Vanessa's sail repair - Merry Christmas!

My niece Vanessa has a favourite sail - a Neil Pryde 5.7 Firefly. She used it daily when living in Bonaire and working at Jibe City. She brought it home to Canada in 2013. But the hot sun down south had taken its toll on the window and when I rolled it up this fall for Vanessa after her last session, it was completely cracking and falling apart.

I was happy to find a nice guy named Konstantin who does sail repairs in Toronto. He did a great job fixing it. And he managed to get the sail repaired just before heading off on his holidays - which by chance was down to - yes, Jibe City in Bonaire!

Thanks Konstantine for the sail repair

I got a custom matching logo created!

I got the sticker shop in Northern Ontario that normally does SkiDoo letters to do a fantastic job of recreating the Firefly script with a new Vanessa's Firefly which I put on the newly replaced window.

Merry Christmas Vanessa! Hope this gift lasts long enough for the little one to go windsurfing with you. Here are shots of the sail before the repair:

A few minor holes

The window was beyond being fixed with tape!

And the mast sleeve needed work too!
Thanks Konstantin!

Carl's Windsurfing 2019 Highlights

What a great year:

• 72 sessions on the water:
• 31.5 days of short boarding (1/2 in Bonaire, 1/4 in Baja, 1/8 in Hatteras and 1/8 at home)
• 30.5 days of foil / long boarding (Mostly foiling up on Georgian Bay)
• 6 kona races (enough for 3rd in Toronto Silver fleet)
• 4 days of kiting

Here are the Top 10 highlights (+1) in chronological order!

#1 Best photo. Definitely Bonaire windsurfing with Jen and the photo that wound up in Windsurfing Now.

#2 Best dad windsurf moment: Watching Katie and Phillip windsurfing up at the cottage

Go Katie!

Katie Waterstarting 

Phillip flying

Phillip jumping

#3 Teaching beginners: It was fun re-reading my blog to see how many beginners I taught in 2019. 11 in total!

• Chris
• Adam and then later on his new board
• Rich
• Sebastian and Konstantine
• Fabienne (I taught her son 4 years ago and he is now a windsurf instructor in France)
• Hailey
• Maxx
• Bil and Sherif
• 60 year old John turned out to be the best of the year! (or I've gotten better as a teacher?)

Jen showing how the simulator seems to be the key to getting beginners out successfully!

#4 The new logo: The wonderful logo for the Launch Pad that Len created has helped solidify the name for the island.

The new launch pad logo

My gear rigged and ready

Thanks Len!

#5 Loyal to the foil: I got a surprise round of applause from my friends while foiling!

Foiling has completely changed my view of light wind days. I'm out whenever there is 6-10 knots hoping for a gust so I can get up on the foil. From 10-15 knots I'm up on the foil laughing about how 3 years ago I would have been on shore cursing the not quite enough for planing wind. One Friday night when a few friends were watching and I glided by above the water barely making a sound, they started applauding. Something that has never happened (or at least that I've heard) in the past!

Foiling vastly increased my days on the water.

#6 Vanessa and Len windsurfing: My niece Vanessa and her partner Len are wonderful together and I'm so excited for these two windsurfers as they expect their first child!

5+ months pregnant and that wasn't even the last time Vanessa windsurfed in 2019

#7 My wave of the day and one of the best so far! I got the wave of the day at the Pritchard Windsurf camp in Baja While the whole week was great, I'll remember this 1 minute, 6 turn 500m run for a long time.

#8 A new long distance record? I had a 113 km day in Hatteras which was part of a great week in North Carolina!

99 kms before lunch, another 14 after!

#9 Wednesday night race results! I came in 3rd in the TWC Kona Silver Class. The Toronto Windsurfing Club annual dinner included awards. The Kona fleet is pretty small, I only did six races and one night on the committee boat, but with a lot of nice people.

81 Year old Chris came in 2nd - I was happy with 3rd!

#10 Full page spread: I was featured in Wealth Professional an investment industry magazine which profiled my windsurfing in their "Other Life" column.

#11 Bonus moment - Decisions for 2021

No link for that yet - but there is a plan...

My Other Life - Wealth Advisor

Click to enlarge

I usually keep my windsurfing life and work life separate. But I was featured recently in an industry magazine called Wealth Professional. They have a column called “Other life” and were interested in what I do outside of my day job.

Here is a link to my work website and the article...
www.spiessmcglade.ca/carls-other-life-windsurfing/