Cool features you could add to the new iPod touch once it got hacked and allows any code to run on it:
Any additional ideas?
After kiting consecutively for 4 days I feel quite a bit exhausted, however, that’s not an excuse for not blogging. Today I’m going to show you my kitesurfing ‘homespot’ which is located about half the way between Palo Alto and San Francisco on the western shore of the bay (3rd Ave, San Mateo).
I like 3rd Ave because it’s only about 20 minutes away and usually has nice steady wind. There are two launch areas: At the upper launch area there is plenty of space for everybody and it’s generally easy-going. The lower launch is a bit tricky, since the beach is smaller and the wind is more gusty. Needless to say that I prefer the upper launch 
If you have a look at the Google Maps image you can see the upper launch on the left side of the golf course, the lower launch is on the right.
Here is a panorama picture of the upper launch (click to enlarge):
Another picture:
There is also a webcam which is very useful to see beforehand if it makes sense to go there or not. A wind forecast can be obtained at ikitesurf.com.
As promised, I’m going to write a few lines about Sherman Island. I was there last weekend for kitesurfing when there was no wind at the bay area. Although it was pretty far away (about 80 miles north-east at the Sacramento River) it was definitely worth it to give it a try.
To get on the island, you have to cross a pretty steep bridge:
On the way to the kitebeach:
Not far from the parking lot there is a grass area where you can rig and launch your kite. To get to the beach, you have to go down this narrow trail (no mistakes allowed with your kite in the air or you will end up in the shrubbery):
The actual beach is pretty small, this is why the majority of kiters rigs and launches on the grass area mentioned before.
Kiters on the water:
The wind tends to be pretty strong, when I was there most people used 7m or 9m kites (I was out with a 9m) - however, it was also very steady.
Conclusion: If there is no wind in the bay, check out Sherman
On Saturday, Georg (a german kiter who lives in the Bay Area since about 5 years) invited me to join him for kiting at the pacific coast. Actually, I wanted to go kiting at 3rd Ave again because of the nice wind forecast, but since the weather was so good I decided to go for it and check out the coast.
We went to a beach called ‘Gazos Creek Beach’ (or something like that) which is located about 25 miles north of Santa Cruz. The good thing is that there are so many beaches/creeks along the pacific coast that there are only a few people around and you have lots of space.
Since the wind was good, I decided to rig my 9m Waroo which turned out to be the perfect size for this day. It was the first time for me to kite on a spot with waves so it was a bit tricky first to surf over the waves out on the water. Eventually, I got used to it and had A LOT of fun out there.
Here are a few pics and a video (sorry for the bad quality, I only had my phone with me):
Stay tuned, next time I will introduce you to Sherman Island and my ‘home-spot’ - 3rd Ave (San Mateo)
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