The southwest wind was predicted to build and I was excited for my first afternoon of vacation. I set my out of office and headed out to the Launch Pad.
I thought I might be able to get going on the big old Techno 148 and my 7.0 NP V6 that I'd just repaired the cams by extending the broken battens. I did barely get going, but the wind at 12 gusting 16 knots definitely wasn't strong enough.
So I went back and switched for the 140 Stingray foil with the 5.6 Idol. I was able to pump up onto a plane many times, and got some solid runs. I headed upwind to play in the bigger swells near Dokis Island.
In the past, I've seen $100,000 powerboats heading north on the small craft route and miss the turn left to Killarney. Today I saw ten $10,000 seadoos make the same mistake, heading north to the green buoy along Dokis island. Then they slow down, circle for a while, eventually check their charts, then turn west. Kind of funny to see it happen so often.
At one point I saw another windsurfer in the harbour and sailed back downwind. It was Adam, my student from last year who I helped get set up with a nice Fanatic board and Hot sail. He was out for the first time this year and was doing great staying upwind. His friends might be looking for a lesson this weekend.
I tried one carve 360, and did several more tail assisted jibes. The trick on the jibe seems to be keeping constant foot pressure, not trying to be super light on my feet like in a regular short board jibe. I had fun doing duck tacks whenever I was trying to get upwind.
After a while of not planing I decided to try out the 7.0 on the foil. Wow. It was amazing. Much easier to pump on a plane than the 6.5 or 5.6. And then super steady even if it is way heavier. It might be my new "go to" foil sail. Certainly when the wind is in the 12 knot range. I might even rig the 9.0 to try that out in even lighter winds.
Overall 40 km in 3 hours on the water (and a few minutes of changing rigs).
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Smiling after 3.5 hours
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Fun GPS trail
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11 knots gusting to 16 - 22c water and air
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 | Definitely had better runs with the 7.0m sail in the 2nd half of the
session. And didn't have to pump so much - nice steady heartrate.
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The weather forecast was good
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Beginner lessons tomorrow at 11. I repaired my old YPSI Wayler so I have an extra beginner board. Should be good.
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40 year old YPSI Wayler repair
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