Cold Hatteras

Well the guys trip to Hatteras was cancelled. So we planned a cold Hatteras long weekend at the Launch Pad but that was cancelled too due to Covid. Likely OK, since the scheduled Friday to Tuesday 5 days stretch turned out to be the only 5 days in a row this year without even enough wind to foil.

But the wind prediction for Wednesday was solid. But we needed to leave for Collingwood at 10am. So I woke up at 7am had coffee and toast and was on the water at 8:30.

Ready for the earliest morning (and latest day) of the year session

The forecast from the night before was right!

 

8:15 am and windy!

Ready to launch

I walked the Freewave 116 out to the point and decided at 23 knots avg wind that I would use the 4.7 sail. I went back, pulled my hood up and walked the sail to the point. It was the perfect combo. I'm glad I remembered to make the foot straps bigger which worked nicely with the winter booties which I haven’t really used in 20 years since I got them.

With the water at 8c and the SW wind at 6c, this was very much a colder session than my historical 18c combined minimum temperature. But I had the advantage of having a 6/5/4mm hooded wetsuit, 1.5mm gloves and thick ankle high booties.

GPS track with two wipeouts and one nice planing jibe

My first 20 minutes were good with me slowly making upwind ground and planing most of the time. With the thick suit, I didn't wear my Garmin watch and instead had my cell phone with me as an extra safety precaution along with my SPOT GPS. I used Runtastic on my phone which worked nicely to record the session.

I got one good jibe in the flat water behind where I used to launch 4 years ago before we got the Launch Pad. And I had one nice walk off the front of the board into a face plant during my one duck jibe attempt. It was surprising how little water came into my wetsuit. By the time I'd had the long upwind run I was so tired I couldn't finish my jibe. So it was time to head back downwind which was fun.

Post session smile

Nice clearing skies after my session 

Morning sunshine

This was also the latest session I‘ve ever had in Canada. Last year‘s latest was Oct 26. And I think I'll get one or two more in November?

Cold front approaching!

Windy.com nailed the forecast for Sunday! It predicted strong south winds overnight and into the early afternoon and then shutting down as the cold front approached. Indeed the wind had hit 39 knots overnight, the highest I've seen this year on my wind meter.

So I got up early and headed out to the Launch Pad. After a quick eggs Benedict, I suited up. Might be the first time this year I hit the water before 11am - not quite a dawn patrol, but still early.

My first session was on the Axxis 272. It was so windy after I carried the board to the point that I decided to use my smallest sail - the 4.2. Hard to believe I bought that sail 10 years ago in France for the strong Mistral winds. I've only used the 4.2 two times this year, once with the Tiga, once with the foil.

I had a great time and felt fast and pretty in control. Jibes were pretty good too. There was one dicey moment though. In front of Dokis Island I decided to jibe just as the wind died. I was trying to waterstart a sinking board with a tiny sail as the wind slowly pushed me toward the waves breaking on the rocks. The wind direction and rocks reminded me a bit too much of the fear I have falling in while heading out at Ho'okipa.

Axxis 272 speed chart

At 11c air and 11c water, that was likely the last day this year where both the water and air were in double digits. 25 km in an hour.

Record 39 knot high wind for the year

Geeky hat but warm returning for lunch!

After lunch, I headed out for a second session.

Skate 108 session after lunch

Skate 108 speed chart

Conditions as I headed out for my 2nd session

I was on the 4.2 again but this time I went on the Skate 108 figuring that the wind would eventually die when the cold front came through around 3pm. I wanted something floaty enough so I could make it home.

I was pleased with how easy the Skate 108 was to use with the 4.2. I really enjoyed my session and got some nice jibes on that board too. I even tried one Vulcan at the end.18 km in 52 minutes.

The rain and cold front at 3pm

So that was session #69. Back to the city for the week for retirement functions. Sadly my Cold Hatteras weekend is Covid postponed. I'll be back for what I hope are a few more sessions though before closing up.

Figure 8s for lunch

I remember 35 years ago watching in awe as a really good windsurfer on a short board was zipping back and forth and doing sweet planing jibes at the end of each run. Perfect figure 8s. I think it was on Laurel Lake, while I was at the University of Waterloo.

Lots of figure 8s - and some nice wave rides

My first 20 minutes of this lunch session felt a bit like that with some sweet planing jibes and I kept dry on each one. Except that the water wasn’t nearly as flat as at a small lake in southern Ontario. So as I headed upwind on Georgian Bay toward the open and waves, my jibes became much less reliable. But the wave rides were super fun.

The view before I headed out - solid wind, waves and clearing skies

I was also happy that my choice of the 4.7 Duke and old Tiga 257 was perfect. So comfy riding on that old board. I walked to the point and launched from there. And I was mostly powered during the session, except when I ventured too far into the wind shadows - in search of nice flat water to jibe on. Of course, I’d then wind up in a lull and not be able to plane out of the jibe. I got a bit better at the waist deep submarine low wind slog. 

I hit one great jump, and then had some fun wave rides going back downwind. I was sensing that the wind was dying and needed to get back for some work calls. The wind did indeed drop from the 29 knots I was seeing initially, more to 25 and then even 19 knots after putting my gear away. I’d been comfortable in my 3/2 wetsuit in the 11c air and 12c water but will add some ankle straps for next time I’m in that much wind.

Pre session 29 knots!

Post session 17 knots

Speed chart - good speeds heading downwind at the end.

Interesting to see that I hit the same 47ish km/h top speed that I did recently with the 7.0 and Ray 122. But with what would normally be considered an ancient old slow board and fin.

I headed back from session #68 nicely tired but happy. I was super hungry and was wondering if spaghetti O’s come in a figure 8 version?

After work we headed back out to the Launch Pad to enjoy the sunset and dinner. The sun is setting so much father south now!

Nice weather and wind for Friday and Saturday but too many chores to do on the last days before the local dump goes to winter hours. But big wind predicted for Sunday!

It’s getting dark early

My Wednesday after work windfoil session was short and I’m gonna blame the dark clouds and early sunset. The wind was actually predicted to drop off so I was happy to find 11-14 knots at the Launch Pad. 

This was my first session since my friend sent me this awesome photo of the island over Thanksgiving. It looks like I didn't miss any wind that day!

The Launch Pad from my friend's plane over Thanksgiving

A wonderful 2009 Ed Burtynsky photo.
It is on display at the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite
and at Canada House in the UK

I took the 5.6 Idol and the Stingray 140 with the 76 cm Slingshot foil. I struggled to get on the foil so it was a pretty good workout. I did get some better feeling jibes and managed to dry the full 44 minutes I was out. I was in my 4/3 zip back wetsuit and was comfortable with the 13c water and 12c air.

That Idol sail is so easy to do heli tacks on and I even did a few duck tacks as my transitions. There were even a few good jibe arcs carved on the foil, but there wasn't enough wind to stay on the foil the whole way through. I enjoyed the squiggly up and downwind sections in the middle of the long foil runs.

A few good jibe arcs in there

Definitely enough runs to make the session worthwhile

Foiling in the distance

Lower speed near shore. Thanks for the photos Jen.

On the way home we saw some crazy current flowing through the harbour. The weather is certainly changeable now.

"Would you believe?" - it floats!

Slogging home with my broken foil, I could only think of the TV show Get Smart. Don Adams' standard line was "would you believe?" and Agent 99 was the beautiful straitlaced fellow Control agent.

Pretty happy to rescue the foil! It fit right in the footstraps.

Well I didn't believe that the 99 cm Slingshot foil floats. Which came in handy after the bolts broke on the fuselage and I had to sail back with the foil on top of the board. More on that below...

After a busy but successful day of calls, I headed out in what was supposed to be diminishing winds following a very windy night and morning. I decided to try the 6.2 Duke on the Freewave 116. Rather than slog upwind from the dock, I walked the gear to the point and launched there. It wasn't quite enough wind but I got planing on most runs with a few pumps. I was just barely able to make upwind ground and eventually made it to the waves at Wedge Island. My jibes felt a bit better than on the Ray yesterday, and the Freewave is so much more comfortable to sail, despite one catapult (likely not enough downhaul on the 6.2.)

Slow to make upwind ground on the FreeWave 116

My top speed was fully 20% less than on the Ray yesterday.

I was comfy (even warm for a bit) in my 4/3 backzip wetsuit. The water and air were 14c. After an hour I figured the wind was dying and I slogged back to get the foil.

In the time it took to switch gear, the wind picked up again. So I took the 4.8 Idol on the Stingray 140 with the 99 cm Slingshot foil. When I was carrying it out, the wing felt wobbly so I checked and re-tightened the bolts, which was likely too much?

I headed out from the dock and was having fun going super slow on the foil and going upwind with ease. I got out to the waves and had some nice jibe attempts and downwind runs east and then west of Wedge Island. But then while heading alongside some swells I heard a snap and dropped off the foil. I quickly figured that something broke and cursed the deep water in which I figured I'd never find the now detached foil. But it didn't sink!

The foil was floating out behind me so I swam back and collected it. It fit nicely in the footstraps and I slogged a bit uncomfortably back to the Launch Pad. I figure I'll have to extract the bolts like I did 2 years ago when I hit a rock with the foil. Thinking back, this was the first gear failure I've had in 6 years since I broke the boom on my 9.0.

Foil track in the SW wind

How I got the foil back home

Yes, the 99 cm foil wing floats
even with the weight of the fuselage and rear wing

Really low speeds, but almost got planing
with the foil on top of the board on the way back!

The Slingshot garage

The lull between sessions

So that was session 66. Back to the city now for Thanksgiving. I think I'm going to buy a wetsuit hood for my later October sessions. And some new bolts for the foil.

Call me Ray

There was a beer commercial back in the late 70's "you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay..."  Well I'd used my Fanatic Ray 122 just once in the last several months, having had a bad session early in the year on it. I think I'd tired of the board, just like the Ray Jay Johnson bit?

But at 5pm with winds averaging 16 knots, I thought - I've fixed the crack in the nose, let's give it another try. Instead of using the heavy 9.0 like in August, and without footstraps like in May, I actually had a good session on the board.

Blasting

The video gives a good idea of the speed before I approach shore

Hi dear!

View from the S/W - no planing jibes :-(

And it got windier after I was done!

Nice sunset

It was fun going fast. While I've hit 50 km/h on the Skate 108 this year once, it is generally slower and slappier. The Ray is really built for speed, and even goes across the chop better, I think because I'm using the fin more. I hit 48.1 km/h, but didn't really carve through any jibes.

Lots of 40 km/h runs and hit 48.1 km/h top speed

The air was 12c, water 14c. My 3/2 flashbomb wetsuit was perfect. Tomorrow is supposed to be very stormy...

Foiling and sailing

When I headed out after work the wind was still 18 knots which was exciting - maybe another shortboard day? Then after putting on my 3/2 long wetsuit it was 15 knots. I'm glad I didn't take the 7.0 and 122 Ray which was tempting. Rather I headed out with the 5.6 Idol on the Stingray 140 with the 99cm wing and smaller rear wing which was the right choice.

Vanessa came out and took a few photos and a video of me.

Foiling past Vanessa

Spectacular skies

Hi Vanessa

Returning!

There is one really good jibe in that path

I was still finding the foot placement for the 99 cm foil difficult to pinpoint, but on the one jibe where I got it right, it was great. The stall speed of the 99 is really low, so if I don't bobble off the foil to the side it is easy to keep going through the sail flip.

Eventually the wind dropped to 13 then 11 knots and it was over - just a nice slow downwind. The water was 15c, still fine on my feet.

So that was session #64 and 17/30 days in September!

With still a few knots of wind out there, I headed with Veronica in her sailboat. We had a great little sail. There was weather approaching, but it missed us, and we saw a wonderful double rainbow.

Scruffy sailor

Fun sailing

First mate & rainbow

The windsurf locker at the foot of the rainbow!

Dinner was memorable with champagne to celebrate my big decision on 2021 and beyond...