I took Ray to the Sacramento airport at 6 o'clock this morning to catch his flight back to Maui while Luke did the same for Juan Pablo up in Portland.
"What now?" Do I go home, shut the windows, turn on the air conditioning and hide from the 100
degree weather that's been baking the west coast over the past few days? Is this when real life starts again?
No more lofty jumps, flying with the seaguls
over the beautiful Oregon coast. No more sailing Santa Cruz, listening to the dolphins chirp at us in the water while we're all in search of our own perfect waves. No more cruising with a flock of pelicans under the Golden gate, one of the most scenic windsurfing venues in the entire world. Woah! Not so fast...
After I left Ray at the airport I chose to not head home and instead continue onward with my friend Sontian from South Africa to Rio Vista. Some of the best wind in the continental U.S. today was right in my neck of the woods.
A steady 25 - 30 mph breeze turned California's delta into an excellent freestyle playground and perfect location for Sontian to practice his waterstarts.
The sailing at Rio Vista can best be described as Californa's version of the gorge. The wind blows hard and there are several different places to sail up and down Sherman Island road. The launches, sailing sites, and campgrounds are all top notch thanks to the hard work of the Rio Vista Windsurfing Association. After two long sessions on the water, we called it a day.
"So where do you guys plan on going next?" I heard time after time this month.
"We don't know. We're windsurfers. We don't really make those plans you speak of. The only real plan we have is to go wherever it blows, check the weather reports and visit iwindsurf more often than any teenager checks their facebook. That, and to instantly abandon what we said we were going to do because it's windy."
In a months time that attitude has taken us 5,000 miles. We've visited well over 20 windsurf spots. We've experienced everything from the warm winds of the desert in the Eastern Columbia River Gorge to the turquoise waters of California's Lost Coast and have seen all the friendly faces in between.
This trip has finally ended but our stories will remain and the windsurfing adventures will continue.
Thanks to everyone for reading,
See you on the water!
-Derek
Yay... what a happy ending to a great trip!
ReplyDeleteBut the trip still continues.... you boys keep ripping up the west coast, and Ray is back on the islands.
Love and Aloha to you all :-)
Sierra