Wisetrips Travel Blog

After many months of closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Coyote Point Park in San Mateo (my default windsurfing destination) re-opened on June 15th. As Coyote Point is much closer to my home (usually a 45-minute car ride vs a 90-minute ride to Sherman Island), I was eager to reclaim at least a small part of my rapidly fading windsurfing season. With iwindsurf.com predicting heavy winds on June 15th, I drove to Coyot…

After spending 3 hours assembling the very complex Weber Genesis II S-345 Grill (which I purchased from Costco for $949), I was finally ready to try grilling steak! I bought a 15-pound propane canister (outdoor supply hardware) for $65. My first attempt was to grill a prime rib using the iGrill thermometer. According to YouTube directions, I needed to examine the steak for 2 minutes, rotating it by 90 degre…

Having difficulty catching waves on my Firewire Spitfire, 6'6", I decided to try my luck at stand-up paddleboarding from my last experience at Sayulita. It might make it easier for me to catch slow waves in Mexico. After some research, I settled on an F.One Madeiro 8'5" wave sup on Craigslist. I also needed a new paddle (Cruz carbon) and a board bag (Abahub Premium 8'6"). My firs…

With strong gusty, 25+ knot winds promised by the  iWindsurf forecast, I rushed to Sherman Island  in Rio Vista. I arrived at about 4:15pm, parked my minivan near the Sherman Island County park (as parking in the actual park was completely full), and rigged my Ezzy Elite 4.0m sail. I selected the 85-liter Goya Custom quad fin for my board of choice, as the wind was gusting to 40 knots, and other sailors reported us…

Over the past two years, I have been using primarily two surfboards for surfing: Wavestorm 8'0" soft-top surfboard (Costco $99) Firewire Spitfire 6'6" FST epoxy (purchased used for $525 from Rodney/Craigslist) As I started progressing on the Wavestorm, I switched to the Firewire Spitfire 6'6 FST, but my progress slowed dramatica…