Alameda today (Thurs) Yes or No ???

[pipedragon]

Berkeley is steady 20 with Whitecaps but it has a tendancy to die at 5ish. Thats why I always end up at Alameda. It is like 1 day in 7 that it actually stays windy until 7pm.

[panzerfaust]

it was one of those days :D, 12m was pretty happy up until just after 7

[jpd20]

Anybody find my big wooden Glide-looking board floating around at Alameda this evening? I got pretty darn separated from it and lost it in the swells. A pump lost last saturday, and a board today. Hope my karmic debt is almost paid up. If anyone sees it, give me a ring at 510-543-7053.

If the board was the price that had to be paid for decent evening wind at Alameda, I'll gladly pay--I just hope a board that big buys us more than one day!

-Josh

[OliverG]

Word on Berkeley: don't think of launching if sensor is reading
under 17mph average, unless you are competent enough to
handle tricky, holely wind with a big kite!.
Beach will be short
after 4pm

Don,

Thank you for posting this reminder! Many of us have been concerned and protective of this launch in the past and will continue to be so. Berkeley is not Alameda, it's a small launch surrounded by rocks with Bay Trail, Frontage Road and Hwy 80 all immediately nearby. Higher tideas leave very little to no beach at times. Onshore wind is the normal direction. No mistakes is the name of the game. If you don't have solid upwind skills and finesse to manage the holes on the inside, it may not be the best experience for you at this time.

Today some of us were very concerned about a new face heading out and demonstrating shakey skills and fortitude upon leaving the launch getting very close to rocks and sweeping the kite over the Bay Trail, which really makes us cringe. His only saving grace was that today the wind was really steady, strong and filled in to shore, which is the exception not the rule. In normal conditions, I feel he wouldn't have cut it and would have ended up on the rocks or Frontage Road beach, both of which are strongly discouraged. He wanted to have fun, same as anybody else, but in "normal" Berkeley conditions, the potential for problems with less experienced kiters is much greater.

Kiting is an inclusive sport, but at all of the launches around the Bay, there are many of us that are protective and want to make sure that access is not affected.

[Don Bogardus]

:) One word for Alameda today: Perfection!!!!
(Did iI call it or what?)