February Surf and Ski

Len was excited by the surf forecast and it was supposed to be above zero for a little bit in the afternoon. I was ready to watch or even give it a try. Phillip was in Collingwood with us and decided to give his surfboard and new 4/3 wetsuit from @northline sports a first outing.

We suited up at home and did the 13 minute drive to Sunset Point Beach. Len was there and was convinced we would get going in the little waves. Phillip and I pulled our wetsuits over our heads and Phillip put some Vasoline on his face to protect from the 0c air. I had brought my wing foil gear and the wind looked nice at 15 knots - but it was due west and too offshore for my liking. So I decided to surf as well.

Pre-session selfie

Just the 3 of us out! (View from the North)

View from the west

Best photo of my session

All smiles!

Len styling

Phillip was rocking it!

Phillip in the snow!

I was out for over an hour and stood up on around a dozen waves. Nothing too long and I couldn’t steer around the icebergs. My fin hit a fair number but since they were slushy I only slowed down a little when I  did hit them.

One fun moment was when I lifted a slush pile and put it on the surfboard. Then I lined the board to the beach and sent the slush off to shore. Like those “we can teach a dog to surf” places in Maui, I taught an iceberg to surf!

Getting ready to send an iceberg surfing!

Once I was done I walked out with the GoPro to get some video of the boys in the water. The GoPro Hero8 worked for just a few videos until it said “battery discharged”. A bit disappointing as it still had 63% charge when it warmed back up. But I did manage to record the gale force winds that blinded us for a few minutes as the wind shifted from W to NW. Glad I wasn’t on the foilboard during that!

Happy back in the car after an hour

The boys coming back in

Challenging walk back through the shore ice / slush

Packing up the car - foilboard wasn’t used!

Nice clear view over across Georgian Bay
at the end of our session

Starbucks on the way home

I waited in the car for another 30 minutes while Len and Phillip finished their session. We drove home getting a Starbucks on the way which was entertaining for the drive-through staff.

Later that evening the 3 of us headed out to go skiing at Blue Mountain. Len’s first time on the snowboard in 6 years and Phillips 2nd time back on skis in the last 13 years!

Surf boys

Ski boys