Unreal Saturday sessions

The wind prediction for Ontario was great for Saturday. The forecast continued out to upper NY state where over 100 windsurfers attended the Unreal Windsurfing Tour.

I was up at the Launch Pad and the same wind was forecast and I had it all to myself! I took out the Skate 108 and the 4.8 Idol, the first time this year using that small sail.

Heading out to the Launch Pad in a solid SW wind

Great wind for Ontario and beyond!
(see comments below about wind power)

The view as I was changing into my 3/2 full suit

I had an audience for the last hour!

Nice shot as I landed a decent chop hop - Danke Karo

2/3 of my fan club!

GPS trail of my 61 km, 2 hour 50 minute session #1
I headed upwind to catch some swells in the wave spots

Max speed 47.4 km/h - Max heart rate 151 during a different speed section

This was definitely the longest and highest wind session of my summer - actually of my whole year since last November!  After that epic session we had lunch on the island and I did some chores and enjoyed the electric heaters inside. 

Outside and inside temps

The water was 17c, same as the air. I later checked the IESO website for stats on how much wind energy was produced in Ontario. Surprisingly only half of the wind potential was used.

The amount of wind generated on that great windy day was less than I expected
based on available capacity across the province...

Wind was producing around 11% of the province's energy around mid day
and 5.5% of the energy during my second session.

After a few hours the skies had cleared so I decided to try the Freewave 116 and the Duke 6.2 as it looked like the wind was going to be dropping to 15-20 knots. But it actually stayed quite windy and I was planing every run. I tired out quickly and only had a short sleeved old 3/2 wetsuit on so it was a shorter session.

My cousin took some video - here are some screen shots!

I think I need to lean forward more even on overpowered jibes....

Second session speed and heart rate
I don't know why HR jumped so high just once

Second session GPS trail. Wind was fully west at that point.
I definitely threaded the needle in the lower left
but the water level is significantly higher right now

So overall I windsurfed over 74 km in two sessions. I'd love to do 100 km in one day sometime, but maybe not this year.

My goal for this year was to windsurf 80 days. I'm at 57 days on the water so far. With two trips planned for the fall, that might just happen if I score a few more days at home too.

My sail locker and end of day smile.