Recently a customer asked:
A long time ago, windsurfers and a few kitesurfers were the only surfers in Los Angeles
Ventana Waters. Looking at the average strength of our iwindsurf.com sensor archive (because who would trust aging memories), it's clear that really strong northerly winds were much more common 20 years ago or so.
These huge northerly winds started blowing in the middle of the night with 30 knots and rattling windows and lasted for 1-3 days.
As these northerly winds blow across the entire Sea of Cortez, they create huge waves that have been rare in recent years. Back then, people would talk about the “March of the Elephants” as they looked at the horizon through binoculars.
Here is an old video with some clips from a day in the Golden Triangle.
In those days you can really enjoy a true back wave/kite sailing at “The Generals” or “La Bufadora” like you can see in this photo.
But then, as today, most water sports enthusiasts just kited or windsurfed in the waters 1,000 feet away near La Ventana. But if you squint, on a really big day, you can see some tiny colorful sails on the distant ESE horizon a mile away.
To me it seems crazy to be windsurfing that far from the coast when there is great smoothness just 1/4 mile from the coast.
Indeed, the swells are smaller than at Los Barriles and much smaller than at Cape Pulmo, because the incoming swell must be refracted to reach the internal waters near La Ventana.
But as a fisherman, I am interested in this remote region. At that time, one could often see a long line of stationary pangas fishing in this area at dawn. Locals told me that the delicious Huachinango is located in this area.
This fact made me think that there might be deep water coral reefs in the area.
If so, it would explain why those brave souls ventured so far from the coast.
So on a breezy day I headed to the area and noticed the water turned from blue to green indicating shallow water. But I was the only one there and it was nothing special
swell.
But about a week later I came back on the big El Norte. As the incoming waves feel the shallow water, it becomes larger and steeper. I quickly became one of those fools who endlessly did figure eights in that area some call the “Golden Triangle.”
