Those waves were big!

So I headed out to Sunset Point Beach on a moderate looking NNW wind forecast. I even took a surfboard in case there wasn’t any real wind for foiling.

When I got there one windfoiler (nice guy named Peter) was out and he was on a 5.3 nicely powered. The other winger out (Greg?) was looking good out on a 5ish wing too.

Pre session selfie!

Decent wind and waves

The rig ready to go..

Is Len one of those surfers?

Greg? shredding it up!

A view of the ski hill!

There were around a dozen surfers out too - so the waves were definitely happening. I was a bit worried about my back which has been hurting for the past few days. But I was committed, having put my wetsuit on back at home since the air was around 3c with a little frosting of snow on the ski hills.

I rigged up the 5m Duotone Slick wing and the 125l Fanatic Sky board with 2000cm foil. I managed to fit my helmet over my 6/5/4 wetsuit by taking out 2/3 of the interior foam padding.

The walk out to the deeper water was ok but it took me quite a while to get my board leash connected in the waves. I’m glad I didn’t get completely washed by a wave and then I was in the deeper water taxiing out. A fisherman on shore had been shouting a bit - but I didn’t think I was that close to shore?

I got going on the foil and headed upwind. Greg? had come in while I was heading out but I now saw one other foiler out there. I was reasonably steady on the board as I started navigating my way through some big rollers.

GPS foil track

A bunch of runs followed by a lot of falls

Wow those waves were big. It wasn’t just a matter of trying to tap the crest of the wave with the bottom of the board as I went over the top, I had to be actively trying to nosedive the board on the back of the wave to avoid overfoiling on the way down. 

My first jibe was a success. Yeah! It wasn’t as windy as the last time I’d been out in big waves here so I didn’t necessarily accelerate when jibing. But riding toeside was a bit challenge vs. doing it on flat water. I made most of my outside toeside jibes, but then fell once riding back in through the waves toeside.  

My forearms were really sore after just a few minutes. Fortunately my back was ok! I got 6 out of 12 jibes. 0 out of 1 tack attempts. Most of the dozen or so times when I fell in, I got going on my first attempt. So that was progress vs. my first 3? times here. After one particularly fast fall riding a wave the wing went one way downwind as the board came to a complete stop and I was drawn in two directions. I figured that was my signal to call it a good proof of winter concept session.

I foiled back in where the surfers were - carefully avoiding them and getting a thumbs up for that effort. Nephew Len was walking his surfboard out after his surf session. He came over and helped me carry out my gear through the shorebreak, but not before a wave tumbled my foil through my wing. A first for me in 3 years. I’ll get that repaired quickly and hope to get another session or two before year end!

Post session view

Post session selfie!

A little oops - canopy torn in the surf

Wind report at the end of the session

3c when I got back home

Last windsurf of the year?

The long awaited Thursday Nov 2nd SW blow started the evening before and was going to be best around 1pm. We headed out to the Launch Pad only to find that a pipe in the ceiling had frozen and ruptured in the sub zero cold at the end of October. I was grateful I’d thought to turn the pump switch off just in case a pipe did freeze - water running for 3 days straight would have been a real mess!

With the wind being over 20 knots, I figured it was time to windsurf “on the fin” again. I jumped off the dock onto my Skate 108 with the 5.2 Idol sail. A bit of a slog out, then very slowly made my way upwind. It took almost and hour to get up to the waves at Wedge Island, but it was worth it and they were fun. I did my first jump in a long time - so easy when the wave lines up perfectly for you!

Ready! GoPro selfie...

Stormy!

The sail locker!

Departure conditions - 23knots SW and 6c

GoPro while sailing - those are the harness lines under
my wetsuit clad arm

Only GoPro shot of the board...

Having fun!

Great swells out by Wedge Island

A few videos:

Selfie video out in the swells

Coming into the harbour! Thanks Jen for the video!

This thermometer says 8c

Tempest says 6.7c

Water temperature at the dock

I did a few jibes that were ok. Then one attempt at a Vulcan and one downwind 360 - both of which were fails. I actually spent quite a bit of time in the water but it didn’t feel as cold as the 7c reading got. Maybe since the Georgian Bay Buoy is still reading 10c it was a bit warmer out into the bay? The 5/4 wetsuit with my hood, 3mil gloves and 2 mil booties are a pretty good combination. 28 km in 80 minutes.

My GPS trail - had a hard time getting upwind at first

Typical speeds and then some higher ones going back downwind

After my session I really missed having plumbing working for a hot shower. Oh well, a bit of tidying up and then back to work on the new shed in the Harbour which is taking forever to complete. 

Postscript, I wound up being sick the next two days which were both very windy. Frustrated to have missed those and the gear and windsurf shed are all packed up now. I have my wingfoiling gear and a wave board with a 5.4 in Collingwood. Let's see if there is a late November session in my future?

Most of the sails rolled up now in the old windsurf shed

A week later - a winter wonderland