Hi,


I restarted the Bay Area Wind Report site (http://www.and.com/BWR).
Hopefully it will be more reliable from now.


I was in vacation in the southern hemisphere, New Caledonia.

The capital Noumea is a great windsurfing city. There are five windsurf
shops (one of them belongs to my cousin...). For 200,000 people, which
means many, many enjoy the sport. Windsurfing events appear in the sport
section of the local newspapers, overthere.

 

Even though it is winter the water is still at 70oF and turquoise blue
like I have never seen anywhere else ! While windsurfing, I would take my
snorkeling gear with me, and stop as soon as I would see something
interesting under the crystal clear water, like a 2 meter large turtle, or
go atoll hoping. Once I caught a sea snake "stripped jersey" with my
slalom fin. They are not aggressive but their bite is fatal... I dragged
it all the way back to the beach were the poor animal had problems taking
his breath again.


I had 5 great days on bump and jump gear from 5.0 to 6.0 . The trade winds
are disturbed at this time of the year as the lows on Australia and New
Zealand come up north, but there were typically 3 to 4 days a week with
5.5m2 or better conditions. Their best time of the year is from September
to December, when the trade winds blow non stop, I've been said.


Of course, the best days always occured when I was busy camping in remote
places and islands. It was disappointing on the wave sailing scene as the
reef is 15 miles away from the city. Around the main island and the atolls
the reef gets closer to shore, though. I saw many great looking wave
sailing spots with no one on them except a few surfers, due to the
remoteness of the places. There is no rental shop once you're in the
"Bush", and you can be days away from the city. In tribes, you typically
see old windsurfers, by the fishermen huts. Locals use them for paddling
and laying nets, they are still lighter than their pirogues.


I saw where some pictures of Robert Teriitehau were taken
(http://www.windtracks.com/photos/knight3.jpg), and this area is closed to
windsurfing. The local tribal chief banned our sport as it frightens the
fishes in the lagoon ! Definitely another world down there.


-Francois