In pursuit of the US Windsurfing National Racing Tour (NRT) the
STWA hard-core boys set out to drive from Austin to take in several
NRT events on the west coast. Our adventure took us some 6000
miles from Austin to Vancouver Island Canada and back through
San Francisco. It was a mother of a journey but the locations,
wind, sailing and racing made it worth every mile.
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As you can see, we took some gear man.
Four people's formula windsurfing stuff, plus a set of bumpNjump
gear is no small load. Looks like a Gaastra show room...
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The first leg of the journey took us from Austin to Phoenix.
Most Arizonan windsurfers will quite quickly tell you there's
not much water in their state, so I decided not to try and seek
it out,but to instead make the first overnight stop a mountain
bike gig. Having taken just about everything in the windsurfing
wagon, including the kitchen sink and my mountain bike, an awesome
morning was spent on trails.
After a refreshing overnight stop and a killer ride, we got back
o the road heading for Rio Vista area just south of Sacramento
CA for our second overnight stop. Brannan Island CA is listed
as one of the top inland places to sail in America. It gets thermally
induced winds from the SF bay and has a river tide that makes
for Gorge like bump and jump conditions. However, the best laid
plans of mice and windsurfers didn't quite work out. After road
delays and in site of the burning desire to get to Canada as quickly
as possible, we decided to blast right through to Vancouver and
save our sailing for later.
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The Reading and Mount Shasta area -
way cool, I could live there. On the other side of the mountain
in great view of the peaks is a lonely town in the middle
of nowhere called "Weed" yep, those North Cal
folks have it all, don't they...
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Over the boarder into Canada at Blain.
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So after some 45 hours of driving, about 100 gallons
of iced tea and about 8 pounds of "real" beef jerky
(so what is "unreal" beef jerky then ;-) we finally
made it across the ferry from Tsawwassen and onto Vancouver Island.
Unfortunately, our journey didn't end there. Our destination Nitnat
lake is an incredibly out of the way place. Once on the island
we had to track around about two hours of highway to hit the "van
buster". The Van Buster was a 40 odd mile dirt road that
takes you up through the Vancouver rain forest, along seldom driven
logging roads full of pit-holes - something our overloaded camper
van pulling about 6000 lbs of windsurfing gear didn't like too
much! Eventually tattered and torn to arrived in the middle of
the night at the Indian reservation and National Forest Service
camp site at Nitnat.
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We took the Tsawwassen ferry to Duke
point and then onto Nitnat lake at the arrow. The ferry
ride was cool but waking up in the forest was even cooler...
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Was it worth the journey, all that bad road, dust
and all those miles,? You bet, every last mile marker of it…
Sat in the middle of the rain forest, nestled between mountain
valleys, sea and sky lays Nitnat lake, possibly the most amazingly
different windsurfing location I've ever been to. You've got to
be ready for primitive camping - that's no running water, no electricity
and very primitive restrooms (notice says "phew keep the
lid closed - PLEASE!).
For an $8 Canadian fee you get to camp under 100
ft pines, sail a 9.0 formula sail (that's a 5.5 for the slalom
heads) and just "be" in the most amazing location you
can imagine. Just about every day we wake up to a glassy still
lake, an awesome beach scene and total silence. Then as the sun
came out over the mountains and the ocean generated clouds retreated
back down the 14 mile long lake, we started to hear a distant
noise…
The first time we hear it we just stopped and listened
"what the heck is that rustling sound?". We went out
onto the beach and looked back up the lake towards the ocean and
there is was…. a wall of white caps coming back down the
lake towards us. The rustling was the huge maple and pine trees
catching the first hint of the wind and shouting out to the sleepy
campers "IT'S COMING BOYS & GIRLS - WAKE UP, TIME TO
ROCK AND ROLL…"
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Makes ya feel really small...
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This year the Wired event at Nitnat was on the USWA
National Rating Tout (NRT) so on top of some crazy short board
runs we got in some 15 course/formula races in amazing conditions.
What with a sauna on the beach (yes that's a sauna - unbelievable),
good camp fire cooking, hospitable and totally cool locals, we
just had a blast until Sunday when our 6 days of paradise had
to come to an end. It was time to hit the road again.
Phase two of our journey took us from Vancouver
Island to San Francisco for the San Francisco Classic at the St.
Francis Yacht clubs. By this time the 1000 or so miles down through
Washington, Oregon and California to the Bay area was pretty passé.
We'd have loved to have taken 101 down the coast and stopped at
a 100 secluded spots on the coast, but time was against us and
the lure of the Bay was calling. We arrived in San Fran Monday
night and spent a couple of nights in San Jose working and recovering
before hitting Berkeley marina for a test sail on Thursday.
Now if you've never heard of "The Classic"
go read up on it cos it's the most radical race imaginable. If
you think you're a course/formula windsurfer, you're just a learner
until you can complete this course. You start out at Crissy fields
in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge and do a double triangle
under the "Orange Monster" out into the open ocean.
As you pass through her shadow and look up awestruck you have
to pretty quickly get your eyes back on the road as you start
starts to get a bit crazy. Pretty soon you are in a 10 foot swell
and you start to feel the 10-15 knot current pulling you out to
sea; those waves just want to knock you down and drag you away…
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If you can follow the course, miss
the tankers and avoid the sharks (there aren't any sharks
in the bay really.. Are there?) you deserve a meddle.
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What with a 30 knot "breeze" even the
starting triangle was an extreme challenge. When you drop the
sail in a 10 foot swell with a 10 knot ebbing tide its scary!
Each time the roller-coaster sends you up to catch your water
start, you see a fleeting glimpse of the huge GG bridge out beyond
the wave and you notice (with panic) that you are moving our to
see at 10 knots! This pretty quickly helps motivate you to get
the sail up and get your backside moving back towards civilization….
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Crazy place to sail. Outside the bridge
we has 30 knot winds, an 8-10 foot swell, a 12 knot current
(going out), tankers, yachts, craziness.
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After the ordeal of the bridge, if you make the cutoff time you
get to sail the 20 or so mile course down to Berkeley Marina to
complete the challenge. Unfortunately none of the Austin boys
made that course. I took a headfirst dive through my sail and
had to retire. Trey missed the timer cutoff mark by a single turn
and Guy suffered a broken mast in the ominous shadow of Alcatraz.
Besides not finishing, we all had an awesome day. Just being in
that fleet and sailing those conditions make you a better sailor
- more confident if not more skillful! We finished the weekend
with a 30 knot course/formula race day on Sunday and wrapped up
the sailing part of our excursion tired, damaged and just plain
old stocked with the whole thing.
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What a fantastically well run event
and sailing with some of the best sailors in the US, awesome!
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After a largely uneventful ride home its now time to look through
the photos, realize what an amazing trip it was and to start planning
for next year. The US nationals are in San Francisco next year…
Maybe next year we'll complete the Classic course without damage
to board, sail and pride. Maybe next year we'll take a bus and
you can all come. Next year, there's always next year….
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Shaking it down and looking a little
worse for wear, the boys make their way back to reality
and the land of normal people... Ready for next year.
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More images and a short movie of Guy at the Gorge Cup is available
here.
