Intro into Kitesurfing in La Ventana

So looking back at it I didn't actually have 12 days to work with. I really only had 10 as the first and last days with the car would be non kite days. I had one no wind day and two days where I needed to deal with boat issues. I also had one day with both my kites in the shop. whew.

That left me with six kiting days. Looks like I am going to need to stay in Mexico to work on this stuff.....

Return to La Ventana

I went back to La Ventana to Baja Joe's where I had done my ground school lesson a few weeks ago. I talked with Mary the very sweet girl who was running the place and worked out a deal to be able to use the showers etc for the next 10 days. I found Craig who taught me the first lesson and dove in headfirst for more.

Day 1

The first day would be my first water lesson. This was body drags and self rescue. Overall it's just silly fun. You fly the kite and it rockets you along, over and sometimes under the water. (It all depends on your ability to fly the kite) this session ended with a planned self rescue. I guess the eventually I will need the self rescue skill.

Hopefully not too often though...


Day 2

The second day was a bit more humbling. This was the first time trying to get up on the board. In reality it's just a major brain overload as you get to feel everything working together for the first time. First challenge is just getting the board onto your feet. Until you do it, you don't think about the fact that the kite is still trying to drag you around as you bob around out there. All the little movements you make can affect the kite, which in turn can affect the pull on you. So if you forget the kite too long it will either crash or start dragging you in the direction and speed of it's choosing. Unfortunately kites aren't super smart or caring and so the dragging part can involve various combinations of dragging, flying through the air or dragging under water or all of the above. Needless to say you don't forget about flying the kite more than once or twice...

Now you have the board on your feet and it's time to try and stand up. There are a lot of mistakes you can make. Some you learn slowly and some very quickly.

Leaning too far back is bad. It took me a long time to figure that one out. When you lean too far back you tend to fall back into the water as soon as the kite slows it's pull. You just plop back down into the water and have to start over. Imagine falling backwards off a dock. Unfortunately sometimes when you "plop" you lose control of the kite. It's more that you are worried about breathing. It can also be hard to see the kite when your head is under water..

.So leaning too far forward is bad too. I learned that one very quickly. When you plop backwards there is at least a chance that you can control the kite. When you fall forward as a beginner all hell tends to break loose. First you fall on your face and land on your bar and lines that you control the kite with. As you thrash around trying to get up into your ready position your kite has free rein to do whatever it feels like.

Now refer to the first tries of putting the board on the feet. It goes like this "Unfortunately kites aren't super smart or caring and so the dragging part can involve various combinations of dragging, flying through the air or dragging under water or all of the above"

Ok Falling forward is worse than falling back therefore my problem with sitting too far back on day one. "Once bitten twice shy"...

I eventually got up for a second or two but that was it. I was tired, sore and a little frustrated. At this point it was time to call it a day. Time to go home, lick my wounds and get ready to try again.

Day 3

Day Three was lots of fun. It was the first time using my own gear and not having an instructor around to give me helpful hints. I managed to get up on my board and even got a few short (very short) rides!! I was now at the point where I could stand up but I was slow getting my second power stroke with the kite so I would settle back into the water before building enough momentum to keep going. I took a break for lunch and then disaster struck. Actually it was just some bad luck and I had a gear failure in one of the air bladders that help to hold the shape of the kite. Unfortunately the kite can't fly without this so I was DOA. All I could do was send my kite off to the repair man and cry in my beer while everyone else enjoyed the good conditions.

Day 4

Tricky conditions served some hard lessons The wind was very gusty and variable on this one. You would just get settled in and the wind would just stop. I barely even got up today because the kite kept crashing. I guess it was just a good water launch practice session. After a few hours even the really good guys got fed up with it and there was only a few kites out on the bay.


Day 5

Good solid windy day. I flew my small 9m kite cause it was too windy for the big kite. Unfortunately it left me a little under powered. I really had to work the kite to keep going. Since I am still a beginner it doesn't always work out for me. A bit of riding and a bit of crashing. I think with a 12m kite I would have done much better but I don't own one of those.

Day 6

Same wind and problems as yesterday although I am getting better at flying the kite and am getting longer rides out of it. Right at the end though I really blew it. I was trying to get one last ride in before coming in through the surf to the beach. It didn't work out for me at all. I crashed my kite and the surf proceeded to chew on it for 10 to 15 minutes while I got myself to the beach. Thankfully someone pulled it out for me before it got really torn up but it still needed repairs. damn. I really seem to be hard on my gear...

I was dead on the water till the kites got repaired. Rico is a great kite repair guy right at Baja Joe's where I was hanging out so at least I could get them fixed locally. Unfortunately for me, I would have to give the car back before the kites would be ready.

All in all it was a sucessful adventure. I am at the point where I am getting up consistently one way and getting decent rides out of it. I am just about to start working on riding to the right. I am pretty good at water starts and am used to a fair amount of wind wave action. I think the next 3 or 4 sessions will see big improvements if I can get the right size kite....

NEXT....

Don't laugh but I managed to catch a cold. It's true!! I think the next few days till New Years will be pretty mellow. Then it's off to the islands. The kiting is on pause for a bit and it's time to do some travelling again.

Kite Kite Kite

As I had mentioned earlier my focus for the next 12 days was going to be Kitesurfing. In order to do this I would need to commute 45 mins each way every day to get to La Ventana. Everything else was on pause and my sole focus for the near future was gaining some measure of control of this whole kite thing.

The very next morning after arriving back in town I headed off to La Ventana. I still had things to unpack. I still had dirty laundry to deal with. There was no food in the fridge. I didn't care. For the next twelve days the only thing that will matter is kiteboarding.

No Blog for you, no photos, nothing until these days are done. I'll write up a good history of my learning/crashing/near drownings when it's done.

Meanwhile I actually updated some of the old posts with some google earth satellite views. Starts with San Diego working south...

La Paz Again

First stop was the little bay that has the mushroom rock that you sometimes see in promo stuff for Mexico. This little bay was packed with Mexican weekenders and was not very well protected. After an hour of hearing screaming kids and rolling around on the boat I decided that there may be better places to hang out. I hauled up the anchor and moved on to False Bay. This is a decent little anchorage just outside of the major commercial harbor near La Paz. There is a little hotel on the beach there but unfortunately it was closed when I was there so I wasn't able to check it out..

The next day it was off to La Paz to meet up with my friend Julie from Berkeley. She was down in Cabo shooting a wedding and managed to add a few days to her trip and come and visit me. Unfortunately for her it was still the tail end of all the nasty weather that just passed. What this means is that there was a lot of wind and chop on the dingy rides from shore to the boat. What that really means is that you got soaked going to and from the boat.

Eventually we had a system where we would strip down to bathing suits in preparation for the ride out. We knew we would get soaked so limiting the damage seemed to be the best plan. I don't think we ever got the full drowned rat look going but sometimes it sure felt like it..

With my new guest in La Paz, I decided that a full vacation party session was in order. Afternoon gin and tonics blended into evening cervesas and eventually morning hangovers. Of course a good time was had by all.

Since Julie had a car I convinced her to come and check out La Ventana with me. La Ventana is a windsurfing and kite boarding mecca that attracts people from all over the world over the winter months. While checking out the area there was easily over a hundred people with kites and windsurfers out on the bay. I decided there and then that I would come back here after my trip to the states..

On the last night before leaving for Tahoe we ran into Jason and Lucas from the anchorage at La Pardita. They came over for cocktails and stories that lasted late into the night. My last recollection of the evening was the sound of a conch shell being blown as a loud obnoxious horn, thundering through the night air. A great farewell from some good friends made while traveling.

The next day Julie dropped me off at the airport as I prepared for the shock to the system. A half day on an airplane and I was right back in cold and snow.

What took me 12 days on a boat only took 4 hours on an airplane... damn…

Boats are slow

The USA trip was great because it allowed me to visit with all my friends. Dinner parties, beers, coffee and just hanging out. It was great to see everyone. Before I had time to settle in, it was already time to head back to Mexico. (poor me)

Another half day on a plane and all the cold, the snow, and the rain started to fade into my memories. I picked up a rental car at the airport and nervously headed back to where I had left my boat over a week ago. I had never left my boat at anchor for this long before and to be honest I wasn't sure what to expect. Thankfully everything was exactly as I had left it and the only casualties were some rotting butter and cheese.

Espiritu Santo

I decided on an anchorge called Puerto Balena because there were two small islands nearby to snorkel around. I tucked up near the North end and went for a snorkel

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W110.22.777

in 22ft of water over sand

The sunset was spectacular and nothing like the night to follow. That evening proved a bit uncomfortable as the wind shifted to the west blowing straight into the anchorage. Now I was full exposed to wind and waves that were trying to push me ashore (bad). The wind wasn’t too bad (10-15kts) and the anchor was well set so i decided to stay as long as conditions stayed the same. It made for a restless sleep but it was better than trying to move in the middle of the night. In the morning I decided to move to Caleta Pardita which is the most protected anchorage on the island. As I was preparing to go another cruiser gave me a weather update. A "Norther" with winds from 40 - 50 kts was expected to arrive the next day. It was good that I was moving!!

I settled in Caleta Pardita in 23 ft of water in sand. I got my little cockpit nook set up and I was in cruising heaven.

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W110.22.656

NOTE for sailors. If you ever anchor here be advised that there is some odd metal debris very close to this that could possibly foul your anchor. I discovered this on a random snorkel around my boat... The rest of the area is clear and just nice sand.

THE STORM

I settled in and started putting things away in preparation, but to be honest I really underestimated this storm. Thankfully the wind built up rather gradually allowing me to keep up with things I needed to do. Because of my underestimation I ended doing things in the middle of the night in a storm rather than during a nice calm day..

In the end I had to completely strip all the canvas off the back of the boat, including the bimini. I had to take the window covers off because they were flapping so hard that they were undoing the snaps. One thing I didn't expect was that the wind would be strong enough to pick up my dingy with the engine on it. Unfortunately for me, one of the bigger gusts picked up my dingy, flipped it upside down and dropped it in the water. CRAP!! My outboard was now underwater. Thankfully I saw it happen and was able to use another gust to flip it back over. I tried to tie it to the side of Symphony but that was worse. The next big gust picked up the dingy and smashed the outboard against the big boat!! Finally I lashed it right tight against the back of the big boat. That worked ok I just had to watch for chafing every so often. The storm lasted 2 days.

When everything calmed down I took stock of what broke. My anchor light was out, my spreader lights were out, my steaming light was out, and my dingy outboard got dunked. Bummer.

First the outboard. A nice fresh water rinse to clean her up. Next, an oil change showed no water in the oil. That was good.. I pulled the plugs and only one cylinder had any water in it. I cranked the engine a bunch of times to blow that out. I squirted some oil in there and put her all back together. After a bunch of tries she finally sputtered and coughed and was up and running!!

Next the work up the mast. Working up the mast in an anchorage is rarely that much fun. There is always some wind or wave action to get the boat rolling around while you are up top. Whatever. It needed to be done. The spreader lights were just a bad connection. The anchor light was a burnt out bulb. (Thankfully I had a spare) but the steaming light was and still is a problem. The wire inside the mast broke off the back of the connection and has disappeared back inside. I'll have to think about what to do on that one....

Everything else worked fine. I am guessing the peak winds were in the 40 knot range. My wind generator has an auto shutoff at 40 to 50 mph that was activated several times during the storm.

The next evening I hung out with Luke and Jason from Emeryville and Truckee on their 34 foot O’Day. Judy Teams.. I brought over some wine and lemon poppy seed cake and we proceeded to have a grand evening of Rummy and stories.

Now back to La Paz

La Paz

So now I was in La Paz. This was my Port of Entry into Mexico and would be the first time I had to deal with Immigrations, Customs and the Port Captain. I wasn't realy sure what to expect but I was pretty sure I had everything in order.

Checking In

It's kind of funny, but if you arrive by boat it's up to you to go to Immigration, Customs and the Port Capitan. I guess that it's pretty serious trouble if you get boarded and your papers are not completed. So off I went to check in with Immigration. I walked right by it twice before Ieven found the right building!!



Check out the photo. It's not a real obvious type place.... It is the first door when it becomes two stories... Despite my bumbling Spanish the people there were really nice and gave me the 6 month tourist visa I wanted.

Next I was off to the port Capitan. Here again I had some issues finding the building. Actually it was more like the right street. This was when I first realised that not all streets have their street names on every corner. Actually very few of them do. So I would find myself on the map and then head off counting streets as I went. Of course I would get distracted and then I would need to find a major street again. Eventually it appeared in front of me. Thankfully it was a bit more obvious than the Immigration building!!

Of course there are fees that need to be paid with any official visit. And of course you need to pay them at a bank which is nowhere near the offices you have just visited. Off I went to find a bank. An hour later I m standing in line to pay my fee for my tourist visa and then it's off to the next bit. Customs….

By the time I get there it's closed so I had to wait until the next day.

Customs was another little adventure. another non descript building, but this time when I finally found it they told me that customs is no longer done in La Paz it's now t the next town over. of course it's too late for the bus so it will have to wait... Till Monday because tomorrow is Saturday...:-( This was getting to be quite the ordeal.

btw did I mention that I have to do Immigration and the Port Capitan when I leave La Paz? This little song and dance must be done to enter and leave every significant port in Mexico. Oh well. Nothing good comes easy.

The weekend was spent chillin in the marina. Monday I decided to hire a taxi to go to Pichilingue (the next town for Customs). An easy few hours later I had successfully completed my Temporary Import Permit for the boat.

Tuesday I was finally off for the island of Espiritu Santo!!!

Short Pause

Hi there

Sorry about the lack of posts lately but I have popped back to the colder areas to do a bit of work. Keeps the cocktail account in the positive. I'll be back in Mexico in a week or so with some new stuff...

Marc

Los Frailes to Los Muertos

By now I was getting tierd of approaching anchorages in the dark so this time it was up at 3 am for a 4am departure. There was a decent wind so soon I was sailing off into the darkness.Once the sun came up the wind died down and so I fired up the engine. Things were going fine but then the engine stopped. It was about time to change fuel tanks so I thought that might be the problem. I switched to the second tank but that didn't help. A quick check of the guages showed I didn't have any oil pressure. aaack! I removed the stairs to have a look at the engine and there was oil everywhere. CRAP!!First - PANIC!!Second - Self control and problem solving...After some franic problem solving I finally traced the problem to a failure in the oil pressure switch. It failed completely and would let oil straight out onto the floor. yuck. Thankfully I had spare oil and and a spare pressure switch and was able to fix the problem while I was still sailing.


The rest of the sail was pretty quiet with wind from the north at 5 Kts or less...

It was really nice to get to an anchorage get to an achorage while it was still light out.


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