Last and windiest day of the year

Wow, what a way to end my windsurfing for 2018. After a torrential rainstorm overnight we were back to northeasterly winds in Hatteras. It was still warm though, so after some work emails I headed down to Frisco again with the crew.

This time the water level was higher and the waves were bigger. This was due to the very strong (30 knots?) NE wind. Luckily the wind was warm so I was comfy in just a 3/2 short armed wetsuit. The car's ambient temperature was reading 67f - that's 19.5c.

Nice carve jibe

Lots of little jumps!

I rigged the 4.8 Idol and went out on the Skate 108. I had the GoPro on the boom and sailed for 25 minutes. It was so rough I could barely make a duck jibe and my ribs were starting to hurt a bit with the waist harness.

The video still of my duck jibe

Then I rigged the 8 year old 4.2 Ice and put it on the 25 year old Tiga 257. I used my seat harness for the first time this year and had some pretty comfortable rides for the next 35 minutes. After an hour I was spent and headed back to the house to pack up.

Not a huge difference in speed between the Skate 108 and the old Tiga

I'm writing this in the car on the 14 hour drive home. I also found a photo from the one day when I didn't windsurf; here is my sail in the Big Blue Van as the boys were heading out for a possible SUP sailing session.

The BBV can actually store a rigged 5.4m sail!

Overall an amazing trip with enough wind to sail 5.6m or smaller sails 5 of the 6 days I was there.   And great warm weather considering it was the first half of November! Someday I hope to post some video I shot on that last day!

Sunny, windy and warm - as predicted

In the car on the way down to Hatteras on Friday I was telling Jennifer that the best day to windsurf this week would likely be Tuesday. And indeed what a great day it was.

As the day started the very warm SW wind slowly built as predicted. Once the whitecaps were visible people started heading out. Our house full of kiters is sandwiched between two houses full of windsurfers and they all started heading out around 11am.

I had a morning conference call and so Jen and I finally headed out onto the water around noon.

I was nicely powered on the Skate 108 and Idol 5.6. My first Vulcan attempt went extremely well resulting in a good slide backwards and the glory photo below just as my hands were moving to the boom on the other side. Thanks for that shot Jamie! I did get both hands on the boom after the shutter clicked and once again I fell when my skeg hit bottom. But it was SO close to being my first Vulcan since 2016.

So close to being my first Vulcan since 2016!

Blasting on Nov 6th without a shirt on! It was so warm!

After getting her some shorter harness lines Jen started having some good runs on the Freewave 116 and the Duke 5.4 on an old 30% carbon mast. I finally put a shirt on and it was a real joy to be out on the water with her and then to stand together in the warm shallow water between runs.

Jen heading out

Husband and wife heading out together the day before
the 32nd anniversary of our first date!

Jibing in to catch up with Jen!

Chasing Jen!

Here is some video of one of Jen's runs. 

Thanks again Jamie for the camerawork!

The weather was amazingly warm at 26.1c with many of us out in boardshorts! I was trying carving 360s, switch stance jibes, duck tacks and whatever else I could think of. After 90 minutes I stopped for lunch with Jen who had gone to Bros for some sandwiches.

Morning session with Jen! Wow, 26.1c - I was in shorts.

Then Bob, my 73 year old friend from Rodanthe, came down to sail with me again. He rigged up and headed out. I followed and despite a few low wind runs, the wind built again and we had a great 90 minute session right to sunset. We also got to watch local legend Mike Burns throwing down tricks in the shallow water. There was a bit of drama when Brett's kite launch went badly and he shredded his foot on the rocks.

Chuck and Steve and Carl in the afternoon!

A satisfying session for sure!

Afternoon session details. I had fun sailing with Bob!

We had a great dinner of Nachos and banana boats. Brett's foot looks like it should be ok after being checked out by some doctor friends and now the question is whether after 4 straight days of windsurfing is there a session or two for me still in the forecast for the next two days?

Short session between calls

The wind was up and down - super windy during a few rain showers and then calm and then windy and warm again 15 minutes later.

I headed out after doing a round of morning work emails. The quick session included 30 mins on the Skate 108 with the 5.6 Idol, and I got a planing tuck tack which may be a first. Then I did 20 mins on the Tiga 257. While the 25 year old heavy Tiga was mocked on the beach, and sunk whenever I slowed down, on the 4 runs I did get I was keeping up with most of the other sailors on the water.

The boys were all out kiting in the afternoon in the dropping wind, having great foil runs back and forth.

A view from the deck in the dying wind after my session.
The old heavy Tiga sitting on shore with the new super light Idol sail.

Session details - check out the 23.9c temperature for Nov 5th!

Some nice beach houses nearby in Hatteras!

When my afternoon conference calls were done Jen and I went for a 45 minute walk and then the crew headed to Oceanis Bistro for the surprisingly good $12.99 prime rib special and then banana split ice cream for dessert back at the house. A great day even if I didn't get as much time on the water as I wanted.

Freestyle in Frisco

The group decided that with the wind from the NE it would best to head down to the Frisco sound side launch for our morning session.

What a good call. The wind was strong and 21c warm. It was much flatter than I expected, as the shallow water just gets rid of the waves.

I started on my Idol 5.6 and my trusty Skate 108 with a new 18cm weed freestyle fin. I was planing easily and carving through gybes. I tried a Vulcan and got the longest slide I've ever had and both hands on the boom on the other side. Yeah! Sadly my nice small skeg was still too long and I got caught on the shallow bottom. That was SO close to being my first Vulcan since 2016. The next dozen or so attempts had a few close ones and many fails.

Half way through my session I decided to try the Idol 4.8 to see the difference. I was surprised to be planing almost as much. The speed chart doesn't really show much slowing down from the 5.6 to the 4.8, until later when I was doing much shorter runs and more tricks. With the smaller sail I did manage to throw it to windward while planing switch stance and catch it on the other side and do a switch stance jibe, I think that might be a first!

I did a lot of carving 360s, duck jibes, fast tacks. Basically in the shallow water I was doing as many trick attempts as possible. After 2 hours I was spent but very happy.

Beachside parking. Enjoying my new Windsurfing Now T-shirt
courtesy Pete Dekay and Ocean Air

Speeds and the number of runs back and forth.
Not much speed difference between the first half 5.6 and second half  4.8

Details of the tracks.

Jen had ridden her bike down and we put the bike in the car and headed to Pop's seafood for fresh Oysters and steamed shrimp. We'll have to go back there. Wow.

The hot tub was a hit with everyone in the house. Here is a video!

Hatteras Hot tub drone 2018 from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Thanks Bob for the great session!

It has been 9 years since I windsurfed with Bob at the 2009 HIHO. We've kept in touch and managed to bump into each other last year when I was in Hatteras.

So this year I headed down a day earlier than the rest of my friends for our group trip. Jen was at the wheel as we headed over the inter-coastal and down toward the outer banks.

Hatteras Road Trip!

We were invited to stay at Bob's place in Rodanthe overnight. He has the perfect setup; a sound side house with windsurfing gear storage underneath.

In the morning it was wonderfully windy and I set up my 4.8 Idol and Skate 108. Bob was on a 5.5 and a Quatro 90l board. Jen got some photos of us enjoying the 15c wind and warm water.

The amazing thing is that Bob is 73 and seemed like a kid rediscovering his favourite toy. He admitted to not having had many great days windsurfing recently, but today he and I had a wonderful time blasting back and forth off his beach.

I caught some drone footage of his session after I'd done enough sailing - over 2 hours for me and he was approaching 3 hours of sailing. (Edited using DJI's skypixel editor on my phone.) I definitely have a new goal - to be ready to sail for 2+ hours when I'm 73!

Click for video of 73 year old Bob ripping up the Outer Banks!

It is funny that Severne sponsored windsurfer Boujmaa joked that I'm his hero and he hopes to have as much passion for windsurfing when he gets to be my age. And I have a Severne riding older hero to look up to as well.

Heading out for my first Hatteras 2018 session

Bob already out a long way

Nice shot of us both nearby

Now the sun is out!

Clearing weeds from my fin!

Bob blasting

More weeds!

Bob heading in

Here's my session map. 2 hours and 15 minutes, 45 km. 47.7 km/h top speed once I was able to borrow Bob's weed fin.

View looking east of our fun session
Sadly the whole area is due to be surrounded by the new bridge :-(

Speeds got better after I was able to borrow a weed fin.

After that we headed down to Avon to meet the rest of the boys at the house. Jen and I went for a quick bike ride to shop for food and then made dinner for our first night together with the kiters.

Chilling with Vanessa - last foil session!

Vanessa wasn't so sure about heading out to windsurf in the cold Georgian Bay water. But with a tight long armed wetsuit and a huge floaty board I convinced her she wouldn't freeze.

We had the heaters on in the launch pad and slowly got ready. I wanted to test out the last bit of 12-18 knot west wind before it clocked around to north and headed for an overnight low of -1c.

With the sun out intermittently the 5c actually felt warmer to me outside than the previous days' 10c with the cold rain. I put on my 3/2 suit which was dry instead of pulling on the cold and wet 4/3. Wearing a hat was a good call. I also put on booties for the first time at home this year. So this was definitely pushing the 18c combined water/air temperature rule I'd set for myself years ago.

Vanessa's man Len from Bonaire was in full winter clothing but came out and took some nice photos of us.

Launching from the dock foil first!

Thanks Len for the photos of Vanessa and me!

Foiling!

Vanessa enjoyed the light 4.8 and the floaty F2 Viper 80. I was on the Techno with the foil and the old NP V6 6.5. I got up on the foil on 6 of 8 runs and then fell in right after Vanessa and I decided to head back. I was trying to restart downwind and plopped into the water for just a second. Top speed was just over 30 km/h.

Sudbury weather station shows wind NW and a bit colder than actual.
I think it was 5c and likely 0c with the wind chill.

After our session I packed up all my gear including the foil for our November trip to Hatteras. Well, I guess I could still rig up some of my vintage gear if next weekend has a warm wind?

Vanessa and me post session!

Packing up for the season.

Late season 4.8m session!

5:30 on a Friday afternoon. The SSW wind was predicted to stay strong but it was raining too. My windmeter was reading 17 gusting to 22. The air was 10c as was the water.

One of the very nice things about having a launch pad is that I can get changed inside. With 5 heaters going in the small living room, it was already warming up inside while I put on my wetsuit.

Garmin connect data shows the exact wind direction and wind chill!

Friday morning's forecast was right on!

I took off right from the dock with my Skate 108 and Idol 4.8. I got planing on my first run and then slogged upwind by the pilings for a bit. I figured I'd sail for maybe 30 minutes in the dying light. But then it was full on windsurfing. I didn't fall in for 25 minutes and even then it wasn't too cold. So I kept on sailing, doing some duck jibes and even sailing a few times switch stance. From switchstance I tried some jibes which weren't very elegant. But basically it was just nice to be perfectly powered.

Detailed track - Max Speed 47.9 km/h

There were a fair number of ducks flying by and only one boat to be seen. The landing lights on the helipad were already on after my first run and the red flashing lights on the first two of the 87 wind turbines being installed nearby were visible later in the session.

I wore my waist harness for the first time in a few months and my ribs were fine!

After my 55 minute session, it was 21c inside the living room and it didn't take long to get warmed up again.

Warm inside while changing out of my wetsuit.

The 7 pm boat ride back in the dark was then a bit exciting as the wind had built to 24 knots and the wind chill was down to 5c, but I made it back fine.

My windmeter readings at 7 pm