My Windsport mag article :-) Windsurfing mag sadness :-(

My article in the Fall 2011 Windsport Magazine 

I was pretty excited to receive the Winter issue of Windsport magazine in the mail the other day.  Here's a scan from the article I wrote about the huge 700 person Defi windsurfing race.  Thanks Pete for including that in your magazine.  :-)

I've always enjoyed getting both Windsport and Windsurfing magazines - I've been a subscriber to both for the last 20 years? In the last 5 years I've gotten to know a fair number of people in the global windsurfing community and it is fun to see their names, articles and pictures in print every few months.

So I was pretty bummed to hear that Windsurfing Magazine is suspending production for the next year. :-( Josh, it was great meeting you at the HiHo in 2007 and great fun being part of your board tests in Maui in 2008 and 2009.  I loved your stoke for the sport and wish you all the best for the future.  I'm hoping that the excellent Windsurfing Magazine web site keeps going in the interim!
http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23829
http://windsurfingmag.com/

One in a million in Toronto

There was one weekend in October where the weather forecast was looking promising for Toronto harbour. Strong west winds were building all week and Saturday was predicted to be windy. It was indeed windy and for a change, I had some free time.  I packed up the car, drove down to Cherry street and walked out to the beach to see what people were sailing on.

There was one single windsurfer to be seen, and he was smiling as he returned from his session. He'd had fun on a 5m sail and suggested I rig my 5.4. It wasn't even too cold, maybe a bit gusty, but really, why wasn't anyone else out?

I had a great session. The Lake Ontario waves were providing nice gybe surfaces, and I managed a few downwind carve 360s.  It was misting a bit, but wasn't raining. I didn't push things to much - did I mention I was the only person out sailing?



My windsurfing GPS trail out on Lake Ontario with the Toronto downtown and CN tower in the background


To be fair, there were two sails that I could see going back and forth from the Toronto Windsurfing Club launch around 1 km down wind. That bay provides the best launch in Toronto when the wind is SW or W. With 4 million inhabitants in the Greater Toronto Area, I would have thought there would be more than 4 sailors out over 2 hours mid day on a Saturday at the best launch on a day with solid predicted wind.

If this was a launch near Marseilles, also a town of 4 million, there would have been at least 100 people out sailing at any of the 5 or so decent launch sites that I visited over there in France.  No, there weren't any kiters out either, they do tend to launch from a different beach though.

While I didn't land another vulcan in the three good freestyle sessions I've had back in Canada, I'm still trying. I'm over 220 attempts now, and still just that one lucky one to my name. 

I could see a helicopter hovering over the city watching the first day of the "occupy" movement. I doubt that kept many people away from the beach though. Any thoughts?

Fall ABK roadtrip report

The gear is all loaded!

I loaded up the car and trailer in late September and started on a road trip to Long Island. Here's a quick and belated report on the long weekend.

I picked up my buddy Paul in Oakville and we headed across the border. 12 hours and one great steak dinner later, we arrived at the Briney Breezes hotel.

The ABK camp was very similar to the ones we've attended in Bonaire. There were a lot of regulars there (a.k.a. repeat offenders).  We all had fun listening to the lectures and getting onto the water.  The weather was much warmer than I expected. Many of the participants were in shorties, which is pretty good for the last weekend in September. Some of the instructors even stood in the water in their shorts. There were more young women (5 out of 25) at this camp than other clinics I've been to. I did finally get to meet and admire the windsurfing skills of "Larry the Legend" and others.

Lecture time on the beach

Unfortunately the wind never materialized. We did a lot of light wind and listened to the lectures.

The Saturday night dinner was a great opportunity to get to know some of the other participants and swap stories about various windsurfing destinations.

The drive home was equally long but uneventful. I was glad to have Paul along to help share the driving and for good conversation. I'm thinking it will be time to head to Hatteras some time in the future.  I'll be keeping an eye on the ABK school schedule.

A long drive that would have been worth it
even more if there had been wind!

Summer highlights from Georgian Bay

I finally got around to editing a quick video some friends shot near our cottage and I thought it was about time to update my blog with some windsurfing thoughts about returning to Canada.



There is nothing like windsurfing back home. Even though I really only had 3 good windsurfing days in August, they were all memorable.  The third day resulted in the video above, which was pretty fun on my 6.2 duke and skate 108. I nearly landed vulcan attempt #190 but I think I'm turning upwind too much before jumping?  I got some nice regular and switch foot gybes. I'm always a bit amazed at how straight, stiff & upright my stance is when I get a chance to see myself on video. (Thanks Scott & OJ!).

The second memorable day had me out on my slalom board, racing back and forth, upwind and downwind and really enjoying being out on water where I know every shoal.  It is a real hoot to scream past rocks and down narrow channels while working on going up and down wind. From the track below, it is harder to go upwind (8 tacks) than downwind (2 gybes).  Totals 27min, 12 km, avg 25km/h, max 44km/h.

Slalom through the 30,000 islands

But the absolute highlight of the summer sessions was watching one of my sons out on the JP Young Gun board with his 4.2m sail. He had worked his way upwind a bit and was hard to see, since the 15-20 knot wind was picking up. I squinted into the sun and saw his sail poking up above the rocks in the distance.

Suddenly my son was in full view, and he was moving quickly. Really quickly. I could tell he had sheeted in nicely using his harness during a gust and was basically tailwalking at a very high speed on the back of the board. Then WHAM, a huge spray of white mist rose in the air when he was pulled (catapulted) over the front of his sail and board.  My wife and my hearts stopped as we contemplated that he might be hurt. I began mentally preparing the plan to go rescue him, but before we knew it he was uphauling again. He completed his 8.5km of sailing and got major high 5's from us for his first fully powered planing catapult session.

My son's first major catapult!

It is neat sailing here: Unless I'm out with one of my kids or a neighbour, I don't even need to look over my shoulder when gybing. The solitude is fun - a bit more soul surfing than some of the crowded places I've sailed. When it blows, the west wind on Georgian Bay is so consistent - there is a famous painting with that name. 

There was only one other session to be had on Georgian Bay in the fall, a quick 90 minute slalom session after my wife and I had shut down most of the cottage pluming in October. The slalom gear is now safely stowed for the winter but I've got a few more blog posts to write...

The last thing I have to say about Club Vass

I was downloading some GPS data from my watch, and found these files from the summer in Greece. Uploaded into Google Earth, it helps to give an idea about how unique the wind at the destination of Vassiliki is.

It is amazing that the wind comes up over the mountain and comes right down the other side of the mountain. You then get super smooth water, and a sideshore wind from the beach launch.  Here is a shot of my afternoon on a slalom board:

Club Vass sideshore (down the mountain) wind

It is pretty neat to be zipping along, getting closer and closer to shore, and still have the wind coming down the hill at you.  (You would think that it would funnel down the valley or something?).  Yeah, it is a bit gusty, but really, considering it just came down a hill, it is really quite laminar.  You can also see the gusts super easily, since the water is glassy smooth the closer you are to the foot of the hill.

The wind is also an afternoon thing.  In the morning it is light and onshore.

Here is the GPS trail from my son's 12km sailing adventure.

My son's 12 km windsurfing adventure

I think that is it now for reports from Europe. I'll be adding a few posts from my Canadian summer and fall sessions sometime.

Club Vass Greece Windsurfing Photos

The family photo shoot

Ok, we are back in Canada now and I'm way behind on trying to catch up on lots of things. Here is our Club Vass Windsurfing recap:

Our week at Club Vass was fantastic. By the end of it I had the whole family asking if we could stay a second week. We couldn't, but it is great that everyone was enjoying the windsurfing and beach vibe.

Vass had great instruction for the kids, totally new NP and JP kit, and a great location on the beach. It is possibly the best windsurfing operation we've visited. Like Vela and Jibe City and Club Mistral locations we've been lucky enough to visit over the years, they have nice people, lessons and rigged gear right on the beach. But the unique thing at Vass is that since all the guests come for a week at a time, the lessons are more like an ABK clinic for the whole family. You have daily morning and afternoon lessons, with the same instructors. The lessons (and parties) are included in your stay. So you really get to know people. (Kind of how I remember Sailboard vacations in Aruba years ago.)

We bought the photo CD and DVD that the nice photographer Jay of Globalshots.uk made. Here are some highlights: (Yes I know this post is 2 months behind - we've been busy getting settled back into life at home.)

Vulcan attempt 160 or so...

How far did I windsurf dad?

Chophop in the gusty wind

Kid sailor!

Walking back upwind

The whole family was out

Great instruction

Mom sailed a lot too!

Goodbye but can we come back again?

Our first time windsurfing in Greece

I managed to arrange our last two weeks in Europe to include a week of windsurfing in Greece. I'd heard of Club Vass from UK windsurfing magazines and friends. It has been great so far.

The wind filled in here as it normally does on 3 of our first 3 afternoons. Apparently it was gustier than normal though. Even with the up and down winds, we've been having a great time.

My daughter out practising.

My 10 year old daughter got planing and in the harness for the first time yesterday! We are all very excited for her.

Today there was a set of slalom races and I came in 16th out of 40 entrants but since most of the competitors were locals and instructors, that was good enough for 2nd amongst the Vass guests. It was a lot of fun to have my family cheering on land as I crossed the finish line in each of the 3 heats.

The wind here is very peculiar. It is light onshore in the morning. It fills in at force 4-6 for a few hours blowing down the side of a mountain in the afternoon and then shuts right off again.

Dry land training.

Club Vass is awesome. The staff are largely very friendly British students working for the summer. They have a fun kids club, which my daughter can't wait to get to every morning and afternoon. The gear is all brand new JP boards and NP sails rigged on 100% carbon masts. My kids love the JP young gun 115l board.

Jumping lessons at the pool from Pro windsurfer Max Rowe

We all get windsurfing instruction mornings and afternoons. One of my coaches is Max Rowe, who is currently #15 on the PWA tour. How cool is that? Hopefully I'll land another Vulcan!

Last session in France

Click to enlarge
You can see 100 windsurfers starting a race...

It is a melancholy feeling realizing that my year of windsurfing-en-provence is over. In the 10 months that we were in Aix, I managed to get 31 sessions on the water. 3 sessions were failures. 4 sessions were in Egypt. 6 sessions were on rental gear here in France. The entire year was a blast.

I did manage to get in one more session after the one where I miraculously sailed away from a Vulcan. This last session was at Le Jai on June 11, where they were hosting a mini Defi wind. I didn't have time or the equipment to sign up for the racing, but it sure looked like fun. There were 120 windsurfers on the water with a ton of gear on shore. There were only 50 kiters out down at the kite beach.

I failed on the 3 vulcans I tried, but got 3 nice upwind 360s in the straps.


Upwind 360 from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

The busy French beach scene

I've packed up the board and sails to take back to Canada. Luckily Lufthansa allows windsurfers as baggage and the Fanatic Skate 108 board is doing fine after my 20 sessions on it. I'm also taking home the Turfdog land sailing board.

We are also making one last side trip in Europe before we go, this time to Club Vass in Greece. I'm thinking I'll get a few good days there and look forward to adding a few blog posts on that.

I'd recommend France as a windsurfing destination. The beach culture, the stores, the local clubs all make you feel welcome. The wind is pretty good too, certainly better than Ontario, Canada. I'm lucky to be able to travel and find great windsurfing locations!

Success captain - my first vulcan?

Does it count as a vulcan if:

• You jump
• Turn the board 180 degrees in mid air
• Slide going backwards
• Get both hands to the other side of the boom 
• Stay in the footstraps the whole time 
• Fall in a bit (my butt got very wet) 
• Basically do a waterstart switchstance 
• Start sailing away switch 
• Switch your feet and start planing?

If this counts, I did a vulcan at attempt #155 at 46 years of age. What do you think of the video?


Success captain - my first vulcan? from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

I headed up to the new beach I found, hoping that the flatter water there would help me. My first try #135 was close, and the next 18 were all over the place. Finally the wind was dying and I was staying close to the launch, sailing very upright trying to stay upwind, I hit some chop, twisted and voila...

If my butt was that wet on a jump gybe I'd be fine with it.. However this didn't feel elegant, kind of like falling in on the other side when doing a shortboard tack but still getting away with it. I need to read up on how to "pre-load" my hips for the 180, I was trying twisting both ways.

Anyway, I hope that I'll get it looking better, and am already starting to read and am thinking about how to turn the Vulcan into a full spock 540 - I can dream. All of the comments from blogging friends (yes you Aaron) and the ABK facebook forum helped. Definitely doing 20 a session like I have the last few outings helps more than doing 2 or 3 like I was doing at the beginning of this quest. Maybe that is why it took me over 1.5 (correction 2.5) years to get one.


There wasn't anyone to actually see me and provide verification. In fact the beach was so deserted I took a picture of it before I left.

The shadowbox recording in the video reveals that I basically did an "in the straps rail ride" for a moment before getting the board flat again. Especially looking at the CGI graphics, since it just pastes a sail at right angles on the board, it seems kind of unreal that I sailed away from it.

Ok, on to the Star Trek bit for anyone who stumbled upon this thinking that it was a Trek post. Here is a "success captain" sound bite from Spock.






While we are on Star Trek, did you see this? The geek in me thinks it is brilliant.

I hope she said "make it so..."

Defi Day 3 - Le vent est mort

The wind is dead: Long live the Defi wind

The wind reports this morning confirmed what most had suspected would happen; Le vent est mort. I cancelled the last night of my hotel stay, packed up my room and headed to the beach to de-rig my last sail.

A light rain kept things pretty subdued as many of the remaining competitors were washing and rolling up their gear.The famous Tramontane wind had given up.

A quieter day on the Defi beach in Gruissan

I got an email from my new UK windsurfing buddies that they were already on the road. They were hoping to catch some English channel wind and waves on their way home.

I never did meet up with the one other north american competitor but I did see pictures being taken of him with the US stars and stripes during the international flags photo shoot.

I did meet New York Times photographer George Steinmetz who had flown in to do a photo essay of the Defi windsurfing tribe. I think the action from last year's sunny and very windy event may make for better images, but there is no masking the passion the tribe here has for our sport. I'm very much looking forward to seeing his pictures. Here is my favourite shot of the event so far, captured from the video link below...

Nice shot of the start. The boat raced to the beach with us
windsurfers passing behind it at full speed.

I began the drive home through the rain and noticed a lot of campers and cars with trailers with Gruissan bumper stickers heading north. I put in the fabulous band Las Vegas Wedding's CD that I bought at the concert last night and relived that awesome part of the Defi. I'm sure I'm missing a good party tonight too, but I hope to come back some day, maybe with my kids as competitors too?

The car is packed; but I'm sad to be leaving Gruissan and the Defi

PS while I was in Gruissan, I found out there is another windsurfing race next weekend right at the Marignane Le Jai sailing spot closest to my temporary home in Aix-en-Provence. I may hold on to the rental slalom gear for another week. I'm loving the French passion for windsurfing and racing events and plan to make the most of my last two weeks in France.

Here is a great video of the Thursday race at Defi 2011.

Defi Wind Day 2: Results

I was very happy to get to the beach this morning and see the results of yesterday's race.

I came in 197th place out of 870 registered riders.  It looked like 767 had picked up their lycras to compete, but only 551 people actually started and/or completed the whole course with results. So I was in the top 1/4 of entrants or top 1/2 of finishers. Either way, I'm pretty stoked to have achieved my goal!

The results are in - I'm #197

The top finisher Patrik Diethelm did the whole 35km course in 45 minutes; the last to complete the course took 2.5 hours. My time and speed chart is below. It is interesting to see just how much time my fall in the water at 20 minutes used up. The rest of the slow periods were just a result of slogging through lulls.

Defi race GPS, max speed 44km/h, avg 25km/h.
Time for 35k, 1h 18min

My Defi day 1 GPS track - 35km of racing;
40km including getting to the start and back

Today the 8am skippers meeting was reasonably well attended since the wind was looking around 8 to 15 knots. Unfortunately it wasn't quite enough, so they kept us on standby all morning.

I had fun taking pictures and checking out the shops and gear. The sun came out and there were more non windsurfers on the beach too as Gruissan is really a family resort town, especially when the wind dies.

Safety boats on standby

What yesterday's winners Patrik and Karin
did while waiting for wind

The demographics of the Defi were definitely younger than the few events I've been to in North America. There are 100 teenagers under 20 competing, with a few 12 year olds complaining that they can't join the race until next year. While there is some grey hair on the beach, the vibe is energetic with kids just happy to get out on the water. Windsurfing in France is really big. Naish sponsored a girl power event where a cool group of young women windsurfers were interviewed. The NP RS:One races in the light wind were hotly contested.

There was a broad range of equipment being used yesterday at the Defi. There were a few guys sailing SUPs. There were some vintage boards and sails being used too. My Le Jai acquaintance Maarten from Holland was sailing an old BIC Vivace 290. But most people had cambered sails, and the pros had full on race sails with slalom boards. (While I have the soapbox, please don't ever let friends who want to learn windsurfing buy an old race sail. That goes for shop owners selling used gear too. Old race stuff is just too hard to rig and sail.) Today, it was great to see so many kids out enjoying the wind and water on pretty simple windsurfing gear and SUPs.

The afternoon ended with a huge helicopter group photo shoot. My thoughts of getting wet on a rental or demo SUP were dashed as they were all in use by other enthusiastic water sports fans.

Defi aerial group shot - I'm in the lower part, in amongst the sails

Later in the day Levi Siver and Jason Polakow made a quest appearance, signed lots of autographs and posed for pictures. They joked about riding one of the long rubber tubes down Jaws some day. They were also on hand at the evening video presentation of their new Oxbow movie Walls of Perception. It was a good flick showing how surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing share the same passion for water and waves.

There was also an amateur movie festival, with the funny documentary about a man's obsession with the Defi taking top honours.  The 2 man band Las Vegas Wedding absolutely rocked the place, and later the vibes were very cool as Bonaire windsurfer and musical poet Ruben Petrisie kept the crowd dancing with his rapping at the mike. I had to head to bed at 1am, as I am still sore from yesterday's race. All in all, a neat day on the beach hanging around with lots of cool windsurfers.

It is pretty amazing that windsport has picked up my blogs and posted some to their site. Check out:

http://www.windsport.com/news_article?news_id=1166

There are also a lot more pictures of day 2 at:
http://www.facebook.com/LeDefi

Day 1 Defi wind race report

A successful race on the first day of the 2011 Defi windsurfing race in France.

The wind continued through the night and I arrived at the beach in Gruissan at 10am to start rigging my gear. The plan was to have everything ready that might be needed for the 3pm planned first race start.

The parking lot is a parade of international license plates. I parked next to two British sailors who made the trip to the Defi with a massive collection of new JP boards and NP sails. Thankfully they knew how to help me rig the cams on the Gaastra sail (with a broken batten) that I had rented. I paid it forward by helping a French guy rig his NP V8 for the first time - I've got one of those at home. It took a while to get 3 sails and 2 boards ready to go and down to the crowded beach.

The beach scene at the Defi

After a quick bite of lunch (fois gras was available at the beach but I'd had some the night before) it was time for the 1pm skippers meeting. The hour long introduction to the Defi had all the important points nicely translated into English for us visitors. The race is a marvel of safety and organization and thankfully so as the course is set in a direct off shore wind. 50 support boats are out on the water. 40 markers are lined up 800m off shore to serve as a course boundary and as last resort rescue stations for anyone who might break down. There are sign out and return forms to ensure that everyone who goes out comes back. It sounded like there were around 800 racers participating this year that needed to be accounted for.

The race route was basically a 9km run down the beach, a gybe, return close to the start, gybe again, back to the first mark, and then back to the starting line. Apparently there is more wind as you get farther from the start line. But most of the sailors who were already out on the water had two speeds - fully powered or slogging as the winds varied from 9 to 30 knots. The big question what what gear to take. My choices were a 7.5 sail with 135l 85cm wide slalom board, or a 6.0 broken batten sail with a 91 litre speed stick. I decided to go big.

Wind at Gruissan 9-30 knots after the race start at 15h

Going big turned out to be the right decision. I was pretty comfortable in my few reaches over toward the start line. I didn't try to get too close to the several hundred sailors who were slogging right at the line where the boat would go by as it traced a rabbit start from offshore up to the beach. Instead, despite being late over the line.I was fully planing and passed around 100 sailors in the first minute of racing. I continued to catch and pass people for most of the first reach even though I was getting tired from going 9 km in the same direction. It was finally nice to see some of the fast sailors coming back at me and it wasn't as hard to find room as I had expected when 400 sailors are going one way while 400 are starting back another way.

At the gybe, the wind had dropped so there was quite a bit of action as sails were being dropped and people were floundering. I made it around slowly but cleanly and may have been one of only a few people smiling. Hey, I was 1/4 done, and maybe, just maybe I would make my goal of being in the top 1/2 of the fleet. Of course, just as I was thinking that, I got catapulted. I had a hard time waterstarting the 7.5 and got catapulted twice again right after each waterstart.

I took a deep breath, relaxed and started out more cautiously, and finally got my foot into the back strap. Most of the 2nd reach was pinching upwind to try and stay close to the beach and make it to the mark without needing to tack. I did make the mark and had a good gybe heading back downwind. Now I was over 1/2 done. It was scary a few times to bear off and take on full speed in the gusts. There were also a few big lulls, where for a moment I would plane longer and pass the people in front of me, only then to be passed by some others after I stopped planing.

The last gybe went well for me as well, as I had realized it was right in the shore break. Keep your head up, don't look at the wave, but know that it is there. Leave lots of room around the people who have fallen or are about to. I started back to the finish line, and again had a good run. A bit of slogging right at the end, but I managed to finish the race in what felt like the first 1/2 of the fleet. It is amazing to be out on the water with so many other people. Everywhere you looked there were windsurfers with yellow lycras.

Pretty happy to have finished!

Two boats were recording the numbers on our race lycras at the finish line. I'm really hoping they saw my number. We'll have results in the morning I'm told.

After getting back to the beach and signing in, I took some pictures and enjoyed a tequila flavoured beer. We all started storing and/or derigging our gear. I met up with the nice Dutch guy I'd met at Le Jai a week ago and we all watched the opening ceremonies. Each of the 25 countries' participants were called on stage and indeed I'm the only Canadian. There is also one sailor from the US. International sailors did well, with Patrick Diethelm of Italy being the first male, and Karin Jaggi of Switzerland being the first female to cross the line.

The big crowd at the opening ceremonies

I'm thrilled to have completed another one of my windsurfing goals. Sorry for the length of this post, but I'm guessing you can tell I'm pretty excited to have participated in the Defi wind. The wind looks questionable tomorrow and they have called an 8am skippers meeting just in case there is still some wind in the AM. I'm off to bed now as I am more than a little tired.

The one Canadian guy being interviewed at the Defi.

Defi windsurfing race starts tomorrow

Back when my wife suggested we take a one year sabbatical in France, I had already started hatching a plan to try and experience the Defi wind 1,000 person windsurfing race. Now the first day of racing is only 18 hours away.

I got up this morning, checked out the wind online in Gruissan and it was blowing 30-50 knots. Wow. I loaded up the car with my rented slalom gear and started the 3 hour drive to Gruissan, site of the 11th annual Defi wind race. The signs on the highway were actually warning about Vent Violent!

Today was a windy day in France
(not my picture though, I was driving alone)

With my late start, a good but longish French lunch, and heavy traffic on the roads in advance of a 4 day long weekend, I arrived at the registration desk late in the afternoon. I got my lycra with my favourite number 810 on it. But I didn't decide to rig up for another test session.

I'm registered, I've got my Lycra and
I am looking forward to tomorrow!

There were around 80 people out practicing in the gusty offshore winds. And many more were in the parking lot rigging gear and setting up their campers and tents for the weekend. Wisely or lazily, I am going to save my energy for tomorrow and the following 3 days of possible racing. (Well, maybe the cold, rain and a lack of sleep after enjoying red wine at my French cooking class the night before were contributing factors too.)

Arriving in Gruissan feels like the first time that I arrived in the Gorge or Maui. You don't feel so alone as a windsurfing enthusiast. There are cars with boards stacked on their roofs, campers with windsurfing stickers on the back, and a huge variety of gear trailers. There also seem to be a lot of sponsored team riders here. License plates are from all over Europe, and apparently over 20 countries are represented including Peru! I'm looking forward to seeing if there are other Canadians.

The town of Gruissan is a beautiful French resort town, with nearby vineyards, marinas, a small convention centre, a huge beach-front, and plenty of flowers. It is listed as one of the Villes Fleuris because of the care taken to add flora and fauna to the streetscapes. Gruissan also has the ruins of a 13th century château/fort nearby. This weekend it is all about the windsurfing though, even the big screen municipal announcement board was showing video footage of last year's Defi as I drove into town.

I hope to be able to report about a completed 40k race tomorrow.

The Gruissan beach and Race central in the background

More discoveries in France

On Friday I made a number of cool windsurfing related discoveries.

1. There are a lot of windsurfing shops in France. Between the two shops that I've been going to (Carro Surfshop in Carro and La Voile Libre in Fos) there is another shop in between. A nice guy named Martin from Holland who I met Tuesday at Le Jai had recommended Hot Mer as a good place to rent gear for the upcoming Defi wind race. I headed there and was amazed to find yet another massively well stocked shop.

Windsurfing beaches and shops near Aix-en-Provence

2. I know a lot of French windsurfing terms. During the two hours that I spent selecting my Defi wind rental quiver (two boards, two sails, fins, booms, extensions etc.) Shop manager Thierry and I chatted a lot. All in French.

3. France is an epicentre for windsurfers. While I was in the shop admiring a Peter Thommen board and mentioned that I'd met him in Maui, Thierry noted that Peter has a house close by here in France. Cool.

4. There are neat beaches everywhere nearby. Thierry recommended another sailing spot on Etang de Berre for sailing in a Mistral wind. Apparently it is near Le Jai, which I thought was the only good spot. Sure enough, I headed to the nice sandy beach, complete with palm trees. I rigged up with one other guy there, and sailed 25km in an hour and a half in the gusty wind. I enjoyed the scenic drive back to Aix through the vineyards, olive groves and small villages. And I still made it back to school in time to pick up my daughter and drive her downtown to the dentist where my loving wife had already taken our sons.

5. I do like slalom sailing. I had never before sailed on an 85cm wide board. I used to joke about guys sailing on "doors". My current "race" board is a 75cm wide Techno 148 which is fun, but... The big board I rented for the Defi is a 135 liter Tabou Mantra quasi race board. It is 85 cm wide. I loved how it goes up and down wind with a 7.5m cambered sail. It is also easier to sail than I expected. In the picture below, you can see my various up and down wind sections - max speed was 45.6 km/h. 

My up and down wind slalom windsurfing tracks
at my new favourite beach

Sweet sunset freestyle session

48 hours after my long slalom windsurfing session, there was another Mistral wind forecast. After dropping the kids home from school, I headed to the nearest beach and rigged up in the 35c late afternoon sun.

There were around 30 people out at Le Jai, generally on 6m sails and slalom gear. I rigged the 6.2 with my Skate 108 freestyle board and small fin. I had the right sail, and despite too much downhaul initially, I got going fine.

But I was feeling very rusty, unable to really get upwind, and definitely not feeling like I was able to do any tricks. I was starting to wonder if my windsurfing ability has plateaued. Maybe I'm just in maintenance mode now?

I kept sailing, and at around the 1 hour mark, I started to feel comfortable. There were fish jumping and it was feeling a bit like being in the Gorge with the warm wind blowing on my forearms.

So I decided to really make an effort on my Vulcans - no more just trying one or two a session. So indeed, around my 10th one (#125), I landed sliding backwards, and had my hands on the other side of the boom a few times. While I still fell over backwards, I almost waterstarted switch foot and might even have been able to claim one. I tried another 10 (total 135 attempts now) and got somewhat close again one other time, but maybe, just maybe this will be in my future. I'll keep trying - I've heard it can take 1,000 tries.

Windsurfing until the sun set!

I sailed a full 2 hours, and was one of the last people packing up as the sun set. There are new palm trees on the beach, and I'm looking forward to a few more freestyle visits here before we leave Provence in a few weeks.


4 Windsurfing Vulcan attempts from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

51km Defi race training session

It is less than two weeks until the Defi wind race. I'm now officially a bit nervous about having signed up for this 1,000 windsurfer race where each heat is 40 km long.

GPS trail of the 51km session

I had been watching the wind reports and Sunday was supposed to be windy in Gruisson where the race is held. So I hopped in the car and drove to do some reconnaisance.

Luckily there was still wind when I got there at 3:30pm, in fact it had been building. I rented some gear from the rental shop on the beach and headed out. I was fully powered on a 5.0 and 100 litre board. In fact, the boom clamp line snapped, but luckily I was able to swim back to the beach against the 30 knot wind to effect repairs. After that I stayed even closer to the beach in the offshore winds that were now gusting to 40. I downhauled the sail a bit more to make it less powerful.

Solid wind while I was sailing!

I sailed 51k in 1hour and 50 minutes (around 15 minutes of which were spent adjusting gear.) Towards the end I was feeling more comfortable with the speed.

Some mental notes: I'll need to wear sunglasses for the race. The sand blowing off the beach and spray from passing windsurfers is blinding. Last year the winds built from 20 knots on day one to 50+ knots on day 4. I also really think I need to rent some true slalom gear. The 50 or so other guys out were all practising on serious slalom equipment (I like the look of the Mauisails TR5). I did still hit 50km/h toward the end of some runs. I nailed virtually all my jibes which was nice, but didn't try any tricks. There were only two freestylers out.

50 km/h at the end of each broad reach!

Thanks to the shop Pole Nautique Gruisson on the beach, they were very kind despite my poor French, and didn't even demand a security deposit. Just pay now and bring it back when you are finished. The other guys on the beach were all friendly too. Merci beaucoup!