Wednesday night in the city

Vanessa and Len came down with me to the Toronto Windsurfing Club to watch the Wednesday night racing. It is great to share the secret gem that is just minutes from downtown Toronto. When I entered the clubhouse to change out of my work clothes I was amazed by the number of youth being trained and participating in TWC events.

I rigged the Kona and did 2 of the 3 races. The weather was nice and warm, but the wind was light and died completely for race #3. So I headed back to shore and we chilled on the beach. Shortly after the rest of the 30 raceboard and 5 Kona racers returned to the beach, the BBQ was ready. We all enjoyed a burger and called it a fine evening.

Toronto Windsurfing Club launch

Toronto Windsurfing Club launch

The rigging scene at the club

Almost Jibing the Foil

Late Monday afternoon the wind did pick up a bit as windy.com had predicted. It was 11-13 knots on my wind meter. I headed out on the 76cm foil under the Techno and 6.5m NP V6.

A nice sunset post foil session photo with my girl!

I was working on my upwind downwind riding and S turns. I also started taking my back foot out of the strap and trying to place it in the centre for my jibe attempts. On one jibe it seemed to be in the perfect spot and I was flying using my back foot all the way through the downwind part of the jibe and the sail flip. I dropped of the plane then but quickly got going again. It was the first time my back foot was in the middle of the board and I felt like I might eventually make a jibe!

I almost made my first foil jibe - see arrow!
And the chart shows a few other decent attempts.

The Google earth chart also shows lots more S turns and upwind downwind sections.

Liking how my heart rate drops during the longer foiling periods.
And over 50% of the time planing on the foil!

The Garmin says I spent over 50% of my time planing (and it was accidentally off for a good bit of the session.) That is close to my record of 53% of my record during my last session on the high wind day I had last weekend.

S turns on Sunday

The SW wind was 10-15 knots and so I went out as usual on the 6.5 NP V6 and the 76 cm foil under the Techno.

For the first while, I generally had to pump onto a plane. But once I was going, I felt more in control than ever before. I was regularly going up and down wind and then also started doing carving S turns while sailing. What fun, carving on the foil. I'm hoping that will help with future jibe attempts.

My friends were out at the point and caught a few shots as the wind picked up. Thanks Michel! I was out for over an hour and spent 30% of the time planing - a new stat the Windsurf app on my Vivoactive 3 Garmin watch records.

Happy about how straight my legs are now after around 40 sessions

All smiles

Coming in to tack

My heart rate is starting to come down on the longer foil runs
Heart rate also lower while it was windy in the middle of the session. (Less pumping)

GPS Trail with some of the S turns visible in the lower left section

Here is a photo of me putting my toys away.

The toy storage locker

Windy suggests late Monday will be good.

Katie practices waterstarts!

With Pete visiting now I knew I had someone who would want to go out windsurfing. We went out to the Launch Pad and I set him up with the 5.4 Duke and the new Viper 80 board.

I was happy when Katie said she wanted to go out. She hadn't been on a windsurfer in over a year. You can see in the photos below that she did great on the 5.6 Idol and JP Young Gun board.

Katie getting going!

All smiles even without a wetsuit.

And the wind kept building. She's using 5.6m sail!

I was on the Seadoo and pulled her upwind a bit and provided the odd bit of advice and encouragement. It was her idea to try some waterstarts. She did great but needs a bit more practice!

Nice waterstart form!

Pete was doing well and slowly re-learning the harness.

Pete doing well in the solid wind.

My own session started shortly after Katie was done. I swapped her Young Gun for the Skate 108 but only got planing a few times. I went on the foil a bit but the wind was dropping.

Two small runs on the Skate and three tiny foil moments.

A typical SW day. And the weather data seems right too.

While my session wasn't much, at least I'd gotten two part time windsurfers back on the water and they both had good sessions which makes it a great day.

Friday night light foil

I headed out late in the day to show a bunch of good friends the Launch Pad and see if I could get going on the foil. I headed out on my normal 6.5 NP V6 and Slingshot 76 foil under the BIC Techno.

This session the weather data in the Garmin app seems right!

I slogged upwind and then caught one gust. I came ashore and gave buddy John a quick lesson on the simulator. Then the nice warm SW wind had picked up and I headed out for another quick session in the fresh breeze.

As I came in one run on the foil, my friends started clapping which was a bit strange to me? But seeing foiling for the first time and the silence of the foil approaching was apparently neat to everyone. I kind of just hoped that someone would want to try it?

The second part of the session had a lot more foiling!

I hit 29.6 km/h on my last foil run of the day. Looks like wind for Saturday?

Not much on a Sunday

I got to the island to do some minor projects after taking our guests for a walk through the fire burnt areas of Sand Bay.

After our walk through the Parry Sound 33 fire ravaged areas

The wind had dropped from the morning but I still thought I'd have enough wind to foil. I tried first with the Idol 5.6 but it really isn't the right sail for foiling. The old 6.5 NP V6 did get me up on the foil a few times. The typical afternoon SW push never developed.

Better success getting on the foil in the 2nd half of the session with the bigger, older sail

Back and forth without getting up on the foil much

Overall it was a nice hour out on the water. 7km with a few times up on the foil. Hope for more wind and time on the water next weekend. Pretty happy about the previous two days!

First ever carving duck tack in Canada

Well it was the first time I've ever done one. I'm sure many other windsurfers have done a carving duck tack in Canada. But I'd only first completed the trick in Bonaire in March this year and don't think I'd ever considered getting one at home.

My session started out on the Skate 108 and 5.6 Idol but there wasn't enough wind. So I went out on the foil with the NP 6.5 and that worked well.

Not enough wind for the Skate 108 and the Idol. Time for the foil.

Foiling session in 12-15 knot winds

Foiling!

My buddy John with the 5.4 and the Viper 80.

My friend John was out enjoying the Fanatic Viper 80 with a 5.4 and his son Hugh was ready for some time on the simulator. While I was teaching Hugh the wind shifted to the west and kept increasing to the point where we couldn't continue the lesson.

So I headed out again on the Skate 108 and 5.6 Idol and had a blast. It was so windy I could come all the way into the Launch Pad harbour fully planing and then slog back out again. The high water helps as the islands don't block the wind as much. The water is fully 5 feet above the 1964 and 2012 lows, making the islands all 5 feet shorter.

Georgian Bay (part of lake Huron) is at record high water levels this year!
Which means fewer wind shadows and most shoals are easy to sail over.

I worked on a bunch of tricks. One failed Vulcan, several successful duck jibes, and then at least a dozen carving tuck tack attempts. I was having fun falling into the comfortably warm water. I didn't really need the full 3/2 "flashbomb" wetsuit so for extra cooling I had the neck open. On my very last try, I carved upwind switch, threw the sail, caught it on the other side, pressed my back hand on the sail so it would come back up to me, wobbled a bit an then sailed away. Not super elegant but completed!

1 hour 20 minutes. 26.7 km. 48.9 km/h max speed. View from the west.
And fun sailing around the islands!

Skate 108 free style session data

I slogged half the last run back, and the wind was definitely dying and it was time to join our visitors for a fine steak dinner. What a great watersports day. Here is a photo of the wakeboarding session earlier in the afternoon! Gonna be sore tomorrow.

Wakeboarding earlier in the day!

Wakeboarding speed and heart rate chart

First day on the Skate 108!

Oh it is getting windy now. I started in the late afternoon on the foil with the 7.0. Initially it was 10-12 knots and I was just getting going. Then by the end of an hour it was 15 knots and I was fully powered all the time on the foil. Easy to get the foil planing and pretty easy going up and downwind. Just enough to waterstart but I up hauled most of the time after my foil jibe fails.

Flying high on the foil for the first hour!
I'm generally comfortable enough now to use one hand and often have both legs straight.

Bringing the foil back to trade for the Ray 122 shortboard

Once the wind was consistently over 15 knots I switched to the Ray 122. I needed to relearn going downwind to get planing on the shortboard. After 40 minutes on that board I was spent but still hadn’t really completed a jibe. The combo was good but felt like a fair bit of work.

Foil and shortboard (view looking east)

Speed and heart rate on the foil and then the Ray 122 shortboard.
Same 7.0 sail but more wind and much lower heart rate in the second part.

Then just as I was ready to call it a day, the wind picked up to 20 knots so I decide to try the Skate 108 and the Idol 5.6. So glad I did. Wow, it is such a fun and easy board and sail to use when the wind is 20 knots! I hadn't used that combo since Bonaire in April. And in fun news, Windsurfing Now featured that photo of Jen and me (on that same Skate 108 and sail) in their letters section!

Photo of Jen and me in Windsurfing Now!

Fun on the Skate 108 - blasting across the wharf ruins!

First time since Bonaire with the 5.6 Idol in around 20 knots of wind.

38 km in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Top speed 48.8 km/h. Hoping for even more wind the next two days!

Some wind coming!

First day of shortboarding in Ontario!

July 6th. Seems like a bit late in the year for my first short-boarding session. But there really hasn't been much wind - certainly not in the last week. The forecast of a north wind didn't have me very optimistic, as those are notoriously gusty.

When I got out to the Launch Pad it was blowing 7-15 knots from the NE. Our corner of the bay is a quite sheltered when it is NE so I knew the wind would be better a bit farther out. The temperature was 20c and the water was even warmer.

I set out on the Ray 122 with my NP 7.0 V6. It was the perfect setup for the shifty wind with so many gusts and holes.

It was so fun. I was screaming back and forth and having some great long runs. I adjusted my harness lines, boom height, downhaul and outhaul and got it set up pretty comfortably.

My GPS watch was a bit loose on my arm and shut itself off and I think I almost lost it! I tightened it when I realized that and will try to remember to have my GPS tight and in locked mode when shortboading!

Heading back upwind at the end of the session.
Note the gusts!

7.0 is easier to handle than a 9.0!

All smiles and I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!

Zero catapults all day and minimal spin out. My jibes were not so great - I just don't seem to be able to plane through a jibe with a 7.0. The board also does take more time to get going than the foil - not the instant acceleration I've gotten used to in the last few foil sessions. It was fun to be able to waterstart though without worrying about stabbing my foot or leg on the foil! Here is the GPS trail (minus around 10 minutes when my GPS was off.)

GPS trail on a Northeast day looks similar to a SW day!

Here is the speed and heart rate chart from the 2nd part of my GPS plot. Max heart rate hit 175 - three times my resting heart rate which is generally 57 according to my watch! Total time was 1:45 with over 30 kilometres sailed.

Top speed 49.4 km/h

Foiling success with a huge sail

After finishing work emails I hopped on the SeaDoo to check that indeed my best friend Geoff and his new beau were on their way out to see us in his canoe. With them getting close but fighting a bit of a headwind, I headed out to the bay to see if there might be some late afternoon wind for windsurfing.

It was 6 knots so I tried the 9.0m sail again with the Slingshot 76cm foil under the Techno 148. Amazingly there were enough 10 knot gusts of wind to get me going from time to time.

Then the wind picked up to 12 knots with the very occasional whitecap. I was now getting up on the foil consistently and without pumping like crazy. With enough wind it just slides up onto a plane. Then when you head upwind it goes nicely, and going downwind is silent and wonderful.

I realized after several runs that my back footstrap was too far back. And next time I will adjust more than just my boom height and see if I can get even more comfortable on my reaches. Overall I did 19.36km in just under 1:45. A very successful session.

Here are some nice shots Geoff took as my session was coming to an end. After that I headed in to join everyone for some Georgian Bay Gin and Tonics.

It was pretty warm out!

Awesome boat driver - Thanks for taking Geoff out to the island
and showing Jen the Bay!

Session data:

Up on the foil over 30% of the session. Definitely got the good part of the day!

Lots of distance covered on my foilboard with the big 9.0m sail
More than a few Jibe attempts, none while up on the foil