On this late morning I find my thoughts wandering, focus on work taking a back seat to the view outside.
Beyond the screen door is an expanse of the Sea of Cortez, framed by Jacques Cousteau island to the Northeast, and the lighthouse at the tip of Punta Arena to the Southeast, my mind lost in thought about how exceptional the sailing cruising grounds are here.
Jacques Cousteau island, shaped much like Santa Catalina at a smaller scale, got its nickname from Jacques explorations of the locally abundant sea life beneath the surface. Whale sharks, orcas, gray whales, sea lion colonies, and schools of game fish flourish in this part of the world, all funneled and fed by the Cerralvo Canal currents, remote enough to allow them to avoid the full burden of man.
The island itself serves another purpose, and that is to funnel the northerly Gulf of California winds between itself and the bay of La Ventana, to create a predictable, constant, strong cross shore breeze along the beaches of El Sargento.
As the bay crescents into La Ventana and Eastward toward Punta Arena, it turns La Ventana’s beach into a catcher’s mitt to scoop up anyone unable to make their way upwind, a safe downwind landing instead of the less desirable alternative of getting washed out to sea.
Being inside the Gulf of California, the sea is protected from the West swell by the Baja peninsula, a swell that makes its Pacific coast a desirable surfing destination.
This topography and predictable winter wind pattern creates a perfect environment for kiteboarding, wing foiling, and wind surfing, with the beach cities of El Sargento and La Ventana expanding exponentially as word gets out about them.
Aaron took that afternoon off for his first launch outside of Belmont shores in Long Beach, so I drove him down to the beach to get the lay of the land.
The sand at the entrance to La Tuna beach has turned into a parking lot of sorts, compacted by a hundred Sprinter vans, Subarus, and Tacomas each with a rack full of equipment of the chosen water sport, the age of the occupants often, though not always a tell as to the type of sport undertaken.
The beach itself at capacity, on shore a spaghetti of lines and kites in different states of launch as people come in and out of the water, the water packed with water traffic dense for miles offshore. At first sight this scene is as intimidating as when we first experienced California’s twelve-plus lane freeways.
We chatted up some locals with their equipment already laid out, to talk about wind conditions, gusts, good landing spots, and equipment selection.
Aaron’s kite was good for lower wind days, days rarely found in the more advanced waters here, where the wind typically exceeds 20kts, and frequently gusts into the 30s. Most people on the water were safely flying 8-10 meter kites. At 12 meters, Aaron’s kite had the potential to launch him.
“In old country, the kite flies you”
We stopped by a kite rental and lesson outfit, who confirmed that the conditions called for a smaller kite that Aaron then rented. I scheduled my own kiting lessons the following week. If I can fly here, I can fly anywhere.
I left Aaron at the beach while I went back to camp, but not before going to refill our water jugs.
We were out of potable water, so I took our jugs to Purificada el Mezquite where they will refill your bottles with purified water for the equivalent of $1.50.
There’s a number of cisterns around town where you can refill your water containers for free, and honestly the water tastes just as clean, but in my mind I seem to value the water much more when I pay for it, though I have no proof that its provenance is any different.
Getting water turned into more than an hour of errands, with a stops at the gas station, liquor store for some modelos, tortilla store, corner store for some pan dulce, and the pescaderia for their stash of plant based burger patties that they procure on their weekly Costco runs to Cabo.
By the time I returned to the trailer, I had somehow whittled away the entire work day.
Determined to be useful in one way or another, I threw the burgers on the barbie, topped them with vegan blue cheese and grilled jalapenos and shared them with our friends who where themselves on Zoom meetings all day unable to find time to make food, and Aaron who returned a little banged up and hungry after a full day at the kite rodeo.
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