Plumbing the depths

It was a busy day at the Launch Pad. I took the plumbers out to start on the lower level bathroom and shortly after the barge arrived with most of our lumber for the lower floor.

Launch Pad Lumber

Plumbing!

I fed everyone burgers and then it was time for me to rig up and head out. The wind initially seemed better than yesterday so I thought let’s try the 5m wing. That was a fail, came back and rigged the 7m Slick which was easy to get going on. 

Another 12km session and came in as the wind was definitely dropping off. I’m getting even better at pumping up on to the foil, which is nice. It was memorable because I did my first foiling tacks on the 2140 foil. It was a nice smooth ride. 

My foil track

Wind definitely dropped during my session

Slow speed for sure - under 10 knots in 8 knots of wind!

The water is so clear I got a little freaked out and stopped to check out a shallow spot on the westerly part of my session. It was OK - 5 feet deep. But I did plumb the depths and wound up scratching the foil a little bit on the shoal very close to the island. I’ll need to mark that soon. Luckily it looks like the water is coming up.

Yup that shoal is in play this year.

Spent some time feeling grateful about all the material that is arriving for our construction. Concrete for the floor should be arriving next.

New dock. Then zen foiling

I finally connected the dock ramp I built last fall to the new dock. Yeah, that took a while. 

The new dock (I built the ramp part)!

Once it was connected I rigged up the 7m slick wind and put the big 2140 Pump foil under the Sky 125.

The wind was a nice steady SW breeze. 10c and 10-12 knots. The sun was starting to break through and I was comfy in my 5/4 suit. I was happy to be wearing my helmet with the repaired strap.

Wow. So easy to get up on that huge foil with the 7m wing. And unlike the last gusty session with the 5m wing I never needed to pump the board to keep going. Upwind was easy. I can hardly wait for the 8 Ventis I have on order for those sub 10 knot days.

12.6 km which is now my longest distance since surgery. And while the big foil felt slow, looking at my top speed of 13.7 knots 25.4 km/h I wasn’t really that slow. I might just be confusing stability with slowness. Looks like I’m able to jibe at speeds down to 8 knots without it stalling which is cool. The big foil jibes better than I expected.

Averaged 11 knots but hit 13.7

It felt very Zen to be up on the foil going so slowly. And even though the wind was falling I was able to get going every time after a my 3 falls while trying to hook into the harness or working on foot switches.

The web cam caught me foiling back to the new dock! The construction should start blocking that view next week?

Video not uploading? Here’s a link….

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FtRqib9ixuxHWTT69

Proud of my new dock!

Nice jibes!

I was out from 4 to 4:50
as the wind dropped from 12 to 10 knots average

Thanks Jen for the photos and help with the dock!

 

The new pump foil is a workout!

I was excited to try out the new Duotone SLS AMP 2140 pump foil. I finally got it to the island and had an afternoon free between construction deliveries.

That new AMP foil is massive!

The wind was a super gusty NE and I was happy to have my big 125l Sky foilboard to stand on between the lulls.

I did manage to get foiling a bunch of times. With gusts over 12 knots it would fly steadily with my 5m Duotone Slick wing. At 8-10 knots I could keep it going by pumping with my legs a bit. Under 8 knots I could stay on the foil by pumping steadily with my legs but my heart rate was getting up over 140.

The width of the foil had me a bit worried about what would happen in a wipeout. And I didn’t have a helmet with me so I was a bit nervous to start. But it was super easy to adapt to the slow speed and stable action of the foil.

I even managed to get a jibe on the new foil

My heart rate was up there for the full 50 minutes

Launched from the construction site

Hard to see the action from the cam…

Walking back

So I’m not sure how much I’m going to use it for wing foiling, but suddenly dock start pump foiling doesn’t seem an impossibility?

Recertification at TWC and selling the Kona

I had to do my windsurf instructor recertification on the May long weekend and a complete blog post about that is on the Launchpad blog.

The course participants and instructors

It was bittersweet to do my last session on my Kona in Toronto outer harbour. I had so many great Wednesday nights windsurf racing, eating burgers and enjoying the camaraderie at TWC. As the Kona was languishing up in Collingwood and I was pleased to find someone (Alexa) who is excited to put it to regular use again. Many thanks to Jennifer for connecting us. She is also the president of TWC and a very enthusiastic supporter of sailing in Toronto. SailGP coming to Toronto in 2027?

Jennifer and Alexa exited to take ownership of my Kona

It was super fun being out on the water doing the drills for the windsurfer instruction course. I was out for almost 2 hours in the gusty northeast wind. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time on the longboard sailing up and downwind, doing 360s and practising my duck tacks. 

Some gear for sale!

It felt colder than 16c during my 2 hours on the water

But with a bunch of other students it was fun and good exercise. I drove back to Collingwood feeling great about my visit to Toronto.

Setting the foundation - wingfoil session

It was a great week at the Launch Pad island helping get the materials all out there for the foundation of a new cottage and Launch Pad wind sports garage.

Gliding in toward the new foundation!

As Bryan and Troy were finishing up the foundation, the gusty north wind of the last few days shifted to a steadier 12-15 knot SSW wind.

I only have limited gear in the old cottage temporary storage room so I had the small 1080 foil under the big 142 L Duotone WS foil board. Not the perfect combo. I struggled to get going with the 5m slick wing. 10c air and falling in the 11c water in my 5/4 suit wasn’t too cold. Booties were nice to have.

So back to the dock and pumped up the 7m wing. That was the ticket! I started working my way upwind and nailed all 20 jibes in 20 minutes up on the foil. Even got one run in through the wind shadow of the island and decided to call it a great first session in Key Harbour since my hernia surgery back in November.

Coming past the construction 

Big board and wing!

Some jibes between the shoals

8 kms and 20 minutes up on the foil!

Nice steady wind!

Thanks Bryan and Troy for the great foundation!

Pretty excited to have doubled my kms from my first two sessions this year. Even more excited about the construction progress on the island!