A milestone day for me! Imagine a father and son out on matching branded Duotone wingfoil gear enjoying last bit of wind as the sun was coming out and illuminating their translucent wings. An indelible memory even if there isn’t a photo of it! Here’s the day…
Phillip and I had gone shopping with Jen to get food for the big Friday night dinner that we were cooking.
I went to Ocean Air to rent a 60 cm mast. I also got a 1500 Duotone foil to see how that works. After hitting bottom a few times in the last few days with my 82 cm mast the shorter mast seemed like a good idea.
Then I headed down to Buxton to get some spiced rum for our signature cocktail for dinner: the Dark and Stormy. Driving back past the Canadian hole it was interesting to see that there were 2 kiters and 7 wing foilers. Sadly not a windsurfer to be seen in the moderate winds.
Most of the people at our and the neighbouring houses were coming off the water after their higher wind morning and lunchtime sessions. The guys had been using my Fanatic Stingray 140 with the 99cm Slingshot foil for most of the morning.
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| The morning wind (and my board) being enjoyed by our housemates |
Once all our meal preparations were done, Phillip and I headed out at 2pm.
We had most of had the sound to ourselves. I headed out on the 7m Slick on my 125 sky foil board with the rented 60 cm mast and 1500 cm front foil. Phillip was on the 5m Slick with the bigger 140 L Stingray board and big 99 foil.
We both got going and were having fun watching each other. It was Phillip’s 5th ever time wing foiling and he was doing great. His upwind ability was incredible. There were few times where I couldn’t catch him or match his upwind angle!
As the wind started dropping, we switched boards. Phil was able to get some good runs even on the smaller foil board with the 5m wing. We did a fair bit of foiling within talking distance of each other. Eventually, I was the only one that could get going consistently with the big 7m wing.
I offered to switch with Phillip, but he said he was just going to head back in. Of course once in a while he would catch a gust and start flying on the foil again. Just one more run. And then another.
The wind kept dropping. I was doing tricks even sitting down while foiling like I’d learned on Wednesday at the ABK clinic. Phillip was slogging hack and forth I finally convinced him to take the 7m wing. So he got two last runs to make it a great day for him.
Sadly, there is no photo of this session that it is solidly burned into my mind. Two matching wings heading out into the sound with father and son sailing in unison making for a wonderful afternoon session.
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| My GPS trail - 21km in 2 hours |
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That night it was all rave reviews for our cocktail and nacho delivery to the hot tub, Jen‘s chicken Marbella and my banana boats.
A super fun talent show followed with a dozen or so acts. My favourite was the nice imitation of our learnings from the ABK clinic. Below is the video of the boys making fun of our new method for getting going and turning. Pedal the board with your front foot. Then a fast, circular grinding motion on the wing handles. Lastly point all the way through the jibe in each direction. What a talent show!
A few of the housemates are leaving in the morning. It will be a packing day but hopefully we’ll get out on the water again?
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