Jim's home | Windsurfing home | La Ventana Again home
Today...Sunny. North wind 20-24 mph.
Saturday...Sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
Sunday...Sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
Monday...Sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
Tuesday...Partly sunny. North wind 10-12 mph.
Wednesday...Mostly sunny. North wind 16-18 mph.
Thursday...Mostly sunny. North wind 16-20 mph.
I'm including the full wind forecast discussion at the bottom of this email for any meteorology fans. Looks good except for Tuesday. Yesterday we had the biggest wind since arriving in LV. It was calm in the morning with a windline moving closer towards us. Within 5 minutes it went from calm to 30 mph wind. Shortly after my 1.5 hour sailing session the wind sensor at the north end of the campground showed wind speeds from 32 to 38 mph with gusts to 45. That's similar to winds in the Columbia Gorge when it "nukes". Very big, confused swell forms. Gusts are frightening. Sand blows down the beach in a layer of air a couple of feet high from the ground. Tarps are impossible to keep clean. Hopefully the wind will be less today.
Most pics below are stills taken from videos I took with my phone from the beach. You'll see Arnie and James jibing their windsurf hydrofoil boards. Arnie with the yellow/black sail, James with the blue/clear sail. Also one particular kite surfer who was making enormous jumps, 30+ feet high that lasted a looooong time. Plus a couple of windsurf shots and a wing foiler mid-jibe.
I've been taking GoPro videos from various perspectives while sailing. First helmet mounted, then clamped to the top of my mast looking downwards at me. The latter are best. Will produce a youtube video from them when I'm home. I gotta say, those GoPro cameras and their waterproof housings are pretty tough. Twice now the clamp came loose and the camera was held on only by a leash. It was smashing all over up there until I got back to shore. Still works!
Kaweh has made great progress in learning how to windsurf. He's using Arnie's 12 foot long beginner board. I wondered about his retention of all the things people were telling him regarding how to sail. So I made a windsurfing quiz with 5 multiple choice questions, 5 true/false and 6 fill in the blank. He didn't score well, but the post-quiz review was helpful. Other experienced windsurfer people took the quiz and did well, even the Quebecois folks despite the language barrier. They use different terms in French for most parts of a windsurf board and rig. One part of the campground is thick with those Quebec people. We call it "the French quarter".
Kaweh learning to windsurf.
And then taking the windsurf quiz.
Friend Mica had a bit of excitement the other day when his sail separated from his windsurf board in the sandbar surf a couple of hundred yards off shore while coming in. I noticed this when he was swimming downwind trying to catch his board as it was being blown away. A wing foiler caught it, then neighbor James helped him reconnect it. A yet unresolved discussion ensued later about why it separated and how to prevent it from doing so again. Mica may delay his return home to Victoria BC due to the snow. The San Bernardino mountains area is getting hammered with snow. Hope roads are clear by 3/15.
Arnie jibing his windsurf foilboard.
James jibing his.
Kiters.
Windsurfers.
A winger.
