Windsurfing at an all inclusive: Jamaica!

Most all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean are on the leeward side of the island. And usually they have a 15 year old windsurfing board and poorly rigged ripped sail with a much to stiff mast. No wonder so many people say "I tried windsurfing once at a resort - it was too hard".

So I was surprised that the Zilara resort in Jamaica had a new looking Chinook 5.5m sail and a BIC Techno 293. There were actually harness lines on the boom even if they didn't have a harness available!

One sail and 3 windsurf boards available at the all inclusive resort!

On 2 of the 3 days I was there to speak at a work conference, the beach was closed due to lack of wind and slightly rough seas. But on one afternoon the Hobie cats were available to go out on - only with an instructor!

The Hobie cats were available - only with an instructor

But they let me take out the windsurfer by myself. (My wife may have mentioned my 5th out of 31 ranking in the IWT masters!) I took the board out for a very quick sail in the northeasterly trade winds. The wind was around 10 knots and the swells were nicely sized. Here's the GPS trail from half the session.

A little bit of my session

I got one nice run down a wave and was almost planing. But it turned out the deck on the Techno was completely smooth and covered in suntan lotion. I figured I'd wind up hurting myself if I sailed for more than a few minutes. And it definitely would not be a good spot for beginners. It was nice and warm though!

Always good to get a few minutes windsurfing - this was my first time doing it Jamaica.

Hatteras wrap up: Great windsurfing & surprise kite session

Sunday Nov 5, 2017
On day two of our Hatteras week we woke up to low wind. So the plan quickly became a surfing session at the Frisco Pier. Brett and I rented some soft top boards and everyone got some surf and SUP sessions. The weather was so warm most of the crew were just in boardshorts.

Frisco pier afternoon surfing - sunny and warm

After the surfing we headed to Pop's restaurant for lunch. Since one of us was fasting, the dinner for two was enough for the other 4, but we added two dozen fresh oysters to top off a delicious meal.

Monday Tuesday
Both days were light wind. I wound up doing office work remotely both days. The kite foil was the only ticket to ride and Steve did it well. Note the lack of wetsuit on Nov 7!

Steve looking comfy kiting  in the warm light winds

After finally finishing my powerpoint for work I did make a nice banana smore dessert that added to the great dinners we were having each night.

Wednesday

This was the start of two very busy days. The wind was blowing already at 8am and I was the first out on the water at 8:06. I had a great 1.5 hour session in the morning. 6.2 Duke and the Skate 108, then I tried the Freewave 116. Both were pretty comfy. Between the 3 rental houses full of kiters and windsurfers there were often 20 people out on the water. My freestyle was a bit off though.

Blasting in on the Freewave 116

A reminder to keep your head up if you want to actually complete a carving 360!

Here's the track from that session, not much freestyle, just blasting.

8:06 am - 1.5 hour session, 36 km, 41 km/h top speed, 23 km/h average speed

The boys had some good kiting - using the kite foil as well.

Steve foiling in the higher winds

Chuck looking good kite foiling for the first time?

Kite Bromance

After that first session, I returned our surf boards to the Ocean Air surf shop. I bumped into Bob Rowland from the 2009 HiHo. We had a nice lunch together at Pangea restaurant and caught up on our windsurfing adventures from the last few years.

HiHo race partners Carl and Bob having a nice lunch in Avon

The waves at the Avon pier were impressive and almost tempted me to head over to the Ocean side for a session. But the shorebreak and rip current made me reconsider.

Nice waves at the Avon Pier

Fishermen

Tempting surf but I didn't dare

Back at the house the team was planning a downwinder. We headed out with a plan for 4 kites and one windsurfer (me) to head downwind to the Canadian hole. Brett wound up taking Chuck's deflated kite off the water at the half way point. After the last 4 super downwind tacks we collected Brett in the van at the Canadian Hole parking lot. The lot was mostly empty but we met a few more windsurfers from Canada there. My new Santa neoprene hat kept me comfy and warm througout the afternoon.

Heading out for a downwinder with my new hat!

Santa surfer!

Wednesday afternoon downwinder

For dinner we headed down past Buxton to the Pamlico Cafe restaurant. It was an outstanding meal and ended with some shared desserts.

After a great group dinner at the Pamlico Cafe!

Thursday

I woke up to news that the crew was doing another downwinder. We launched from Steve's van at the end of a dirt road upwind from the house. I had a fun 1&1/4 session that ended with a few freestyle attempts in front of the house.

Thursday morning downwind session

After a quick hot tub I put on my warmest 4/3 wetsuit and went out on Steve's kite. I had a couple of good runs, mostly staying upwind. The housemates seemed surprised that I can kite a bit, and snapped some nice photos of my first few runs. Thanks guys!

Thanks Steve for the kite refresher course

I'm holding the kite steady....

I'm getting going

And going....

Heading upwind on my first run

I even body dragged successfully upwind to collect the board after an unintentional boost air. But then the wind really died and I couldn't get going back in.

Working on getting back in after a few good kite runs

I finally remembered how to turn the power up on the kit (using the nice twist feature on the North kite bar) and got enough power for a good run back in. But at that point in the wind shadow I couldn't get going at all and started walking back upwind in the chest deep water. Lo and behold kind Steve had sailed my board down and took the kit. I walked the 350m back and hit the hot tub again while watching Steve kite back upwind.

After that the wind kept dying so Brett and I slowly started packing up our gear. We got out on the road as the sun was setting and had a memorable? meal at a roadside Sonic. A quick stay in a Comfort Inn in Washington DC and we caught our early AM flight home. Thankfully our gear will follow us home in the mega party van.

All in all a great week. 3 solid days of sailing plus 1 day of surfing in a 6 day visit to Hatteras. Hope to do it again many times in the coming years.

Safe and (Hatteras) Sound

I rolled into the Hatteras rental house at 1:30pm and was on the water by 1:55. My friends had already arrived in the big van they drove all the way from Toronto with my 3 boards and 6 sails. Thanks eh!

Steve's van - mostly loaded with all my gear

I had a wonderful 1 hour and 40 minute session on the Skate 108 and Duke 6.2. It was nice to be in a new spot and with my regular gear. Technically the site is called the Canadian Hole in Pamlico Sound near Avon NC.

Garmin version of the track - warm with some nice runs!

I got an upwind 360 in the straps, a few downwind 360s and many duck jibes but couldn't get at donkey jibe or Vulcan in the few attempts I tried.

Detailed version of the session - the shallow ends out after 500m

I forgot too many things. My new tricktionary book, sunscreen, hat, glasses etc. I think I only had gear for a post Thankgiving Ontario session. It was 22c and the water was warm too! At least my shorty wetsuit was perfect.

Donkey jibe sequence

Almost made it!

I watched Steve and Chuck ripping up the flat water on their kites while I started making dinner. More guests arrived just as the spaghetti was ready and the good vibe was apparent as everyone got ready to enjoy the week ahead.

Steve and Chuck enjoying kiting as the sun sets in Hatteras

Closing time

Since the wind was supposed to die early in the morning I didn't expect much, maybe a light wind foil session.

But as I headed out it was really whitecapping. So I took the trusty Skate 108 board and my 6.2 Duke sail to see if I would have enough wind. I headed right from the dock and pinched upwind.

My trusty Skate 108

This was indeed the last windsurfing day at the cottage!

I was surprised to be able to pump onto a plane on each run. I tried making the boom 2cm shorter to get more power but that really made the sail feel back hand heavy. After extending the boom back to the normal position it got even windier! I was now fully powered and even planing out of many jibes.

The view of my track looking west

Another hour and a half session - with lots of moves in the steady west wind.

Regarding jibing, I have committed to trying to grab the boom underhand from below like all the books and videos and instructors tell you to. I think it brings the sail forward and into the wind more during the transition which helps. So I'm going keep working on that. My duck jibes are still the best way for me to plane out of a jibe.

A little later I added even more downhaul and extended the boom another 2cm. The sail felt really good. I must have tried a half dozen vulcans. I even got both hands to the other side of the boom on one attempt but didn't complete it.

The sun, wind and waves were perfect. A classic Georgian Bay day, just way warmer than any Thanksgiving I can remember (other than yesterday's 18/17 combo). 16 degree air and 16c water on Thanksgiving! (last year was 12c wind and 14c water, and the year before was 11c wind and 14c water.) Actually, looking back at my blog 3 Thankgivings with sessions in 3 years is pretty good!

30 km covered in and hour and a half. Max speed 45 km/h.

The trailer is loaded now with gear for Hatteras in Nov. But there are a few weekends in October that may still see another session!

Last cottage session for 2017?

Crazy warm for Canadian Thanksgiving. And windy too!

I got out Saturday at noon and carried my favourite windsurfing board, the Skate 108 out to the point. The warm south wind was reading 15-25 knots so rigged up the 5.4 Duke on my new carbon skinny mast. The water was 17, the air 18 and I was wearing a 3/2 wet suit. While it was overcast with a bit of rain now and then, I don't think I've ever seen a Thanksgiving this warm.

I got a few runs but the sail felt heavy. So I stopped and added more downhaul. That made it much more comfortable to sail and then go fast. 47 km/h was my top speed, not bad for a freestyle board. I headed out farther into the bay but then realized I was windsurfing over shallow spots that used to be shoals. Without sun and polarized sunglasses it was hard to see the shallow spots. I got a solid hour of sailing before the wind started dying.

Some great runs on the 5.4 in the early afternoon

You can see the shoals I cruised over on the left (west)

So I parked the gear on the point and headed to the shed and worked on closing down the place and began draining the plumbing. I also started packing up some of the gear I am planning on taking to Hatteras this fall.

The gear sitting on the rocks between sessions

For the 2nd session I tightened the battens which made a big difference. I could now feel the 5.4m North Duke sail become pumpable in the wind. I got 8 good runs with a duck gybe and a few upwind 360s.

My 2nd session, a few runs as the sun was setting

In total 1.5 hours of sailing with a smaller sail than I normally use. The wind should hold overnight but will be dying down in the morning...

Packing up after the last session of the year?

Oh, here is my new favourite wind site. Windy.com

Friday after work foil session

I got my mom up north and my email inbox under control and headed out for an late afternoon foil session. The wind report didn't suggest anything good would come up. The temperature for the first day of fall seeming more like the middle of summer and I wore a shorty I didn't even zip up. I set out on the Techno 148 with the 36 inch slingshot H2 hoverfoil. This was the first time that the 7.0 felt comfortable for foiling.

In fact, I was feeling very comfortable. This was my 15th session foiling. I could pump onto a plane in the 12 knot gusts and keep going in the 8-10 knot wind. The pumping motion that seemed to work best was 1 or 2 slow pumps and then many more frequent (and getting smaller) pumps.

Overall this session was quite different from my first sessions where I needed whitecapping 15 knot gusts to get going. I really only overfoiled once and even then I didn't have any catapults. Top speed was again 30km/h which I've been told from a few sources now is really the top speed for this foil. And that is fast enough for me!

As the session went on, I noticed that I had my legs straight and was standing most of the time. I recalled sessions from 2 months ago where my legs were bent the whole time and I was super tense. I was relaxed enough to spend a few seconds looking down under the board to see the foil slicing through the water. Cool!

I was feeling much more comfortable on the foil, and even tried turning downwind twice to initiate jibes. Well learning to jibe may have to wait until next year!

Smiling cdn guy with the foilboard

The foil runs - two jibe attempts!

Quick foil session before heading back to school

I had a few hours before heading back to the city for back to school preparations. Tacked upwind and then got into the wind and got foiling a few times.

Nothing special in the relatively light wind but I feel like I'm getting better all the time. That was my 15th foil session.

Looking at the chart the wind direction must have changed at one point!

Won't get another chance to sail for a few weeks...

My 15th foil session with just a few runs.

IWT Baja 2017 Fun!

Saturday Aug 19 - Baja Arrival

I woke up in San Diego and met fellow Baja travelers Sandra and ‎Georgia who were heading to Solosports to cheer on their son/brother Alex. We caught our small plane at Brown field and started our flight to San Carlos.

Landing on the dirt runway at Solosports

Right when I arrived at camp and I was asked to be a judge. ‎Quite an honour and more than a bit stressful judging KP, Boujmaa, surprise rider Francisco Goya and many more outstanding windsurfers. We got through a number of heats completed down at the point before calling it a night.

One of KP's nice moves that got great marks from me and the other judges!

Sunday Aug 20 - Judgment Day

At breakfast I met Dutch windsurfer Arriane Aukes who knows my niece Vanessa from Bonaire. Not such a small world really.

The event format

Started with judging more pro and women's heats. Surreal moment giving windsurfing legend Francisco Goya a 3rd in his heat. After a few heats were called due to low wind/wave conditions, we headed back up to camp.

‎Mellow afternoon waiting for our Amateur heats to start. I even got in a quick first session for myself during a break in the judging to get the cobwebs out. But then the action got going with the finals for the women and men.

After the crowning of the winners, there was a real party atmosphere in camp. I fell asleep listening to the international group of windsurfers ‎singing songs at the bar.

The group shot!

‎Monday Aug 21 - Eclipse

‎Egg burritos for breakfast and everyone was talking about the upcoming eclipse. I created a small viewing piece by using a hole cutter in a piece of paper, but the grommet holes in the roof tarps provided an even better way to see the roughly 1/4 coverage of the sun by the moon.

The crescent of the eclipse as seen through a piece of paper
with a hole in it on the round logo of the IWT.

I was excited when Sam gave me the fleece vest I'd last seen in Morocco. I had forgotten where I'd lost track of it.

A full schedule of heats were planned for the day and started right at 10:40. I wasn't judging, I now had at least 4 heats to compete in, 2 in amateurs and 2 in masters.

I found some really good waves in my first two heats and felt great about my turns and control on them. I had one run out where I saw a great wave coming at me. I tacked just in time on the crest and rode down the breaking wave and got some great turns. That felt really good!

But I still came in 3/4 and 3/3 heats. Then in my 3rd heat I didn't find any waves ‎and came 3/4 as one sailor didn't show up. So I finished 5/9 masters. Suddenly I was having a solid nap in my tent and woke up just in time to rig for another heat.

My last heat of the day was an amateur hear vs. Simeon. The previous heat had been cancelled as there weren't any waves. It was just us two, ‎we headed out and both found waves. I had two good rides and was smiling when I came in. The old RRD freewave 108 I've used for the last few years and the Elite 5.7 were very comfortable. My result was in 2/2 in that heat and thus my competition was done but got a lot of comments in camp about how my wave sailing has improved.

While I don't have Internet access for the week, rumour has it that a photo of me made it in the press release!  (And here's what they said: Carl Speiss managed to click with the sets and showed tons of progression in his riding, connecting multiple waves from the Bombora all the way through the bay.)

Carl gets a wave from the IWT Press Release

Tuesday Aug 22 - Party waves

Huevoes Rancheros for breakfast and then I lead the Japanese contingent and Russ and Arianne for a 9km mountain bike tour up to the badlands. We even bicycled through the famous hole in the rock. We got back in time ‎to see the finals of the masters which had Simeon crowned masters champ and my ranking came in at 5th our of 6.

My Master's ranking 5/6

Then after lunch and watching the amateur semi finals most of the camp including many of the pros headed out to windsurf. It turned into an insane expression session.

I was on a nice wave and Boujmaa dropped in on it too. He did a bottom turn around me and then signaled me to ‎go next. We linked a half dozen turns, whooping and hollering. Then we shared the next party wave again in amazing sync.

I didn't find many more waves, but did get 2 out of my 3 carve 360 attempts.

Another huge highlight of the session was heading out to the Bombora ‎and seeing 4 of the 5 windsurfers ahead of me all do loops! I was the 6th sailor over the wave and did a decent jump, but no loop! Brazilian pro Edjvan thrilled the crowd with his boosted back loops and freestyle.

I was on a 5m Ezzy Elite and quickly got used to the 102 Goya thruster board I'd selected. I normally only like single fin boards. I covered 32 km in 90 minutes and felt great heading back to shore.

We then watched the amateur final with Olivier from Paris, JP from Guernsey and the two Toms from Canada. JP's three waves through the Bombora stole the amateur final quite clearly. ‎

The Canadian Toms doing very well in the Amateurs

My ranking was 9/14.

Amateur results tied for 9/14

The mood in camp for dinner was quite boisterous, with many Baja fogs being consumed. I enjoyed some nice conversations with both pros and amateurs. Boujmaa and I recounted his wave sharing with Soufian and Festa in the Land/Atlantic movie. I headed to bed just before the drinking games got out of hand.

Wednesday Aug 23 ‎- Hike

I had another 10 hour sleep which included vivid crazy dreams that I could almost remember after waking up - something rare for me. Breakfast turned into a lazy morning of French vanilla flavoured coffee and reading.

Before noon I headed out and did a 45 minute 4.3 km hike up 'downhill' and along the 'top of the world' ridge. I was definitely missing my wife, recalling the great hikes we did together last year.

After lunch and a quick nap we had the IWT Baja premier of Girl on Wave. It was great to see Sarah beaming as the windsurfing crowd applauded at the end of the movie.

Movie Matinee and the Pro/Am announcement!

Sarah Houser and me at the screening of her movie Girl on Wave

I got in a quick one hour / 22 km session wearing just my short wetsuit. Max speed was 42.7 km/h on the RRD 104 board and Taka 5.3 sail. ‎I never felt quite comfortable and after seeing what looked like a fin in the water out past the Bombora my mind (and tweaked finger and cold body) said enough.

Thursday Aug 24 - ProAm

Right after breakfast I headed out for ride on a sweet Santa Cruz 'tall boy' carbon ‎fibre mountain bike. I made it all the way up 'downhill' without stopping pedalling (but did take one small break near the top) After a 7.5 loop down I came to camp, got some water and headed out again to 'ridge of dads' and then '311' and 'downhill'.

My morning mountain bike ride.

Overall 13.3 km in 90 minutes with a top speed of 34 km/h.

The sweet Santa Cruz mountain bike that is available for riding on the trails

After lunch the Pro-Am format was announced. I was paired with last year's winner Casey Houser for the 4 lap slalom race. The pro and amateur got to choose who would take the first 2 laps. I headed out and made all 3 of my jibes but was caught in a lull and dropped from 7 to 9th. Casey couldn't make up the ground I'd lost but it was fun anyway then watching the 4 pair final. I then had the water to myself for an hour.

The start of the pro-am race!

I did 30 km in 70 minutes with a top speed of 49.4 km/m! I was unusually comfortable on the TRD Freeware 100 and Ezzy‎ Elite 5.7.  I was doing duck jibes, trying monkey jibes, attempted a few vulcans and generally having a great time out by myself.

As I was getting ready to head in, there were suddenly a bunch of riders on the water. Unbeknownst to me the slalom cross had started. I did one lap with the pros before figuring out they were actually racing and quickly abandoned the course.

I was out in the middle of the pro expression session - oops.

Clearly, despite the geeky helmet I was having fun!

Friday Aug 25 - Closing Time

After breakfast I headed out to Stand Up Paddle with Boujmaa and JP. Others quickly joined us at the Bombora. I caught two waves out there and ‎one coming in. I'm slowly getting better at the SUPing and really enjoyed my nice long wave ride back in to camp. 2.6 km in 40 minutes. Boujmaa was inspiring, he didn't even get his hair wet during the 100 or so rides he got!

GPS Capture of my SUP session. Just two waves at the point,
then one long one on the way back in.

Then I got another 7km bike ride in. Almost peddled the whole way up 'downhill'‎, then over to 'Dammit Jim' and back also in 40 minutes. Top speed 27 km/h on the way back to camp.

Bike ride with 27 km/h top speed.

At 4pm I  headed out for a SUP windsurfing session. 4.5m Taka sail worked well for heli tacks and other freestyle moves. I did 9km of slow, fun wave rides in 70 minutes. Was my top speed really 26 km/h?

SUP sailing session - lots of fun catching 20+ waves!

The closing party started with Baja fogs of course. ‎I was called up with the winners of the fun race, mainly because I seemed to be the happiest person on the water all week. I got a special award just for having the most fun?

Winning an award for being the happiest IWT camper!

The video of the week also had a nice shot of me in it at 5:20. I look forward to adding the bit of drone footage Joey got to Vimeo as well.

The van and trailer got packed with ‎everyone's extra gear so the planes can take all the people heading home tomorrow.

Saturday August 26 - Packing it in and up

The camp started clearing out right at breakfast and  some of the tents started coming down. I went out for a last SUP and had 13 great wave rides, possibly a record for me?  ‎I certainly felt more comfortable than the day before; stable most of the time on my 10 foot, 31 inch wide RRD 'WASSUP' board.

Then I headed for a bike ride on a different Santa Cruz mountain bike, this one had 12 gears at the back and I was able to make it up 'downhill' without a single stop. I was pretty spent and enjoyed the view from the top one I got there. ‎I had a super fun run down 'Stans' and back to camp.

Just to push it, I rigged up a 5.7 elite and took out the RRD 12 to make it a 3 sport morning. I only planed once, caught 3 ‎waves but made almost all my tacks and jibes.

Almost everyone was packed up and the excitement built as the first of 3 planes landed. ‎The flight home in the Centurion II was at a higher altitude than normal, 6500 feet which made for some nice views. I had a quiet evening in San Diego with a nice dinner at Spike Africa's and got ready for my Sunday morning flight home.

As usual, I'm already thinking about my next trip to Baja - maybe with a wave camp again next summer?