Wing tricks!

I was hoping for a bit more SW wind but it never really got above 9 knots. I went out anyway on the 7m Slick wing with the 140 Stingray and 2000cm foil.

After a lot of work I pumped onto a plane once and barely got it going. So instead of getting my heart rate over 150 again, I decided to work on wing handling skills. With the big floaty board and light consistent wind it was easy to control the wing. I practiced throwing my hand way over into the new direction on my tacks. 

Then I started working on wing 360s. That is rotating the wing above my head while slogging across the wind. I’d never really tried on land and hadn’t been successful on water. But after 20 tries I finally had a few in each direction where I didn’t even have the wing touch the water. Front hand throws the wing forward and the back hand is way down the boom and pulls back so the wing rotates. So fun and the 360 attempt spirals are clear on the GPS trail.

Then there was a brief moment where there was enough wind to get going. I pumped onto the foil and even got a foiling jibe. So much more time on the foil than yesterday’s single foil run!

I did time my session from 2-3pm pretty well for the odd gust, 3-4 would have been even better.…

I can’t believe how warm it is on the last day of September. 18c air temperature and I had to jump in the 19c water after my session to cool down, and I was just in a 2mil wetsuit.

Looking forward to the windy day coming on Monday and more later in the week…

30 seconds of foiling…

But at least I was in a shorty wetsuit on the 2nd last day of September! I’d spent the entirely windless day working on a foundation for our new shed. Around 4pm the wind had shifted to WSW and was slowly building.

I went to the Launch Pad and didn’t expect to even go out - but then the wind meter was showing 9 knots… Maybe I should try?

I jumped into my shorty and pumped up the 7m wing. On the Stingray 140 with the 2000cm foil. I did get up on the foil once after a good deal of pumping. I didn’t have the wind or energy to pump up onto the foil again but enjoyed cruising around in the warm air and clear water.

Enjoyed a walk to the point and a post session selfie!

Looks like lots of wind toward the end of next week!

Unexpected afternoon foil

There wasn’t wind predicted but the north wind gave way to an afternoon SW thermal. I got out for a quick 7k / half hour session on the 140l Fanatic Stingray with the 2000cm foil underneath which I’d used for windfoiling yesterday. But today I had the 7m Slick wing.

I found the Stingray easier to pump onto the foil with the 7m wing than the 125l Sky dedicated wingfoil board. Or maybe I’m getting better at wing pumping? The SW was gustier than normal, varying from 6-12 knots. The 140 windfoil board with its greater swing weigh was also easier to switch feet on… and in jibes was just as easy for me to bank into the turn.

The best part of the big board is being pretty confident that I wouldn’t spend much time in the 17c water. I was just wearing a 2mil short sleeve / long leg wetsuit in the 17c air. I did fall in once when I caught my wing tip in the water. But otherwise it was a dry session. Maybe I was extra warm from all the shed building activity in the morning?

My new Launch Pad webcam caught a bit of video of my session.

Jen even got some video of me foiling back to the dock. Thanks!

Not sure the Tempest was recording the wind perfectly this afternoon. There were no 25 or even 20 knot gusts during the half our I was out… I stopped the old wind meter from vibrating on the tower, hope that solved the issue?

A little sceptical about that 25 knot gust reported!

Fixed the kitchen door, had dinner and got down the river before needing to use the newly repaired spotlight on the boat. Back to points south for the next week.

Surprisingly good windfoiling

Another day with a gusty north wind. I almost didn’t go because it was supposed to die by noon and we had a shed to build.

I’m glad I did go. I started out going counterclockwise around the island. Slogging west through the narrow channel worked with the bit of east in the north wind. Out past Germain island I caught a gust and was up on the foil. The 6.2 Duke does pump surprisingly well on the 140l Fanatic Stingray foilboard with the 2000cm foil underneath. 

Once I was out into Whistler Bay the wind was stronger but still inconsistent. 5-14 knots generally. I saw two barges taking sand out for a neighbour’s septic tank. I tacked a lot as I headed up past Cary and Liz’s place including a fair number of duck tacks. My jibing was decent. I fell on a few, and had a few that felt smooth - including a duck jibe.

New telephoto Launch Pad cam!

That last long run going SE was nice…

Clear water!

Overall, 13.4 km in 70 minutes. Water 19c, air 14c, toasty in my 4/3 suit. No sunscreen, no problem!

Fastest wingfoil wipeout!

The NW wind was gusty as always. 5-15 knots. 15c air and 17c water. I was in my 4/3 wetsuit but perfectly warm and comfortable as I slogged downwind and out to the windline.

I managed to get up in a gust and I was off. Mid week in mid September and the only 3 boats I saw out were Chris from the Lodge, a septic construction barge and the MNR.

I got 15 minutes straight riding up on the foil. One nice foiling tack, one racing jibe, many normal jibes and a lot of wipeouts. My 360 attempt was pathetic. On one reach I was trying to set a speed record and overfoiled into a nose plant - stepped off the front of the board which pearled and stopped so completely that my coiled line to the board snapped the little loop of line in the board. I swam after the board quickly and caught it easily.

Heading out to the windline

Felt warmer than the indicated temperature

GPS trail working my way up to the NW

Higher speeds toward the end of the session
Then a big wipeout!

Coming back in

After that it was time to get back to the dock which was also a challenge - upwind in 5 knots had me swimming the last little way in. I was thinking about the videos I’ve seen where people can pump their foil indefinitely without a wing or with a wing and no wind. And then the recent funny video where a guy was calling the hard work of keeping a foil going “trash stomping”.

14.6 km in 80 minutes. Great to be out and wondering how many more sessions this season? 10? 15?

AWSI event in Hood River!

I’m excited to be at the AWSI event in Hood River. I’m representing the Launch Pad Windsurf Academy as a windsurfing school that is seeing a great boost in popularity as wing foiling gets more attention.

I flew to Vancouver and buddy Chuck picked me up and we had a great 6 hour drive down the Pacific coast to Hood River. I don’t think I’ve been here since our RV trip in 2006. A lot has changed, but wow, it feels so much like my memories. The event site is still the event site! But the water has a whole different set of wind sports on the water - wing foiling is definitely all the rage. Just a few kiters and windsurfers, a few of each on foils. But wingfoils were everywhere.

The boys in the gorge!

We visited some of the booths that were setting up for the Wed, Thurs & Friday exposition. Toronto native Matt Aiken who runs the AWSI and North Action sports was there and greeted us along with North Windsurfing representative Derek Rijff. They set me up on a 4.8m wing and a 118 litre foilboard with a 1230 foil - the smallest I’ve ever ridden.

I walked and then swam out past the breakwater and knelt on the foilboard. Up and off I went, keeping the nose of the foil board down and settling into nice flight. I foiled for 6km and got almost all of my jibes. My tacks weren’t on the foil, but were ok. 

What was really strange was to have to think about right of way. Where I normally sail there are no other users on the water that I need to worry about. Here there are kiters, windsurfers and now foilers all of whom move at different rates. And all move up and down wind way more than back when there were only windsurfers. I felt remarkably comfortable out on the water and came in after a half hour to return the gear and since the thermal wind started dropping a bit.

A highlight of the day was seeing brother-in-law (by marriage 2x removed) Jaren from Vancouver along with a bunch of other west coast wind sports fans. After settling into our VRBO, Steve, Chuck and I found a Mexican restaurant where I enjoyed a Baja fog.

Tomorrow I’m off to the Hatchery to demo some Duotone gear. The rest of the report from the Gorge is on my Launch Pad windsurf school blog...

Warm morning wingfoil session

September is a much windier month historically, and it started well today. The forecast showed wind overnight and well through the morning. So I headed to the Launch Pad at 10am to catch a session before our 2pm departure.

It was showing 17-20 knots and I was excited to have just my second shortboard session of the year so far? I took out the beloved Fanatic Skate 108 and my nice 5.6 Idol sail. I was in my 3/2 wetsuit even though the air was 22 and the water was still warm at 20c.

I decided to launch from the dock rather than walking out to the point. As expected I slogged upwind but expected to catch a gust and get out to the windier part of the Bay. I did get one short run but eventually headed back to the dock. 17 knots was good but wasn’t quite enough for windsurfing.

Just a bit shy of shortboard wind…

Still nice and warm @ 20c

Windy all over the bay

Into a windier month than August!

The 5m Duotone Slick was easy to top up to 7psi and the Fanatic Sky 125 was ready from yesterday’s session. I put my helmet on, got going easily and worked my way upwind. I got all the way out to the swells past Wedge Island and had some sweet downwind rides. I tried one jump and landed that. My first attempts at heelside foiling tacks ended in spills as did my foiling 360 attemp. My foiling toeside tacks were much better.

GPS trail of my windsurfing to start… mostly slow/blue
Then the foiling… mostly red/fast

Playing on the wingfoil on the waves past Wedge island
The jibe and wipeout from the video below are at the bottom left

My handheld video from Vimeo!

Eventually I could tell I was getting tired and punch drunk from so many spills. I am off to the Gorge next week so my next sessions in Canada will be at least 10 days from now.

Great day on the Bay

The day started with me trying to achieve my goal of circumnavigating dead island by wingfoil for the first time. It was a goal for 2023 that I’m not sure I’ll accomplish now. It seemed the perfect day with increasing south wind, 21c air and 20c water.

I took the 7m Duotone Slick wing and the Fanatic Sky 125 foilboard. Jonathan, Veronica and Jen came by in the boat and took some photos and video while I was in the harbour… Jonathan almost got the first ever video of me doing a foiling tack - missed it by just a bit though.

Completed my tack in front of the boat!

Foiling toeside upwind… 

Little video of me sailing away from a foiling tack

I had fun heading upwind and making many of my jibes and a few tacks. There was a nice smell from the sun heating up the rocks whenever I was on the north side of an island which was warming up in the sun and SW breeze. 

Pretty steady wind all day…

I was getting closer to the upwind range marker SW of Dokis island and sent Jen a SPOT message. A nice sailboat was cruising on that outer channel, something I don’t see very often. I was making upwind ground but then there was a pretty long period where the wind was just under 10 knots. I couldn’t get going and slogged back and forth. When I finally got back closer to Bigsby there was a bit more wind and I was able to foil all the way back. That was a solid 100 minute / 25km session so I got back to the Launch Pad and took a break for a nice burger lunch. Then time for some waterskiing!

Later Jonathan wanted to learn to windfoil. Full blog post about that on the Launch Pad website.

Jonathan learned to jibe instead

My GPS trail getting the foilboard upwind for Jonathan

Even later in the evening I got over to Rob’s place and we went out for a sail on the Dart. A cool catamaran sailboat that we pretty much have figured out. Don’t turn too sharp on the tacks. Sailed perfectly back to the dock with 4 nice tacks. Then figured out the main halyard. I hope we can get another sail in before it is fall.

Tacking into Rob’s harbour

A great 3 session day on Georgian Bay. I’ll remember this day for a while!