Kiteboarding in San Quintin

Last week, it was determined that I actually do need to have a surgery on my knee from the snowboarding incident. The arthroscopic surgery is set for May 15th and I've managed to convince myself that everything will be fine and cheer up a little bit. As a treat to myself, I decided to get as much kiteboarding in as possible in the next 4-5 weeks. Step one... kiteboarding trip!

Anne and I joined about 10 other San Diego kiteboarders on a weekend trip to San Quintin Bay in Baja Mexico. The trip turned out to be a great adventure and we had a lot of fun! San Quintin is a huge bay about 4 hours into Baja that is surrounded by small volcanic mountains. The wind there is usually very steady (so I've been told) and the bay makes a great, crowdless, kiting spot.

We got there Saturday early afternoon and as I pulled up to the beach the kiters that arrived the day before were just coming off the water to put up smaller kites. I set up a borrowed 9m kite and grabbed my smallest board (a 146cm). Now, I've never gotten a chance to fly in high winds and have never flown a 9 on the water and I learned real quick what a fast moving kite can do! My first water-start put me face first in the water and then quickly 3 feet in the air as I righted the kite. That was fun and no harm done, a quick adjustment and off I went. Within 45 minutes I had to come off the water as my knees were killing me from the chop and I had the kite completely depowered as it just got more and more windy.

That was it for my day as I didn't have a smaller kite. I packed up my gear and took some pics of the guys on smaller kites. A few hours later, the real adventure began as we headed to dinner. 3 hours and one flipped off mexican waiter later, we all headed to bed with upset stomachs thanks to the aptly named "ass cheese" that was on our food.

Sunday turned out to be a great day with pretty good winds. I was able to ride a 12m kite and my 146 for about 2 hours before my knees and the wind asked me to stop. I really like flying at 12m kite and I wish there were more opportunities to fly one around here. I even chanced a few jumps, ignoring the complaints from my knees, and was surprised at how gentle and floaty they were with what in my mind is a small kite. Anne and I packed up early and headed for boarder traffic. The drive during the day is beautiful and helped me forget all the reason I usually don't like Mexico.

In the end, it was a great trip without any issues, illnesses or injuries. Anne was great at navigating any spanish conversations and I'm bordering on actually understanding them. Some pictures are here: San Quintin Kiteboarding