Sunday, July 15, 2018

Windsurfing Sherman Island

After finishing watching Wimbledon (watching Novac Djokovic destroy Kevin Anderson in 3 sets) and the World Cup Final (where France beat Croatia 4-2), I decided to check the weather.

After reviewing a highly favorable iWindsurf wind forecast for Rio Vista, I decided to take the risk and drive 90+ minutes to windsurf at Sherman Island County Park.


I picked up a turkey bagel sandwich at House of Bagels on the way (to have something to eat for lunch). I arrived at Sherman Island right around noon.

The Sherman Island County Park was already quite full, and I barely found a space for my minivan. There were lots of windsurfers and kite-boarders sailing.


I asked around, and many sailors used 4.5m to 4.0m sails. I rigged my Ezzy Elite  4.5m and chose to start with the Goya Quad 84 liter. The sail was fine (though, at times, I could have used a 5.0m), but the board was too small for the gusty conditions.

I struggled at first to get the Goya board planing reliably, but the gusty wind was a nuisance.


After a few back-and-forth runs, I switched to my Mistral Flow 276 and sailed through the lulls much better. I had many exciting high-speed runs, even passing a kite-boarder!

Here is a GoPro Hero6 Black video of my sailing at Sherman Island:



I had a fantastic time overall. I did have one minor casualty - my old fin broke on my Mistral Flow 276 when I hit an underground rock ( I should have known better and avoided the area where rocks were marked).

I stopped by Delta Windsurf on the way home to get a replacement screw (I already had a spare fin). I did not realize that Delta allows demos of boards. I will demo the Fanatic Blast and Fanatic Stubby FreeWave (to replace my ancient Mistral Flow 276).



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