Got Phillip out windsurfing!

After being in the city, a torrential night of rain, and a bit of frustrating engine repair investigation I got to the Launch Pad and there was more wind than expected.

I took out the 7.0 NP V6 with the old Techno 148 and 48cm fin. I had some good planing runs and Phillip came out on the SeaDoo and I told him to put his harness on and then come out and swap with me. He did and he had a great session heading out to Dokis Island and back a few times.

Phillip enjoying the Techno!

Phillip heading to Dokis Island

My runs before Phillip came to get the board and sail

Max speed 40.3 km/h

Not much success on the Skate 108 as the wind died

I went back and tried the 5.6 and Skate 108 but the wind had shut down. So I went back for the Wing and that didn’t even work with the 99cm foil. So I tried again with the 5.6 on the 99cm foil and finally got some longer runs as the wind built up again.

Not much success with the wing either

And finally success with the 5.6 and 99 cm foil

Just 16 km but still much more than I expected.

Wind chart with a weird 180 degree direction
error on the Tempest
https://tempestwx.com/station/42510/

Coach boat safety course

The next step in getting my windsurf instructor certificate was my Coach Boat Safety test. I headed to Oakville Yacht Squadron for the on water portion.

Nice yacht club with a fleet of RS Quba’s for all the young instructors and an extra RS Feba for the heavy guy (me).

We tacked out onto Lake Ontario in very light winds to do our drills. I was quite impressed with some of the young instructors skill at standing in the sailboats and pumping their sails.

We all had to use little zodiacs with 9.9 HP motors to set marks, do man overboard drills, right a tipped sailboat and tow a sailboat. The water was pretty cold for the dumping drill but it was very pleasant being out on the water for the morning.We all passed!

Comparing Wing foiling to Wind foiling

I headed out after the formal annual meeting for my former work charity. It was blowing SW 9-11 knots so I decided to try the 6m Echo wing on the 140 Stingray with the 99 cm foil. I got going twice but was then slogging.

I realized I’d forgotten my hat and the sun was still overhead at 3:30. So it was the perfect reason to try switching to the sail. I put the 6.5 NP V6 on and it was immediately easier for me to pump the windsurf sail to get going. I thought it might be more efficient than the wing - but no, the wind had just picked up!

I had a lot of good runs and even some decent jibes, but all had a bit of a splashdown. After 45 minutes of that I switched back to the wing which was now working well with more wind too. My tacking with the wing has improved immensely making getting upwind way easier than at the start of the year.

Turns out I like them both, it seemed that the wing went upwind better when on the foil?

GPS trail of my wing and windfoiling session

The wind built during the 3 part session

Ultimately I think my preference will come down to which one I get really good at jibing first!

Interesting to note that yesterday on the PWA a foiler beat all the other boards that were using fins. A first but definitely showing that foiling is the future, whether it is with a wing or a traditional windsurfing sail.

3 Sports - 3 Hours - 42 kms

Yeah, a great weather forecast and I managed to make the most of it. Wind surfing, wind foiling and wing foiling. And luckily I had taken my old Garmin 910 watch out to the Launch Pad and charged it the day before as I’d forgotten my normal Vivoactive watch charging on my nightstand this morning.

I headed out at 11:50 with the Idol 5.6 sail and Freeware 116. I thought about launching from the point but there seemed to be enough SW wind to launch from the dock. The weather was still threatening rain but the radar didn’t show any more storm cells.

Not much upwind ground on the regular windsurfer

.

Indeed I got going several times while very slowly working my way upwind. Only my 5th day this year on a shortboard and I was a bit rusty. Eventually I got a few jibes and even a duck jibe. After an hour and 16 kms and a bit more slogging than I’d expected, I headed back to the point. I left the Freewave in case I’d need it later, and took the 5.6 back to try out the Techno with the 76 cm wing as it felt like the wind was dropping.

Having fun going up and down wind with the wind foil

34.6 km/h max speed on the 76 cm foil

Wow, I hadn’t really used a foil with footstraps for a higher wind day in a long time. I felt surprisingly comfortable in wind that was stronger than I expected. I headed up to the waves at Wedge island and was having a ball! Surfing down waves, even doing a few switchbacks! I started trying foiling jibe 360s without success but didn’t mind how much time I was sp ending in the water. Most of the time I could waterstart the 5.6 with both feet on the board - and only touched the sharp foil once with my foot. I had two stretches where I worked on trying to get a good maximum speed going. After an hour and a bit and 22 km, I headed back for a lunch break.

The weather was clearing and the wind was still from the SW and was predicted to back to NW and then fade. I took out the 6 m Echo wing and the Stingray 140 with the 99 cm foil. It was super comfy compared to finning and windfoiling. I’m getting better at keeping the wing out of the water and am riding with the harness lines most of the time so it is really easy on the arms.

You can see the 90 degree wind shift from SW to NW!

No great speed with the wing but 7 nice long upwind runs

Well it was easy until the wind shifted 90 degrees in 15 minutes. That was as predicted. But what wasn’t predicted was that it would suddenly start gusting to 30 knots! I could barely hold the wing and even the board was having major forces on it heading upwind. But heading downwind was a dream. I could just hold the wing in front of me and cruise straight downwind.

Some big gusts as the wind shifted while I was winging

As I got out of the water I realized that the two machine screws holding the fuselage to the mast were quite loose. The photo is a reminder to myself to retighten everything every few sessions!

Hex key ready to tighten the machine screw!

By the time I got back the wind was back down again, but would build quite ferociously a few more times while making dinner. 

Wing foil around the island

I didn’t quite catch the windy part of the day, but still got a few good wing foil runs in. I’m definitely getting more comfortable on the 140 Stingray board with 99cm slingshot foil and really like the 6.0m Duotone Echo wing. I still haven’t put the footstraps back on it.

Just a GPS trail, no photos today. 6.5 km in just under an hour.

I’m thinking that I need 12 knots to be able to get going. The wind speed chart shows that if there isn’t a 12 knot gust, I can’t get going! And when it drops to 5 knots in the lee of the island, it is basically impossible to go back upwind. I swam the last few metres!

Friday night foiling

After our epic Georgian Bay circumnavigation a day of thunderstorms and rain promised some late afternoon wind and clearing skies. I headed out to the Launch Pad at 4pm and the wind was showing 17 knots.

By the time I’d changed into my wetsuit and pulled out the 5.6 Idol and Techno with the 76 cm foil - the wind had dropped to 14 knots. I headed out and got planing twice before heading in for bigger gear.

Foiling making it onto social media feeds!

I got planing several times and just generally enjoyed being out on the water again. I didn‘t need the 5/3 wetsuit as I didn‘t fall in and the sun was warm. The water is still only 18c though.

Two runs with the 5.6, then a few more with the 6.5

I thought the wind was dropping off completely but it kept up for a while after I packed up.

Looks like good SW flow for the weekend. Hoping to set up the simulator and maybe teach a few lessons on Father‘s Day.

Winging to Wiarton Willie

Over the last 10 days Jen and I have been circumnavigating Georgian Bay. Parry Sound, Sans Souci, Collingwood and Wiarton have been our stops. The weather so far has been calm and made for a few easy 100 km days in the 19 foot Aluminum Stanley.

Today was predicted to have 15 knot north winds gusting to 25. We knew it would be a challenge but headed out of Wiarton Harbour at 10am and headed north. The wind was quite strong and as we poked out past Cape Croker it was clear that our plan to get to Tobermory was not looking good. While we were well prepared with safety gear and our boat was solid, it just wasn't going to be fun heading straight into the wind and slamming into waves for several hours. And despite the nice sun, it was cold!

We turned around and had a very fun time running downwind with the waves. So much easier and we soon found shelter anchored at Griffith Island. We looked at our options and decided to head back to Wiarton. Since that was going to be a broad reach with the gusty north wind behind us, 10 km from the harbour I chose to rig my foil board and wing that I’d brought along for that very purpose.

Jen got some great photos. Since it was my goofy foot side and the swells were uneven, I had a really hard time getting long runs. I did turn a 4 or 5 times and headed back out and tried a few jibes. I was getting pretty tired and only had my 3/2 wetsuit - a mistake given the cold north wind.

Heading down through Colpoy’s Bay

A bit of video of my wing foiling

Arriving at the Wiarton Marina

Our boat path and turn around after getting exposed
at Cape Croker to the due north wind

My foiling path

One nice kilometre long foil with many other attempts. 10km total

Wiarton Willie statue - the Canadian groundhog weather prognosticator 

PS, the next two days had much easier winds and we made it 210 km from Wiarton to Killarney and then 90 km from Killarney to the Launch Pad in two more incredible days of boating.

Cool fog - no planing

I didn't really expect to get planing in the 8-9 knot winds - especially since I've already packed up the 99 cm foil for a trip south on the Georgian Bay coast.

So I headed out into the fog with the 7.0 on the 76 cm foil under the Techno 148. It was a pleasant slog in the fog for 20 minutes and 1.9 kms - I tried to get going twice to no avail.

A while later I went out again for 25 minutes and 2.5 kms. 

My buddy Rob posted live on Facebook - here is a shot of the fog...

The coast guard boat came by later to say hi which was very cool. 

Jen and I are off to Parry Sound tomorrow - assuming the fog lifts!