Windsurfing and windfoiling

I got out to the bay after a quick morning trip to Sudbury. It was warm and quite windy so I quickly got the Fanatic Skate 108 and Idol 4.8 to the point.

I got planing on my second run and a dozen after that. It felt great to be windsurfing on small gear again. No tricks but just fun going back and forth with more speed than my foiling sessions.

I suspected that the wind would drop and after a few non planing runs I went in to change to the Techno and 76cm foil I set up for Phillip yesterday. 

I quickly got the hang of that foil setup which I haven’t really used in a while (a year?). I am much better at jibing it now, even doing a few duck jibes.

The upwind and downwind ability on the foil makes exploring a lot of fun.

South wind, so it was fun foiling downwind (north)

See the difference in the red back and forth windsurf tracks va the slower spaghetti of the foil tracks.

A bit faster on the windsurfer, but more time on the windfoil

June 30 wind details

Late in the evening fellow blogger and ABK friend Peter was posting about jibes. This was my reply “ My wing foiling has helped my wind foiling. Wing foiling jibes are easier because you don’t even switch your feet until you are in you new direction. So today even on my old BIC techno today my jibes have gotten a lot better by making much smaller steps or even none  until I’m on the new tack. So I’m getting better at actually carving the jibe instead of doing a float wobble when going downwind. Duck jibes also help reduce the amount the mast foot moves the board around.”

Fun day with Phillip

My son Phillip has had a few windfoiling sessions now. He had some time on the foil in Hatteras in the spring and this was his first session of the summer.

I was on my 6.0 Echo wing and the Fanatic Stingray 140. He was on the old Techno 148 with the Slingshot 76 foil.

We had a great time in the surprisingly good 15 knot winds. It is great to have someone out there with me and with the foil it can be quiet enough that we chat while sailing together. So cool.

Phillip heading out

Son and father windfoiling and wingfoiling

Phillip up on the foil - thanks Rosie for the photos

Another father son photo
(Most of the turbines were actually working)

Getting my foiling jibes better by actually carving the foil

All smiles after a great session

My GPS trail with a lot of nice foiling jibes
12.5 km in 45 minutes

Consistent speeds on the 99cm foil

Technically I guess I could put this on my www.launchpadwindsurfacademy.ca/blog. I was complimenting Phillip on his skill foiling for a half hour without even getting his hair wet. Then he said “I had a great teacher”. I think the only big tip I gave home was to bend his knees when about to overfoil? I do look forward to when he starts trying to jibe!

Demo session and tubing before the lesson

My students had arrived to a windy afternoon and were excited to get out and see the Launch Pad. It was so windy we skipped the lessons and instead I went out for a demo session! We had a nice walking tour of the island and then took the kids tubing before dinner...

Thanks Marc for the nice photo from the top of the Launch Pad

The wind had been increasing - so no beginner lessons

Instead I went out on the windfoil and did some demos at the point

It was definitely a good start to a 48 hour watersports extravaganza.

The kids faces say it all! Gonna be a fun time.

The next two days it was windy again. So we did some time on the simulator, water-skied and I got Alex out for a very successful first windsurf. I cover those days on my school blog:

www.launchpadwindsurfacademy.ca/post/alex-gets-going

Gear unboxing video…

It was a pretty fun day to get a bit of wind and up on the foil 3x on my way to the point of the Launch Pad.

I put a post about the unboxing video I shot that day on the new Launch Pad Windsurf Academy blog and new Facebook page. Check that out and let me know what you think - I've got some work to get that social media for the Launch Pad working...

First student of 2022 and some sessions for me

I had fun teaching Katie's boyfriend Richard to windsurf as my first student of the year. I have posted about that day here on my new Launch Pad Windsurf Academy blog and ask you to check out that windsurf school blog and website and let me know what you think! Thanks! 

On days where I teach and windsurf myself, that new website is where future blog posts will show up. Days where it is just me out on the water or other family adventures, I'll keep posting here at www.windsurfing-en-provence.blogspot.ca. Cheers!

My new windsurfing school blog!

Back on the Bay!

My first day of windsurfing Georgian Bay this year was stellar. On Monday Windy had emailed me saying a big day was coming on Wednesday. And Windy was right.

I landed at the Launch Pad with a boat full of gear and quickly took the Skate 108 out to the point. It felt like the 4.8 would be the right sail and it was!

Jen managed to snap a photo of me waving!

The west wind at the point

I windsurfed for 90 minutes and had a blast. It was relatively easy to get upwind. I played in the waves by Wedge Island and had fun jibing around several shoals. The water is a bit lower than last year, but I was still able to plane almost all the way through the wind shadow behind the island back to the dock.

Video of me speeding back to the dock

A solid west wind
A few wave rides in the swells upwind

Fun playing between the shoals - polarized glasses help

46.5 km/h top speed - 35 km total distance

The water was a very surprising 20c. The air was colder at 14c but I was super comfortable in my 3/2 Flashbomb wetsuit. I didn’t even fall in for the first 39 minutes.

We had a nice walk out to the point for a beer.

Smiling…

Next time I need set the webcam to record a Timelapse while I’m out. A later shot shows how nice the weather was. Hard to believe there was ice there 7 weeks ago.

Beautiful today!

Just 7 weeks ago the ice went out

Gonna listen again when
Windy predicts a BIG day!

It was a great start to what I hope will be a nice season up here - despite some pluming and other projects that are taking too long!