punta san carlos for spring

[oliv]

hi all

I come from europe to punta san carlos next spring.
I read that wind is stronger in april/may than rest of the year: do you have experience about this ?
I can only bring 2 sails by plane: i weight 65kg, do you suggest
4.0 and 4.7
or 4.7 and 5.3 ?

mid march, is wind already blowing or is it wiser to wait until april ?

thank you very much

olivier

[dllee]

I've done 4 trips to SanCarlos...
Better late April, for me, since S swells are summer swells, and allthough windy March can happen, it seldom comes with any swells. But swell coinciding with wind is always a chancy proposition.
May should be best, when weather warms up a bit. April can be boots, gloves, and hood sailing, if it's still cold, like this year seems to be. Cold like 45 degree nights and 59 degree days, with waters around 55.
Most people roll two sails together into one, so you can bring 3. 5.3 is a must have, 4.7 used about 40% of the time, but there are days when 4.2 is the only thing you can sail with, maybe 4 days a month. I'm the same weight as you, and every trip, have needed my 4.2 at least 3 days in 3 weeks.

[elenna]

[loopless]

At your weight a 4.0 and 4.7 will probably have you on the water a lot in March.

As others noted your options are either 'solo' or with Solo Sports.
If you do it by yourself you will need "everything".

- someone who will rent you a vehicle in San Diego to go to baja (e.g F150 truck)
- camping gear
- all your food
- windsurfing gear
- adventurous attitude

If you go SoloSports you can leave everything behind as they supply the lot. They will lighten your wallet to the tune of nearly $2k, but the cost all the above including airline fees for windsurf gear etc may not make it such a bad deal and you will be warm and well fed.... plus the euro is killing the $US at the moment.

[pacspeed]

Don't forget the RV rental option... Elmonterv.com now allows rentals into Mexico. You have to say you wont take it "off road" but as long as you don't wreck on the dirt road, it's all good. $1200 a week gets you transportation and lodging from SD to San Carlos. Tough to beat, especially if you're splitting with a few friends.

My advice: get the shortest one they have. Last year a group of Italians brought a 26 footer and hung the thing up on every vado they could, but my friend's 20 footer cruised through them all.

[oliv]

thank you all for your answers.
solosports option is very expensive, so we chose the RV solution from the beginning.
my mate lives in los angeles, so we will start the trip from there: do you have any good adresses in los angeles for
- RV that we can bring to mexico without insurance problems? (to compare with Elmonterv.com)
- windsurf gear rental ?

[gdewitt1]

Solo will rent you a sail, if you need a size you don't have.

[kpsounis]

olin, the others have already given you excellent info regarding the logistics. what I want to stress more is the timing of the trip. you go to san carlos for *south swells*. so forget about march, and forget about april as well. statistically speaking, may is a far better option. later (june-august) is even better swell-wise, but it is true that it is getting progressively less windy, so if you only windsurf (no kitesurfing, no surfing) it is riskier. don't worry about the wind in may, it is still pretty windy.

of course, all the above are based on *statistics*. but they are also based on common sense: south swells come from the southern hemisphere, and large swell is generated during late-fall -> winter -> early-spring, which translates to may-september.

[mirkef]

i was in SC end of march to beginning of april 2010 for a week. had 7 out of 7 days with 84L board and 5.3/4.7 and excellent NW swell. i am 185 pounds. it was not cold at all.

[mirkef]

i was in SC end of march to beginning of april 2010 for a week. had 7 out of 7 days with 84L board and 5.3/4.7 and excellent NW swell. i am 185 pounds. it was not cold at all.