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BAJA CALIFORNIA SUR

This was going to be the year I said, I wanted to drive down the coast of California, down into Mexico, to the little fishing village called La Ventana. La Ventana is famous for epic wind conditions all winter long. I first visited this area in 2011 and again in 2012 for both the LOW and La Ventana Classic events, and I knew at some point I wanted to be a part of this community for a season. I wanted to experience the entire road trip that everyone who has ever come on seems to return on again each year.

Starting in Buffalo proved to be quite a long trip, and after 5 long days crossing the US, we arrived in San Francisco. From San Francisco, it was another 4 days south and we met up with my good friend David Grove at the US/Mexican boarder to caravan on our way down. This ended up being the most important decision of all, having a friend to travel with because we ended up in big trouble with a shot transmission a day into the trip. Luckily, Dave packed his touring motorcycle and all his riding gear in his van, so we were able to take all of our belongs and continue our trip in his vehicle while he rode the rest of the way on his bike. We even picked up another rider on his motorcycle who also accompanied us for the trip.

We arrived the beginning of December and started work right away for Elevation Kiteboarding out of the famous Baja Joe’s resort. A work in progress started in September with our visa application forms, this was the most difficult country I have ever worked in as a kiteboarding instructor, but it has definitely turned of to be an amazing time. With less than 2 days ever in a row without wind every couple weeks made for an amazing season with a lot of work and a lot of riding.

The Lord of the Wind event was the only completion here in BAJA this year and it was amazing! I have attend the first two years in hopes of competing in a freestyle event that never happened, but this year they finished the entire event of course racing, slalom, bid air and freestyle. Although, I was hoping to win this event it was a very close decision of the judges between myself and the up and coming Hope Levin. I was happy to see this event attracting new riders from other countries, and it also brought in some of my very good friends I haven’t seen in long time, Pro Leezures Grom Gormley, Rachel Callahan, Billie Kipling, Paul Porter and Laura Maher and we had a blast!

Besides kiteboarding everyday, with a great group of riders, in all conditions from super strong wind and overhead waves to light wind foil boarding, we had some amazing days of SUP fishing, desert walks, midnight parties, and remembered what its like not to be bombarded with advertisement and the fast paced stressful living in the states.

The experience has been real, and not with out adventure with old friends and new, but now its coming to an end. We are soon off again to check out he season in South Padre Island for the spring. Looking forward to our next adventure!