Baja California Windsurfing Trip
This year we finally got around to getting off our butts and setting off to the Mexico desert to sail Baja - Punta San Carlos. The trip found us - Morgan, Dave and myself - renting a big ass RV in San Diego and driving down into the middle of nowhere. Timing couldn't have been better for this trip: Totally get away from society for a while; no phones, no computers, no work - just silence and the wind.

Driving around in a foreign country without speaking a word of spanish (OK, I know Gracias and maybe Senorita) is, uh, a little bit of an adventure especially when you're heading to a place nobody in their right mind knows about. Maps are apparently a specialty item in Mexico! All of this made for some very interesting experiments in sign language...

But we made it!!! We almost missed our turn - you know the one where there is a rusted out unreadable sign that could have been mistaken for junk that is piled up everywhere along the side of Mexican roads. We almost missed it; only the instructions and mile counting actually made us find it. Then driving a 30 foot RV through a desert dirt road. Just one more of the finer points of foreign travel. I think my teeth were about to vibrate out of their gums!!!

When we got there finally after 10 hours of slow driving (total) we were greeted by parting clouds, a decent breeze and perfect logo high, peeling waves off the point!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaa!!! 4 hours later my arms were slightly sore...

Wind - that was the plan anyway. Unfortunately the weater - wind, waves and even the sun - had slightly other plans for us. Upon arrival Morgan, Dave and I were so stoked by the near perfect conditions, but it didn't last. The next day the swell dropped and the wind as well making for really light conditions. We still went out to sail but it was a poor follow up to the day before. The next day the swell dropped even more but we sailed again.

Then the fun begins - hanging out in the desert for 7 days with the sun making nothing more than cameo appearances early in the afternoons, with clouds and coastal mist shrouding the landscape. Hiking around the arrid coastal desert and nearby mountains was fun for a little while, but it gets a little old seeing the same brush a million times over, huh???

Well, I wanted to get away to relax and I got that! I don't think I've slept so much since... since... ever . Sleep, eat, read, drink Tequila - oh, wait I was off that latter program, so not much of that, ha ha.

I think for all of us this trip turned out to be very introspective. This was not really the right time for me to be spending a lot of time in my own head, but when you're faced with the quiet of the desert there isn't much choice. Some quiet mediation and self discovery and self control were not easy to maintain...

But, hey, it's an adventure and a gamble when you take trips like these! Next time, there'll be non-stop mast high waves, steady side off wind and Bud babes on the beach...

Alright, here's some documentation of the events. Windsurf pictures from the Video camera will follow later...

  • Last stop in civilization - the boys chow on fast food. I'm glad my stomach wasn't doing so well, so I passed.
  • This paper sailor got more surf action than we did, damn it!
  • Welcome to Mexico. Getting in was easy - getting out - quite another story!!! We didn't get the full body cavity search though, despite looking like a bunch of decrepte drug smuggling scumbags by the end of the trip <s>...
  • The headless mechanic in El Rosario...
  • The sign to San Carlos. Crystal, right???
  • Commemarating this magical moment... ok, we're a bunch of dorks!
  • Ouch!!!!
  • The beast in the desert...
  • Cactus field on the road...
  • Mexican traffic stop. Bull vs Car: Bull/1, Car/0.
  • We're on the homestretch. Driving the RV down and around this corner was a bit hairy - hard to tell in the picture though.
  • We have arrived!!! The point and the first glimpse at the sun on this trip...
  • Rigging frenzy after first arrival... getting all the gear out of the RV was another adventure all by itself.
  • Camp WinnebagBro - the official flag: a sailbag tied to a stick!
  • baja.wmv
    Here's some sailing footage in a streaming media file. This is a large file and unless you have a fast connection you'll not want to download this (right click and save as or skip it <g>). 21megs.
  • Ahhhh... this is what we came here for. Of course it didn't last, but at least we caught one day!
  • Nice lines... you can't see it really well, but look at the ribbons winding into the horizon - one set after another and not a soul on 'em!!!
  • Hit it...
  • Whooo hooo...
  • Dumpster diving...
  • Blubb, blubb...
  • Viggers on nice set on the second day. Unfortunately the swell had dropped already and this was the last video we got. I lucked out on the first day...
  • Look at those sets... soooooo clean, even if they're small here...
  • Sailing off the point... This was on the second day when the swell had gone out of the sea already, but you can still see the lines coming marching in at perfect angles to the shore...
  • Camp WinnebagBro...

    Camped on Punta San Carlos. What a view!!! Overlooking the surf, the point and the coastline.
  • I claim this point for... for... I don't know <s>...
  • The view from the 'hotel'... the camper was parked in prime position with a view.
  • Hiking around the pebbly beach looking for a place to get some quiet time during the sunset hour...
  • A Baja sunset the first night after sailing
  • The accomodations - Viggers got the luxury sweet.
  • The cook at work - hey, I didn't say we weren't going in style now did I???
  • Nightly dinner festivities...
  • The nightly activity - rotating Tequila bottles mixed into minimal amounts of Margarita mix. We never made it to the worm of the Mesquite guys!!! I know Dave was ready for it...
  • Tequila boy waiting for another drink...
  • The rugged coast line right along the point. I had the misfortune of coming out from a sailing session here at one point. Ouch... scrapes on me and scratches on the equipment aren't the worst that coulda happened.
  • Evening in Baja on the beach...
  • Coastal chasm from the beach.
  • Hiking into the coastal canyons to get away from the gang...
  • Anybody hungry? I found us dinner...
  • And a closer picture so you can really get it. A bunch of mutant sea maggots (for lack of a better definition) made this side of the cliff its home. The wall was creeping with those critters.

    Hmmmmm....
  • Can you say: Kick back??? It's not as un-comfortable as it looks to lay on a rock beach <s>. If you get the rocks in the right spot of your back it's almost like a massage!
  • Cool coastal rock formations from eons of beach corrosion...
  • We're in the desert, but I'll be damned if it was warm.

    Getting away from the rest of the crew, I took more than a few night time hikes and it got cold!
  • Dave documenting the proceedings throughout the trip.
  • The local fishermen doing their thing right off the point. These very same guys came by the camp every day selling the fish they'd caught below. They'd hold up the fish and show 'em to us as they pulled them out of their nets.
  • Bad attitude rising towards the end of the trip... ah, just leave me alone...
  • Viggers cutting up the prize! For a few bucks we'd get a whole fresh fish to cook and feast on several nights.

  • The butcher at work <g>...
    Fishhead, fishhead, such a happy fishhead... sing along, c'mon.
  • Taking a half day hike up into the mountains. Great moutain view, but the entire landscape is just sooooooo desolate...
  • Posing with the local fauna... This shit is everywhere and it scrapes the hell out of you when you brush it wrong...
  • The mesa...
  • Hey, I found something in a different color!!!!
  • The only local plant that is taller than knee high. Told 'ya it was desolate out here!
  • Grey skies. Looking down on camp from one of the nearby mountains. You can see the RV by the water there.
  • Passing time playing - Horseshoes??????
  • The man the myth the legend. Viggers hitting another ringer - bastard!!!
  • Big ass Cactus in the desert on the way out from Punta San Carlos
  • We're just a bunch of tree, eh, cactus huggers...

    Ouch!!! On the way back to the RV I stepped on major cactus and proceedded to embed several extremely large and very painful stickers into my foot. Pulling those bastards out took 10 minutes...
  • King of the desert!!!

    "Throne" found in the middle of the desert next to the road out.
  • The scruff after 9 days of non-shaving. I think I like it... if it just wouldn't itch so badly <bg>...