I learned to sail in Berkeley 32 years ago, but this was my first extended stay back there during the windsurfing season since I moved away. My brother lives there and has a full complement of excellent equipment, so I was excited to sail. Another brother lives in Honolulu, and of all things, we each learned to windsurf completely independent of the other. The wind hasn't changed-- I could have sailed 6 out of 6 days, but we skipped the last day because the wind picked up late and I didn't want to rush to catch a late flight back. The bay area has a large number of sailable sites where good wind (6.0 or better) can be found almost every day from June through August. Finding wind is easy with internet subscription and highly reliable wind sensors right in the sailing area, with tips regarding that day's pattern. A daily thermal produces wind that starts anytime from about 1 pm to 4 pm and will blow from 2-5 hours. It seems to be about 3 or 4 to 1 kiters to wsurfers, and wind foiling beginning to catch on. Many fewer people on the water than the old days. How is it possible that there are only 6 kiters and 4 wsurfers on the water as I am zipping across the bay with the Golden Gate Bridge over my shoulder fully powered up on a 5.3, just a spectacular sight to see. Another local thing is that freestyle boards extremely popular (fanatic skate 100 in particular) even though not particularly used for freestyle. I can see it though, a nice compact board that perfectly fits the prevalent wind range 4.5 to 6.0. Overall, this trip reinforced my old belief that the Bay Area is the premier urban windsurfing spot in the US.

Agree! I go to SF at least a couple of times every year (business and family) and I try to squeeze a session or two when I’m there. It’s been such a great place to spend time on the water. I haven’t had a chance to sail below the Golden Gate, but Coyote Point in San Mateo further down in the bay has been a fun place nonetheless. Highly recommended!

Hey David, I met your brother today at Candlestick... actually been sailing with him for awhile now but didn't know who he was. I was parked right next to him today and had been noticed the Seattle Seahawks sticker on his car over the last week, so put on my Rams hat and started talking to him. He was on 5.3 and his Skate... probably OPd.

Cool! I'll probably be there sometime this summer to sail. If you're ever in Honolulu, there's another brother, you could borrow his stuff.

Pretty cool crossing of paths, guys.

Y’all have heard of "Six degrees of separation". In windsurfing it's one. It's what the site's about.

for sure! it' is really cool how small the community is and how many people have connections to each other. that said, have not seen David's brother since that day.

My girlfriend went to Med School in Chicago 2012-2016. I remember coming out for the Cal vs. Northwestern game in August 2014. My gf and I are Cal grads, and a windsurfing friend, who is a Northwestern alum, also made the trip. It was fairly windy a day or two before the game, and we tried to rent windsurfing gear at Northwestern University Sailing Center (which sort of reminded us of the Cal Sailing Club in Berkeley, although way way nicer). The people working behind the desk had no way of vetting our windsurfing abilities and thus would not rent us gear. They were, however, willing to rent us a hobie cat which was a lot of fun.

I posted something on the iWS forums about windsurfing around Evanston/North Chicago, and someone there offered to let me use their gear. I don't remember who it was, but maybe it was someone on the forum here? Never got a chance to windsurf on Lake Michigan.

Also of note, "Cal" is the athletic identity of the University of California, Berkeley. Some may or may not know that, so I figured I'd throw it out there. I think even most people in California don't even know. Berkeley was the first of the UC schools, so we claim the name The University of California.... so we go by University of California, California, Cal, Berkeley, University of California at Berkeley LOL.... football recruits seem to use Cal Berkeley. we have a huge branding problem. Berkeley is always misspelled, and sometimes Cal State is added to it, too. not that we are bitter or anything.

OK, lets close the loop even more. I offered my gear to you when you were going to be in Chicago, but as I remember it was not windy. So I have a Cal degree (graduate) and an MD (people at my school call it "somewhere in Boston"), and it was during my graduate studies years that I learned to sail a shortboard (having learned beginner skills on Green Lake in Seattle). I lived at the end of Union St in SF 5 minutes from Crissy. This is ancient history though-- I had Fanatic Bat and Bic Electric Rock which were NEW models at the time (guess when).

hah! no way! thanks again for the offer!

Go Bears!

you'll have to come out this summer and sail under the Golden Gate again... probably heading there today.

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weather is crap!

got ebbed out the gate last week when i was foiling and the wind abruptly died.... to be more precise there was a hard wind line and I crossed it with a 5kt outgoing current. originally thinking I would slog back to Marshall's or Baker Beach, as I got closer to land, the countercurrent/eddy took me all the way to the backside of Fort Point.

Pink line is a guesstimate of my path

tl;dr I was way the fuck out there! managed to land myself and not get rescued. ran into my friend at Fort Point and got a ride back to Crissy.

That would have me worried




BTW, I'm heading to SF for the xmas holidays to visit family. If windy (likely not), I'll try to find and use any washed-out gear on the beach.

ping me when you know when you're headed this way. I think your family is in the North Bay? I'm not sure if I'm in SF or LA for the xmas yet.