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
Thanks for great time