Windsurf class is in session

I had a request for a late afternoon windsurf lesson. I put the flags up and Nadia and Rob brought over Kianna and Sarah who were keen to try windsurfing for the first time. While I started lessons on the simulator, Rob went out on the 6.2 and the old LeBoard. He was a superstar again, with his muscle memory from 25 years ago letting him sail out and back easily.

Rob’s got the hang of it again!

Kianna did well with the 4.2 on the simulator, listening to all the steps (uphaul, neutral, hand on mast, straighten front arm and pull with two fingers.) She had great form with a combination of snowboarding skill and comments like “it looks like archery”.

Perfect control on the simulator 

Sarah was on the 3.5 and I had an interesting teaching moment. We started off on the “goofy” side of the board, and she just couldn’t get the hang of sheeting in without turning upwind. Somehow leaning forward  on her right leg didn’t work. It hadn’t occurred to me that there would be a “better” direction to start a beginner. I had her try a tack on the simulator and then start in “regular” stance direction. She extended her front arm, sheeted in with the 2 back fingers and... perfect. After a simulator tack she was then able to get going in the other direction - which had been impossible 5 minutes prior. A big learning moment for me.

Much easier in regular stance!

I put Kianna on the Viper 80 and towed her upwind. She uphauled, went to neutral, grabbed the mast and sheeted in. So fun to see the smile when someone gets going for the first time. I headed back to get Sarah going.

Moving along nicely

I took a risk and put Sarah on the small BIC Veloce 328 and it was perfect for her with the 3.5. She got going without falling, and sailed until she was close to shore and I talked her through her first tack from a distance and she made it. Even the neighbours were cheering her on. She did great going back and forth. I think she may have fallen in once?

Getting started

Great smile

Perfect form!

Heading back to the cheering crowd at the point

Kianna started getting tired and I towed her back near the point and she sailed back to shore. So nice to see her tired happy face when I got closer to shore with Sarah and she sailed in as well. I got lots of photos on this nice warm sunny day. And I’ll count it as session 43, as I did get out on the water myself, even if it was just a few minutes.

Sailing back into shore

Thumbs up from the instructor on the SeaDoo

My track before the students arrived

Charlie didn't surf

I didn't really ever surf. Even my first trips to Solosports in Baja had me windsurfing over the waves rather than using the waves to propel me. And I've never been a great surfer. But over time I've gotten better at finding waves when travelling to wave windsurfing destinations.

Maybe my initial lack of focus on waves is that here on northeast Georgian Bay there are only wind swells, no breaking waves. It is rare to ride wind swell waves here on a shortboard. So two weeks ago it was pretty cool finding that I'm finally using the foil to surf down the wind swells. That session was with the 7.0, so today totally SURFING with the 5.6, completely comfortable on the foil was incredible.

Post foil surfing session smile

I headed upwind on the 140 Stingray foil with the 5.6 Idol in 12-16 knot winds. It was generally pump to get on the foil each run, but the upwind angle I can get is pretty cool. I went past Bigsby Island and even explored the little bay where I have great memories of launching on nice bay days for many years. I then worked my way almost all the way to where the Dokis and Keefer island ranges meet at buoy DK4.

On my way back I was really riding the waves (see the dot on the map) and feeling very comfortable. I'd surf down a wave, have the sail go neutral, just a bit of hum from the foil, no wind noise, and then head back across the wind for a moment to gather speed, then turn down another wave. It was surreal, and I felt in complete control. In fact, in the 2 hour session, I never fell in, even saving the one brief overfoil I had between two waves. Even my jibes are continuing to improve, with duck jibes having the best odds of a successful brief touchdown when my feet change sides and then right back up on the foil.

View from the south, wind from the South West

Nice top speed on the flat water of the small craft route

I headed back around Bigsby and on the nice flat water of the small craft route hit 34.5 km/h, just .1 below my top foil speed ever. A few more nice downwind surfing runs and I made it back in time for Zoom call with the Hatteras crew who may come visit the Launch Pad this fall. What a great day. I'm glad I'd cleared my work calendar for the afternoon!

View out towards Mann and Bigsby Islands

The simulator was moving all by itself in the wind!

The foil on the recently repaired dock

Post session wind stats 23c wind and 23c water
I was warm in my shorty!

Foiling with the Moose

I ordered some waterproof headphones to see what it is like windsurfing with music. Amazon delivered a $19 pair of bluetooth headphones which paired easily with my phone. With it being a fairly light wind day, it seemed perfect to try them out. I finished my work and charity calls and emails and headed out to the Launch Pad after lunch.

The wind was showing 9-12 knots so I tried the foil board with the 6.5 NP V6. I tuned into the Moose 103.3 and had one really nice foil run. During a lull I decided to try taking some selfies with my phone and fell in. While in the water my phone rang! Suddenly I was talking via the headphones to my windsurfing niece Vanessa. From Georgian Bay!

Selfie on the water

Whoops

Just before the phone rang!

I got 3 more runs in on the 6.5 but the wind was too light so I went in and traded for the big heavy 9.0. That was the ticket for several more nice runs, one over 2 km long. During those runs, I made a bunch more phone calls, one to my mother who first travelled over that same stretch of water 67 years ago. When I get up on the foil, it is so quiet it is easy to have a phone conversation. Pretty cool really. Both the history and the technology.

Nice warm conditions - I was just wearing shorts - no wetsuit needed.

Heading back. Next time I'll try a selfie while foiling?

There was a guy whose small tin boat had run out of gas at Wedge Island, I stopped and chatted with him. On my way back to the harbour already saw Chris from KHL on the way out for a rescue. No coast guard required.

Heading out of Key Harbour into Georgian bay like my parents did 67 years ago

23 km in 2 hours for session 41. Looks like tomorrow afternoon may be good as well. I also got some very nice FB messages from repeat and future students. Looks like class will be in session this coming weekend at the Launch Pad Windsurf Academy?

Foil maintenance

After such an epic day Saturday, my expectations were as low as the Sunday wind forecast. But suddenly I was seeing 11-14 knots on the wind meter and headed out with the foil and 7.0. But I didn’t even get planing, and headed back for the 9.0. By the time I’d gone back and forth twice, the wind was down to 5 knots. 

So I decided it was time to look at how bad the scratches on my foil were. The few times I’ve run aground I was going slowly but the foil scraped over Canadian Shield granite. So it definitely needed some sanding. It is also recommended to lube the screws from time to time, I just unscrew and screw them back periodically to make sure they don't seize.

Some serious scratches on the bottom of the foil wing. A few on the board too.

The wind before it died...

Good upwind slogging on the foil, but not enough wind with either sail I tried

I also noticed that I’ve put some dents into the board from the nails protruding from the dock where I launch. So after that brief time on the water, I spent a nice quiet afternoon working on the dock and listening to the Moose 103.3. This will count as a longboard sailing day, #40 for the season. I’m looking forward to the next few months, as the winds start building into the fall.

Wind stats looking good for the fall

Keeping the IWT stoke locally

What a great 39th day on the water! My season has been pretty good, sharing the fun of windsurfing with several beginners and also getting a lot of great sessions myself. The weather forecast for Saturday was looking good, nice south 10 knot 22c winds.

I put a notice out to the local community FB page for free windsurf lessons at the Launch Pad. To make my windsurf "school" look even more official, I added flags to the chairs at the point. I've missed seeing the IWT flag flying at events. The International Windsurfing Tour's theme is "Inspiring the Future of our Sport" so I'm proud to display the IWT flag while getting more people on the water. It's also been a while since I've seen the Jibe City flag flying during ABK windsurfing lessons.

With a selection of boards and sails and my simulator out at the point, I was ready when the first "student" arrived. Jana was excited to try windsurfing, having seen me zip across the harbour for many years. With the water back up to 21c wetsuits weren't even needed.

The Launch Pad ready for lessons

Jana was a natural, despite not having done many watersports. Dance and crossfit are helpful skills though, plus she listened to the whole lecture about uphauling, neutral, steering, and things like the "tennis" save. Her balance on the simulator was great. Soon enough she was on the water. I towed her upwind to start on the Viper 80 and 4.2 Ice sail. She sailed back and forth with several successful tacks and even a jibe attempt at the end. All smiles for her first time on a windsurf board.

Jana on the simulator

Nice form, straight front arm and leg

Upwind start via seadoo

Heading off nicely

Sailing home Jana? - I can see your cottage in the distance!

Heading back to the point

Success!

Until next time...

Next, my buddy Rob arrived with friend Karrie who was interested in trying windsurfing for the first time as well. I started her with the simulator lesson. 

Nice focus on the horizon!

Suddenly Rob was in his shorts wanting to head back onto a windsurfer for the first time in 25 years. I put him on the Viper 80 (190 l) board, with the 5.4 Duke sail. He was a superstar. A bit wobbly, but kept getting going in both directions and doing a few tacks and jibes too. Nadia on shore was cheering and I was super impressed with how much muscle memory he had to keep sailing nicely upwind. He did find the new wide style board strange, so I gave him the YPSI Wayler to try. Much more similar to his 35? year old board, but the slippery deck isn't as comfortable!

Pretty steady for the first time in 25 years!

Rob looking great!

Rob back from sailing the 40 year old YPSI!

Once Rob was back, I focused on Karrie again, who I towed upwind on the Viper 80 with the 3.5 Chinook sail in the now slightly stronger 11-14 knot winds. She did really well, showing nice balance and patience with the board as she got used to all the different stages of getting going. The smile on her face when she got going in both directions was awesome. She got back to the point and had definitely conquered something new.

Perfect "tennis save"!

And she's off! Awesome.

Then it was my turn. I took the 140 Stingray board with the 76 cm Slingshot foil and the 7.0. I was able to consistently pump onto a plane and went back and forth past everyone on the point. I was having fun heading up and downwind, and promptly did several nice "tail assisted" foil jibes. First time for that on my 7.0 - having people watching sure helps improve my focus on completing the jibes. Not sure I can do a sail first jibe with that sail though.

Heading upwind to see the gang...

Having fun foiling off the point
Thanks Nadia for the photos!

Saying goodbye to Karrie and the crew! Thanks Rob for the photo

It was awesome on my second session seeing Jen out on the water with me for the first time. I also saw a flotilla of 6 sailboats heading out, I've never seen that before.

Wife!

Third session was good too, and the wind didn't drop off as much as I expected. Overall I did 37 km in around 2 hours on the water.

The "show off to the people at the point" foil session

Longer session with Jen on the water and 6 cruising sailboats

Longest session out to Bigsby seeing Ayrlea on the laser

What a great day. Warm, sunny, breezy. 2 beginners, 1 friend getting back into it, my wife on the water too and lots of sailboats out on the water.

(Tech notes. I'd sent Jana out on the wide Viper 80, which I'd sailed up to the point earlier. I was surprised how much better it was at going upwind than the sharp railed and narrow Bic Veloce 328. Check out the two charts. Rob found the Viper 80 (190 l) board strange, I think because it is so short compared to his old board.)

Upwind on the Viper 80 

Upwind on the BIC Veloce 328
- not so good despite sharper rails