Old 2011, Crissy to Berkeley Live2kite Downwinder -JUNE 11th

[tomerp]

So... What happened?!

Two years ago, maybe 18 of 130 people that started managed to get to Emeryville without swimming. And lots of folks were stranded out in the Bay for what must have felt like a while, before being picked-up.

The iWindsurf graphs suggest that yesterday might have been awesome. (maybe too awesome!).

What happened?

For the most part, everyone was overpowered until we hit treasure island. Only then it started being steadier. Crissy to TI it was avg 30 with gusts to 40 so the kites were pulling like wild horses. Add to that high wind waves, and it becomes intense. But as i learned in the army, what doesnt kill you, makes you stronger!

Personally I had a great time from TI to Berkeley and a not so great of a time from Crissy to TI :)

Thanks L2K for a great event!

[le noun]

Thanks to Live2Kite for organizing this great event and to Maui Mike for the amazing barbeque!

Unfortunately, I couldn't participate in the downwinder because my kite was ripped as I was getting ready to launch: a bearded guy flying a black/red Cabrinha kite had a bad launch, got yanked and apparently landed or stepped on my kite, ripping the canopy just behind the leading edge. I remember Evan helping him launch again while someone else held on to his harness.

If you are that guy: I was hoping to meet you at the BBQ, but I don't think you turned up. Shit happens and maybe you didn't even notice that you ripped my kite, but a simple apology would have been nice. Or maybe even some money for kite repair?

I met many great people yesterday, so I can't say this completely ruined my day. But it was obviously very disappointing: I was looking forward to a downwinder under my belt, not a hole in my kite.

Hey metabon!
I'm vincent, the french guy with the black sweater trying to help out live 2 kite that day!
We talked for a while that day.
Didn't know you were commenting here.
Again, I feel sorry for what happened to your kite, the guy didn't really look concerned if he hitted any kite, but I don't blame him, he was more focuse on trying to keep his kite from making him eat more sand at the beach.
For anybody who could help identifying the guy (he's not a bad guy, I think he just didn't think he ripped any kite at that point), this incident happened at the very beggining (first group was going out) and that was probably the biggest beach incident that day.

On a side note: metabon, did you take care of that cut on your foot? and did you end up riding at alameda that day?

[couzteau]

As far as I have heard, the dude that stepped on your kite ended up with an injured shoulder. Check with l2k, they should be able to help you sort things out.

[couzteau]

Here are a few pics, thanks to Kerstin:
http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/2731252/ ... r?h=68572f

[couzteau]

Did anybody go with GPS tracking? I'm curious how far we traveled, including tacks. I just imagined a course on Google maps and it doesn't seem unlikely that the total could be around 40m, or am I completely off? Initially I found it hard to keep traveling downwind fast, hence I think I traveled much further north-south rather than east. The water was so choppy and the gusts so bad. I tended to end up with warp speed if I didn't maintain a solid edge.

Please let me know if my estimate seems off, just curious. The direct route as the crow flies is ca 9m

[Zhirafovod]

Did anybody go with GPS tracking? I'm curious how far we traveled, including tacks. I just imagined a course on Google maps and it doesn't seem unlikely that the total could be around 40m, or am I completely off? Initially I found it hard to keep traveling downwind fast, hence I think I traveled much further north-south rather than east. The water was so choppy and the gusts so bad. I tended to end up with warp speed if I didn't maintain a solid edge.

Please let me know if my estimate seems off, just curious. The direct route as the crow flies is ca 9m

It depends on your own way, i've check on google maps and it looks like i went not less than 30 miles. But it's easily can be 40, as i started at 12:45am to sail to GG and Angels island and finished about 4:30pm.

BTW, finally I've found for me more easily to go downwind jibbing and forwarding twintip board straight downwind, sailing almost without speeding the kite up. It was much better than going back and forth overpowered near Alkatraz.

Sergey.

[Zhirafovod]

Here are a few pics, thanks to Kerstin:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 1109883716

The link doesn't work for me.

[Aloha]

Did anybody go with GPS tracking? I'm curious how far we traveled, including tacks. I just imagined a course on Google maps and it doesn't seem unlikely that the total could be around 40m, or am I completely off? Initially I found it hard to keep traveling downwind fast, hence I think I traveled much further north-south rather than east. The water was so choppy and the gusts so bad. I tended to end up with warp speed if I didn't maintain a solid edge.

Please let me know if my estimate seems off, just curious. The direct route as the crow flies is ca 9m

C Erica GPS'ed the Ronstan -- I think we ended up doing something around 40 miles incl. upwind tacks

I will ask her I bet she knows the tacking distance for downwind portion as well.

[couzteau]

photo link to kerstin's photos updated.

[metabon]

[quote="couzteau"]As far as I have heard, the dude that stepped on your kite ended up with an injured shoulder. Check with l2k, they should be able to help you sort things out.[/quote]

Haha, instant karma!

Just kidding, I hope he's OK and it's all good on my side: thanks to Sonny's repair skillz, my kite looks as good as new and I'm ready for the next downwinder.