About an hour and fifteen minutes east of San Francisco, amidst animal farms and wind farms is a place called Sherman Island. There's nothing out there but wind, water, campgrounds and cows. The closest place to get a bite to eat is either over a $4 toll bridge or 12 mile drive to the town of Rio Vista. It's a really popular place to escape for bay area folk who want to go someplace a little bit windier and a whole lot warmer.Last weekend the breeze was a bit underwhelming for the most part. It blew about 18 average with little puffs all day Saturday. Not quite as much power as I like with a 5.0, but it was still nice. I definitely need to invest in a 5.7 to become a little more "skunk proof", since that would have been plenty. The 5.0 probably would have worked a lot more, but the timing of the tide wasn't really working out for me.
Sunday afternoon, I had one of my best sessions since I've moved. It was blowing solid 4.7 and I was on a 5.0. The tide was ebbing, so there were nice starboard ramps too. I'm starting to get more comfortable with air-time. I'm not really sure how high I get off the water, it probably looks like 6 inches, but sometimes it feels like 10 feet.
Even though the wind wasn't always ideal, the company was really great. The guys from Team Dawg and the other folks from Berkeley all have been really friendly to me. I feel really fortunate to have shared quite a few beers with those people.
Kevin K initiates a spock.
"look ma, no hands!"... half way through a duck tack
Matt H. rips through a grubby.
Damis V. spock. Love the bottom of those Tabou boards.
Christian and his Hot Sails Maui tent.
Isa pulling out some guac. We had the cars circled to block the breeze after dark.
Check out my new sweet mattress in the back of the matrix! Super Comfy!
I let Chris borrow my gear for a few. This is the setup I use 90% of the time.
All of the wind-power generated here is carried by these huge powerlines on structures like this that are hundreds of feet tall. In the middle of the night 28 knot breeze whipped through the tower. Unfortunately, it was blowing only 20 when we woke up.
Sofien S. clowns around by putting his boxers over the wetsuit and asking if anyone was ready to go kiting. LOL! He had just returned from the Gorge Games where he won 2nd place in the master's division for freestyle.
1 comment:
Wow, man. I can't believe how much mileage you're getting out of that 5.0 sail. Looking forward to the Gorge report.
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