Saturday bay day - Drone video of my son

A classic Georgian bay day has perfectly clear skies and a southwest wind that bends the pine trees sideways. While iconic, they don't happen quite as often as I'd like. This was just my second day of short boarding this year!

Enjoying the wind all day long - photo from my 2nd session!

The wind was SW as predicted and began to build at noon. By 1 pm it seemed pretty good and I tried going on the Skate and the new 5.6 Idol but it wasn’t quite enough. I just sailed the gear upwind and left it at the point.

The wind was fine for foiling at around 12-15 knots and so I went out for a half hour on the 6.5 and Techno. I tried heading downwind and even tried a gybe but I think it will take quite some time before I can ever complete one.

By then it was sometimes over 15 knots and so I figured I’d try another board/sail combo. Out with the 6.2 and Freewave 116. I got going on that but it didn't quite feel right. The sail was sluggish and I could only get going in one direction. I stopped to adjust the boom and realized one side hadn't been clipped in - so it was travelling and distorting its shape. Then things got better but I'll admit to not really being able to get upwind in marginal planing conditions on the wave board and fin.

First session chart

First session speeds - max 36.1 km/h

In my second session now having everything at the point I could try some back to back gear comparisons. First 20 minutes were on the 6.2 and Freewave. Then 20 minutes on the 6.2 and Skate. Then 5.6 and Skate 108. I only got the 5.6 going once as the wind was dropping but that will definitely be my favourite combo when things get to 20 knots. Top speed 40 km/h.

Second session with more jibes and a nice run back to the harbour

Second session speeds - max 40.8 km/h

My wife and friend Geoff got some photos of my 2nd session...

Jumping on the Freewave and 6.2

Jibing

Even more fun blasting on the Skate 108

Planing upwind toward the end of my sessions

It was still gusting to 15 knots though, and my son had headed out on the Techno with a normal fin and the 6.5. He was having a blast getting in the straps in both directions.

Phillip enjoying the Techno and 6.5 with a 38cm fin

I got the drone out and did my first windy drone flying capturing parts of Phillip's session. I particularly like how he pumps the sail at 20 seconds into the video. The DJI editor did a nice quick edit that worked out well!

Click to see drone footage - and Phillip pumping nicely to get on a plane at 0:20