I just got my Windsurfing Magazine and found one of my photos on page 86. It’s a technique article featuring Steve Bodner (USA 4). The shot is 1/3 of the page and shows Steve pumping his formula windsurfing board and sail.
It’s common to wake up in San Francisco and look out the window to find nothing but gray fog. On the rare occasion, it might even be sunny outside. Big, puffy , white, cumulus clouds are something that just doesn’t occur very often around here. This morning there were clouds everywhere. Usually, I have my camera with me, but not today. By the time I got around to making a few photos, most of the clouds had moved off to the east. The shot below is from Baker Beach in San Francisco and has the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
The weather in San Francisco yesterday was looking a bit grey and I decided it was best to get out of town. I drove up to Point Reyes and stopped in at Drakes Beach where the photo below was taken. I then headed over to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The rainy weather the day before had left the usually clear sky with a bit of texture. On the way home, I noticed the artists of the Inverness area were having an open studio event and I was able to stop in and visit with several of them. There was some really beautiful stuff: pottery, paintings and photography.
Yesterday was windy, but I heard on the radio today that the weather people had taken the extra step of issuing a high wind warning for the San Francisco Bay area. Driving past Candlestick this afternoon the wind was definitely on. The water was solid whitecaps everywhere, but nobody was out sailing. Hoping to maybe catch a few sailors or kitesurfers taking advantage of the wind, I headed over to Ocean Beach. Coincidentally this route helped me avoid the huge traffic backup caused by a head-on collision on the Golden Gate Bridge. Six cars were involved and created traffic problems for over 3 hours. As I drove down Great Highway, sand was drifting across the road. I pulled into the parking lot just south of the Cliff House and saw three sailors out windsurfing. The wind is supposed to stick around through tomorrow. Get out there and enjoy it!
This whole week, the San Francisco Bay Area is expecting unseasonably warm weather. Even San Francisco, which is normally foggy and 57 degrees is expected to see temps into the 80’s. By some amazing luck, the wind also happened to be up today and a bunch of sailors were out at Candlestick. There are usually only a couple people on the water, but today there were more like 10. Normally when I go out to shoot windsurfing photos around here I am bundled up with a sweater, windbreaker, and winter hat on and still barely able to stay warm. Today I managed with no jacket at all.
Today started off with fog pretty much everywhere in San Francisco. By mid morning it had started to clear up and by afternoon, it was a beautiful day. The wind also cooperated.
Windsurfing: A few photos of the Sunday windsurfing action.
Sailing: A couple guys were out doing some training in their Lasers. They were definitely getting a good workout with some hard upwind grinding, fast downwind runs, and chilly wipe outs.
Yesterday I got to help a friend break in a new camera. The fog had fully set in and it was getting near dark, so we headed to the closest place we could think of to try to get some shots - Golden Gate Park. We parked next to the Conservatory of Flowers and started off in search of something interesting. Our best shots were at the AIDS Memorial Garden.
I stopped down at the St. Francis Yacht Club and talked to a couple of friends who were just getting off the water after sailing in the Elvstrom Zellerbach regatta. The wind had come up quite a bit and all the sailors looked like they had gotten in plenty of sailing over the weekend. One managed to break the bottom section of his laser mast. Since the wind had come up, the windsurfers had headed out onto the water at Crissy Field. Sand was blowing everywhere and the sky was very hazy, less than ideal photography conditions, but I wasn’t the only one out taking photos. Actually, I’m not sure this guy even noticed all the windsurfing action. He was totally focused on making sure he got a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.
