Germar's Monthly Updater

February 2002: Windsurfing, Whale Watching and Boggie Boarding in San Diego My good friend and windsurfing enthusiast Andi was visiting me for one week in February. We both were keen on doing some board sailing. There was no wind at the coast, but "Santa Ana", a strong easterly wind, was reported for inland valleys, so we drove east. It looked rather hopeless for the first 50 miles. The trees next to the freeway were barely moving. But suddenly, the road was closed by police for high-profile vehicles and the wind picked up. We once got out of the car at a vista point, and had to lean against the wind to avoid getting blown over. The gusts were just incredible. We headed farther east, and I had problems keeping the car in the lane. When we left the freeway and drove the last miles to our destination, Lake Morena, we saw several trucks with cranes from the local electricity company supporting telephone poles. Further down the road we noticed a commercial building with a heavily damaged roof. We finally arrived at the lake. As expected, it was covered all over with white caps. The wind was a bit less than on the freeway overlook, but it was still blowing with 7-8 Beaufort. We decided to launch in a bay, which seemed to provide some shelter. It was a bad decision, as the wind was very gusty. The biggest problem, however, was the fact that the water was fu***** cold and it was hard to hold the boom with clammy fingers. Yet we managed the conditions. Below it's me, shooting over the water. And here my friend has some air time. We couldn't surf for long as we both started to suffer from "thick forearms" due to the low water temperature. Yet it was a worthwhile trip to be remembered for years to come. Below, we are posing for a last picture (the wind had died down a little by then) before we headed back to San Diego. The next day, we went whale watching on a boat. The fog at the coast watched from the ocean made quite a scenic background. We did not see whales. However, suddenly we were surrounded by a school of dolphins, which were partly surfing the bow wave of our boat. They were quite a good surrogate for whales, and watching them swim seemingly without effort was great fun. We were accompanied by several Pelicans on the way back to the harbor. The birds, which look somewhat clumsy on land, are majestic gliders. Shortly before we reached land, the wind picked up and we decided to go windsurfing in the ocean. The wind was not great, but the waves were easy to ride, and we had lots of fun. We stayed late, and though the wind was continuously decreasing, the colorful atmosphere shortly before sunset kept us on the scene. On the next day, we went boogie boarding. Below my friend is catching a good wave ... ... and here I send a "hang loose" towards the camera after having enjoyed a long ride.

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