Lake Hodges update

[loopless]

Those with long memories might remember the saga of Lake Hodges in San Diego - probably our most reliable summer windy spot . At one time there was a thriving windsurfing community there, with windsurfing camps for kids, and a good number of people sailing there. The hammer came down when the water district decided to build a pumping station nearby the sailing site, cutting off access for a number of years during construction and actually closing the lake to windsurfing. Despite promising to restore access to the lake when construction was done ( and importantly opening the road to the main sailing site) - they didn't. Following numerous petitions and terrific individual lobbying plus even a segment by a local TV show, windsurfing access to the lake was finally restored, but the access road to the only viable (given the lakes low level in the drought) sailing area was never re-opened, leaving the lake basically inaccessible except to the hardy few willing to hike in, carry gear on bikes or do a monster slog upwind...
Roll forward to 2017, and a very wet winter. The lake is essentially full. It turns out, fortuitously, that the raised water level has made practical a new/old sailing site near the power-boat launch. Now a new crew of sailors has established themselves there. Out of 10 possible days to sail in the last few weeks ( the lake is open only Wed/Sat/Sun), 9 have been good enough to be consistently powered on a 7.0 and a free ride board ( believe me, that's outstanding for San Diego!). Sadly, the launch is not suitable for beginners, as we have to share it with power boats being pulled in and out, but it seems windy afternoons are not that popular with fisherman.

So a long story to say thanks to all those people who supported the long slog to restore access! We are still pretty bitter about the access to the 'old' sailing site being closed for bogus reasons, but we can continue to push for that showing that at least we are using the lake.

[MalibuGuru]

Bravo to all who helped. I might be there in 2 weeks to see!

BTW, thanks to your advise my 1 and only sailing day at Tourmaline had good wind and surf, so San Diego is very good from my perspective.

[geohaye]

Awesome!

Isn't it great that the best thing that local windsurfers can do to keep this access open is to use it as frequently as possible... ie: GO WINDSURFING!

iWindsurf- current wind @ Lake Hodges Dam:
http://wx.iwindsurf.com/spot/94271

[loopless]

[loopless]