Human Catapulting in the Bay Area

My wife and I got together with our neighbors/friends for a 5 day jaunt to San Francisco last week. So naturally, I contacted Catapulting Aaron to line up a sesh while I was out there. It worked out great. I flew in, had some lunch in the city, Aaron picked me up, and we were off. Our plan was to sail wherever the conditions were forecasted to be the best and Coyote Point was the call that afternoon. I sailed on Aaron's 5.3 sail/104lt board and had an absolute blast. I've sailed Coyote before but it was lighter wind around 15-20 at that time. This time around we got 20-25 and sizable swell/chop up to waist high. It wasn't the best day by Coyote regulars' standards because of holes in the wind and the crazy chop, but I'm used to that kind of sailing anyway. A day like that on the lake would have rated very high.

I met some of the other local sailors, including Kevin from Sunset Sailboards. Everyone was great. They must have been trying to make a real good impression on me because someone handed me a beer (thanks Jacob!) after we came off the water. Well....it worked! Seriously though, I was already all smiles when I came off the water...but the beer was definitely a bonus. Afterwards, we drove over to Candlestick Park to check out the flat water freestyle action there.

Big thanks to Aaron for going out of his way to pick me up, taking me back to my friends (and saving me a ton on taxi cab costs), for loaning me his gear, and taking me to sail together at one of his local spots. Oh...and by the way, I find it interesting that on Aaron's site, he says "I'm a bad windsurfer who just moved to San Francisco". He is no longer a "bad" windsurfer and is now ripping. He's working on some new advanced moves but I won't spoil the surprise and let him tell you once he's nailed it.

Thanks to that sesh, I was relaxed for the rest of our stay and it was a great rest of our stay with my friends. We played in the city, went for a tour of some of Sonoma and Napa's finest wineries, ate some incredible food, and got in some awesome hiking in the Marin headlands. Here are a few pics and a real quick 1 min video of some of the best views in the area.



The only decent shot of windsurfing I was able to get (other than a couple of long distance shots below). This is Kevin at Candlestick.



Highway 1 at Muir Beach Overlook looking north...we lucked out on the sunny days and little fog while we were there.



Chinatown



the mandatory tourist stop at Pier 39 to check out the always fun sea lions



Tennessee Cove in Marin County...one of the highlights of our hike



We stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito...this was our view of Mt. Tamalpais from the hot tub



I never get tired of this view



That was a big container ship....after he got into the bay, I watched as a windsurfer and a kiter both "wavesailed" forever "down the line" on the ship's wake



Click on these shots to check out the action out in the bay...this was the view from the Marin County side looking back towards the city and Crissy Field