view an GoPro. We had 8 guests out yesterday ripping it up and I was trying to get super close to get them in the frame and I almost got taken out. (check the last photo)

Gonna get some more snaps today.

[PoorBoyUS22]

Looks like these conditions might happen again really soon... As in tomorrow! A nice little Norte pushed in some swell last week, enough to get in some surf and SUP action just down the beach. After sailing all day on my 4.5, we decided to get in a little surf session, followed by a smaller SUP session the following morning. Looking forward to it happening again SOON!

[hilton08]

Flashback to PSC

Great video from Johan

http://vimeo.com/81893045

[oswalso.payton76]

Nice post!

[wyattmiller]

The last couple weeks have been insane, such great conditions. We just had 3 days off but before that it was 11 days straight of 5.0 or better with 5 days of solid waves. We were so beat by the end of that stretch we were down to 1 hour sessions. Ha. Had a rockus group of Texans down here who sailed every single day they were in town along with one of our regulars Don who hit it right on the money. Such good sailing. And it looks like the wind is back today with another huge Norte hitting tomorrow.

One of the days in that stretch the huge swell combined with the big moon flooded our gear shed all the way back to the board racks.

[surfersteve]

Those 70s pornstar mustaches are sweet! I hope the senoritas dig them.

[wyattmiller]

Hey Windsurfers,

Just throwing a heads up about the insanely windy season we are having down here in La Ventana. While California is suffering drought and there is no snow in the West, we have had one of the best seasons in recent memory.

I have yet to sail anything bigger than a 5.0 since Thankgiving. December saw 25 days of 5.0 or better wind. Now in January we are on day 18 of solid wind and its only January 22nd. We have 12 extreemly stoked windsurfers sailing with us down here right now who have scored every day they have been here. Not to mention the swell we have seen this month has produced the best surfing and SUPing waves I have ever seen down here! (Check the photos).

We still have lots of space open in February for anyone who want to come down and join in on the fun. Ticket prices in to Los Cabos have fallen to as low as $350 from SFO and we can set up our taxi guys to pick you up and drive your over. Also, Aeromexico is doing 2 flights a week from Los Angeles to La Paz, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Our last two groups found round trip tickets from the Tijuana airport to La Paz on Volaris Airlines for $250. They said walking across the border and grabbing a taxi to the TJ airport was a breeze and the airport was one of the nicest they have seen.

So if you are tired of the crappy snow season, or want to get warmed up for the spring windsurf season come down and score some great wind with us down in Baja.


Cheers,

[wyattmiller]

It was another epic winter season in Baja and one of the windiest I can remember. It blew 23-25 days a month of 5.0 ore better in both December and January. It was not the waviest winter I have experienced but I did surf the best waves I have ever surfed down at the buffadore. All the wind made for some very happy guests and we were stoked to make so many new friends down there this year. Needless to say we are going to be back in business for 2014/2015 season and we are even going to stay open all of March to take advantage of the warm water and consistent wind.
Once we were all packed up down there we headed north to discover some new surf spots. After sleeping in Santa Rosalia we made it to the half point in Baja; Guerrero Negro and stopped in for some lunchtime tacos. We met some surfers who told us that the 7 sisters were going off and that they had just left overhead waves at a spot they call “The Wall”. We finished up the tacos and headed north using some directions from our buddy JP to backtrack from the closest town to the unmarked turnoff. We arrived to find just what the surfers had claimed peeling overhead waves with a 14 second period.
We camped there for 3 days surfing and SUPing till our arms could paddle no more. On one day in particular after a SUP and surf session the wind started to fill in. I was pretty beat, but decided it I could just rely on the harness and had to see what it was all about. I went out on the 5.4 and the 95L wave and quickly wished I had something smaller in both categories. Given the hike upwind to the van and the fact that Tyson had the camera going I decided to stick it out. I sailed till near dark on waves as long as any I have sailed in Punta San Carlos. You literally had to stop making bottom turns due to lack of arm strength.
The next morning just as predicted a strong hot offshore wind started to rise and we quickly started packing. By the time we pulled out it was blowing easy 4.0 straight offshore. The whole desert looked like a dustbowl. We had a hard couple of hours of driving North with crazy strong winds that saw one semi flipped on its side, while the more cautious drivers pulled over to wait it out. We spent our usual last night in Ensenada saying goodbye to the giant Mexican flag. Just our luck it was a Sunday which turned out to be Benito Juarez’s birthday and a holiday for all the locals. The town was packed and we partied will into the night.
The next day we hit the border crossing line and not 10 minutes into the 3 hour wait and just past the point of no return one of the venders selling the the Jesus statues told us that our van was dripping oil. We told him no way it must be water from the AC, but when we hopped out there was a torrent of bright red transmission fluid gushing out of the front of our tranny. Not what we wanted to see. The vendor offered to run and grab us a ton of transmission fluid and some STP Stop Leak. We gave him $60 expecting him never to return but 20 minutes later there he was grinning ear to ear. We spent the next 2 hours with Tyson driving with the hood up while I walked backwards in front of the Van pouring bottle after bottle of transmission fluid back in. Eventually, a bit filthier than I had hoped, we made it to across the border and to the nearest Ford mechanic. A few days later and $1,600 poorer we were back at home with just a few days to spare before our trip to Cabarete for our annual clinics with Vela. I am a bit late in writing all this, and La Ventana seems far away now, but in 2 more weeks Tyson and I will be back down in Baja for our May 3rd – 10th clinics at Punta San Carlos Baja. There is still room for anyone who wants to join and hopefully the van will make it there and back with no issues this time. For more info on the San Carlos clinics check out:
http://www.solosports.net/Wavecamps/Wyatt-flash/wyatt-camp-2014.htm

[wyattmiller]

a few more shots