BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Again, certainly it is obvious to most of you, but yesterday i was struggling to come back to the 3th beach at 3nd Av - i know the wind was West :( -
and i realised that i was not going upwind at all.

btw, great thanks to the kiter that help me to pick my kite yesterday, it was going directly into the rocks and maybe would have been wildly trashed ... gosh, i was really too short on this one.

last week, i managed to come back at the exact point i started - small victory for a beginner -

here is my question : last week , it was ebbing, yesterday it was flooding, does that have that big of an impact of the ability to go upwind or it is other factors (like my weak technic or the wind strenght, etc ...) ?

thanx,
Olivier

Yes tide is a MAJOR factor.
A Flood means the water and wind are going the same direction.
An ebb means the water and wind are going in opposite directions.
This is why at Crissy a strong ebb is called "the chairlift"

the wind was really weird at 3rd yesterday too. pretty light and flukey. as it was really W, the downwind launch didn't get very good wind, so it made it hard to come in. you really had to get up a lot of speed to get in there.

generally, the ebb or flood at 3rd (especially near the beach) won't be more than 1 knot or so. So, generally, it's not that big of a deal. i think it was the lack of wind yesterday that did you in.

At Crissy, the current can be 5 times as strong. then, it'll really affect you.

Just to clarify, a flood tide is when the water level is rising and an ebb tide means when the water level is dropping. The meanings have nothing to do with the ambient wind direction.

For the bay area what Al-kite-a said generally correct. Flood (water flow) and wind going the same direction makes for less fun (less upwind) riding, especially for beginners. The best days are when the wind is nuking and the ebb flow is strong.

al-kite-a wrote:Yes tide is a MAJOR factor.
A Flood means the water and wind are going the same direction.
An ebb means the water and wind are going in opposite directions.
This is why at Crissy a strong ebb is called "the chairlift"

Oliver was talking about 3rd. At 3rd I actually NEVER found a difference of upwind capability in dependence of the tidal change. If the wind was west than it is clearly the shitty wind.

Chrissy field is completely different and yes tidal currents are mayor out there.

G

Thanks. It is weird about the wind yesterday because i found it light too, but the sensor of ikitesurf was telling a good 17-20 in the channel, if i remember correctly.
is there a shadow zone when the wind is West because of the coast // golf course ?