#16 Shadowbox Recording of Fun Dec. 7 Sesh in France

This session wasn't supposed to happen. After two weeks of freezing nights that left most of Europe under an early and heavy blanket of snow, I figured my season was done. But it suddenly warmed up here.

There wasn't much wind predicted though, so my wife took the car for the day to her hiking club. Luckily, when my email wind alert buzzed at 11am, I emailed her and she let me know the car was actually just parked at the kids' school. I figured by the time I ran to school, drove the car home, loaded the gear, drove to the beach and rigged, the wind would be gone. What the hell, I quickly walked uphill then jogged downhill the 6km to school to get the car, raced home packed up and headed out.

I was sceptical, but as I pulled up to Carro beach, a nice 25 knot, 16c SE wind was powering up a dozen sailors out on 14c Mediterranean water.

I rigged up quickly, slapped the new Shadowbox on the board, and realized it would have been smart to have read the user guide that has been on my bed side table for the last 5 nights. The box powered on but didn't seem to record anything as it hadn't been on long enough to get a good GPS signal.

Oh well, I was desperate to go, and I sailed just enjoying the near perfect conditions. Waves that were big enough to ride, but manageable enough to get out through the break. Wind that was pretty steady, and not overpowering (or dying) like a few of my recent sessions.

For the first time in a while I had no GPS, no GoPro, and with the Shadowbox off, no extra reason to try hard or push myself. So I was soul surfing, and just loving being out in early December with the right board and sail.

Shadowbox Track of a Decent Jump!

After 50 minutes of perfectly heavenly sailing, I tried turning on the Shadowbox again, and lo and behold, it started up with rapid blinking lights, indicating that it was recording.

So I started pushing myself a bit more, and recorded some jumps, and 2 more vulcan attempts. But most of all I was having fun playing in the waves, catching good rides in, jibing smoothly and not being completely freaked out on my way back out.

Above is a sweet image of one of the jumps I got.  I'd say this is maybe 1/2 the size of the best jumps I've ever done, so I'm looking forward to catching some better ones in the future on the Shadowbox. It says I went 7.7 feet high and over 28 feet long at 17 mph. The board recorded a maximum 16Gs of deceleration on one of my flat landings. Ouch.

Nice Wave Ride and Jibe Track

Here is a nice wave ride, I need to get a bit more slash in my top and bottom turns I think.

Shadowbox recording of Windsurfing Vulcan attempt from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

I got a great image sequence of Vulcan attempt #83. It confirms that I get the board around 180 degrees fine now, I need to really start working on getting my hands to the other side and then leaning into the sail. Of course in the Shadowbox software, the sail stays straight up perpendicular to the board the whole time, but it is still a fun video!

My maximum speed for the session was 27mph (43 km/h).

Re-Split nose - May be the end of the season :-(

After around an hour and a half of sailing, on one of my waterstart attempts after a failed jibe in the whitewater zone, my calves cramped up something fierce. The combination of jogging, and then sailing was taking its toll. I had to lie in the breaking waves for a minute just to ease my cramping legs. I did a few more runs, and then just as I was saying cockily "I've been sailing really well, but this is my last ride out, I have to pack up and go get the kids from school", and WHAM, I got pulled over the front and the mast hit the board, HARD. (I can see that moment on the Shadowbox too!) It actually split the board open, along the fault line of an earlier but smaller bit of damage. I rode straight back in and left the board at the Carro Windsurf shop. I am curious what the repair estimate and timing will be?

I've washed the salt water off all my sails now, and think this is the last entry from France for this year. The great session, and the fun of getting the Shadowbox working, makes up for the broken nose. Overall I'm feeling pretty good about my 16 sessions this fall.