Day One - Pismo/Oceano Dunes/Grover Beach
Lit up on my 9m for a few hours. Fun mushy waves about head high outside the main beach break. Butter flat section near the shore for working upwind = motoring in 4 inch deep water parallel to the beach. Everyone has the same idea, so it's kinda like an airport taxi way, except that certain people want out in certain places, sometimes without warning. Great vibe, reasonably controlled chaos. Park ON the beach and launch from your car. Rigged 11 and 13 later in the day as things mellowed out. Plenty of sunscreen needed. Oh yeah, I should have put some on my eyelids. Day ONE and I have burnt eyelids - cool.
Day Two Jalama - First one out on the Zephyr, fun, but at Jalama there is usually a price for rigging a big kite once the wind shows up in earnest. Self landed the Zephyr when I could no longer drop in on waves, just getting pulled upward too much. Had to flag out to land - waay too much wind. Rigged 13 and had a blast on the twin tip as the waves got bigger.
Day Three Jalama - Rigged 13m. Head high plus waves for about 4 hours. Kited with dolphins outside the break.
Days Four - Six Jalama - 9, 11, 13 Cranking wind, big ass waves, exhausted daily. I am finally able to hold enough speed from the top of a wave, S-turn down and up the face and cruise out before the wave gives me a smack down. A surf board would be cool. I don't have the talent to go on a strapless surfboard through this break quite yet. What I need is a surfboard with straps, because you have to huck often to get over the break. From 1/4 mile away I can see a dude destroying waves all the way down the line. It's Ian Alldrege again. The dude just rips waves.
One of the days the wind goes from 9m to 11m wind and I think I'm done for the day. I'm talking to a guy, telling him I might save some energy for tomorrow. He looks at me and asks "How often do you get waves?" Solid point my friend. I kite another hour, getting some great rides and crawl back to the car.
Day Seven - Coal Oil Point, Isla Vista CA No real wind forecast for today. So I go for a ride with my wife. As we get higher up, the wind freshens, I see the ocean and TONS of whitecaps. I get back to the house and my phone is ringing. Let's check out Isla Vista. I might rig 11 and send my buddy out on the 9. But first, the launch. 30 feet of sand next to a cliff wall, downwind from a point. I can FEEL and HEAR how gusty the wind is. I look at my buddy, and let him know that it looks dicey. Three people walk by with gear, all of them talking about how hectic it was, and that they just couldn't hang on...Including Peter from Jalama who was lit on a 5. Peter is VERY light though.
I put the 9 in the air and immediately realize that my buddy will not be kiting today. I slung that kite around like Yoda with a frickin lightsabre just to get to the point and then the wind finally became kitable. My buddy busted out his surfboard and came out. 4 others launched kites from the point and we all hung on. 7-10 foot waves that never really broke hard, some glass inside the point where things were crazy gusty. Not as much fun as crazy, but you could ride a wave, accelerate and then jump the BACK of the next wave and repeat. Landing the kite was very sketchy.
Day Eight - Hot Toddie shows up in Oxnard. The wind is supposed to turn on. We load Zephyrs and the wind never really turns on. Too much inland heating. About 1.5 hours of almost good wind. Super small waves, I have never seen Oxnard this flat.
Day Nine - I take Hot Toddie to Jalama. We ride 9m kites for three or so hours and come back trashed. Various wave sizes. Just a real good time. Hot Toddie likes this area, but really it sucks, so don't ever go there.
Day Ten - Hot Toddie and I ride Pismo. My 13 explodes on the beach. OK, 11 it is. We absolutely NAIL the timing on this one. LOW tide. 3 people total on the entire stretch of beach. Easy commute upwind on butter with nobody in sight. And waves that are rideable UPWIND for half a mile. Things light up after 2 hours, we rig 9m, half of CA shows up and things are still good. My other friends show up, clown around for a bit. We try different kites and boards as the wind gets a little weird.
Day Eleven - Hot Toddie goes to Pismo. I go to Jalama. I know I won't kite for at least four days so I want to get my money's worth. Forecast: 8-10 ft swells. 35-45 mph winds...All day. The waves were all at least head high, with some hitting 11-13 feet. Nothing for a surf rat, but for a Utah guy, this is intense. I have been in waves like this in Oxnard, but there is a breakwater to smooth things out there. At Jalama, there is just no rest...anywhere on a day like today. I get out beyond the break and a pilot whale goes by. As I look out beyond the break I realize that the ocean looks almost as white as dark angry blue. There are whitecaps and foam EVERYWHERE. Everything is blurry, but even so, you can still see the sets of waves coming in. Eight very good kiters are out riding strapless. I go to Tarantulas break pick a wave and it keeps growing. As my confidence increases, so does the size of the waves. I get on one. It is a very friendly giant that lets me play on its face as it grows and grows. It's big enough now that there is no chop in front of it. Eventually it grows tired of my antics, and at this point I realize that this is the biggest wave I have ever ridden. As It starts to barrel I realize that I need to get the %$#@ out now. I point my tip down, power the kite some and scream down the glass. In my peripheral vision I see huge amounts of whitewater behind me. I can't hear anything over the roar of the wave and I feel like I am escaping from an exploding house in a movie. I find myself laughing and head out again, hitting some smaller waves. Everyone has gone to the beach, many have had a full day, but some simply can't stay attahced to their strapless boards any more. It's just NUKING wind. There's one last person to land me now, so I head in. I only kited two hours, but I had no business trying to finish on empty on a day like this.
I have a few days of rest in me now - Round two begins in about three hours
