New wing skiing speed record! 49.8 km/h

It wasn’t supposed to be as windy as yesterday, but it was a bit colder so I thought the firm crusty snow might make wing skiing faster. As I headed out to the Launch Pad I met a nice couple (Roman and ??) cross country skiing back to the highway who might be interested in windsurfing at the Launch Pad in the future.

I pumped up the 6.0 Echo just as Cary dropped by. He held the wing as I got my skis on and then I was off. I set up the APProSail app which has a top speed display. 

I was zipping back and forth making slow upwind ground. I got south enough past Scott and OJ’s to find a spot where there once was a day navigation beacon - something I’d never noticed while windsurfing. 

I went out in front of the Launch Pad and started the time lapse on my webcam.

Setting up the webcam selfie!

I found a nice time lapse with a few of my runs on the webcam.

Most of my session the watch said 46 km/h and then I realized it wasn’t recording my track. That was for the first 52 minutes so I figure I did around 13 km. I reset it for the last 5 km and tried a few broad reaches. I got a 49.8 km/h top speed on the 3rd try. I’m guessing I could even go faster with waxed skis in the future!

49.8 km/h top speed!

Got the last 5 km of my session on the GPS

I put the heat on so we could go out to the Launch Pad and watch the sunset later. 

At sunset we first went to some of the glare ice so I could try out my new blades. They worked really well and will be nice for wing skating sometime if we get good expanses of glare ice. We bumped into Cary and Liz and had fun checking the ice depth - 24 inches!

Looking forward to trying these skates with the wing sometime

That may be a wrap on winter winging at the Launch Pad. I never did get the septic working again so it is closing time for this winter. We’ve packed some gear for a planned Hatteras trip…

Foxy curious as I load windsurfing / foil boards!

Longest wing skiing session 25 km in 1.5 hours!

Looking at last year’s wing skiing sessions I didn’t have any sessions over an hour. Today I was out for 1.5 hours and did 25 km. My top speed was 35 km/h - quite a bit slower than my 48.3 km/h record from last year. But today I was just on the 4.2 m wing as the wind was pretty strong - throwing streams of snow across the snow/ice surface.

I headed out from the Launch Pad, and easily made ground upwind. The few icy spots were very cool - with nice cracks in the dark ice.

I went over to Cary’s place and did a few laps in front of their diving platform.

Here is the nice video that Cary shot and edited. Thanks so much Cary!

I had one fun wipeout going up over an island and getting stuck in a deep snow drift. I also went up on land past a few other neighbours but no one was home.

Max speed 19 knots / 35 km/h

I definitely need the harness. I wonder if the 4.2 Slingshot wing would have been even more stable and faster if I had pumped up the outside edges and spine which can be topped up separate from the main leading edge. Or maybe the Duotone Echo is just a faster design (and is a 6.0).

25 knot winds on average with gusts to 35!

I managed to find myself going back and forth once on the time lapse I set up on the webcam…

Hoping for one more winter session this year - would be nice to try out wing skating again. Let’s see what happens…

One more wing ski attempt in the Harbour

A NE wind feels so strong in the harbour. Even the wind turbine blades were bending. Since I had the wing still pumped up and the skis were at the top of the hill, I decided to try again.

10 minutes later I was done. I did get going a few times. Especially on the ice I was able to slide and pick up a bit of speed. But as soon as I hit snowy patches I slowed down again.

Jen got a quick video.

My little runs out to the beaver pond
Faster on the ice there!

The wind was steady out in Bay…

Next time I’ll make sure to wing out at the Launch Pad. 

That was the end of a very busy family day weekend. The plumbing froze up just as we were leaving so let’s hope it thaws out before our next visit?

Definitely better out in the Bay - sauna skating

It was a strong 50 - 70 km/h south wind on Georgian Bay so I thought it might be safer to try wing skiing in the Harbour. Oh well, it was too sheltered there. Barely did a few km in 20 minutes but worked up a sweat trying to get going. Or maybe I just caught the least windy part of the day?

The wind tapered off during my short session
(speed shown in knots - out in the bay)

Later in the day we all headed out Rob’s island for some Sauna. Nice to get these fun photos with the Launch Pad in the background!

Refreshing!

That’s the launch pad in the background

Skating south of the Launch Pad

A view from the north…

That sauna day was definitely a highlight of our 12 person family day weekend.

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.