South Tower Protocol?

[fearlu]

Fun day at the Field yesterday. Took the elevator up to the South Tower and on the way there I found the smoothest patch of water I've ever ridden on the Bay. I remember hitting those spots on a poleboard but it was really flat there yesterday. Totally powered on smooth, rolling swell.

Now for my question: What is the protocol there for "wave-riding"? And, what is the most effective way to ride the critical sections at Fort Point? I've been told that the flow is to go outside the #2 bouy each time before coming back in to ride a wave. (I also noticed that toe-side/starboard seems to be the best way to get in a few turns on the wave face.) There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the flow yesterday though. Pretty hectic.

So, you "regulars", what are the guidelines you normally follow there?

[zgur]

Bid D, wazzup brother???

Nice to see you travel west a bit....just a few more miles west & south, and the fun gets out of control......nice to hear that you putting in some miles on waves......you are a wise and respectful man to aks about protocol.........

Sounds to me like you are getting ready to ride real waves ;-) Once you are, you know how to get a hold of me....

Get some, Z.

[Sander]

Never kited Ft Pt. but windsurfed it many times.

Beware:
1) massive wind shadow from the Fort
2) submerged rocks
3) extreme currents (not a good place to breakdown or drop kite)
4) 'locals-only' surfers who feel threatened by your presence in the line-up

That said it is an awe-inspiring setting, is probably best on low tide so that the wave breaks further from the wind-shadow, and the channel between the Fort and the South Tower can get some great rolling swell.

Have fun and hope to see you out there!

[Proparoo]

Dave, you wave riding fool....

Would have thought that after our trip to San Carlos you only have answers, not questions...

Hola

Ricardo...

[KillaHz]

Dave, I must have just missed you...I saw Bob but I never spotted you and you are not hard to spot. I was on the Pink Best Waroo so I was not hard to spot either.

It's wierd 2 days ago, it was a little smaller swell and there were a couple locals up there when Clinton and I got there. They seemed to have their fill by the time we got there and CLinton and I got it to ourselves for an hour...couple of surfers but the wind shadow had us outside their spot anyway.

Yesterday, there were at peak time 8 - 10 kiters, 6 - 8 Windsurfers and 15 surfers...all in eachothers way for the most part. After a while, it actually seemed as though the surfers were enjoying the chaos. A couple surfers were actually really helpful (some might say life-svaing) when Clinton's kite hit the crain above the wind shadow when he tried to go to deep on the wave. His kite landed on the rocks and instantly got torn to shreds by the waves.

Clinton was drifting out past the gate fast on his board, in his 2mm shorty and a surfer on a long board paddled out to rescue him. Then two others pulled his kite and bar out of the rocks and put it in the parking lot for him. Another rescued his board. I would have never expected it but it got to a point that they seemed to recognize that we could all have fun out there without getting in their way. When they saw what we had to deal with when we break down out there and how we worked together to save boards and such, they seemed to accept and somewhat respect it.

That said, there was a ton of chaos out there yesterday. Many who seem to have no idea of wave riding protocol. Many windsurfers who have been riding that wave for a long time and never had to deal with kiteboarders, some Kiters who know and follow wave-riding protocol, and then just some who didn't seem to care about protocol.

Unfortuneatly, I fell into more than one of these categories yesterday as it became a bit frustrating out there.

What many of us don't understand, sparing Bob and Dave and maybe a couple others is that a windsurfer cannot enter or exit that wave the way we can on kites. They can't slow their speed toe-side, on starboard like we do to stall for a wave. If they don't come into the pit with speed, they can't jibe in there - there's no wind. They need to come in with speed, jibe onto the wave and use the wave to get back inot the wind. That's why we saw windsurfers not baring off some of our waves. I was pissed a couple times as windsurfers put me in some pretty sketchy situations (I even yelled at a couple of them, which I don't feel very good about) but hindsights 20/20, right?

While it is fun to ride toe-side, starboard in, the wave is a left and blows side shore to the left. So, when a rider is going toeside, know that he will eventually throw his kite back and expect to have an empty wave to go down the line on. Timing with the kite is critical when you get to the point that the wave is actually walling up and having another kite behind you can really F$#%k you up.

All that said, I think the only reasonable solution is to treat it like they do at a surf contest when it's crowded out there. Once you get a wave you have to go out around the buoy then you have priority on anyone coming out or coming from behind you. If you slow down to line up a set, the person behind you slows down too. This would atleast let each rider approach a wave with their style -windsurfer or kiter-

This would obviously take some serious communication between windsurfers and kiters but maybe some people down at the beach who know both well could start soliciting opinions.

Myself, I tried to follow good wave riding etc... but as it seemed that the sstems applied to the coast don't necessarily work at this spot, I just took any wave I could get and tried not to snake anyone.

Thanks to Marcello for getting my board after my kite went down in the impact zone...I love my Waroo re-launch system!

Check out the video that goes up from yesterday on Best Bus Tour Page

[fearlu]

Thanks for the affirmation-- chaos indeed. Once the group exceeded about 20 boarders of all kinds I bailed. I did see you arrive and get a ride or two but missed the drama on the rocks. I committed a little too deep myself once and almost lost the kite to the hole. Anyway, a normal wave-riding system would have been a little less sketch for me.

Yes, the poleboarders need to come roaring in their to get theirs and I understood that! Wanted to try the 'Roo too but was already rigged by the time the bus pulled in. Besides, paparazzi were swarming you guys!

[jonosf]

Kiting at the south tower is very challenging; riding waves at Fort Point is the ultimate challenge. First, if you are not an experienced wave rider, stay well clear of Fort Point. Usually, you take-off well in front of the rocks, then cut to miss the fort with your kite and this is where it gets dangerous when others try to snake your wave (by pinching downwind of you); the zero etiquette/clueless kiters. The protocol is the person closest to the break (in this case, the fort), has right of way. Everyone else needs to stay well clear. Protocol also dictates that you wait your turn, and not get greedy (try to ride ever wave). There is nothing worse than when you take off and turn to go down the line and some idiot is riding towards you (off the wave) to try and get on the waveÖidiot!

[al-kite-a]

I would add.
No short tacking once inside the Gate.
This the only way to keep the flow going.

[More Waves Please]

So Gabe did a nice job of describing how crazy Ft. Point can get. I'll stick to the coast, thank you very much. What struck me the most, however, is the fact that a Crissy regular is kiting Ft Point on an ebb wearing only a 2mm shorty. Is that true? I can see MAYBE heading out at Alameda or 3rd in a shorty during the summer, but anyone with potential exposure to the ocean should be in a full 3/2 at minimum. How long are you going to last trying to make the swim to Baker Beach on a board with near zero floatation? I'm definitely not a safety geek with whistles, strobes and flares around my neck, but I do think everyone in the Bay Area needs to be prepared to spend a couple of hours down in the water. Unless you're a polar bear, a 2mm shorty isn't going to do squat in 55 degree water.

[dewey]

So Gabe did a nice job of describing how crazy Ft. Point can get. I'll stick to the coast, thank you very much. What struck me the most, however, is the fact that a Crissy regular is kiting Ft Point on an ebb wearing only a 2mm shorty. Is that true? I can see MAYBE heading out at Alameda or 3rd in a shorty during the summer, but anyone with potential exposure to the ocean should be in a full 3/2 at minimum. How long are you going to last trying to make the swim to Baker Beach on a board with near zero floatation? I'm definitely not a safety geek with whistles, strobes and flares around my neck, but I do think everyone in the Bay Area needs to be prepared to spend a couple of hours down in the water. Unless you're a polar bear, a 2mm shorty isn't going to do squat in 55 degree water.

I was stupid and surfed out there in the late 80's during an ebb. Went too far out after seeing Occy rip a nice size wave to bits. Well I didn't know about being flushed back then and spent about 30 min fighting the current (because I was stupid), ended up tired and swam into the rocks behind Ft. Point. That place can be tricky if you don't know what your doing. I'd hate to get caught without a good wetsuit in the Pacific.

Did you know that if a wave picks you up and throws you into rocks you could bleed without tearing your suit. Found out the hard way. Never went back.