Let's Talk Story

[cherrywood182]

Just dropping into the water miles of coyote point on my own in the SF Bay in the late afternoon. Lying on my board chilling, while the swell rocks me up and down. Poor mans pleasure yacht. Nice. Doubly nice when a squadron of pelicans drifts by in formation.

[bludyell]

Grins; whales (remember Humphrey?), seals, birds wet and dry, brown flat things that might be Halibut, turtles and dolphin, pelicans surfing the waves; never hit one of em.
Then at 3rd one warm day, blasting in top gear I finally hit something big in the water; board stopped dead, I did my Gold medal Chinese gymnast routine before finally breaking surface tension many yards ahead.
Swam back to board after not seeing blood/thrashing/fins etc.
Wildlife item was a twenty foot length of ship's rope, about 4" thick. Kept the fin that time.
LMAO so hard I almost drowned.

[beallmd]

Maui Sunset, sailing out, Boat goes by, sail behind-turns out they are trolling-hit heavy line. Now I don't sail behind boats going down or up Kihei coast 'til safely past.

[flynbri]

I was sailing a new hollow wave board I built at San Carlos a few years back that made a drum sound in chop. I was out on a long tack enjoying the ride and I see this big thing sticking straight up on the horizon. I sail out to get a closer look and it turns out to be a whale watching me wondering what the hell that strange sound was! I got close enough to see his eye watching me then he dropped back into the sea. That was the most unusual thing I've seen besides seeing a great white outside of Arroyal Laguna YIKES!

[bil7y]

Over 25+ years in sf bay: lots of dolphins, seals, porpoises, humpback and Gray whales,jumping fish including a few sturgeon & many different kinds of jelly fish. Big Sea Turtles in kanaha, Seals, Sharks (leopard or lemon I couldn't tell which) at paradise cay. Multiple bat rays in richardson bay and swiming rats in richardson bay too! No flying fish though. Seen plenty of them sailing on boats but never seen one on a board. It would be very cool to 'fly' with one.

My favorite though is my 3 life time 'cloud runs'. This is when the whale blows upwind of you and you can sail through the misty cloud of his exhale.STINKY!! Attmittedly although dementedly I aim for them.

I see porpoises all the time. The first time I saw a true bottlenose it freaked me - underwear changer. Thought it was a shark. Flashed me right up along side. Sooo much bigger than a porpoise.

Thats one of the perks of Formula Windsurfing is the more touring aspect of it. Cover lots of diverse ground.





.

[Billyptres]

Yeahhh mahn good thinking Dabull! time for a positive rap on this forum and being an instigator of the negative thread I owe some payback:
favorite flying fish story:

about 10 years ago at Leo I was blasting along and a a little buddy jumped up next to me shoulder high , he flew next to me for what seemed like 40 seconds and then his spasmodic flight ended with him landing on my deck, I took out my front foot and pinned him to to the deck, (I dunnno it was instinct, and I was hungry...) I thought about getting all the way in and proffering him up as proof that you can catch fish with your feet, but his little wings were flapping, and fearing some karmic payback I let him go.

Best Ice Cream Sandwich:
In Hyannisport Cape Cod on 25 to 30 K Sw day, scooted across the bay about 2 miles pointing up wind to the point off Great Island Called Brants. Surfed around in some big sweet rollers and then went on a HUGE reach pointing up, dodging the Nantucket Ferry, Turkey gobbled through the 15 boat Wianno Sr. race (Wasps hanging on for dear life in 26' old gaff rig sloops -they are turkeys so why not gobble?)- and made land at a beach club where I sauntered up, and charged an Ice Cream sandwich to some friend of a friend of a friend. Then did four looong downwinder reaches back where I started. Good session!

Another day way out at Leo boom snapped, flipped over backwards, spent a long time in the water getting the boom flipped over so I could maybe get in from the remaining intact side, cut my arm bleeding a bit, thinking about the men in the grey suits out there (it was Shark Week) but made it in, bought all new carbon booms . .. Interesting Session

Looking for more mammal stories and of course love to read about breakdowns crashes, and calamities!

BP

[tony]

Do kayaking stories count?

A couple of weeks ago I was kayaking off Paradise Cove and saw what I first took to be a seal in some kelp (we had already seen several seals) but this one seemed unusually still and I began to think it was just a buoy. I paddled closer and made sea lion noises (I don't speak seal) with no effect. As I came closer I could see that it really was a seal but there was no sign of movement. There was still no sign of life by the time the bow of the kayak came within about 2 feet of it so I assumed it was dead (we had seen numerous dead marine mammals last year during the domoic acid event). I barked at it one more time and its eyes opened, then it spotted me and its eyes opened wider and it dived quickly under the surface. Apparently it had just been so fast asleep that it hadn't heard me until then.

[MikeUzi]

Hey Bull! Thanks again for letting me go for that test run on your gear. I think the best way to improve is by riding all kinds of gear, in all conditions (even when the breeze is painfully light). Also, my windsurf sessions are a bit limited lately since I have a new job and baby keeping me busy. So that was a great way to make the most of another weak day at Leo.
Cheers!
Mike

[gerritt]

Smallish day and I spot a spout about 200 yard beyond the break. Cool, I'll go check out the whale.

I get to around where I saw the spout and instead of a whale a whole pod of whales surface. Two surfaced within ten feet on either side of me and one big eye was looking right at me. I could see the barnacles. I dropped off a plance and went real slow for fear of hitting my fin on one of them. It was way spooky and cool at the same time. I was worried one would surface right under me, but I think they were very aware of me. They stayed about a minute and eventually dove under.

Another day I was doing a slow jibe inside and an female elephant seal surfaced inside the arch of my jibe looking the other way. As I come around and she sees me, I could see her eyes widen and she reared back and dove under real quick. Cracked me up.

Surfing otters - they are the best. They go along on their backs with the rocks on their stomachs and just look at you like, 'Hey man, get off my wave.'

Flying fish in Pedro kept things interesting.

[jimwilkins]

I once got dared a few $$$s to fornicate with a sea anenomie. Never did it but I still love nature. I always enjoy the seal out a marker 12 at sherman. He barks at you like a dog.