The Skyway, aka the Highway to Hell

[stormatzio]

So this is about my second post ever but I actually have my two cents to add. I went to the Skyway on Thursday and saw a whole bunch of people I have never seen before trying to ride in 10-12Kts of winds. There were a lot of fluttering kites hanging straight in the air. Probably 2 or 3 guys barely staying up wind. It was just looking ugly. I decided not to tempt fate and I guess I missed a pretty good late session.

So here it is.... The moment we have all dreaded...... People, lots and lots of people. The wind sucked the other day and the beach was packed. Gone are the days of hanging out and knowing everyone in the water and how they ride. Who you should stay away from and who is a good rider.

I see all of these posts about the skyway not being a beginner launch. My take is that the skyway is about the safest launch around. East Beach - slippery as hell most of the time, full of sightseers, palm trees, and road signs. Sure the water is shallow, but there is no really good bailout point other then the beach. Remember the guy who was dragged into the minivan last year...... Gulf - Newbies riding surf with a beach full of tourist and gusty conditions... I can't wait to read the post about that. Westside of Skyway - Oyster bars, boat channel, ankle deep water at low tide, big submerged pipe we have all dinged our boards on, slippery as hell muddy bottom, launch about the size of a postage stamp. How many people are we going to be cleaning out of the trees this year? I could go on and on, Southside of Skyway, Lassen, etc. We all learned in these spots when there were 20 of us total, Dakota was a puppy, and the one pump was the trickest thing on the market.

I haven't thought of an answer to this problem. I know it's not going to get any better with crowds and people are not going to stop wanting to learn. The summer is almost over and the wind is only a few weeks away, no matter what happens, I can't wait for the season to get going.