ShonanDB wrote:Dawn patrol at Garry Point Park in Steveston.
Chuck wrote:Nice score! Have always meant to check it out, that spot is right in my backyard. Did you rig in the park parking lot or at the dirt lot closer to the concession? Also curious which point you launched from, whether you hula’d out from behind the Fisherman memorial or launched further west!
Had three hours up at Acadia, started out 9m/surfboard but wound up 14m/TT as the wind dropped around 1pm. Super low tide for quite the hike out, even from the Point. Great day on the water, third this week! Love the local sessions
ShonanDB wrote:Good to hear you got out Chuck. I was wondering how Acadia was today as the Jericho sensor looked decent.
At Garry Point Park I rig on the grass in the main parking lot and walk my gear about 100m West to the 2nd half moon bay and launch there. It's right next to (East of) the new dock they built last year for the visiting Japanese Tall Ship. Usually the wind touches down right from shore but today seemed a little more North so some hula was necessary first thing but it was better the second hour. It's mini Gorge like conditions with the wind blowing up river producing rolling swell and steep faces. Best conditions are on an ebbing tide as the river current really picks up and the waves jack up but it can be a little unnerving passing through the transition zone, kind of like entering the jet stream in a hot air balloon. Sailed there one 30 knot day but it was mid tide so the river was flowing but not raging. Saw a few head high faces that day and have heard from a few guys who used to sail there years ago that it can get bigger on a steep dropping tide and 30 knots of wind. There is boat and ship traffic and like the Gorge, you can smell them coming from up wind but you have to watch downwind and keep an eye out for small boats coming out of the Marina there. C36 has sailed there with me a number of times and can give you more info. I find that it tends to be a few knots windier than anywhere else on a NW and lasts longer. It's the same 100m walk regardless of the tide level, grass to rig on, and heated bathrooms and a concession stand if you time it right. They don't lock the gate so easy access for dawn patrol sessions but hard to find parking in the summer between 10am and 4pm on weekends. Sailed there a few times last year and the year before with a Kiter who comes to visit family in the summers from the Middle East. There is a lot going on there compared to other local launches so you want to have your shit together as things can go south real fast and you'll end up out in the strait or pinned up against a piling somewhere.
This place is tricky for sure. Likely second only to West Beach locally for challenging. Anyone considering launching a kite here should likely be BOTH confident and competent (only one could lead to a bad outcome). "Gorge-like conditions" (read launch like Rufus or the Hatchery, not gentle like the sandbar or Lyle). Every time I have sailed here my 'spidey senses' are buzzing. You have to work at reaching downwind to stay at or below the launch, keep an eye out for boat traffic (it got a little 'busy' out there just after I launched today with a motor yatch headed westbound and a pleasure fishing boat headed eastbound - luckily the person operating the fishing boat was paying attention and was respectful), pay attention to changing wind and tide, and exit the water while you still have enough power to drive back to the launch.
Chuck wrote:Great intel, Daryl! Thanks!
We should have an old-school windsurf expression session there next time it blows! Body drags, head dips, Duck gybes and general kooking out! Bonus points for oldest gear sailed!
Get Tony and Alton to have a wrasslin’ match to settle their old beefs, have a board toss and get some Ultronz pumping for tunes!
I’m liking these ideas.....
Chuck's backyard. Quick look-see at Wreck Beach then off to Gary Point. Always a little sobering rigging in the shadow of the Fisherman’s memorial. Just me and the seals and the salmon - at least I hope they were seals swimming on their side 'waving' at me with their fin or maybe it was a Pacific dolphin. Just enough wind out on the 'conveyor belt' of the Fraser River, rig light in the hands, rolling hip-high+ mini swell, warm water and close to home - all good! Duck gybes, head dip and body drag inspired by Chuck, after all if I'm going to sail in his backyard, I might as well own it.
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