Windsurfing is alive and well in San Francisco! The bay area is windy almost every day from April through September. The German Alexander Dunkel (AD Surf Photography), who visited San Francisco a couple of times for internships during study, has put together a very nice video, which gives a great overview of all the spots at San Francisco and beyond.
Alexander: “San Francisco Bay Area Windsurfing seasons: I was stoked! ..and sad to leave. No one in Germany really knew what was going on here. I had to take the first chance a year later to get back. From July to October 2013 I was going around again with all the great people I met before, and get to know this awesome place a little bit more. I was new into filming at this time, too and started recording occasionally: in the end I had about 900 clips and two hard drives of footage. In the final film SUMMER SESSIONS 2013 I tried to show the different styles of windsurfing in and around the Bay Area: the slalom and race guys under the Golden Gate Bridge, the Freestylers at Candlestick Park, the hot days at the Delta (and the cold at Treasure Island) and of course, the unique source of wind – the fog. Sailing the San Francisco Bay Area requires a lot of local knowledge and maybe this film can give some first impressions on what to expect here.”
We have been in San Francisco in 1996 and sailed at the bay and at some of the other spots. We had great conditions but got into trouble when the fog came into the bay. Chris (Pressler) broke a mast, saw big ships passing and was drifting outside the bay due to the current. Thanks to the help of a local sailor, who helped him to come back: “He probably saved my life this day. Thanks!”
Spots in the video: Ocean Beach, Palo Alto, The Delta, Davenport, Crissy Field, 3rd Avenue, Berkeley, Candlestick, Treasure Island
Watch SUMMER SESSIONS 2013 – SF BAY AND BEYOND
Sailors: Wyatt Miller, Camille Juban, Sofien Sehiri, Kevin Kan, Jacob Leverich, Christian Thiel, Aaron Vieira, Brad Block, Daniel Beguiristain, Fernando Siu, George Luk, Graham Feddersen, James Mazzanti, Juan Vargas, Pedro Yribarren, Peter Najim, Abigail, Fisher, Chris Valdes, Ismail Onur Filiz, Ming Hua, Noemi Andor, Phil Simmons, Sako, Sergey Menshikov, Steve Elliott, Vincent Fallourd, Xavier Declerecq, Zdenkek Mlika, Brett Greene, Daniel Siskind, David Hume, Jay Turco, Joolz Zer, Kzysztof Kujawa, Ady Aviram, Ben Yuen, George Snell, Ian Jones, Michael Zelinski, Mikako Hoshi Kitwagawa, Murray Bruce, Ross Libenson, Tim Martin, Vi Le
AD Surf Photography on Flickr with photos from different spots at California:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adsurfphotography/sets
and two maps with some basic info:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/adsurfphotography/sets/72157634987423542/
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community.
Your web site provided us ith valuable info to work on. You have done a
formidable job and our entire community will be grateful to you.
Great video, CA coast looks so good.
lucky im not a windsurfer in california cus it appear to suck. bigtime.
Hy guys, that’s so awesome that you posted this video on your website, I just wanted to mention a few typos I noticed on some of the sailors names: you wrote “Kzysztof Kujawa” — (typo on first name, missing R) should have been “Krzysztof Kujawa” you wrote “Zdenkek Mlika” — (typo on first name, one K too many) should have been “Zdenek Mlika” you wrote “Xavier Declerecq” — (typo on last name, on E too many) should have been “Xavier Declercq” you wrote “Chris Valdes” — (not a typo this time) should have been “Christophe Sabineu” you wrote “Sako” —… Read more »
fantastic video. captures the bay area really well.