Windsurfing-first time in the bay area

Sunday, after spending some time thinking about it, and looking at the wind conditions I headed back to Boardsports. I decided to get a 10 session pass which I can use to rent equipment. I'm hoping this will allow me to enhance my ability enough so I can buy a smaller board and get the proper sails for it. My hope is that I can improve enough so that I can take another trip to Maui in October or April.

I decided to try to use an even smaller board then the 135L I used in Maui. Today I rigged a 115L with a 5.3 Sail. It was much different with the smaller board and I was pretty rusty at my water starts. But all in all it was a great time. I'm definitely getting better. Oddly enough with the full body wetsuit (aka a "steamer" to those who windsurf) was perfect, and the cold water didn't bother me at all.

It was a great session with about 20 knots with minimal gusting (roughtly 23 knots). I can't wait to head out again!! Hopefully next time I'll get some more *better* images too.

Some more nice conditions.

I'm out for now.

Alex

In search of wind and surf.

Saturday, I decided that I had enough of just feeling the nice breezes coming through the valley. I decided that it was time to go looking for some actual windsurfing conditions. I had heard from some friends that there was some sails over in a lake called Shoreline lake, so hit the nearby park and I rollerbladed around. To my surprise, on that little lake there was some super flat conditions with decent wind. (Around 12-17 knots). I think this will be a great place to try to bring a bunch of friends who are interested in learning the sport. I think it's perfect place to learn the basics and practice the fundamentals. The rental shop on the lake also had pretty decent pricing. (Map)

The rental shop: Silicon Shores @ Shoreline lake.

Sailing on Shoreline beach, nice and flat.

Next I went out to a point out in Pal Alto. It was pretty empty but there was a few people just rigging up. It looked like a place where you'd want to go out with some friends. Not really for me at the moment. (Map)

Pal Alto point (Rigging area)

Someone sailing out of the channel.

Finally I went to Coyote Point (map). This is where Boardsports is located. Oddly enough the name and sign is oddly similar to the place where I bought my rig back in Toronto. I did ask, they are not connected in anyway. It was just coincidence.

Coyote Point was amazing and this is where I found some of the best conditions I've seen since Maui. It was just blasting. The wind speeds were upwards of 25 knots, and according to iWindsurf.com there were gusts up to 35 knots. I'm super excited about this place!!

After talking to really cool shop manager and looking at the gear they had, I headed back to get ready for Nefaur's BBQ.

Unfortunately I did not take any photos, but it was a great time with some good people.

25 knots and some nice chop.

Looking down the shore towards San Fran.

Hey it's Boardsports, but this one is in SF.

To be continued...

WWDC

Last week I spent a good portion of the week at WWDC helping out as much as I could. It was an amazing opportunity, and I had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures that I can post. The highlight for me was definitely the labs. Being able to talk to the developers was amazing.

We (Apple iPhone team) also released iPhone 3.0 OS and announced the iPhone 3GS. I'm great to see that it's getting such an amazing response. A lot of hard work was put into it by fellow Apple Engineers! Good work guys!
-A

Outside Moscone Centre.

iPhone 3.0 feature poster.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard poster.

WWDC and Hockey

So I found out that I'm getting a WWDC pass and I'll be helping out at the conference. That means I'll be spending most of the week up in San Francisco, hanging out with Jutan as well. It should be a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to it a lot. Anyone in the city for the conference should send me a message.

In other Hockey related news, I played another pick up in San Jose, and there was this amazingly good player on the ice who up showed up everyone. I found out afterwards it was Victor Tikhonov from the Phoenix Coyotes. Pretty cool huh? Hopefully playing with someone like that will improve my game.

Yosemite!

This weekend I went up to Yosemite National park with the guys. It was amazing up there! The scenery was breathtaking. I took over 200 pictures.

I think we are going to try to get up there again this summer. Hopefully by then I'll have a digital SLR, I really think my point and shoot isn't doing it justice.

Taking a picture under the waterfall.

Cooking my chicken old school - on the fire.

Nefaur, Chris, Me and Loc

Chris trying(and failing) to put our food up in a tree... away from the bears.

Another great shot.

Just breath taking.

What a sight.

Met a family that were using Llama's to carry their bags. He had no problem posing for a picture.

Nefaur and I found a perfect photo op off the beaten trail. It overlooked everything.