Slushy winging

My 6th wind wing skiing session was a mixed bag of adventure. The weather was very warm with a 5c SE wind gusting from 5-25 knots.

I set up the wing on the soft snow and had fun attaching my new GoPro Hero 8 to the boom. Easy mounting to a firm boom tube is nice advantage of the Echo wing over those wings with soft handles.

I got going right away but caught the tip of the wing and promptly wiped out on the wing. It continues to be quite robust when I fall on it, but I’m really working to stop doing that. Then I got going and am amazed by the quality of the GoPro video.

With the wet snow, it was a fair bit of work. I was getting warm and I went to change from my Skidoo suit to a lighter jacket. As I took my hand out of the safety leash and tried to reattach it with my thick glove on,  I managed to drop the leash and the wing took off. It tumbled quite a distance and I had to pursue it on the snowmobile. I caught up but the one downwind (NW) track clearly shows on my otherwise SW/NE GPS trails.

I want to figure out how to show my speed on the GoPro video and am a bit daunted by the file size and amount of editing I might need to do. So I’ll post this and hope to do a video later.

I got a few more runs but my top winging speed only once topped 30 km/h. Total 6 km in 45 minutes. More wind and faster, harder snow is predicted for tomorrow.

Until I compile an edit of my wind wing skiing wipeouts, here is a video of the skidoo ride back through the slush! 

Jumping for joy

I did my first jumps wind wing skiing! They were actually much smaller when I took the photo than in my mind. I hoped I’d jumped at least the 205cm length of my skis and realized I’d barely gone 100cm! But my sense of adventure was huge on this day.

Fun self portrait was a side effect of taking a photo of my tiny 1 metre jumps

Windy had predicted back on Saturday that it would be windy on Tuesday afternoon. I headed out to the Launch Pad after lunch. Indeed the wind picked up while I was out and the warm weather and sun meant my wife came out on snowshoes to take photos.

54 seconds of my session on Vimeo

I am excited that I am getting the chance to learn the wing on the snow. I think it will really help when I am using the wing to foil board in water. For example I have realized that holding back of the wing down during the jibe keeps it powered, better than just letting it float when heading downwind. It is also great to be on the snow and just stop wherever I want to make adjustments.

It is super fun to ride right over islands rather than turn up or downwind when there is a shoal in my way.

After a slow start, things picked up. Max speed 35.7 km/h was just .1 km/h faster than Sunday but considering the wet snow, I’m happy with that. I called it a session as a brief rain shower blew through after an hour and 12.5 km.

The sun disappearing...

We opened up the Launch Pad and had the hydro on for 1.5 hours. It heated up pretty well!

By the time I was packed up the sun was poking through again.

Wind Wing Skiing Success!

So my first 3 tries at wind winging were ok, but not really inspiring. With -2c temperatures and south wind predicted I decided to actually head out to the Bay to find wind. It was blowing 10 knots with a gust to 14. I was able to get going on the packed skidoo trail, but no sustained runs. I tried two different angles/directions then I called it a session after 20 exhausting minutes and 1.6 km. It was nice and sunny and I spent a bit of time making a few angled skidoo trails for later in the day as I thought the wind might pick up...

AND THEN, late in the afternoon I looked out at the blades on the wind farm and they were showing a nice amount of curvature. I figured I‘d try again even though the sky looked stormy. It is super easy to put my ski boots on in the warm cottage. Then skidoo out 2 km to the bay and pump up the wing on the ice, right out in the wind. The wind seemed stronger and I started going nicely along the skidoo trail out to Dokis island.

With the harness, and a nice consistent wind, winging is pretty easy. I was flying and feeling the first real rush of speed and control. In my first few runs I started hitting 30 km/h and was going for 1 km on some runs. I was then getting the feeling for heading upwind. That felt great! I was able to get into my jibes and keep speed into the new direction. So easy really to ski downwind and turn vs. jibing a windsurf board or foil.

My wind wing skiing graph looks just like a good windsurf 
session on a south wind day.
Jibing is fun! So is running over shoals and exploring. 

Good speeds over my 22 km session - hit 35.6 km/h!

All smiles now that I‘ve got the hang of it

An aid to navigation that isn‘t where it should be!

In my first few sessions I had gotten way too warm - a combination of working hard ‘‘skating“ and no real wind chill. This time I was comfy with floater snowmobile pants and snowmobile helmet. I was even able to phone my wife through the bluetooth helmet communicator, but managed my only wipeout while trying to adjust the microphone which was picking up too much wind noise! I put a small tear in the wing housing but I expect it will be easy to repair and the bladder seems undamaged.

I worked my way upwind to see my buddies Scott and OJ‘s place, which is often a stop for me on a normal windsurfing session. It was very fun to be able to just go over the shoals I normally have to avoid.

Pretty happy with my upwind ground

I hit 35.6 km/h and it became clear that when going with good speed and -4c snow packed by a stiff breeze, I don‘t need to be on a packed skidoo trail. My 205 cm ancient GS skis with Tyrolia 690 bindings are perfect for this flat straight skiing. I’m guessing the skis are vintage 1995? They will live up here while my new “shaped“ skis will be kept for carve turns on the hills of Collingwood.

My old 205 giant slalom skis and Tyrolia 690 bindings are perfect

After 22 km my legs were giving out. Surprisingly my arms and shoulders didn‘t get tired. In fact with the harness I could already sail across the wind nicely hooked in with just my back hand balancing the wing. I called it a day after a neat downwinder between islands I normally never go through. Skiing on the bare ice there was exciting and I think promises much more speed in the future... What fun.

Good snow drifts around the toboggan after my 80 minute session

Then it was home for - winner winner chicken dinner. Here are a few photos from the morning session - nicer weather, but not nearly as much fun.

Not quite enough wind at 10-14 knots during my 1st session

The transport method

Some skiers coming back from the Bustards snapped this photo

My first session data - just a few runs in two directions

Not even enough wind to blow the wing away!

The wind farm in the background 

Next project is to set up my new Tempest weather station so I can get a better sense of the wind - without relying on just looking at the bend (or the noise) of the wind farm turbine blades.

56th Birthday Wind Wing Skiing

There was a nice wind predicted for the morning of my 56th birthday. In fact there was so much wind overnight that I woke up at 3am and fearing slushy conditions developing, I went outside and moved some of our furniture and the skidoo off the ice. I got some wood too and stoked the fire places as it was -16c.

By the time I rolled out of bed in the morning, the wind had dropped quite a bit. Max in the gusts was 15 knots, even though that looks like a lot when the wind whips up the snow.

The old guy is ready!

Checking the 15 knot North wind

I got the wing set up and headed down from the point on my skis. With the 10 cm deep snow it was pretty much impossible to get going. The harness was pretty easy to use though.

 

A little video of the session

I paused and got on the skidoo and created a packed down trail. That was better, but the gusty wind left me standing still fairly often. I got a workout “skating” my downhill skis to get going and my heart rate got up to 151!

My east west path in the north wind

My speed chart - one nice 250m run

I did 3 kms in 35 minutes. Max speed 24 km/h. Much higher speeds will be possible with hard packed snow conditions. I’m looking forward to going from the Launch Pad where the wind will be less gusty. Overall a fun way to start my 56 birthday! Thanks Jen for the photos and nice breakfast...

My birthday breakfast! 

9 knots isn't enough for wind winging

I thought I would  try the wind wing in low wind, winter conditions. The wind was blowing around 2-10 knots from the NE.

Max wind 9.7 knots

I did get moving a few times, but most of the movement was a result of my skating on my downhill skis. There really wasn't enough to keep going.

Nice Water Lily Pad flag in the east wind

This was the first time in a few years that I sailed anything from the Lily Pad. I expect to be using the "Launch Pad" much more in the future!

More wind predicted for next week...

First winter winging session

I was looking for a nice day to try out the new Duotone Echo 6m wing I got for Christmas. The wind was forecast for 15-20 knots from the NW. A perfect sunny day to check out the conditions at Sunset Beach in Collingwood.

We parked and my wife had a nice view out to the shoreline park where I would be wing skiing. Indeed the wind was clocking 17 knots on my handheld wind meter. I put on snowboard padded pants and my ski boots and went out to pump up the wing. It was pretty easy to do in the wind shadow of some trees on the beach.

The session was really good and it wasn't hard to get the "hang" of the wing at all. I realized the way to get going is to hold the kite overhead and develop power. Holding the 6m wing out in front of me like a windsurf sail resulted in the tip getting caught on the snow before getting any speed. I quickly adapted my style. Each run was around 150m and I topped out at 26.9 km/h. The route I had was way too short for any sustained runs, but it was easy to avoid the park benches, trees and other obstacles. Winging is way safer than kiting!

Just winging it!

GIF!

 

Here is the 40 second movie in Vimeo.com

GPS trail and 26 km/h speed

NW wind works well at Sunset Beach

Full report from iWindsurf

Geeky smile

View from the car

Even the radio was pointing out that it was windy!

I will be back at Sunset Beach again in the spring!

I didn't need the padded pants, I was very comfortable on my normal downhill skis and boots and never fell. I actually worked up a sweat with my helmet and warm jacket on. My forearms did get quite tired. I'll need to work on strengthening those arms for next time. Or maybe try with a harness once I've had a few more sessions. This will count as session #1 for 2021. 

One big difference winging vs. windsurfing.... I had two nice younger women come up to me and ask me what I was doing - "that looks so cool". I definitely don't get that "cool new sport" attention on the beach as often windsurfing .