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!