Sit down, enjoy the ride & then shut it down

My last session of 2020 turned out be a wonderful way to start planning for 2021. I had lunch conference calls, so I had to get out early in the day. I started my session at 9:30 am; the earliest in the morning I've sailed this year. Luckily it was already unseasonably warm.

The wind was 16 knots, tempting me to look at using my FreeWave 116. But I decided to go with the Techno 148 and hopefully not spend much time slogging through lulls in the wind. I took the 7.0 NP which is starting show its 15 year? age.

It was the perfect combination. I tacked upwind out of the harbour and then started planing. I had my seat harness on instead of my waist harness and just sat back, blasting back and forth, slowly making some upwind ground. That board is so easy to ride! I was being very cautious on my jibes so I only had one real planing jibe. But I didn't fall in for over an hour and forgot to send an "I'm having fun" GPS message. By the time I got back to shore after 32 km and an hour and 15 minutes, my wife was a bit worried.

I was in my 5/4 suit for the 12c air and with the water back up to 10c from the record warm November weather I didn't even wear booties.

Post session #75 smile!

No need for booties when the water is 10c

12 c air and 16 knot winds

GPS trail - with one planing jibe
one floating balloon garbage pickup

Planing most of the time, 4th jibe kept some speed!
Lots of tacks just after the halfway part
Then some speed runs at the end hitting 47 km/h

I did have one sketchy moment as I windsurfed
over this hidden shoal - as the water starts going 
down again I'm going to need to be more careful!

That gear and an early start to the day has me excited to set a goal for a 100+ km day next year. And with 75 sessions in a busy and complicated 2020, 100+ sessions might just be a possible goal year with more time, the 99 wing and hopefully better skills.

Pretty consistent wind at the end of my session

I de-rigged a few more sails and then went back to attend to work and emails. At dusk I was back at the island to de-rig the rest of the sails and secure the Launch Pad for the winter. 

It was even windier and warmer at dusk; a record for Nov 10th?

With no trips on the horizon, none of the gear is coming back to the city.

Shutting down the Launch Pad sail locker

The sun sets on my 2020 season

Sunny and even windier on Remembrance Day

Some very nice wind out there but the gear is all packed up.

See you in 2021

Strapless Saturday

The wind was forecast at 10 knots from 12-2pm so I got to the launch pad and finished repairing the walkway which was on my pre-closing todo list.

It was 9-10 knots with gusts up to 13 and I debated rigging the 9.0 to have a better session than the last few days of exhausting pumping to get planing.

I decided to try the 6.5 again with the 99cm wing. As I started tacking upwind I could already sense it was going to be good.

The wind was filling in a bit and I‘d watched a few videos (like this one) where it was evident that keeping the front leg straight when pumping was key. I quickly got on the foil and had much longer runs than the last 3 days.

I fell in on several jibes but the 5/4 suit and booties kept most of the 7c water out. I even waterstarted once. Not having any footstraps is pretty easy to get used to. My feet definitely find their way to stand right on the inboard strap positions. My back foot seems to like being inboard even more - sometimes even on the Tuttle box fin/mast screws. In any case it seems to be good practice to make lots of small foot movements to figure out how the foil board reacts to those smaller changes than a big step into a strap then being stabilized by the foot in the strap.

I worked my way upwind and found bigger swells than I expected for such light winds. I had an absolute blast riding the waves west of Wedge Island. It is such a cool feeling to be propelled down the swells, holding the sail more for balance than for power. Then sheeting the sail back in to get a bit more speed and to steer to the next wave. And without footstraps, it feels surfy and more pure. Simply incredible to have that new experience right in my own backyard.

Smiling after my session

A whopping 11c and SW 9 knots gusting to 13

So much fun surfing the waves Northwest of Wedge Island
And there are around 3 tail assisted jibes and a lot of fall in jibes

On the foil for most of the 75 minute session!

1994 old school sail meets new school board and foil.

There had actually been some gusts to 16 knots during my session

We had a wonderful sunset Hot Dog and marshmallow roast at the point and then put away the chairs for the winter.

The sun is setting on 2020

When I got home I saw my buddy Rob had live streamed a bit of my session on facebook so I took a screen grab so I have a photo of the session after all!

Thanks Rob P for the FB video!

Lunchtime pumping

I had a free lunch hour, so I headed out to the launch pad. Winds were 9-11 knots so I took the 6.5 V6 with the 99cm Slingshot foil. I had the Surfers “windsurfing” playing in my head after watching that video again on YouTube.

I had a surprise dip in the water while pumping the sail for my 2nd run. I hadn't seated the US cup mast foot properly and the two pins hadn't popped into place. So when I pumped the sail vigorously the second time, it popped off. I swam quickly after the board but since there wasn't much wind it didn't go far. I'll check the pins carefully next time, and also take gloves with me even if the air is relatively warm (10c). 7c water made my hands go numb quickly - I can't imagine having to go for a longer swim.

The view from my changing room

Exciting 9 knots and 10c air

Foil tracks: I figured out how to show the speed colour when using
AppProSail - just change the sport to running in the Garmin Connect
App or web after uploading the session

More solid time on the foil vs. the last two days

I was toasty in my 5/4 wetsuit. The pumping with the 99 cm foil really works to get going and also works up heat in the suit.

While I was out foiling I was thinking about what I'll eventually want for the launch pad next year:

• A new or used wing to learn wingfoiling
• A new Techno 148 for me, so I can use my 12 year old one for teaching foiling
• A 2m and/or 2.5m kids rig for teaching more kids
• A GoPro 8 or 9 to get some footage of a completed foil jibe
• Tricktionary 3 so I can get certified as an instructor by WIPA
• A used 7 - 7.5m V6 Streetracer for light wind foiling
• A used 125l free ride board with a new 7m cambered sail
• Size 12 over the ankle split toe booties
• A platform for rigging and storing sails and boards at the point

When I got back my work email box was flooded which seemed strange for a Friday afternoon. As I looked closer I saw it was with retirement congratulations from work colleagues!

72 Sessions

After finishing a morning of work calls, I headed out to the Launch Pad and to wind which I knew was tapering off.

It was down to only 8-9 knots so I figured my only chance to get going would be to get the 99cm wing fixed. Amazon had provided me with a left hand drill / screw extractor kit. It worked well and I quickly had the broken bolts out of the mast.

First drill out the broken bolt using the left hand drill

Use the extractor to remove after drilling

Repeat on the other broken bolt

I filed the mast surface to make it flatter and put stainless screws in. It sits considerably tighter now than the last time I headed out with the 99cm wing and discovered that it floats!

The wind was really light and I slowly headed upwind doing heli tacks with the 7.0. I was starting to doubt whether to really call it a “session“ as I wanted my season tying 72nd session to be a real one. Just as I was about to give up, I managed to pump onto a plane briefly. And then 3 more times with a top speed of 21 km/h.

Windfoil trail - 4 sections where I pumped like heck!

My 4 planing sections

It was nice not to have footstraps on the board, and even nicer to have booties on with the 7c water. I was plenty warm in my 3/2 wetsuit in the 10c air doing all that pumping for a few short runs.

I’m still hoping for a more significant session over the next 4 days.

Cold feet

The water was 7c and the air a nice 12c. So above my normal 18c minimum combined temperature. On top of that, it was sunny and I'd finished my calls for the day.

I took the 5.6 Idol on the 140 Stingray and the Slingshot 76cm wing with a new set of titanium screws. I didn't think my feet would be too cold on the board with the warm air. But I was wrong - 7c is just too cold to go without booties.

Sadly the wind was tapering off from the 15 knots down to around 13 when I launched. I managed to get on the foil just once, and Jen got a nice photo! So I called it a short 20 minute session. Despite the cold feet I was sweating in my 5/4 wetsuit and my “frozen” shoulder didn’t give me too much trouble.

My one foil run - feeling good!

Hi dear!

My GPS trail - just one run on the foil hitting 20 km/h!

South wind

I got back in time to fix the plumbing, shower and receive a surprise lifetime achievement award from work via video call as I get ready for my Dec 31 retirement.

It was interesting this week to notice that wind power was higher than solar, hydro, gas and biofuel combined and almost 1/2 of nuclear in Ontario. That despite another of the 14 month old blades on our nearby wind farm needing to be replaced - see the crane and 2 blade turbine in the top photo.

Wind power in Ontario exceed all but Nuclear on Sunday!

This is session 71 and my first ever November session at home. I took the footstraps off the board so I can use booties and try going strapless for any future sessions. The weather is looking warm and a bit breezy for the next 5 days....

Cold Hatteras

Well the guys trip to Hatteras was cancelled. So we planned a cold Hatteras long weekend at the Launch Pad but that was cancelled too due to Covid. Likely OK, since the scheduled Friday to Tuesday 5 days stretch turned out to be the only 5 days in a row this year without even enough wind to foil.

But the wind prediction for Wednesday was solid. But we needed to leave for Collingwood at 10am. So I woke up at 7am had coffee and toast and was on the water at 8:30.

Ready for the earliest morning (and latest day) of the year session

The forecast from the night before was right!

 

8:15 am and windy!

Ready to launch

I walked the Freewave 116 out to the point and decided at 23 knots avg wind that I would use the 4.7 sail. I went back, pulled my hood up and walked the sail to the point. It was the perfect combo. I'm glad I remembered to make the foot straps bigger which worked nicely with the winter booties which I haven’t really used in 20 years since I got them.

With the water at 8c and the SW wind at 6c, this was very much a colder session than my historical 18c combined minimum temperature. But I had the advantage of having a 6/5/4mm hooded wetsuit, 1.5mm gloves and thick ankle high booties.

GPS track with two wipeouts and one nice planing jibe

My first 20 minutes were good with me slowly making upwind ground and planing most of the time. With the thick suit, I didn't wear my Garmin watch and instead had my cell phone with me as an extra safety precaution along with my SPOT GPS. I used Runtastic on my phone which worked nicely to record the session.

I got one good jibe in the flat water behind where I used to launch 4 years ago before we got the Launch Pad. And I had one nice walk off the front of the board into a face plant during my one duck jibe attempt. It was surprising how little water came into my wetsuit. By the time I'd had the long upwind run I was so tired I couldn't finish my jibe. So it was time to head back downwind which was fun.

Post session smile

Nice clearing skies after my session 

Morning sunshine

This was also the latest session I‘ve ever had in Canada. Last year‘s latest was Oct 26. And I think I'll get one or two more in November?

Cold front approaching!

Windy.com nailed the forecast for Sunday! It predicted strong south winds overnight and into the early afternoon and then shutting down as the cold front approached. Indeed the wind had hit 39 knots overnight, the highest I've seen this year on my wind meter.

So I got up early and headed out to the Launch Pad. After a quick eggs Benedict, I suited up. Might be the first time this year I hit the water before 11am - not quite a dawn patrol, but still early.

My first session was on the Axxis 272. It was so windy after I carried the board to the point that I decided to use my smallest sail - the 4.2. Hard to believe I bought that sail 10 years ago in France for the strong Mistral winds. I've only used the 4.2 two times this year, once with the Tiga, once with the foil.

I had a great time and felt fast and pretty in control. Jibes were pretty good too. There was one dicey moment though. In front of Dokis Island I decided to jibe just as the wind died. I was trying to waterstart a sinking board with a tiny sail as the wind slowly pushed me toward the waves breaking on the rocks. The wind direction and rocks reminded me a bit too much of the fear I have falling in while heading out at Ho'okipa.

Axxis 272 speed chart

At 11c air and 11c water, that was likely the last day this year where both the water and air were in double digits. 25 km in an hour.

Record 39 knot high wind for the year

Geeky hat but warm returning for lunch!

After lunch, I headed out for a second session.

Skate 108 session after lunch

Skate 108 speed chart

Conditions as I headed out for my 2nd session

I was on the 4.2 again but this time I went on the Skate 108 figuring that the wind would eventually die when the cold front came through around 3pm. I wanted something floaty enough so I could make it home.

I was pleased with how easy the Skate 108 was to use with the 4.2. I really enjoyed my session and got some nice jibes on that board too. I even tried one Vulcan at the end.18 km in 52 minutes.

The rain and cold front at 3pm

So that was session #69. Back to the city for the week for retirement functions. Sadly my Cold Hatteras weekend is Covid postponed. I'll be back for what I hope are a few more sessions though before closing up.