Last race night of the year at TWC

I'm glad I kept my Wednesday night free! It was a gusty north wind at Toronto Windsurfing Club but most of the regulars were rigging up and getting ready to race. Racing goes from May to September so this is the last one - makes sense as the sun sets at 7 and the racing always starts at 6.

I rigged my 9.0 Kona sail but waffled between whether to use the Bic Techno with the foil or my Kona board. In the end I decided on the foil as there were quite a number of foilers getting ready to race. Most were the kids from Kingston - this time with their coach Max joining them on the water foiling too.

I made it to all 3 starts but didn't do the long course on the first race. And I was dead last on the 3rd race. Mostly because I was having fun sailing back and forth and really didn't have much ability to go upwind. Still it was fun as you can see in the photo…

Thanks to Adam Wojtkowiak and TWC for the photo!

But I covered a nice 17 km in the hour and a half. And it was great being in the outer harbour which gives a great view of downtown as the sun sets. I should have worn my sunglasses! I was comfy in my 3/2 wetsuit and the water was surprisingly clean and clear.

The wind was a good 500 m distance offshore!

I did get foiling quite a bit - even if it wasn't part of the racing

TWC did a nice video of the event - with interviews of the youth who I expect to be on the Olympic podium for Canada in the future.

Moving the gear to Collingwood now - excited to explore some launches up there next week.

Gusty windfoil and Q3 totals

As Q3 2021 comes to an end I thought I'd download my data from Garmin and count up my YTD time and distance.

I think I wanted 100 days on the water? My blog says I've got 70 days so far. But I do have over 100 sessions as some days I've winDSsurfed, winDFoiled and winGFoiled. And some days in the winter I winGskied or winGskated.

Excel pivot table of my Garmin session data

Over 80 hours, which doesn't seem that much. But I have done over 1,000 km! The math works averaging 17 km/h when I'm out. Max speed not shown in the chart was 48.5 km/h and that was on ice.

My goal of a 100 km day seems seems unrealistic now as are some of those other goals from January. Max in one day was 86 km. Also I'm not heading out past Dead Island or to the Bustards now with the weather turning colder. And 200 hours total time on the water definitely won't be reached, hope to get to 100 hours. Last year I had 11 days in October and November so I'll try to get to at least 50% of that hours goal.

I did head out this afternoon in the very gusty north wind. It's been blowing NNE for 20 hours and the water level is down 30cm. It is lower than I've seen in years. I headed upwind to C&L's dock amazed at the amount of upwind ground I could make with the foil and my 5.4 in the narrow channel. (I had thought about going out with my wing but with the north wind I think wind foiling was the better call.)

Tacking upwind in the narrow channel

3 long reaches and 2 nice jibes to start… then a lot of tacks

I was happy not to hit any shoals which might be in play now with the much lower water? I then had a lot of wipe-outs going back downwind and was surprised by the size of the swells in such a short wind fetch. The air was 9c and the water still nice and warm at 18c. I was pleased by how warm the 5/4 Xcel wetsuit kept me in the cold after being in a shorty yesterday. Tomorrow is the first official day of fall but it felt like it today.

Last day of summer - in a shorty on a short board

21c air and 19c water meant one more session in my short wetsuit. The wind was SSE and amazingly consistent. I launched the 5.6 Idol sail and Skate 108 shortboard from the point. I worked my way upwind and between tacks and jibes managed to stay dry for an hour and a half.

When I had windsurfed back to the harbour I tried 2 vulcans and started to get tired with a few leg cramps. A few duck jibes and that was the extent of the tricks.

Post session smile!

Fun working my way upwind (south)
and then a great downwinder in the waves west of Bigsby

Seriously consistent wind
Yes, that is my Launch Pad tempest weather station on iWindsurf

iWindsurf sends nice emails about the wind conditions!

Summer like weather

55 km distance and max speed 45.2 km/h

When I was out on the Dokis Island sight line where I proposed to Jen 29 years ago, I tried drawing another heart with the GPS. Still haven’t nailed that but had fun thinking about it.

Can you see the heart (attempt)?

Overall 55 km in 2 hours and 15 minutes. The rain started shortly after I got in - I timed that session perfectly!

I had KD for lunch and did some projects, then headed back for a dinner time wing foil - wiping out on the wet rocks on my way to get changed into my longer wetsuit. 

I was on the 4.2 Slingshot wing with the Stingray 140 and 99cm foil. With the wind now being fully west, launching the wing from the dock was easy. I finally had the harness line set up on that small wing and found the rig fairly easy but not as balanced as I find the 6.0 Duotone Echo.

Wing foiling in the west wind

Another 7 km - no stellar wingfoil jibes though

The wind was still strong as I headed into the harbour for an ice cream at Key Harbour Lodge. But the rain was looming and tomorrow is supposed to be rather cold.

Definitely a Baja Fog kind of night.

Sunday afternoon foil

After a fun wedding weekend (including 2 cold nights) at the Camp at Manitou we got to the Launch Pad around 3pm. I headed out with the Idol 5.6 and the Stingray 140 with the 99cm Slingshot foil.

I got planing several times in the 10-12 knot winds. Just a nice around the island half hour on the water. Wind was SSW and the air 20c. With the water super clear after 2 days of north winds, I was surprised that it was 20c. Could have worn my shorty as I didn’t fall in and came back quite warm.

A quick 6k tour around the islands

One really nice jibe in there…

3:30 till 4 wasn’t the windiest time…

Of course the wind picked up right after I’d returned and got started planting some trees. Oh well, let’s see what the next few days hold.

4th day in a row - 50 km riding waves on the Skate 108

Wow, I’m tired now. 4 out of 4 days on the water. And this was a long session as it is definitely the last warm day I’ll get this season. The sun was out and the SW wind was already 15+ knots. I rigged the 5.6 Idol sail which I haven’t used in 2 months and marvelled again at how light the Skate 108 is.

I got planing right away and after 2 tacks started working my way upwind. The SW wind makes some cross chop on the way upwind, but once I’m up at Wedge island there are waves galore to ride.

I recall that surfers go out for an hour to catch 4 waves. Luckily on a windsurfer the time in between waves is fun too and my comfort on the board improved as the session went on. I was having a great session carving down wave faces and had a few moments where I felt I was being “propelled by the wave”.

I was in my shorty and a bit chilled except when the sun was beaming on the nice black neoprene. The water was 19c. I was falling more than the last 3 days and was not quite on top of my game, but didn’t have any wipeouts. The search for waves kept me heading back upwind after saying “that’s my last wave ride”. I wound up doing 50 km in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

My inbox was full of wind alerts!

Hit my top speed on the 2nd last run downwind

I hit 45 km/h on my downwind flatwater approach to the last jibe around one of the islands. The sun was still out which made seeing shoals easy. I was lucky that the storm cells kept staying just a bit north but eventually we did get some bigger winds after my 2pm charity conference call. I was too tired to go out again so we just secured Phillip’s sailboat after a nice rain front passed through.

Eventually there was no avoiding the storm cells passing through

I’ve packed up two sails, the old Techno and the foil in case there is any wind in southern Ontario in the next 2 weeks. Later in the day my knees were definitely noting that windsurfing is harder on the body than wind foiling.

25 jibes, 11 tacks 2 falls wind foiling

Another big storm was predicted so we headed out early to the Launch Pad. At noon I started on the 5.4 Duke on the Stingray 140 with the 99cm foil.

The wind was SSE so the wind shadow had some gusts inside, but once out in the open there was 15+ knots. It was easy to get going and enough wind to almost run straight downwind in the gusts.

I keep getting better at jibing which is even easier with the smaller non-cambered sail. I nailed a duck jibe on the foil which felt really good. Looking at the GPS map I count around 25 jibes, most with nice round arcs. Most of the tacks were in the channel to the south getting upwind, and after 2 decent falls I got cold and ready to head in.

Some nice upwind / downwind spaghetti 
(wind from the south)

66% of the time up on the foil…

18 km in an hour. By 1 pm I was sensing the impending weather and was also getting tired on my 3rd straight day on the water. I think it might have been my last day in a shorty this year - 20 c water won’t last long. A bit of cleanup of the Mink debris in workshop attic and another nice burger lunch rounded out the day.

Finally getting the Techno out

In the spring I got a Tahe (formerly BIC) Techno 148. It is the exact same board as the yellow Techno 148 I bought 13? years ago as it was the one design board used in the HiHo races. I think bought that board to prepare for the 2009 HiHo race?

The Yellow Techno is a bit soft now but still great for foiling. With the straps inboard it is great for family to windsurf on too. But I have a goal of sailing out to the Bustards - and I think the Tahe Techno will be the right board for that.

After spending 3 hours of Labour Day clearing out a cluster of invasive phragmites plants in a nearby bay I had a quick and ok session with the 6.2 Duke on the Freewave 116, hitting 39.9 km/h.

My GPS trail in the nice west wind.

Then I finally got the footstraps installed on the Techno. I put the port set of straps inboard starboard outboard. The Techno is fast and comfortable. With the wind dropping I didn’t get any long runs but still hit 37.5 km/h! By the end I was pretty sure I want both sets of straps outboard.

   GPS trail on the Techno

Got planing a few times despite the wind dropping.

I caught the last part of the mid day wind…

Might be another day or two of wind to enjoy while the water is still 20c…

Windsurfing till sundown

Here is the photo from the very end of the session! Thanks to Jana for the great long lens image.

Windsurfing into the Sunset!

We arrived at the cottage at 3pm and I was at the Launch Pad at 4pm for the predicted wind. It was just 6-8 knots so instead I went sailing on Phillip’s Invitation sailboat with my sister, niece and grand nephew.

Sailing on the Invitation

Then a bit of foiling with the 6.2 Duke sail and the 99cm foil. I got going 5 times by pumping like crazy but it wasn’t really happening.

Wind foiling on the 6.2 and 99 cm foil

Lots of pumping the sail (and my heart) to get going 5 times!

So off to C&L’s to see some art and take a leap off the new jumping platform! 

Vanessa taking a leap!

While we were all jumping, talking and checking out paintings, the wind started coming up. And up! So back to the Launch Pad.

At 6:30 I got back on the water with the 6.2 on the Skate 108 and started planing and working my way upwind. It turned into a fantastic session, with me staying dry for the longest time, doing nice carving jibes, one downwind 360, two lousy Vulcan attempts, a few 1.5 km long runs and generally feeling great. 

GPS track view from the west

A few longer runs in the middle, and some decent jibes too.

The session ended just before 8pm as the sun was heading below the horizon. My max speed was 47.5 km/h. Distance 33.3 km. Water was super clear and 21c.

Another nice photo of my 33.3 km session from Jana!