ultimate kite adventure

[moblvet]

OK BAK, and not admin, just what happens when posting, what I've said before, something said and respondents attack.
I have a 26' Osprey boat supporting those times. Totally an adventure. Have a hot water shower to warm if needed, hey Gibby.
At Crissy yesterday, talking about posting these days, one brings up a topic, someone decides your stupid without knowing the facts. Tried to talk a safety guy to keep posting, he's given up, I will try to get him back...
IMHO.
Perhaps if one thinks I/others are stupid, they could respond in a question, if not answered well, then go on their diatribe.
Please...perhaps.

[kief]

ok
do you think it would be stupid to launch at doran
and kite to dillon with no chase boat?

that's all i'm saying,nobody called you stupid.

it's impossible to attack someone with smiles if ur post :)

[moblvet]

"pretty risky to say the least,more like stupid" you said.
26' foot Farallon type boat, for support.
OK you said I'm stupid.
My point, post here for attack.

[kief]

i went from berkeley to treasure island and back,no boat,no radio,solo
some would say that was stupid,so i guess it's all relative
i by no means,want to be a buzzkill
let's think out of the box,of course
i think there's more agreement,than disagreement
very few of us have vessels,let alone someone to operate one in 30 kts.

there's a story i've herd,about a guy that may lurk this forum
going from crissy to sherman,unsupported, on a longboard
w/a dry-bag w/clothes,shoes,cell.
i think that's rad!!! =D>
would love to hear the whole story

[adamrod]

delta now flies direct from atlanta to fortaleza btw...

[airess]

there's a story i've herd,about a guy that may lurk this forum
going from crissy to sherman,unsupported, on a longboard
w/a dry-bag w/clothes,shoes,cell.
i think that's rad!!! =D>
would love to hear the whole story

that would be L.M.G. and actually he skipped Sherman and went all the way to Rio Vista where he was found sitting forlornly in front of McDonalds in his wetsuit waiting for his ride! He can tell you about the whole thing. pretty cool!

[GracieMarie]

re: "direct" flights to Fortaleza....vs. flying from Atlanta, next time I go, I'll take the direct flight from AMSTERDAM to Fortaleza. SFO---->Amsterdam---->Um, recreational activities for a couple o'days---------->extreme sleeping------>Amsterdam-------->Fortaleza-------->Prea.....Ahhhhhhhhhh.....

And for more kite adventures, I'm dying to go to Mauritious(sp?)/Rodrigues Island....my S.African friends RAVE about it.... :)

[Greg]

i went from berkeley to treasure island and back,no boat,no radio,solo
some would say that was stupid,so i guess it's all relative
i by no means,want to be a buzzkill
let's think out of the box,of course
i think there's more agreement,than disagreement
very few of us have vessels,let alone someone to operate one in 30 kts.

there's a story i've herd,about a guy that may lurk this forum
going from crissy to sherman,unsupported, on a longboard
w/a dry-bag w/clothes,shoes,cell.
i think that's rad!!! =D>
would love to hear the whole story

Enjoy- it's more about the journy then the destination
L.M.G.

[CdoG]

ive been outside the gate
and at times ..
a 26 foot boat sounds small

and you can do, what you can do...
and after you do it,its done

limmys feat was not small but
he did it safe because he was inside his limits
the hole way

same as the kiters busting out new kite horizons..

like chip and koffa
i think they made it twice, and blow up on that last trip
from
pt rays to crissy and so did the 26 foot boat....
fact i think the boats had trouble and not the kiters

adventures were you find it
hell some days just kiting alameda is an adventure

[Greg]

To tell this story I must first make a few corrections:
First I was supported- I was wearing a seat harness, which in conjunktion with my full suit acted kinda like a jock strap...
Truthfully, my friend Dave and his trusty dog Andy were their for me.. Dave dropped me off at Crissy and was hanging out later at Sherman to give me a ride home.
I didn't have a dry bag- the only things that stayed dry were my cell phone which was wrapped in three zip-lock bags and my lunch which was wrapped in one...
There were no cloths or shoes with me, in fact Dave had pretty much everything I brought for the night... What I carried was a cell, a radio, my lunch which consisted of a P.P.J. and two Powerbars, also I had a full bag of Gaterade in my Camelbak..
For a ride I choose a 10' long board. The reason I choose this perticular board was two fold.. First I'd never ridden it and second because I knew I could paddle it for miles if nessarry.. In fact all I'd done on that board was paddle it and I wanted to know what it felt like to stand up on... So it's first ride was about 70 miles, it rode pretty well.
For a kite I choose a 10m Fuel.. The kite I knew was going to be key to success. What I wanted was a kite with good power but not to much. It had to be fast and agile with easy relaunching, The Fuel proved perfect- also I happened to own it!
The ride was more of a reconnaissance mission then anything else.. You see my goal was not just to ride to Reo but to one day make it a RACE.. I'd been thinking for YEARS of doing this ride with a few friends but I never really had any friends that were up for a day of kiting that was most likely going to end in defeat.... So I figured I best run the course myself before I sucked a friend or two into ruining there day too.
What the ride was like was... pretty mellow. I wanted to go under every bridge starting with the Golden Gate and end the ride at Reo.. Well the long board proved a bit harder to ride then expected.. Being strapeless, never having stood up on the thing and all made the upwind tack seem darn near impossable.. After about 45 minutes of plugging away at the up-wind I gave up only about 3/4 of the way up to the bridge.. (So there you go!! Someone is actually going to complete the REAL ride someday, 7 Bridges!!)
Anyway I turned tail and rode my trusty plank down wind and rounded Point Blunt and took a wide angle to not fall pray to the hugh wind shadow of Angel Island. I headed due North somewhere off of Mariana. After barely making the San Matio Bridge on one tack I entered the fastest wind of the day.. About his point I was a bit worried that I had to much kite.. Riding pretty lit unstrapped in larger swell with a tanker under my feet was somewhat worrysome.. Anyway I passed that section and things chilled quite a bit.
The next set of bridges were interesting... Where the C&H Sugar factory is the wind is very strange, it actually is swerling in that area and I managed to ride, under power, in a complete circle. This area will prove to be one of the biggest problems for future riders.
The next set of bridges was a group of three.. This area was VERY TRICKY! After making the first bridge I had to fly under a very low train tressel bridge with my kite turning sidways in less then 30 or so feet.. I somehow flipped my kite in the sky a couple of times under this structure and gleefully survived airborn only to drop the kite a moment later in the backwash rotor just past this massive obstical.. With my kite now on the water I floated past the next bridge and didn't find any wind for quite some time...
Sitting on my board, riding the current up river, I looked toward a giant section of glassy water.. So I pulled out my lunch and eat... As I sat eating I started to think the day might be over.. But thankfully the current was working FOR me.. This was not luck, for luck is the residue of design... My entire trip had been planned around the currents.. I knew that the only salvation to wind holes and bridges and rotors was going to be keeping moving further up stream in the event I couldn't keep my kite airborn.. Well as I sat there for perhaps an hour I began to think I may be spending the night riding the river on my butt... But I knew if I could move far enough up stream I'd find wind again,, and I did.
Around the Mothball fleet fingers of wind were hitting the surface again and I managed to relaunch my kite.. From there on I rode into progressivly better wind.
Entering the Delta I made my first and only real mistake. I rode into the wrong area and ended up having to spend about an hour tacking back up wind to get out of what seemed like a dead end... Those of you that have ventured into the Sluews know that this area is a mase of waterways with numerious potential pitfalls.. The worst case would be to drop your kite back in the reeds and never be able to relaunch.. I have helped others out of this situation, WHILE flying my own kite- I've jumped and bumped and crawled myself back into the reeds to try to relaunch the other persons kite.. This kind of situation proves nearly impossable... but where there is a will- there is a way... We did it TOGETHER... Anyway this time I was alone and in an area that I didn't know.. The only signs of life were some shotgun shacks that I'd past and so I knew tis area was going to be my home for a while IF I didn't manage to get back out.. So I did.
Back on the main river again I rode down the center of the river and charged up stream because the day was drawing to a close.. About an hour before sundown I passed the crew playing at Sherman.. I hung around for a minute or two and waved Hello to the guys ripping up Second Island and proceeded to Reo..
At about sundown I dropped my kite and floated under the Reo bridge.. I was a bit surrprissed the Bridge operator didn't lift the span for me but I figured what the hell. and charged the bridge! just as I got to the bridge I dropped the kite and dragged now against the current past the bridge and self rescued to shore..
Once on shore I rolled up and went to Micky-De's and called my friend for a pick up.. He didn't ansure so I began to hitch hike.. After a while a kiter came by with a car.. He aggred to drive me back even though he was intending to go home.. We stashed my board in Sheldons backyard and drove back to Sherman where I partied tell I dropped... That might have been half an hour-

So the moral of the story is: WE CAN DO IT!! All we need is a PLAN and an oppertunity to put the pieces in place when Mother Nature provides....

Many THANKS to my friend Dave and his trusty dog Andy-
Enjoy, L.M.G.