Windsurfing at Crissy Field

While working from home in San Francisco, I was fortunate to rent an Airbnb (3038 Baker Street) 5 minutes from Crissy Field.

During the summer, San Francisco experiences consistent daily winds from 15-25 knots from 15:00 - 20:00. I was fortunate to have windsurfed daily after work. 

My usual routine was as follows:

1. Check the Crissy Field video cam for current sailing conditions and iWindsurf.com for the daily wind forecast
2. I would drive up to Crissy Field, parking near the Crissy Field Changing Rooms
3. Depending on wind conditions, I would rig either:
• Ezzy Elite 4.0m/4.5m/5.0m/5.7m sails
• Fanatic 105 FSW STB.Freestyle Wave Windsurfing Board
• Exocet RF81 Wind Foiling Board with a Slingshot Infinity 76 foil

Here are some helpful hints for sailing Crissy Field

1. White caps on the water usually indicated strong winds (using smaller sails, like 4.5m) in the channel
   
2. On many days, I would switch between Fanatic and Exocet based on wind conditions
3. Staying upwind is very hard during a flood tide. 
4. The ebb tide really made it easy to return (preferable)
5. Higher boom height really helped to get planing or foiling faster
6. When the fog starts rolling in, it's time to get out. The wind can shut down suddenly.

After many days of wind foiling, I started to get used to controlling my flights. They are susceptible to foot position and foot pressure.

Windsurfing Tips

1. Keep the boom height higher
2. The front leg needs to be straight
3. To get the board planing earlier, push down on the boom to take the weight off the back.
   

I recorded a short video on my helmet-mounted GoPro hero7 black while windsurfing at Crissy.