First Windsurfing session in how many months?

It was a pretty intense southwest wind blowing across Ontario. Plumbing and drywall were being worked on at the Launch Pad and everyone was commenting about how windy it was.

Right after lunch, I rigged up the Skate 108 and Idol 5.6. I walked up to the cairn on the island and launched from there. 

It was a solid hour; 21.5 km! 40 km/h top speed. 

I was very pleased with how quickly I re-adapted to being on the fin. It looks like it has been over a year since my last shortboard session. (With all the construction last year, setting up a wingfoil was just easier than rigging windsurf gear for shortboarding. I did have some lightwind days windsurfing with students.)

Didn’t fall in for 53 minutes! Water 14°C. No bootees just my 5/4 wetsuit. 

Got some of the better short board planing jibes than I’ve had in a while. I stopped twice to adjust the downhaul - too much and the front arm does all the work, too little and the back hand is heavy. Rig it right and it feels sweet.

Around half way through I got a bit worried about my left ribs which was the first time I've felt them in a week or two. All good since that little bruise in Hatteras but I will take a seat harness for my very next windsurf session.

Nice to see my favourite windsurf board and sail out with the lovely windswept trees of Georgian Bay in behind. 

Seemed like around 18 knots out there

View from the deck

Stormy Bay

Sweet sunset 

ESE gusty foiling

I went out on my new Duotone Sky Free 115 with the 1080 foil. 5m Duotone unit. 

Had to paddle upwind to get up the channel. Strangely gusty SE wind.

Got 3 tacks and feeling ready for longer sessions in the future. Water was only 13C.

Quick foil after hauling drywall

Spent the morning in the afternoon carrying 40 sheets of drywall up to the new launch building. Luckily, I had good help from Hayden and Leland. And Jen made a nice lunch for us.

The north wind switched to a lovely southwest thermal around 2 PM. WRF was the wind prediction that predicted the thermal. 

I got out for the last of it just before six.

The 6m unit and 138 Seek prime with the 2100 underneath was just the ticket to stay on foil most of the session.

Had fun with the first students of 2026

I had my first students of the year. It was cold. They were great.

Lucky to be able to get a nice little foil demo session in while teaching.

Full blog post here:

https://www.launchpadwindsurfacademy.ca/post/where-there-s-a-will-there-is-a-way 

First ever post session bath - First session of 2026

The view from the tub!

It was quite exciting to have gotten the plumbing going last November. Even though where there were a few good windy days, we were so busy it wasn’t possible to get out for a session after the plumbing was functional at the new Launch Pad building.

I did some winter winging in February and enjoyed my first ever winter bath!

Today however, was my first day of the 2026 water season at the Launch Pad. A solid south east 20 knot wind had brought some showers. I spent the morning working on new buoys to help with navigating the river. 

I pumped up 6m and 5m Duotone Unit wings. The 138 North Prime WeCANfoil board with the 2100 foil beneath seemed to be the right call to help me keep from falling into the 10c water.

It was 8c so I was glad to have found my 5/4 wetsuit in the old cottage and some good booties.

I was feeling a little bit nervous after my minor rib bruise in Hatteras but was pretty comfortable after one little wobble while working my way upwind. After that it was 39 foiling jibes in 40 minutes.

And then a nice warm bath admiring the windswept trees. Already excited for getting more projects completed and more time on the water.

View of the island and wind from the front deck