Crissy to Berkeley Downwinder Saga
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:42 pm
So I got a heads-up late morning about a big downwinder from Crissy to Berkeley heading out from the Beach at Crissy around. It sounded like there'd be a few of us doing it and it seemed like the wind would be good. Yesterday brought some nice winds and the forescast called for more of the same this afternoon. I was able to hook up a ride from Berkeley which was excellent I live in the East Bay and wouldn't have to head back to Crissy afterwards. Nice!
At Crissy, thirteen total headed out - Chip, Jono, Anthony, Chad, Enrique, Byron, Jeff, Mark, Kathy, John, Charlie, Ovi, and Myself. As soon as we launched and headed out on mostly 12's, it was light. We all started heading downwind towards TI hoping to get some better wind. By Alcatraz, it was clear that it was very light and by then no going back; hadn't been any chance of going back since we launched, really. We all managed to get down to TI milking it pretty good, but it was definitely super-light.
Slowly we all approached TI, and I was behind a couple of other kiters toward the front and focusing on just keeping my kite flying and trying to stay planing, so where everyone else was at, except for those in front of me, I didn't know. Passing TI was good news as Berkeley started to seem that much closer, but shortly after TI is where it got lightest. Everyone was struggling hard, trying to keep the kites turning and flying in super-light winds, sinking down and rising up tyring to get planing. Severely slogging I started aiming for the upper rocky point at the Emeryville Marina. I worked my kite like crazy, sloshing up and down in the water for 5 minutes or so and managed to find a spot of wind and was stoked to get up and planing slowly. I started making a downwind run toward the upper point and past that, the beach at Pt. Emery.
By this time, a couple of kites had gone down, but some managed to wait it out and get enough wind to relaunch. I made it in to the beach after a couple others and then we waited to see who came in. All but two made it in and we didn't see them anywhere so we called the Coast Guard and they either got picked up by them or made it in by other boats as they showed up in a bit. One kiter lost his kite, got picked up by a sailboat and taken downwind to recover the kite, made a grab at the bar, missed and tried again, getting it the second time, relaunching it and eventually making it down the beach. Enrique, who was driving everyone who needed to go back to Crissy, which was 75% of the people, had lost the key to the truck, probably when he was trying to reunite himself with his kite via sailboat, later giving everyone ample time to drink all of the beer, which Chip made a run to replenish, while waiting for the extra keys to arrive.
All in all, an awesome time and killer downwinder across the bay. =P~ I knew we were going to make it, let's do it again sometime! =D>
At Crissy, thirteen total headed out - Chip, Jono, Anthony, Chad, Enrique, Byron, Jeff, Mark, Kathy, John, Charlie, Ovi, and Myself. As soon as we launched and headed out on mostly 12's, it was light. We all started heading downwind towards TI hoping to get some better wind. By Alcatraz, it was clear that it was very light and by then no going back; hadn't been any chance of going back since we launched, really. We all managed to get down to TI milking it pretty good, but it was definitely super-light.
Slowly we all approached TI, and I was behind a couple of other kiters toward the front and focusing on just keeping my kite flying and trying to stay planing, so where everyone else was at, except for those in front of me, I didn't know. Passing TI was good news as Berkeley started to seem that much closer, but shortly after TI is where it got lightest. Everyone was struggling hard, trying to keep the kites turning and flying in super-light winds, sinking down and rising up tyring to get planing. Severely slogging I started aiming for the upper rocky point at the Emeryville Marina. I worked my kite like crazy, sloshing up and down in the water for 5 minutes or so and managed to find a spot of wind and was stoked to get up and planing slowly. I started making a downwind run toward the upper point and past that, the beach at Pt. Emery.
By this time, a couple of kites had gone down, but some managed to wait it out and get enough wind to relaunch. I made it in to the beach after a couple others and then we waited to see who came in. All but two made it in and we didn't see them anywhere so we called the Coast Guard and they either got picked up by them or made it in by other boats as they showed up in a bit. One kiter lost his kite, got picked up by a sailboat and taken downwind to recover the kite, made a grab at the bar, missed and tried again, getting it the second time, relaunching it and eventually making it down the beach. Enrique, who was driving everyone who needed to go back to Crissy, which was 75% of the people, had lost the key to the truck, probably when he was trying to reunite himself with his kite via sailboat, later giving everyone ample time to drink all of the beer, which Chip made a run to replenish, while waiting for the extra keys to arrive.
All in all, an awesome time and killer downwinder across the bay. =P~ I knew we were going to make it, let's do it again sometime! =D>