Trips/Adventures

After a busy day at the shop Chris and I left and headed for Galveston to get the last of the East wind.  It was around 6pm when we left the shop so by the time we dropped a car at 61st street and took the ferry over to Boliver it was 730-8pm and getting dark.  We made it across the ship channel (which is the video) before it got dark and then continued in the waves to 61st street in galveston.  It was one of the best surf sessions I’ve ever had.  The waves were huge and the wind was shifting slightly offshore so it cleaned the waves up and made them perfect to surf.  It was really really dark but the lights off Galveston gave us enough light to see each other and to see some of the oncoming waves.  I had one great moment when Chris and I were attempting to catch the same wave…he hit it and I just missed it.  So I was perched on top of a 10ft wave watching him surf the crap out of it aganst the lights of the city.  Pretty good stuff.  Great Ride!  We were on Slingshot 2012 Rally 8m kites and Slingshot Celeritas 5’4″ and Slingshot Globtrotter 4’10″ boards.  We finished around 930pm or so.

Night Ride was a success last night.  We had a group of about 10 brave riders make the 7-9mi downwind journey from the end of the dike back to the Levee riding area toward the lights (like a moth to the flame).  We did lose one soldier along the way about 2mi into the ride.  His lines got tangled and he self rescued up on the dike and got a ride back to the Levee.  Overall the ride was awesome and even better when we got back to the Levee to ride at night in the lights.

So everyone thinks that riding down-wind is easy…and…well it is unless you want to go somewhat fast directly down wind.  If you’re taking a slight angle down wind then it is very easy and very fast, but riding directly at your kite down-wind can be very difficult if you’ve never done it.  Keeping tension on the lines while you make you’re sharp kite turns to create power is key and something every kitesurfer should be able to do.

When: Friday night 29Jul11 (meet at Levee at 7:30pm)
Where: meet at Levee start down wind ride from End of Dike back to Levee

How: Light system will be at the Levee riding area so people will know where to stop during the downwind ride. Bring glow sticks for your board, kite and YOU. Should be comfortable in deep water, able to go upwind, and self sufficient riding without help. See you on the water!! –Phil Midler (houston@xlkites.com)

Forecast: Current wind forecast is 17-22mph from SE all night long Friday due to the tropical storm hitting south Texas so we should be good to go.

What to Bring: Glowsticks, right sized kite, life jacket or float vest, booties, good board for going downwind, your skillz

We grabed a few standup boards and zipped out to the Shipping channel in Texas City to ride the tanker swell on Friday.  The fog had forced over 60 large vessels to wait off shore and on Friday they weather cleared so it was busy.  Over a two hour period we managed to catch 4 tankers with Chest and higher waves.  Took us a little while to get it dialed in but I think we got it now.  I’ve never rode tanker waves without a kite attached to me so it was a interesting experience for sure. 

Myth: You’re dangerously close to the tankers when you’re surfing
Truth: To tanker surf you’re actually a safe distance away from the tanker and on a sand bar that is 4-5ft in depth so you can actually stand in most places. 

Myth: You can get sucked in to the tanker by the current
Truth: The tanker swell hits well after the tanker has already passed so even if you did get sucked out toward the channel it wouldn’t be into a boat and even this I’ve never experienced.

Myth: It is illegal to tanker surf
Truth: When you’re tanker surfing you’re well outside of the channel and no where near the actual tankers so you’re posing no threat to the vessels navigation or safety. 

Myth: People tanker surf all over the place
Truth: The Galveston Bay is one of the only places in the world you can tanker surf because of its unique shallow bay..

Myth: Tanker surfing is lame
Truth: It is really fun but it is usually a longer wait between sets from normal surfing. 

The Texas City Dike is the closest place to launch and catch tanker waves in the Galveston bay.  You can also launch out of Eagle point but it is a bit more of a drive out to the channel.  Kitesurfing on tanker waves is easier than just regular surfing because you can catch the wave and ride it using the power of the kite.  The problem there is the wind direction and the direction of the swell need to match up pretty well for you to actually ride.  We’ll have some pics and video from the next outing to post

Friday November 26th we got up early to get some of the wind that was blowing in behind the cold front.  The winds picked up around midnight from the north and dropped the temperatures into the 40′s.  The wind was blowing straight north as you can see from the wind report.  We decided to do a bay crossing from the end of the dike to the slicks on the north side of Boliver island.  The actual crossing is only a few miles, but you are passing through a confined section one of the busiest shipping-lanes in the world.  It was an adventure for sure. 

First of all the wind was very high…the forecast said 20-23mph max and it was blowing  into the 30′s for sure so we were all over powered.  The wind was almost perpendicular to the dike so the swell was 3-5ft for sure right off the beach.  Once everyone got pumped up and ready to go we launched kites and headed across.  The swell slowed Fredrik down considerably becausehe was on a twin-tip not a surf board, but he still made it across no problem.  On the way we saw lots of dolphins (porpoises?) that were playing in the large swell in the channel.  The crossing was not far but if anything were to happen out there we would have been forced to self rescue across the shipping lanes to Pelican island north of Glaveston Island.  This is easily a 20mi car trip around and over the causeway to get on that island to pick up the stranded kiter, so we were all riding carefully. 

Once on the other side we cut upwind to gain the entrance into the inland channel of butter flat water.  The wind was a little too North so our angle up the channel was wrong.  We hung out for a bit on the other side riding around and then headed back over again.  Dolphins all the way and a much better angle relative to the dike so we all ended up well up wind of where we started.  The north side of Boliver is a great spot with shallow waist deep water all around the barrier island that protects the water way to the north.  The problem is that it will be hard to get to unless you are on a boat or kiteboard as there are no bridges over.  You could always launch on the mainland side and ride across.  There looked to be a few really good launches there. 

On the way back across after Chris and I had made it back over.  Fredrik lost his board in the giant swell in the channel.  He body dragged for a while, but there were tankers coming in and out through the area so he decided to leave the board and body drag back into the dike…luckily he was far enough across to make it to the very end of the dike (last narrow beach area).  We looked for his  board but couldn’t find it for him.  Luckily the hook shaped spit of land on the end of Pelican island grabbed it for him and after a couple hours he had his board back…after driving down there to get it. 

All in all exciting crossing with great wind and great friends.  Glad for all the people who showed up to ride and cross.  I love the winter time in Houston!

-Phil Midler