Category Archives: Uncategorized

Southern Baja, January 2011, Part 1

By Paul | Published January 26, 2011

Just returned from an epic 11 day trip in southern Baja California for the annual La Ventana Classic. This is a great event that raises a lot of money for the schools of the area. This event is organized by the great people at Palapas Ventana and The Kiteboarder Magazine. The weather was perfect and I came home with over 4,000 images, so here’s a small selection.

La Ventana is a destination for kiteboarders and windsurders from around the world.

I was lucky enough to arrive in town in time for Burning Bush, an annual art and fire project held just outside of town.

One of the early parts of the event was No Mas Basura, a trash collection project that involves almost the entire community. This year, more than 10.5 tons of trash were collected.

To kick off the event, Neil Hutchinson and Baja Joe jumped out of a plane 10,000 feet above the event site. Neil just recently got into skydiving and had no idea Joe was an accomplished skydiver with over 800 jumps. When he was asked if he knew where to find a plane, Joe said, “I’m a skydiver, I’ll jump too.”

This is GoPro footage from Neil’s helmet, set up by Paul Lang Photography.

First up on the event schedule was the Paddle Royale, an 11-mile SUP island crossing from Isla Cerralvo.

The wind was light, so the crowd was kept entertained with beach games, most of which involved some innovative way of drinking beer. The first day was capped off with a with Toga party.

The next day was the La Ventana Classic, an 11-mile kiteboarding race accross the channel. It’s an increadible site to see almost 130 kites take off from a deserted beach on an uninhabited island for the fast trek back to La Ventana.

Once back in La Ventana, some riders rode for fun while others competed in the Big Air/Old School competition.

Rob Douglas is currently the fastest kiteboarder and sailor on the planet.

This day was finished off with a reggae party on the beach. The next day would see the completion of the Big Air and the start of kiteboarding and windsurfing course racing.