Oct 4-12, Playa Paraiso, Mexico (near cancun)

[Jason Klein]

A few months ago there was a thread on kiteforum that read, "you know you're a kitesurfer when....". one of the responses was "when an otherwise perfect day at the beach just isn't any fun when there's no wind". That pretty much sums up my vacation. I knew the wind would be hit or miss there this time of year, but going further south (brazil) or to HI were just too expensive. Most days had perfectly smoothe ..... 8mph winds. Went out one day early in the week to with winds maybe 10 mph for two quick downwinders. Finally on the last day we had winds in the 12 mph range and i rode underpowered for 2 1/2 hrs. Wind was basically just shy of being able to stay upwind. I'd lose 10-15 feet or so on every tack and eventually have to walk back after 20-30 mins. Nice to lauch from a real sand beach and ride in clear, 80 degree water though. I was the only kiter there, though one guy came up to me at the end of that last day and had just arrived for the following week. Got a lot of comments from watchers on the beach. would have been a lot of fun if the wind was cranking and i could have been launching huge to an audience. Anywhere along this coast (yucatan peninsula, riviera maya) would be a great kite location in the christmas-to-may timeframe, which is the windy season there. Used a golf deceiver bag (thanks Todd) for travel. No charge for the bag and nobody looked at it twice. All hail the mighty ?sport? of golf.