Darrin on the side of Skyline drive with all his gear
2nd Attempt at Levee/Bolivar flats crossing
Local ripper Darrin Ramsey and I attempted the Levee/Bolivar flats crossing again this morning. The weather was clear with winds from the ENE at about 16-20mph, I was on the 11m Slingshot Octane and Darrin was on his 12m Liquid Force Assault. We both took twin-tip boards 133cm and 135cm. The wind was initially a little more NE and it shifted ENE after we left the levee. It was cold out this morning, but the wind was good and we were psyched to do the run. We got to the levee around 9am and got our suits on, pumped up, launched and hit the water.
After leaving the levee we quickly realized that the wind was too Easterly meaning we would have to tack up-wind until we could make it around the end of the dike. So the trip up there would be hard but it would be smooth sailing down-wind on the way back. We hit the dike at about the mid-point from tip to base on our first tack out, turned and started our long haul up-wind. Darrin and I were not too close to one another, but occasionally we would see to see if the other guy was still there. After turning on maybe the 3rd or so tack I saw Darrin’s kite in the water (which is strange because we were just riding back and forth). I watched him and he relaunched it and everything seemed to be ok. I kept riding and the next time I turned around Darrin’s kite was flapping like a wounded seagull trying to stay aloft. It looked like his leading edge had partially deflated. The kite eventually fully deflated and Darrin self rescued to the Dike. Luckily, we were fairly close to a good section of the Dike that had a beach and no power lines so he was all set.
I helped him get is stuff on the beach and while we were getting stuff situated we noticed a small new beach on the south side of the Dike (opposite side as the levee). It must have been created during hurricane Ike as I had never seen a good access point on that side of the Dike before the storm. We had never ridden over there and I’ve never heard of anyone even attempting; so we gave it a try. The wind was coming over the dike so it was offshore, but a self rescue could have been made back to the very west end of the dike. The water on this side of the dike was glassy smooth and the wind was completely unblocked by the low profile of the 5mi long dike. It made for an amazing ride! On an off-shore wind condition a rider is able to jump very close the shoreline and the wind will actually pull him back out to sea in the air. It’s pretty cool. There was one beach (across from where we self rescued) and another one about a half mile to the west (down-wind on the dike). I could see the second beach from the first beach and decided to follow Darrin’s progress down the dike by doing a short down-wind ride on the south side of the dike. My plan was to then access the north end of the dike, ride back to the Levee and pick Darrin up when he got back to skyline drive.
Did I mention that neither one of us had booties, we had both forgot this morning? This made the progress for Darrin down the dike very painful I’m sure. He said that is was “90% painful and 10% excruciating”, he had to have walked 2+ miles on broken rock, gravel, etc lugging all of his gear until making it to Skyline drive. Anyway, We made it down to the small beach and I came ashore. Darrin was making arraignments with a dump truck driver for a ride so I figured he was all set; in the end the driver(s) denied his requests and he got to walk the whole way. Meanwhile, I was walking across the dike to the north side to ride back to the Levee….the shoreline was totally wrecked…and me with no booties. I did a horrible job starting on some rocks and pilings and then just did a super-man body drag out over the oysters and rocks till I could put my board on. No idea how either of us escaped this escapade without some sort of foot injury.
I finally made it back to the Levee, self landed, packed the gear up and hopped in the van to go get Darrin. He must have made great time or maybe I made bad time, but when I got to him he was back on Skyline drive and jogging toward the levee. Who is this crazy guy! He was probably .5 or .75 mi down from the dike road and I guess got cold so started jogging to get the blood flowing. Finally made it back to Darrin’s car with him and all our gear. What an adventure! Moral of the story don’t forget your booties. Gloves, life jacket, hood, and a warm wetsuit is also a must for cold weather long distance rides.
All our stuff crammed in the back of the van for the ride back
Phil Midler
XLKITES-Houston
houston@xlkites.com