#15 Cold and Windy in France: Why am I the only one out?

Well the mistral has been blowing for a few days now. The wind was supposed to be down to 20 knots. With sunny skies, the predicted 7c air temperature didn't even scare me off.

I arrived at Le Jai, and there was not a soul there. I rigged up the 5.4, held it up in the wind, and then quickly took it apart and rigged the 4.7. The wind was now 20 gusting to 25.

Wind report during my session, 29 gusting to 38 knots!

Getting out through the weeds in the onshore winds was tough. (There was even a tractor down the beach piling the black stringy stuff into a dump truck.).

The water was a chilly 10c, but the air was up to 8c for a combined 18c, which has generally been my lower combined temperature limit.

There were also fishing nets strung out perpendicular to shore, so on my first few runs, I had to chop hop over them.

Once upwind I could do longer runs, but I did want to keep an eye on the car. In October, there was a rash of break ins and car thefts at this beach.

Cold, seaweed, fishing nets, break-ins, on a normal work day. Maybe that's why I was the only one out?

My fingers and feet got cold, but just slightly numbing, not the pins and needles cold I remember. My 5/4 wetsuit didn't even get soaked inside up top; just from my waist down.

Pretty smooth GPS gybe tracks. 40km/h top speed!

The wind had picked up to 29 knots average with gusts to 38. I was in survival sailing mode and didn't really try any tricks, just a few jumps. No video of this session, just a GPS track. A fair number of nice smooth gybes at each end. I hit 40 km/h at one point.

30 minutes later I was pretty tired and had to quit and go pick up kids from school. But it was still a worthwhile session. How long is a typical fall/winter windsurfing session?

Next time I'll be wearing gloves and a neoprene toque but I'm not planning on putting the gear away quite yet...

Here's a shot of the statue near Le Jai France.

Definitely a windsurfing place! 

#14 Fun Burger! Best Session In A While

Monday Nov 22.  The kids have been dropped off at school, I got a few emails done at home, and my lovely wife has been dropped off at French lessons. Nice wind predicted and I can see a few out sailing on the live Carro webcam.  45 minutes later I'm rigging a 5.4 on the beach and head out.

Completely in control for the first time in a long time, I'm jumping, gybing, heli tacking and just plain enjoying myself. Water at 15c, air at 12c, so I didn't even mind falling in on Vulcan attempts 79-81. My only worry was that it was slightly offshore, so I stayed upwind of all the other sailors in case of a breakdown.


Carro, France Windsurfing on a Nice Day from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Check out the video. I like the GoPro boom cam mount. The waves look big as I head out, but were really only a metre or so. The jumps are the best I've captured on video, but only 1/4 of the best I've done. Judging by the distance I go through the air, I'm guessing I go 2m high by 5m long?

The photo is of a burger joint in town - I haven't seen it open, but then it is late November.

Fun Burger in Carro, France

More Windsurfing Humiliation in France - On the Rocks

Another huge forecast for wind. In fact too good. The place closest to home was supposed to have strong Mistral (north) wind, and it did. Check out the chart on the right!  Le Jai wound up with 44 knots with gusts up to 52 (that is up to 96 km/h!). So I didn't head to that beach, but drove in the other direction to where the winds were predicted to be more reasonable.

I arrived at La Coudouliere six Fours and saw around 25 sailors on the water, nicely powered up. They were all on 4.5-5.0 sized sails. I asked two locals what they recommended, and they said wear booties, and I'm glad I did!. For sail sizes one suggested rigging my 4.7, the other my 5.4. Since I was so worried about being over powered (and because I have a floaty board and the 4.7 was still wet from Sunday's session and the boom and extensions were set for it), I rigged the smaller sail and headed out just as the wind dropped off. From the small beach under the cliff, we had to head out and upwind to avoid the rocky breakwater for the marina. I floated out, floundered, started being pushed downwind to the rocks, and then returned to shore. I rested up, walked up the beach 20m, and started again.

This time, I almost got going, then got hit by a wave and fell. And then waterstarted and fell again, and again. As I floundered more and more, and the breaking waves started jacking up higher and higher, it was clear that I was heading to the rocks protecting the marina. The waves spewed me up onto the breakwall, but somehow I managed to grab my gear and walk up without killing myself and just putting a tiny tear in my sail. Whew. Check out the video. (Is the addition of music and credits done in Windows Movie Maker worth the loss of video quality required to convert from the .264 encoded GoPro videos of my other posts?)


Washed up on the rocks, Windsurfing in Six Fours, France from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

I walked past the RVs and boats back to the parking lot, where most of the sailors had also returned due to the weakened wind. I got undressed while the 5 remaining little French and Itilian sailors bobbed around with their 5.0s, and then caught nice waves on their runs back in. I wonder what my day would have been like if I'd rigged the 5.4, headed out 10 minutes earlier and had made my way upwind out of the breakers before the lulls came?

Six Fours on the Mediterranean - You can see the breakwater I washed up on. Nice waves though! 

I didn't actually feel too grouchy about another humbling session. I've learned to maybe go a bit overpowered when there is upwind ground to be made at a new spot. And winding up on the rocks might not kill you, and is not a good enough excuse to sit on the beach. And there were guys who drove from Italy for this day and were skunked as much as I was, just without an adventure on the rocks like I had. I will count this as session #13 though. I''m thinking there will be a few more windsurf-able days before the end of Nov?

Gotta Keep Smiling!

#12 How to Get out through Shorebreak

Well I'm learning. And mainly learning that after 30 years of sailing, there is still lots to learn. Like getting out through the waves. Man does it feel good when you succeed!

Enjoying a good session at Carro!

Wind Data From Carro, Nov 14, 2010

After the trashing I took before Halloween (see last blog entry and video), my calendar and the wind didn't align for another two weeks. That put me at 34 days without an actual feet in the straps sailing session. So I was overdue and scored a great session.

Warm 19c, SW wind at 30knots (see chart). 15c water. I was still overpowered on my 4.7. Thankfully there is a great surf shop on the beach at Carro, and I managed to rent a smaller 85l RRD wave board, which helped me cope. I had actually been there 4 days earlier on Wednesday morning during a strong NW wind, but that day I was the only one on the beach and decided not to venture out alone into unknown wind and wave conditions.  This now being a Sunday, there were over 80 sailors, which is not bad for mid November!


How to get out through shorebreak on a windsurfer from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Here is some video of the session from my GoPro helmet cam. I love how quiet it gets when I'm on the wave and heading downwind (if you watch all the way to 3:15!).

A bit of humble pie - Halloween nightmare windsuffering in Carro

I'm back in France and the wind reports looked solid. 18 degree warm wind from the south. So I headed back to the legendary windsurfing spot Carro where I had fun last time. There were around 100 sailors out. Most of the sails on the beach were 4.0, my smallest is 4.7, and my 108l board looked huge next to the 80l wave boards that everyone else had. It also started raining, adding to the windspeed, 30 knots gusting to 35.

I rigged up and could barely walk down to the beach. I was able to get out to waist deep water. Several failed beachstarts got me out into the shorebreak, where I got washed several times. A few more waterstart attempts, and I was out into the breaking waves, where I got pulled over the handlebars each time. Started swimming after my gear, and felt the current ripping me straight down wind at an alarming rate. I dragged myself and the gear back to shore and did a walk of shame back to the car. Got out of my wetsuit in the sideways rain, and could barely get the board back on top of the car due to the wind.

There were only 40 sailors out at this point, and my wife and I watched them in comfort from the front seats of the car. Still more to learn about this sport - like make sure you have the right gear. Maybe I'll rent from the local shop next time it is really windy. Does this count as a day of sailing?

Carro Windsurfing Nightmare from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Canada for a week - Georgian Bay Windsurfing Memories

Well I'm back in Canada for a week of work functions and also to close up the cottage on Georgian Bay.

Funny that just after I get back here, there is a new post on the Original Windsurfer Blog. The post was about how Ted Schweitzer visited Toronto and then drove up the same highways I just drove, to deliver a windsurfer to his dad Hoyle who has a cottage on Georgian Bay.(Yes that Hoyle Schweitzer AKA the man who brought windsurfing to the masses).

I learned how to windsurf on Georgian Bay on an original teak boomed windsurfer around 1981. Here is 8mm family film footage of those early days, just after I got my own YPSI Wayler from JD at Windsurfing Toronto on Yonge Street.

1985 Vintage 8mm Windsurfing Footage from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Oh, this weekend there was almost enough wind to sail, but not enough time after shutting down the plumbing for the winter.  Back to Provence on Wednesday.

#10 First time sailing at famous Carro beach

OK, for my 10th session, I finally got up the nerve to sail at Carro beach.  The windsurfing guide book from Stoked Publications suggests that Carro is one of the top spots in France. So I was a bit intimidated, but with my wife and family there with me, I got up the nerve.

Well, actually the kids just stayed in the car. But my lovely wife watched from shore and took these pictures.

The bottom is rocky, so I wore booties for the first time this year. I only cut one guy off on a wave (merde, pardonez moi) and despite the crowds, I look forward to getting back to this spot again soon.

Jumping!

Navigating the crowds - 100 sailors - a few waves

Got my own wave!

Cdn Guy is Stoked!

Only 2 vulcan attempts, but number 76 slid for a mile (well maybe 2 metres). I need to get my hands to the other side. Shove its started having a bit of backwind. More to do there too. My jump looks better than I remember it, I'm looking forward to getting a really good one.

Here is a map of the areas I've been profiling in this blog.

Map of windsurfing locations I've tried so far near Aix-en-Provence

Did you know tomorrow shortly after 10am will have a cool date?  10:10:10 on 10/10/10.  Cheers, Carl