Wing foiling on the new gear

I was pretty sore in the morning after yesterday’s 64km shortboard windsurf session. A few Advil and a bit of time on the island and as the wind built I got itching to get out again in the 13-15 knot winds.

I pumped up the new Duotone 5.0 Slick wing and decided not to add a harness line. My waist harness was tangling while swimming and doing so much learning the new board on Sunday I felt I should keep it simpler. I also wore the self recoiling spring line attached to my lifejacket instead of the ankle leash to the board.

The island from the air today - thanks Daphne for the photo!

I made my upwind ground much more easily in the SW wind vs the South wind two days ago. I’m still not  quite feeling balanced on the board but it is getting better. It was still a bit difficult for me to get going, I definitely needed a gust and to concentrate on my foot position. However once the board is going, it is amazingly efficient. Even coming out of a slow jibe, just a little pump of the wing and I can stay up on the foil.

Not as many wipeouts as on Sunday

I wiped out around nine times, half as often as my first session on the smaller 125 litre Fanatic Sky Wing board. One of the falls was the fastest and most painful wipeouts I’ve ever had winging. I fell stomach first on the inside of a jibe and really slapped the water with my gut. My rib cage is sore tonight as I write this. Maybe I was even trying a carving downwind 360 - I know I only tried one and it was a fail.

The highlight of the session was getting even more dialled in on my jibes. I count 20 in a row on my way back to the dock. Such a zen feeling to link so many turns in a row - almost all completely on the foil (one or two light touchdowns) and none with a loss of speed. My timing co-ordinating the wing flip feels good. Time to start trying wing duck jibes?

Lots of nice downwind jibes - 20 in a row!

The board and foil really respond to toe pressure when I’m riding my regular stance (port) and are equally responsive to heel pressure when I’m riding switch stance (starboard) into my jibes. The sensation is addictive. I’m going to start playing with different moves and see about adding the footstraps soon.

The air barely reached 20c, the water at the dock was 23c and very clear. I was a bit chilled after despite wearing a long leg 3/2 wetsuit.

I have to put a shim in the rear wing and see if that gets rid of the humming / vibration noise. I also need to bring out some 600 grit sandpaper for the rear foil which supposedly works? I think that vibration was also why a mounting bolt came loose. I’m lucky I ended the session when I did!

Foiling with a screw loose! YIKES!

The locker getting full… 

64.64 km big day windsurfing

There was wind all night and it continued into the morning. After I replaced the bilge pump on the cedarstrip boat we headed out to the Launch Pad.

On my old weather station it said 17-21 from the SW. The Tempest said west and 20. I took the same 5.6 and Fanatic Freewave 116 from yesterday. But this time I was fully powered.

Smiling after my first session!

First session GPS trail

Good jibes in the middle of the session after a lot of tacking to start
Nice speeds on the downwind part at the end!

Nice wind at 1:30!

After a shower and a few real estate phone calls I went out for another session. Same 5.6 Idol but this time on the Fanatic Skate 108. Sailing the two boards back to back is interesting. The Freewave is comfy to ride. It isn’t as fast and doesn’t jibe as well though as the Skate. The Freewave top speed was 44.0 km/h and I only planed out of one or two jibes - and only on when doing duck jibes. 

My 2nd session GPS trail
I was planing 74% of the time!

A lot of nice jibes and long runs in the middle of the session
Good speeds on the downwind at the end of the session

Nice wind at 5:30 as well!

My 2nd and 1st sessions: total 64.64 km
Just an extra 1.4 km on the faster Skate 108

The Skate top speed was 46.9 km/h and I planed out of a lot of jibes - going almost 15 km without falling in. The Skate is a bit more technical to sail but for me I know exactly how to tack it or get it planing. 

I don’t know why I didn’t do many tricks - especially on the Skate. I did a few duck jibes. And tried one duck tack. On my last jibe I decided to do a carve 360. It was fun and I need to do more.

I was nice and tired when we walked to the point to see the sunset. It was only 17c, the water was warmer than the air. I saw a post saying that the warmest part of the summer is already over. Glad I had this day.

10 linked foil gibes on the new Fanatic foil!

After a bunch of days in the city we got back to the Launch Pad just in time for an afternoon session. The wind was 17-20 knots from the south and I’d just brought up the Fanatic Freewave 116 board which I haven’t used since Hatteras.

I took the 5.6 Idol sail and started working my way upwind. I had a few short planing runs and then I was clear of the points and got 2 nice longer runs. But the wind was clearly dropping. I headed back to the dock and decided it was finally time to try setting up my new Fanatic Sky wing board and foil. Technically the new foil is the Fanatic Aero High Aspect 2000 wing with the Aluminum 3.0 Mast and 780 Fuselage.

Setting up the new Fanatic 125 l Sky Wing board
(In a very cluttered board locker)

Windy at 3:30 when I went out on the Freewave 116
But it dropped off…

GPS trail of my windsurf session

A few planing runs…

It was fun putting the nicely engineered Fanatic foil pieces together. (It goes together much tighter than my first generation Slingshot foils.) I went out on the 6.0 Duotone Echo wing. Stepping off the dock and onto the 125 l Sky was uneventful and I got upwind a bit. But boy was it hard to tack upwind vs. being on the 140 l Fanatic Stingray. The new board is so much shorter and narrower I had a really tough time getting upwind. I fell a lot and had a difficult time getting going which is evident in the GPS trail below. I wound up swimming upwind a few times. I’d also forgotten my glasses so it was hard to see the shoals making my runs shorter as I couldn’t quite see how close I could get to shore. Finally I got upwind (south) of the points and got some runs. The new foil is very quick to plane - I think my wind minimum may go down?

The foil made a very loud humming noise. (I’ve now investigated and it sounds like some light sanding of the trailing edge of the stabilizer will fix that.) But it didn’t breech when overfoiling. However on my wipeouts the smaller board shoots up like crazy. I think I’m going to wear a helmet in the future…

After I got the hang of it a bit I started doing some downwind Ss which felt very comfortable. Trying to switch my feet mid jibe didn’t work well. So when it was time to head back to the dock I did jibes without switching my feet. SWEET! I did 10 foiling jibes in a row!

A lot of struggle getting out of the narrow harbour to start.
10! (count ‘em) foil jibes on my way back downwind
(north) to the dock

10 foil jibes - riding switch when heading east…

Speeds seem comparable to my 99 cm Slingshot foil
but the jibes felt a lot smoother on the Fanatic 2000 foil

I’d like to try the Fanatic Foil under the Stingray 140 to see if I like it on that board for winging and/or for windfoiling. Certainly I loved the way it carved, and suspect it is the new foil I liked more than the new board? I also know if I’m teaching someone to wing - it will be on the Stingray 140 which is a much more stable platform. (I can’t imagine someone trying wing foiling for the first time having any success with such a short and narrow board - and it is still 125 litres.)

Great Bay day

We were on the island doing some clean up and after a nice hot dog lunch the wind built a bit more than predicted.

I rigged my old NP 6.5 V6 on the Techno with the 76 foil and slogged upwind for a few minutes. Eventually there were a few gusts and I got some foiling runs. It has been a while since I’ve been on the water just in a bathing suit - no neoprene!

Jen was stand up paddle boarding to the point on the new Viper HD. It works pretty well as a SUP and she liked having the extra stability of having the centre board down.

I finished my first session and walked out to the point with the 4.2 Slingshot wing. Jen started on her knees and then stood up after just a minute. She had a nice downwind run using a wing for the first time in fresh water.

New flags at the Launch Pad

The potholes are really visible with the clear water this year

Jen winging and Phillip and Rosie out snorkelling the old wharf

Coming into shore!

After her return I went out on the Fanatic Stingray 140 with the 99 cm foil. For sure jibing either board is harder with the dual cambered V6 sail as it creates all sorts of forces on the mast foot when it rotates.

The wind built a bit so I got a 1 km long run on the 76 cm foil

Way more time on the 99 cm foil!

The wind built during the day!

Max speed on the 76 was 29 km/h, on the 99 it was only 26 km/h.

I enjoyed a nice shower and walk to the point to take the flags down. The nice turtle was swimming between the islands and posed for a photo!

Big wind for the old Tiga

After a great and windy Canada Day, the west wind was predicted to build again all day and indeed it did. In fact everyone left the island because it was too blustery. Even though it was 20c.

I took the old Tiga 257 out to the point and decided the nice new Idol 4.8 might be the right sail.  It was!

I easily got upwind and had a huge run south and then thought about the 30? year old skeg under the board. That would be a long swim back if it or any other part broke. So I stayed more upwind for the rest of the session. A few duck jibes and a few planing jibes very comfortable.

It reminded me of a day still etched in my memory over 25 years ago sailing that Tiga with Jen out from Bigsby island. Not many days like this.

The 30km windsurf session was actually the first,
then 10 km wing foil after dinner...
(yes I'm rounding those numbers up!)

One 3 km long reach south
Max speed 50.2 km/h on the red downwinder!

Wing foil lines are more curvaceous

Great winds for my afternoon windsurf session
And my evening wing foil session with Vanessa

After dinner Vanessa decided to come out for another session. It was so windy they had cancelled the community boat parade. I suggested she take the Fanatic Skate 108 and the Idol 4.8 again. And again it was the perfect gear choice - two evenings in a row! This time she launched from the dock.

The only photo from the day, Vanessa heading out!

I was on the Fanatic Stingray 140 with the 4.2 Slingshot wing. It was great seeing her jump and jibe and hearing her yelp with glee every time we passed each other!

Quick pre dinner wingfoil

What a fun Canada Day! After a torrential rain and some strange weather readings from my Tempest weather station the weather cleared.

It had been foggy all morning. As the sun started burning off  the fog the southwest wind built just exactly as windy.com had predicted. 

Phillip, Rosie, Jen and I went out to the island. We got Philip and Rosie set up on the Invitation sailboat.  The wind was picking up and instead of doing some chores I decided to go out and do some wing foiling. Wow what a great session. I was foiling around Philip and Rosie on the sailboat doing some sweet linked carve jibes. 

Jen got some great photos with Philip's new camera and lens.

From the graph below I'm better at keeping speed on my regular jibes than my switchstance ones. Go figure. 

6.7 km in 24 minutes

Phillip and Rosie in a good afternoon breeze in the Invitation sailboat

We got back to shore and I helped Phillip as he landed the sailboat with just a bit of drama!

We made it back just in time for burgers; Len's specialty. The wind stayed steady and I had another session after dinner with Vanessa that I write about on my school blog: www.launchpadwindsurfacademy.ca/post/great-evening-session-with-my-first-ever-student That session was remarkable as I landed my first Vulcan in many years!

Windsurfing and windfoiling

I got out to the bay after a quick morning trip to Sudbury. It was warm and quite windy so I quickly got the Fanatic Skate 108 and Idol 4.8 to the point.

I got planing on my second run and a dozen after that. It felt great to be windsurfing on small gear again. No tricks but just fun going back and forth with more speed than my foiling sessions.

I suspected that the wind would drop and after a few non planing runs I went in to change to the Techno and 76cm foil I set up for Phillip yesterday. 

I quickly got the hang of that foil setup which I haven’t really used in a while (a year?). I am much better at jibing it now, even doing a few duck jibes.

The upwind and downwind ability on the foil makes exploring a lot of fun.

South wind, so it was fun foiling downwind (north)

See the difference in the red back and forth windsurf tracks va the slower spaghetti of the foil tracks.

A bit faster on the windsurfer, but more time on the windfoil

June 30 wind details

Late in the evening fellow blogger and ABK friend Peter was posting about jibes. This was my reply “ My wing foiling has helped my wind foiling. Wing foiling jibes are easier because you don’t even switch your feet until you are in you new direction. So today even on my old BIC techno today my jibes have gotten a lot better by making much smaller steps or even none  until I’m on the new tack. So I’m getting better at actually carving the jibe instead of doing a float wobble when going downwind. Duck jibes also help reduce the amount the mast foot moves the board around.”