Where to cruise!

[MC11]

Just retired this fall at 65! Hurrah!

New travel RV and some gear, where to go to enjoy the beach life this winter for minimal dollar and no whipper-snappers (young guns doing freestyle or young girls, as per the wife!). Leaving from Montana.

Fellow geeze if you please. Would like to find a crowd my age!

Any ideas?

[Sylvie]

Hi MC11,

From December to February, I suggest Baja California:
- La Ventana and/or Los Barrilles, both places are easy ocean sailing.

From March to April, I suggest Texas:
- South Padre Island and/or North Padre Island, aka Bird Island (if flat water is OK for you - laguna sailing)
- Corpus Christi Bay, for more challenging conditions (big chop)
- The oceans, if you feel for it!

Those are all places where you will meet a lot of young retired people.

I'm sure you could find some more information on Iwindsurf's regional forum "Southwest & Mexico".

Enjoy!

[jimoakes]

Good for you MC11!

Sylvie has it right.

There's nothing better than going south to escape winter. From 1991 to 1995 I'd drive from Minnesota to Corpus. I was there from February to May and had good luck with wind. March and April are the best. Average sail size was 5.5.

Bird Island always had a bunch of windsurfers camped on the beach. Many are your age. I would call worldwinds or another local shop to get more information.

[MC11]

Thanks so much for these two replies.

Reading threads, it seems as though people love to talk of their secret places and heroic exploits.

Could I get at least a few here? Anyone able to describe RV life at these places? Is it like the gorge with lots of other people?

Any pictures to post from those already in Baja or other nice places?

Come on guys!

[isobars]

Well, realize that any winter place warm, windy, and reachable by RV in North America has already been discovered and is heavily populated with people of all ages. You're 25 years too late for secrets fitting those caveats. Even more fundamental, if I knew of such a place with no crowds I wouldn't tell my mother or best friend, let alone the internet or some dude on it. Hell, I've never told one solitary soul about my favorite Gorge wild camping site for > 20 years now, let alone any secret sailing spots I may or may not have found.

Tell ya what: park down the street from my house as the wx turns to crap his fall, then follow me as I leave, to see where I spend my winter (I've been retired for decades and WSing is my top priority.)

Better yet, I'll just tell ya straight out (I'm widely known for that) where I spend my winters: more or less right here. I've read and looked and listened my butt off about it, but haven't found a place I'm willing to park my RV for 2-3-4 months waiting for wind, all things considered. Almost to a person, probably 50-60 of them, the people with whom I've discussed the obvious choice -- Baja -- praise and demonstrate at great length its primary attraction for them: its social life. Every single one of them I've met enjoys the everlovin' heck out of sitting around camp BSing 22/7, plus a little sailin' now and then. If that will sustain you all winter, and your life is that well under control, by all means load 'er up and go. I just have too many other things that need doing to devote 3-4 months to that. Heck, I can't sit still at Roosevelt, an hour away, for two back-to-back days of no wind; I'm sure not about to commit several thousand miles and a few months to the hopes of sailing several hours several days a week, when that seems to be awfully optimistic. Heck, I get bored quickly on Maui if the wind quits, as I consider "party" to be a noun, not a verb.

OTOH, if you are an avid mountain biker, dirt biker, snorkeler, fisherman, party guy, hiker, AND camp chair lover, you'll love it. Many people who love some of those things rave about it and pressure me very hard every summer in the Gorge to winter there ... and will ride their lawn chairs here for hours and days and weeks on end while it's blowing like stink. If these people are representative of the Baja crowd, and you can "hang" for months on end, you'll LOVE Baja, because the Baja group I see near home every summer are great, warm, interesting, helpful, funny, highly enjoyable people. I've found not one of them to be anything like the people whose personal vitriol defiles the political threads in this and other forums.

Besides Baja, I'm out of ideas within RV range. Fortunately I love standing right where I am now, and use my winters to do all the things I set aside for chasing wind the other eight months of the year. I was about to spend a week or two in your neck of the woods this fall, but your park rangers discouraged that due to endless rain this year. If WSing isn't #1 and you don't mind occasional hard winter wx while away from home, cruising the SW U.S. will snare some incredible scenery plus some excellent sailing (and an occasional winter storm) ... and put you a lot closer to Baja. That's my next major road trip, but no hurry as I lived there for decades.

And while I was initially surprised at your "folks my age" restriction, on second thought I can see where you're coming from. While most of the sailors I hang with all season are much younger than I and most of them are fine, fun people, virtually all of the jerks who think the rules of law, society, and humanity don't apply to them are quite young. Most people who reach our age have been taught one way or another how to behave and get along, and the young ones who have been brought up that way are a double delight, so I discriminate by behavior, not by age.

Mike \m/