57th Birthday Wing Skiing

The weather was predicted to be windy and just above 0° C for my 57th birthday.

I headed out to the Launch Pad in my ski boots and rigged up the 4.2 Slingshot wing on the ice. I had a few good runs but without a harness my arms got tired after 4 km. And the wind dropped a bit.

Rigging up out in the bay

Some nice spots with clear ice!

Buoy fast in the ice!

North wind shifts the ice away from shore

I turned the heat on in the old camp and set up a remote camera on the old TV antenna. I’ll be able to monitor the conditions visually as well as through the weather station. 

By that time the wind was building again and I pumped up the 6.0 Echo Wing. 

Jen snapped a few photos as I started on what turned out to be almost 16 km in under an hour. I had fun going over islands and shoals that I can’t cross in the summer. I had one near wipeout doing an involuntary jump on the north edge of wedge island heading up onto the tip of the rock.

Good going with the 6.0 and with the harness on the boom

Left over smashed ice from the fall

Winter at the launch pad

Winds increased nicely(and clocked) all day

Birthday snack on the island

Fun trails

Welcome back to the cottage

Our foxy sentry on the luge hill

Birthday steak dinner

Birthday cake and wearing my favourite windsurfing jacket

I felt much more confident wing skiing than last year. My first times winging in 2021 had me dragging the wing tip often on the snow and then falling onto the wing. This first long episode of 2022 was super easy and I now have a good sense of the wing and harness. All my jibes save for one had me keeping my speed all the way through. (The next day my calves were super sore!) Really looking forward to trying winging on skates but will be a while till there is enough flat ice for that.