Foiling and more beginners!

I'm so grateful for foiling. Another nice sunny day but only 11 knot winds. So back on the 6.5 NP V6 which Randy (boat tops) had just fixed up the stitching on for me. I think a few years ago I would have been frustrated on the 9.0.

I foiled for an hour while Phillip took his friends for runs on the Seadoo. On some of the runs he followed me foiling. Windsurf foiling looks smooth and quiet and simple. I think that might have been why so many of the friends wanted to try windsurfing?

So we headed out to the simulator for a refresher for Maxx and beginner lessons for other friends.

Maxx getting ready to go windsurfing. Friends learning on the simulator(s).

Maxx heading out with Phillip windsurfing in the distance

Good form Maxx with lots of upwind ground being made

Boat traffic on the long weekend

Keen beginners

Gonna be good tomorrow 

Phillip did get planing twice on the Techno and 7.0 but I missed getting a photo

Maxx was doing great and stayed upwind the whole time

Go Maxx!

Here is speed and GPS map from my 13 km, 55 minute foil session. 31.1 km/h top speed. A few jibe attempts but no success there!

A few jibes attempts in the session

Speed and heart rate

And a nice photo from my wife's phone...

A shot of my foil session

High fives!

In my amazing 2 hour session I had some time to think about what to name this post. High fives comes from the high five I gave Len as I windsurfed past him on one run. I wish I'd had a GoPro to catch that!

The other reason for high fives was our sail sizes. Len used Vanessa's 5.7 Wizard on the Freewave 116, and I used the Idol 5.6 on the trusty Skate 108. Both sails in the high five metre range. The 17-25 knot wind made our sail selection perfect for the first hour.

It felt like it would be a good session on the way out to the Bay

Len did some nice jumps which inspired me to do a few as well. I did take a moment to stop at my old launching spot and loosen my footstraps - Len was the last to use the Skate. I don't really miss rigging and re-rigging out on the rocks.

Then there was a lull where I slogged across once, and Len had several slogs. So he went in, of course just as it started picking up again. My second hour was almost as fun as the first, but I missed Len's company. Vanessa came out in the boat though and took some photos!

Coming back from the south

Close up

That seems like a few too many sail wrinkles?

All good!

Blasting through the harbour

I nailed all of my half dozen or so carve 360s. Got two or three upwind 360s in the straps. Completed several duck jibes and a ton of nice planing jibes. But my 5 duck tack attempts were all fails. The water at 20c was much warmer than the wind at 20c. I wore my new 3/2 suit which was good even if the neck is a bit tight.

Thanks Vanessa for the photo bursts

Len watching from shore

Heading back to the Launch Pad

All smiles!

Two happy windsurfers

My longest shortboard session of the summer at just over two hours. 44.8 km. Max speed 49 km/h. At one point I checked my GPS watch and had been planing over 70% of the time! Even after some down time in the middle of the session and time to adjust my footstraps, I was planing for 56% of the two hours.

Heart rate and speed

GPS trail with one long upwind and leg to the south

More Wednesday racing night in Toronto

It was a perfect Wednesday evening. The 25c warm SW wind was still blowing 10-15 knots and the beach was full of people who had enjoyed a great afternoon windsurfing. Toronto Windsurfing Club has students, retirees and lots of people who store their boards there and come down whenever the wind forecast looks good.

There were around 30 of us out for the Wednesday night windsurfing races.

In the 4th and last race I was part of a pack that all had very tight jibes at the downwind mark which was exciting. Being one of only a few Kona racers, I'm usually alone and one of the last to finish the course when I do two laps on the Kona. In the first race one of the raceboard class racers actually lapped me during my first and only lap.

I was one of quite a few windsurfers who weren't wearing wetsuits. Just a pair of boardshorts and my PFD. I didn't fall in, so that kept me warm, and my sail was thankfully still dry as I packed it in the car.

Amazing to cover 12 km sailing in the nice water just off downtown Toronto. I really enjoyed seeing the sun setting behind the CN tower.

GPS trail of the 4 races in the outer harbour

Kona longboard racing - with a few almost planing runs between heats

Solid south wind shortboard session

After spending most of my many sessions this summer using the foil, I was excited that the wind looked promising for shortboarding. I took the 7.0 NP V6 and the Fanatic Ray 122 and slogged upwind.

My weather station said it was 23c and so the shorty was the right call. I caught a good number of runs once upwind in the 12-15 knot winds.

That is driftwood in the foreground

Jibe sequence

Stay low

And off again

Thanks for the photos dear!

On my way out to Dokis Island on one run I saw a nice big powerboat heading up the small craft channel. As I often notice, it continued heading north despite the 90 turn to the west. It slowed down, circled near the lone green marker and then realized it was off course. I've seen that dozens of times and it amazes me that someone with a $100 thousand boat can miss such a major turn on their charts!

On my next run I stopped to say hi to some kayakers on shore on Dokis and take a rest. It turned out out to be island neighbour JaneAnn and her daughter. We chatted about the wind turbines and that I've now been windsurfing that corner of the Bay for 39 years. Wow.

I almost headed back in to swap the Ray for the foil but then another gust came and I was just able to pump onto a plane again. It actually seemed windier closer to the Harbour than out in the Bay.

My 24.4 km GPS route, along with the blue small craft route
(and the white path I often see big boats take)

Overall a nice session. Heart rate hit 166 max and over 160 several times, averaging 127!  Top speed 45.5 km/h.

Planing 36% of the time and my calves will be really sore after the SUPing yesterday and windsurfing today.

Adam gets going on his new board

I was out foiling and got excited to see neighbour Adam out trying his new (used) windsurfer. He was staying upwind on his first reaches and despite pretty strong wind for his second windsurf session, he was keeping the 4.7 sail nicely under control.

Dad Rich got a few shots of us.

Adam out windsurfing (just behind me). So nice to have company out in the Bay!

Adam eventually got way upwind. Awesome for a 2nd session!

All smiles! Thanks Rich for the photos

I had a nice time out in 10-12 knot winds. I would pump a dozen times and then just barely get up on the foil.

My GPS track including some time helping coach Adam
 (south - right side of the image) 

A good amount of cardio getting the foil going

Our guests were wonderful out enjoying the island while I windsurfed.

The next day the wind didn't really come up at all. The morning SUP session was followed by a mellow afternoon watching the 8 turbines on the wind farm starting to turn - a first since May.

The water is warm and very clear. Here are a few shots of the potholes at the point.

Amazing potholes from glaciers 10,000 years ago

No wind!

Quick foil session with the 5.6 Idol

I've watched Andy Brandt foil videos and he uses his very flat Idol freestyle sail instead of the deep draft sails that everyone else seems to be designing for foiling. So with the very gusty north wind, I decided to try that for a quick end of day session. My 5.6 Idol worked quite well.

Nice screen capture from Allan's video.

My buddy Allan caught some video which I hope to post sometime....

I'm wondering if the video I watched of Wyatt Miller duck jibing the foil makes it easier to delay the foot switch? Duck jibing the old deep draft 6.5 would be hard, but the 5.6 Idol would be easy. I'll try that next time...

Air was actually more like 20c but it felt colder!
A gusty north wind I normally wouldn't windsurf in, but the foil changes everything.

Planche à Voile pour 40 minutes sur le foil

This headline is in French to thank Fabienne who took the great photos!

I headed out as the 3pm wind was supposed to increase through to 6pm when the rain showers were due. While I toyed with the idea of taking out a short board, I again went with the 6.5m sail and foil under the Techno. Good call.

The wind was fun, I think averaging 15 knots (my wind meter isn't working right now). Lots of whitecaps and 20c air and 22c water. Jen and Fabienne came out to the point to get some photos. Thank you both! I managed to do one pretty good jibe right in front of them, almost staying on the foil the whole way round but losing speed as usual on the sail flip.

The zen of foiling

Hi on port tack

Hi on starboard tack

Smiles

In control

More smiles!

Not gonna lie, there is a lot of uphauling after my jibe attempts

Checking the GPS watch

And then the wind shifted to north and died. I tacked back upwind and called it a good day.

Foil track from the west - tack back upwind at the end

16 foil runs in around 40 minutes
and 10 minutes to get back after the wind died