After a full day of work and charity emails, we headed out to the Launch Pad to do some projects and have dinner. It was glassy calm and wonderful despite the colder temperatures. Air was 14c, water 17c.
Just as Jen needed my help on the septic grass seeding project of course the wind picked up. I finished helping and went out with the 5.6 Idol and the foil. Wind was 10-14 knots. I was fine in my 2 mil long leg XCEL suit, as I didn't fall in. I was also working really hard to pump onto a plane, and figure that should help with my Garmin "intensity minutes" which don't really even accumulate when I'm short boarding.
I'm pretty comfortable now on the foil, and even got through some (tail assisted) jibes feeling more confident in the lower wind and smoother water than yesterday. I think that much later in the season, foiling will be even more attractive over finning / slapping / traditional short boarding, as I can very reliably tack without falling in. I'm also thinking that when it gets really cold, I will just remove at least the rear footstraps on the foil board so I can wear some booties and keep my feet warm.
Since I don't have any photos from this foil session, I'll post pictures of the nice 1985ish Mistral superlight that I was given yesterday by my nice neighbour. I've never had a board with the retractable spring loaded skeg before! It is indeed superlight, but is very dirty and has several holes in it that will require some significant restoration work next summer before it hits the water.
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A classic old school board that a nice neighbour donated to the Launch Pad
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Check out the spring loaded skeg (and damage to the board)
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Classic Mistral superlight
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| Southwest wind - several nice jibe paths on the foil |
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Sunset with some sad California fire haze
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