If you’ve done any googling/daydreaming of where your next kiteboarding spot should be, you’ve probably heard of Los Barriles. It’s about an hour drive North from San Jose del Cabo (SJD) airport. We read so many reviews about how great it is. It always lists in the top 10 of kiteboarding locations in the Carribean and Mexico. And it is… if you like waves. However, I am still getting confident riding upwind. I did really like that every kiteboarding lesson is a downwinder. They drive you about a mile upwind, and you take off from a beach up there. It was a roughly week long trip and we had some stormy weather from a hurricane that passed through (hurricanes nearby on vacation are a theme for us), but I still got 3 lessons on the water.
Every day was amazing wind: ~17-20 knot wind and perfectly clean. It was side on shore… just perfect. I had a blast with Exotikite. Jessica was pregnant with Ellie at the time, so she didn’t get to partake in the kiteboarding, but she and Bash got to watch me a bit. The kiteboarding was great wind, but you’re out on open ocean with the accompanying swells. And near shore, you have the waves crashing on you. We’ll probably be seeking this out in a couple of years, but the waves are more of an obstacle than a ramp for me right now. Check out my kiteboarding video from the trip. Yes, the kite color changes as I pieced together some footage from two different days.
[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydsT2TgkayY[/embedyt]