BayAreaKiteboarding.com

I live in the north bay and have been putting off heading to the ocean for too long. What is the story with Dillon Beach?

Is Ikitesurf the only accurate wind forecast and reading available?

I saw a link to the kiting spot there once, can't find it anymore.

When is it windy there, and is only afternoon sessions, or are there consistent morning winds?

Thanks

The Tomales IK sensor is accurate for Dillon or you can check the Bodega Bay Buoy and then look at the satellite, if it's not foggy then Dillon is probably blowing. It can get VERY windy there, gusting over 40.

On a clearing wind it will blow all day and night; other days it will be foggy in the morning and then windy in the pm.

It's a big, wide beach, good for self launching and landing, lots of room for error on the water since the wind is side-on/onshore and the beach is long. If you have any problems, your gear will blow/float up onto the beach, as will any pieces of you that Whitey misses. :-"

Like most other ocean spots, the water is butt cold and mortals will need a 4/3 suit or better.

When the tide is going out there, it is fast.

Cue theme from Jaws

Not the best place to be draggin' around if you lose your board.

That area just past the sandbars, outside and down from the bay outlet seems particularly sharky to me. Over the sandbar seems ok but once outside......

There is a good reason for why that place "seems" sharky

In light of recent posts I would be more scared of getting tangled in the lines in the surf.

Is there a crew of guys/gals that kite that beach on a regular basis? Or if I go, should I expect to be alone out there?

there are a few people after 3or4 when it gets windy but if its windy early you could be alone, Please be aware of beach goers and unleashed dogs (private beach) its legal :animals-dogrun: this is my favorite spot so dont tell anybody (spoken with a lisp)

I finally made it out to Dillon Beach this afternoon. It was rather intimidating to look out and see swells as far as the eye can see. I am so amped that I made it out and actually rode some waves.

I did not have the confidence to take my directional out so I instead used my twin tip the whole time. One of the nice features is that whatever you lose ends up back on the beach. I sailed out of the first parking lot, but I noticed that there were kiters down a ways. Someone told me there is a campground down there. Are the waves cleaner down there? I noticed some kiters who launched from the first parking lot headed down in that direction to sail.

Riding my first wave in like 20 years was such a thrill, I am totally stoked. Apparently the wind dies when summer arrives. The windfinder.com forecast for that area was spot on. Now I have to figure out the wave forecast-sweet.

One of the things that kept causing me to crash was as I was heading in, or kinda parallel to the beach and trying also to go upwind, waves would crash on my board and I would eat it. I tried turning my board upwind and pulling the front of the board upwards to ride over the wave but that did not work. I guess you either have to ride that swell, do a jump, or head down wind and then aggressively cut back upwind in order to get over the wave.

Glad you had a good time. I wouldn't always rely on your board coming straight into shore though. I lost a board there once. Tomales Bay seems to create some weird currents (have seen waves colliding from two or three different directions).

I always hear the theme song to Jaws when body dragging for a board there :)