Smoke...

35 mpg gusting up to 40? In Chicago? Impossible... Well, some people still say that there are no waves on Lake Michigan... I packed my stuff and was at Wolf by 5. I was not going to risk it on an off-shore day on Lake Michigan as much as I wanted... Wise decision, as the forecast turned out the be real, and we had one of the most brutal sessions since I moved to the Midwest. I was totally overpowered on a 5,2... of course I was overpowered! But that's my smallest stuff anyway... Do I need smaller gear? I hope so!

63rd St beach offered everything you will ever need

OK, maybe it didn't offer everything, especially if you live in Maui and your name is Francisco Goya. But I live in Hyde Park, Chicago, I work on Sundays until noon, and my name is not Francisco Goya, but I do own a Goya board, and that is a good thing...
Today it was cloudy, rainy, and warm, so there was a great chance that the forecast (18  gusting to 28) was going to hold. I got to the beach at 2, and it was already blowing (fully powered on the 6,5). The wind was on-shore, which created a stack of rollers as far as I could see. And where there are waves, there are wave riders. Four kayakers were hitting the shore break, which made me extremely happy... Territoriality is something strange to the Lake Michigan waterman, we're just happy to see another insane soul putting some rubber on and hitting the freezing water with ANY sort of craft.
And so we shared the break, and it was perfect. The on-shore wind was just great to practice some wave riding, and to get the occasional air time. A few hours later I said bye to the kayakers, who turned out to be a pretty cool crowd, and left the beach.
The perfect session? Of course! Perfection is just a point of view.
See you out there...

These guys knew how to deal with white water...

Most of the times...

The quest for 40

Now that spring is definitely here, it's time to define my windsurfing goals for this year... And since there is no harm in dreaming, I'll be extremely ambitious. Number one: to land a forward loop. I'll be happy if I land on my back once... Number two: to have 40 sessions. There are about 52 weekends in a year, so 40 sessions will take a lot of commitment, considering the lake freezes in the winter... I'll cut myself some slack here, and will consider a session anything with at least one planing run, and sailing on ice will count too...
Too much for a weekend warrior? Time will tell...
Chicago from 63rd St beach

St. Joe notes

Last night the forecast for Lake Michigan read: NNW in the high teens gusting to 20s (mph), so I thought about trying St Joseph, MI... This spot has a reputation of going off with anything from the north, with a little bit of west. I heard countless stories about epic swell hitting this place. The stories come from windsurfers, surfers, and kiters... I have my own scary story about this place. It doesn't involve big waves, or great wind; it involves a swell big enough to crash you against an ice covered break wall, during a November session that went wrong...
So I spent the rest of the night remembering how I climbed the frozen ladder out of the water, and how I almost lost all my gear. The mistake that day: I wasn't fully powered close to the beach, but I could see the windline so I went for it. Coming back I did not have enough juice to make it to the beach,  I fell, and got pushed by the current against the break wall...

Long story short, today I had the same feeling as I went out. I could see the whitecaps just a few yards from the shore, but near the beach the wind was not enough. I went out on a 5.2, came back rigged the 6.5, and had the same feeling. After I made it back, and as bad as I wanted to give it another try, I packed my stuff and called it a day. I'll go back though, I have yet to see the legendary St. Joe's wave...

63rd St. beach, and the Big Guy is ON!!!

So... This is 63rd St beach (the southern beach on the picture), on the south side of Chicago, literally 5 minutes from my house... and from this place I launched today, my first session on Lake Michigan. The breeze was 16 mph or so, coming from the NE. The rig call was my light wind speed machine (Starboard F type, 9.8 Sailworks sail)...
On the inside the rig felt fine, but on the outside the breeze was a little stronger, almost overpowering at times...
It was pretty cool to go back to the lake... I was getting a little concerned about my avoiding attitude towards the Big Guy, always finding an excuse for not going out...
Anyway, I'm just psyched that the season on Lake Michigan started!!!
See you out there...

Saturday sesh at Wolf

This Saturday we had another nice session at Wolf... It's crazy how this little lake gets packed with windsurfers and kiters.  I guess it's because the lake is so close to the city...
We had a good time, I was fully powered on a 6.5 (again, could have rigged less... I know, this is becoming my motto lately)...
Sorry I don't have pictures, my camera was dead. But I'll post some pics from another day, so you'll get the idea...

Tarifa 2010 four years later

Tarifa, on the Spanish coast of the Gibraltar strait, will always be a special place for me. This medieval town, right where the Atlantic Ocean joins the Mediterranean Sea is the first serious place where I sailed. In 2006, my brother Carly, a hardcore windsurfer who is as nuts about the sport as anybody else, invited me to Tarifa to go windsurfing. By then I had not stepped on a board in my whole life, so I learned the basics on the Charles river in Boston,  and off I went to Tarifa, whithout knowing: a. how to waterstart; b. how to put my feet on the straps; c. how to use a harness. What followed was one of the most incredible trips I have done; sufficient is to say that I have not stopped sailing since then.

Carly's rig: Mistral Synchro 90L and Ezzy wave Panther 5.5... Thanks bro!!!!

Spin Out gear rental and the bar/lounge for post-sesh relax

Gotta love Ezzy sails!!! That 5.5 handled some pretty tough gusts...
ANYWAY, last month I went back to Spain to visit Carly, his wife Lula and their twin daughters, Olivia and Elena. As much as we tried to arrange a trip to Tarifa, work schedules were conspiring against us. While I was in Madrid, Carly, who as any other normal person, checks the weather forecast every 30 minutes, found that it was going to blow in by mid week, and in an action only understood by a windsurfer, he and Lula gave me their car, and Carly's gear and said: GO. And so I went. I drove the 8 hours from Madrid to Tarifa across Spain, an amazing road trip, but that's another story... At some point, when you reach Malaga, you can hear radio stations in English (Gibraltar is a british colony), French, Arab (Morocco is just across the stait), and Spanish. That gives you an idea of thte place where you're going to launch, a place where geography, cultures, and WIND clash...
As you can see, I can go on and on about Tarifa, so I'll just show a few pics and let you discover it for yourself... If you want to know more, just find me at the beach and ask "Hey, how was Tarifa?"

What to rig? These guys are totally spoiled by the way, 5.5 is big stuff for them. C'mon!!!

Some of the locals started to show up by noon...

East wind, also known as "Levante", can get pretty gnarly