4th Vulcan at 51 years old!

Sometimes it pays to try something different. I'd already packed away the gear but Sunday morning was showing more wind than predicted. I loaded a bit of kit in the small boat and headed out to the bay. The Southeast wind was gusty in the harbour. So I headed out farther to my buddy Scott's place.

Scott had been out on his 5.4 and JP Excite Ride 148. He said it wasn't quite working for him. So I rigged my 6.2 and dock started right onto my Skate 108. I had to pump onto a plane, but got going on pretty much each short run. Because the runs are so short in the narrow channel, I wound up doing many more transitions than normal. Even so I stayed dry for quite some time. I did tacks, jibes, duck jibes, heli-tacks, and then, why not try some Vulcans?

I really hadn't tried many Vulcans in the last three years. I landed one each in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and am likely over 300 attempts now? On my 6th try this day I landed sliding backwards with my feet in the straps, hands on the other side of the boom, water-started back into the new direction got up and switched my feet. Not elegant but technically my 4th one. And my 1st Vulcan over age 50!

I was surprised to be able to see the vulcan attempts on the GPS...

Scott and I sailed together for a while and then it seemed like the wind was dropping. We took a break, but as I was starting to derig, we chatted about his JP Excite Ride. So I tried his board and quite liked it with the 6.2. (I'd taken off my life-jacket with the GPS in it for the quick test of the JP, so no trail of that...). Here are Scott's shots of me on his board.  Thanks Scott!

Overall a really great session that had me smiling!

Smiling trying out Scott's gear

Trying some switch stance...

Thanks for the photos Scott!

Family day on the Bay!

The weather report predicted a perfect bay day. Southwest winds 15-20 knots, hot and sunny.

After a late lunch, I packed 4 boards, 6 sails and enough booms and masts to rig almost everything into the boats.

Phillip and I headed out first and he tried the 6.2 on the Techno. Not quite enough so I rigged the 7.0 for him and he was flying.

Then the girls arrived and Jen went out on the 6.2 on the Freewave 116. Katie tried the 4.7 on the Young Gun which Phillip helped her launch. (Geoffrey wouldn't likely have been sailing even if he wasn't away at a concert weekend.)

Jen came back after a quick uphaul and slog and wasn't feeling enough wind or board to get going. So I jumped on the 6.2 and Freewave and sailed out to Katie. After a few good runs she was tired and needed a lift back upwind. Mom to the rescue with the boat!

Phillip just kept blasting back and forth on the Techno - I wish I'd had a GPS for him! Luckily I got some great gopro clewmount footage.

Jen tried a few board/sail combos but as the wind lightened it just wasn't fun. I got a few good runs on the 6.2 and Skate 108 and really can't decide if I like it or the Freewave 116 more. After that the wind started shifting west and dropping off so the day was done.

Family day!

The action man after a screaming run.

Phillip helping Katie rig!

Katie heading out with the 4.7

Jen heading back

First high wind home session of 2016!

I got to use my 5.4 (my mid sized) sail! After the thunderstorms passed through, the wind started building as predicted. By 7pm I headed out with just the Freewave 116, one mast, one boom and my 6.2 and 5.4.

The wind was showing 20-23 knots on my wind meter so I rigged the 5.4. The sun was setting and the very warm wind was blowing from the southwest.

1 hour and 15 minutes, 30 km and max speed 49 km/h. I sailed until the sunset was kissing the horizon.

Very satisfying when you get the wind and gear call right!

GPS trail in google earth (note image rotated 45 degrees)

GPS trail with speeds from GPS-speed.com

Speeds over the 1:15 time I was out - long break in the middle is my visit to Scott's

Most fun part of the day, my clew first wave rides out in the rolling swells
 I thought I had turned back across the wind but was really just going downwind
See circled parts of the GPS trail

Scott's GoPro footage of my session

I finally edited the video from my session on July 17.

Thank you Scott so much for the footage. You can tell I was having fun!


Surprise session on the Techno and NP 7.0 from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Next time I need to use some image stabilization software before the edit!

Surprise session on the old 7.0 and Techno.

The Sunday wind report was looking overcast and sketchy. When it did build a little, I decided to head out and only take the 7.0 and Techno as my "big" gear. If there wasn't 15 knots, I wasn't going to sail. (I need 11-15 knots to use the 9.0 and my Ray 122).

I rigged and was surprised to get going on the 7.0. I windsurfed over and downwind to where family from Holland were having a shore lunch. On my way back my buddy Scott came by and shot some GoPro footage from his Seadoo. I'm looking forward to seeing that!

Here are the GPS trails. I like how the GPS results software shows speed with different colours!

Overall 28 km in 1 hour and 45 minutes. Max speed was low at 41.7 km/h. I hadn't sailed the Techno in almost 12 months, and it was really fun and easy to use again, especially with the lighter 7.0m sail.

GPS Results show the speeds

Same track results in google earth

Vanessa came out for a few runs after I was done!

I did slog another 1 km after rigging the 6.2 on the freewave but the wind was gone by then. I'm glad Vanessa got a few runs on the 7.0!

Freewave fun video

Here's a quick edit of the video my wife got from my 6.2 freewave session on July 3rd. Fun times.

Even better remembering when the kids liked "crazy frog" covers of songs.


Freewave fun from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Awesome day of increasing wind!

I had waited on July 2nd for the wind to build. I sat on the shore of lovely Bigsby island for an hour and wound up having a nap but the wind never increased above 10 knots. But I knew the wind was coming eventually.

Sure enough, I headed out around 1 pm the next day. The wind was a solid 11-15 and perfect for my old 9.0m NP V8 and Fanatic Ray 122. I was pretty dialed in during my 2&1/4 hour, 46 km session with a top speed of 47.7 km/h. The waist harness is definitely the way to go. On my many reaches back and forth I windsurfed past some some sea kayakers heading out into the bay and all the families heading back home for the end of Canada day weekend.

After I blew out a blister on my hand I was ready to call it a day, but the wind had built. So I rigged up the 6.2m Duke and put it on my new (last year) Fanatic Free Wave 116 with a 34cm free ride skeg.

What a perfect combination. I pumped onto a plane in the 17-22 knot winds and couldn't wipe the grin off my face. The smaller freewave board and freestyle sail were so much easier to use than the big slalom gear was.

My wife had just arrived and caught some photos and video. (Thanks eh!) I kept saying, just one more run... I could have sailed for a few more hours but stopped after 3 in total.

Oh yeah I'm smiling!

Jibing in front of my wife.

My switch stance windward sail throw remains elusive despite a few tries.

I nailed this downwind carving 360. And a couple nice upwind 360s as well.