In early April, I windsurfed Bird Island Basin on the Laguna Madre, North Padre Island, 10 miles south of Corpus Christi, TX. I also took a jibing lesson from Randy at Worldwinds Windsurfing. I have windsurfed here several times. I have dealt with Don, Angela, and Randy at Worldwinds. They have a homey hut shop next to the water. I told Randy, “When I get that carving jibe, I’m going to call you.” It’s all in the head, the procedure, the feet moves, the hand moves, the sail flip. I can feel it coming soon. Every minute on the water is a good minute. The Laguna is a hyper saline lagoon, so when you get a gulp, you feel like you have just gargled with super strength salt water. So keep your mouth closed as you go down! It is a beautiful place, and Worldwinds has great equipment to rent. After my day on the water at the Basin, the next two days were spent in Rockport, about 40 miles north up the coast. I launched at Rockport Beach, a mile long sandy peninsula for recreation. Winds were light for some freestyle work, and it was just deep enough for a good ways out to do beach starts after falling off the board with a no-obstacle sandy bottom. Rockport is loaded with places to visit and things to do. I watched the oystering fleet leaving the docks at 0330 and come back in the afternoon with burlap bags of oysters to be unloaded, visited the aquarium, the Bay Education Center, and the Maritime Museum. The museum had displays of notes in bottles that had washed up on local shores from ship captains at sea and a kid living on a distant coast. The Boiling Pot was a great place to eat boiled crabs, corn, and shrimp. There are a couple of used book stores to hole up inside for awhile or trade books with. I plan to do the ABK clinic in early November at Bird Island Basin, and visit my family as well 5 hours away near Houston. About 30 more miles north from Rockport is Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I saw 5 of the last of the Whooping Cranes remaining that were heading back north for summer. The wildflowers were out at this time along the highways, including Indian Paint Brushes, Bluebonnets, and Indian Blankets. Then it was time for me to drive back north, the 1350 miles from Conroe, TX to near Pittsburgh.
