Trying a tri-sport day

There was suddenly more wind than I expected from the forecast so we headed out to the Launch Pad for the afternoon.

It was blowing around 17 knots so I decided it was time to try out the used 4.2 Slingshot SlingWing V1 I bought for smaller family members. (But I guessed I might use it too...) I inflated it and was happy to see it uses the same pump nozzle as my Duotone Echo wing.

I headed out and was surprised that I got going on my first run. I'll admit that I miss having the "boom" to hold onto. The soft handles are ok, but it felt like I wanted my hands to be right where the handle attaches, not in the middle of the grips. I also don’t have a harness on it yet. It was nice and easy to get the smaller wing tips out of the water when I went too far down with the wing, and it was also easier to flip over.

Pumping back to shore on the small wing for the first time

I had floundered quite a bit and will admit that the 3/2 wetsuit I picked wasn't quite warm enough despite the added hood, booties and gloves. The water was just 9c and the air 9c as well. I was pretty chilled and tired and worried about my left shoulder after just 33 minutes. It will be a ton of fun winging when I can set up a harness for the small wing and get up to ride the swells at Wedge Island. I did warm up a bit pumping back into the wind shadow, and was PUMPED again about how cool that sensation is. Jen got some video of me pumping on the way in! (It was actually my 5th day of winging..)

Decent speed and even a 1 km run on the wing foil

I was thinking that I would change into a warmer suit but then noticed the wind was up to 18 knots. I got inspired by the old Astro Rock up on the rack and took it out with the 4.7. I got going a few times but wow, it really doesn't release and start planing like my Fanatic Skate. So I slogged over the old cribs a few times, not so worried about the old board and skeg. Even though I wasn't planing it was lower stress and I had fewer plunges in the cold water than winging.

Windsurfing doesn‘t have the same upwind/downwind
 compared to wing or wind foiling. With the old board,
I even risked going over the ancient Key Harbour wharf cribs.

Even though I got the windiest part of the day with the windsurfer, it wasn‘t quite enough to get planing. So eventually headed in again and this time took the 4.7 sail on the foil board. This was easily my favourite setup of the tri-sport day. It is so easy to get going vs. the wing on the foil or sail on a board. I was cruising with one hand casually on the boom, heading upwind then floating downwind. I blew most of my jibe attempts and then had one that felt really good. The wind felt like it was getting even stronger even if the wind chart doesn’t agree; and there were some rain cells approaching, so I called it a day after doing 3 wind sports in 2 hours.

Wind had shifted to west and increased
for my wind foiling session

I‘m surprised that wind foil speeds are so similar to
wing foil speeds above

Ahh, sun and west wind

Nice stormy sky after dinner