First Georgian Bay foil this year

I didn’t have time to get on the water last week when we opened up for the season. And after arriving late on Monday and building stairs yesterday, today was my chance.

The wind was gusty 10-15 and from the north, with the odd rain mist too. Air and water both at 10c. A lot colder than Mexico a few weeks ago!

In the winter I checked in the storage locker and was surprised that I’d left the 5.6 Duotone Idol rigged last November (also a 10c air and water day). But it was super convenient and I quickly had the Techno and 76 cm foil out ready to go. I did forget to tighten up the outhaul, so I had a quick moment sitting on the board fixing that before I got up on the foil.

Jen was busy gardening and was happy to get a www.FindMeSPOT.com satellite message from me as I was out of sight way upwind in the channel north toward Whistler Bay. I didn’t fall on any of the jibes going downwind, but didn’t stay on the foil on any of them either. The cold water was just a bit too scary to try any hero jibes. After an hour and 15 km I was done and made my way back upwind. Daddy goose was watching out for strange think approaching the nest where 5 eggs are being cared for my mommy goose.

A few jibes on the downwind run,
but not worth the cold water risk of trying to stay up on the foil…

It was really nice opening up the storage locker and not finding smelly muskrat skat on the floor. Everything including the dock seems to have wintered well.

I’m taking the foil gear down to Collingwood and will see if there is a day to try that out. There were 4 wingers out at Sunset beach last weekend. Time to give that spot a try…

Next time at the Launch Pad I’ll do an unboxing post for the new Fanatic Viper 80 I picked up last fall for the Launch Pad Windsurfing Academy.

Wing and E-Foiling in Cancun

Another first for Jen and me. E-foiling! Here’s how it happened…

First time E-foiling!

I had some 3 year old Covid cancellation WestJet dollars so we booked a week in Mexico. We didn’t find any last minute hotels near the foiling beaches near downtown Cancun though. We wound up at a nice Secret place in Playa Mujeres where there isn’t much gear for rent, and it wasn’t really windy enough anyway during the start of the week.

Luckily toward the end of our week the wind picked up and I booked a day with Shaka Vibes wing foiling school. They were great, with Marianna picking us up at our hotel and navigating us through the newly built luxury harbour area to the idyllic little beach where there are 3 kite/windsurf/foiling schools. Shaka Vibes owner Max has been teaching windsurfing and kiting there for 7 years and has been leading the expansion into foiling. He is from France and is headed back to the Defi wind there in a few weeks.

Jen started out on a 3.5 wing on a 160 litre SUP foil board and skimmed back and forth nicely getting a feeling for winging - this time on water (not ice like in February).

I took a 6.0 F-One wing and a 110 litre board (my smallest foilboard ever) and slowly got myself adjusted to foiling again. It took a few tries and I’d quite forgotten to point downwind when getting going. Initially I was pointing upwind and overfoiling each time I took off. I had a great 1 hour, 9.5 km session finally getting a few jibes by not switching feet and riding switch between turns. My turns out in the deeper, wavier water weren’t so elegant and I’m surprised at how much I swear when falling into even warm water. On a more positive note, I’m very happy that my right knee worked very well having recovered from the meniscus tear in February.

9.5 km wingfoil GPS trail with a few smooth jibes
Yes there are 3 entrances in the break wall

Back on the beach

My rental gear

Max coming back from his session

Jen checking out the E-foil

After a break we decided to try the nice Lift V3 E-Foil that they had available to rent. Tosho gave us good instruction with the help of his energetic little son Saba. Jen got going but found it more tiring that we had expected… It certainly would have been easier if we’d tried it earlier in the week when it wasn’t windy and wavy. Here are a few shots of her session.

Jen getting a feel for it!

Nice smile

I found the E-Foil to be exactly as I expected it. A few falls while getting used to the slower pitching motions of the heavy foilboard, then nice smooth runs. Very nicely designed. It doesn’t overfoil - you just hear the propeller start to cavitate and slow down. The board has nice release from the water when you touchdown so you don’t get pitched over the front like I expected. I was able to hop to switchstance and carve turns in both directions. The handheld controller was relatively easy for me to use, all those years of keeping AFX slot cars on the track helped. I’d love to have one on Georgian Bay to teach foiling on and to take little Timo for a ride on. It might make a good addition to the www.launchpadwindsurfacademy.ca.

First E-foil session

I was able to start my GPS while riding on my 2nd session!

After that, I went out for another half hour wing foiling session and started linking even more turns. My GPS watch wasn’t saving session info properly though, so I don’t have a GPS trail of that session.

Jen’s view from the beach

I’m heading out to the well marked breakwall

My last run into the beach

The sargassum we had heard so much about wasn’t really an issue anywhere we saw - Isla Mujeres island really shelters the beaches north of Cancun and the hotel beaches protect the Port of Cancun.

I’d strongly recommend checking out club de playa in Puerto Cancun. Try Shaka Vibes as we had a great day or for us next time for variety perhaps we’ll try the Fanatic Duotone Centre I noticed while there?

First (wing skating) session of 2023

I headed out to the Launch Pad with my wife and daughter to try some skating on the ice which had been swept bare of the snow from the previous night. It was 4 days since the painful MCL? “pop” in my right knee and 3 days since my 58th birthday. (*Later diagnosed by Med School student Katie Spiess as a meniscus tear.) Temperature was -1 and the wind was S/W. There is over 30cm of ice.

Luckily the knee pain has been receding and it only hurts in one twisting direction. And even if I’m 58 I’m still looking for adventure. So I tried skating and it went fine. So pumping up the 4.2 Slingwing was the next step and I’m glad I did. I had fun going back and forth on the uneven ice and did 1.6+ km. It didn’t take long to get the hang of it again and look forward to another melt and hopefully even smoother ice maybe in March?

Jen gave the wing a try too. I was impressed by her second run which I caught on video.

Turns out February is one of the windier months of the year. Wind is either warm from the S/W or cold from the north. Here is data from my Tempest weather station on iWindsurf.com

Overall a very nice first day of wind sports for 2023.

Shutting down the Launch Pad

 It got so windy overnight that the island weather station went offline because my internet antenna blew 180 degrees in the wind. I had been watching the replacement Tempest unit I installed yesterday which now records barometric pressure properly! Then a few minutes later the power went off for over 600 people in our area. All the morning we were busy closing the cottage without any electricity and I wasn’t sure I’d actually get out on the water.

Jen, Phil and Rosie took me out to the Launch Pad as we’d just flipped over the little boat and put away the 20hp motor. On the island the wind had blown off the shutter on the window where the “Launch Pad” logo was. We couldn’t find it - there was definitely a big storm last night!

So much wind the window shutter blew away last night

I spent a few hours de-rigging sails, deflating wings, loosening screws on foils and putting boards into bags for the winter. I kept the 4.8 and 5.6 rigged in case the power came back on and we would then be able to shut down the plumbing in the dark. Sure enough at 3:30 the power came back on so I would be able to turn on the lights to organize the last bit of the shed and store the sailboat - so I could go out for a quick last session.

The wind had dropped significantly so the 4.8 wasn’t an option anymore. I took the 5.6 Idol on the Fanatic Stingray 140 with the 99cm Slingshot foil. I got foiling several times and made some nice jibes. The sun was so low that I could see the reflection on the stickers on the green navigation buoys when I went by and was backlit. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. I didn’t have booties on despite the 10c water and 10c air. I was fine but after my first fall and the fading sunlight I figured it was time to call it a season. Indeed I’m glad I did as there were a few screws loose on the foil when I got back!

7 tacks to get up into the wind

Kept some speed through several jibes

Wind chart from my newly replaced under warranty Tempest
The wind had dropped but was steady from 4:10 to 4:35

Sunset on a great season

There was a great sunset to mark the end of our 2022 season at the Launch Pad. Let’s see how the plans for 2023 develop.

Warmest November session ever?

 Wow, Nov 5th and the wind was super strong and over 17c from the SSE. I took the old Tiga out to the point to check on the wind. 12 gusting to 27 on my handheld wind meter. Hmm, that would be a challenge sinking the small board or being overpowered with the 5.4 I thought as I walked back to put on my 4/3 wetsuit.

I decided to head out on the 4.8 with the Skate 108 instead. Sure, it would be a lot of tacking to get upwind from the dock. And I’d likely fall in a few times. But as it turned out I managed to stay dry on all 5 tacks and I was off.

The wind got super strong as I got out past the islands. I stayed in sight of the island so Jen could keep an eye on me from time to time. I did several runs with a few good planing jibes but felt that I was pushing the size limit on the Skate 108. So I went to the point and changed boards to the Tiga, hiding the Skate in the bushes at the top of the island.

The Tiga is slow and heavy, but perfect when you are getting blown off the water. I did 4 runs - sinking a bit during one lull in the wind. In the gusts it felt like I was definitely stressing out the Idol 4.8 - a lightweight freestyle sail intended for small windsurfers in Bonaire, not for survival sailing in Georgian Bay gusts. I was pretty tired after yesterdays 3.5 hour session. I decided to head back and was able to plane most of the way back to the dock for a 13.5 km day.

Warm SSE wind and a few good jibes in there

The first 2/3 was on the Skate 108, last 1/3 on the Tiga 257

Post session view from the Launch Pad roof

Wind was pretty steady…

Top speed just 45 km/h. But pretty satisfying for a November session. I looked at iWindsurf later in the evening, it was still windy - but interesting to see they still have satellite of the area before the wind farm and fire.

List of weather iWindsurf weather stations
on Georgian Bay

iWindsurf weather map close up showing the area before
the wind farm and fire.

Tomorrow is the day to put away all the gear. Let’s see if I get one more session in.

3 sport, 72 km day in November!

I think this will go down as my longest November watersports day ever on Georgian Bay!

Wow, it was 17c by the end of the day. I started by checking the water temperature at the Launch Pad. 12c water is pretty amazing for November.

View to the south from the Launch Pad

I walked out to the point with the Skate 108 to check the wind. Nice solid 20 knots from the south. Felt like the 4.8 was a possibility but I decided on the 5.6 Idol which was a good sail choice. 33km of comfortable cruising. I fell in twice but wasn't really cold even with just my 4/3 suit in the 12c water. No tricks to speak of. Feet were fine without booties.

Some nice long runs out to Dokis island

Not very many fast jibes though

Timelapse of taking the sail to the point

Next it was time to try wing foiling. I had the Slick 5.0 wing and the Fanatic Sky 125 board with the high aspect 2000 foil 820 mast and 780 fuselage. I like how stable the Slick wing is in the gusts because it was really gusty. I had a few falls while tacking out of the harbour, but quickly got the hang of the board and kept my now bootie covered feet in the footstraps. I sailed for an hour and other than those first falls, stayed on the foil through almost every jibe. I did find a few lulls where I came off the foil but was amazed at how comfortable I've become.

Wing foiling jibes are sweet! Stayed on the foil for all but 5?
(And those were mostly in the lulls on the east side wind shadow)

Kept my speed up for most of the hour
My forearms were pretty sore at that point

Time lapse of my wing foil session

After a can of soup it was time for my last sport of the day. This time wind foiling. I put on my 5/4 wetsuit for this session. My 3rd sport of the day is the one where I can explore most easily. Upwind, downwind I can head wherever I want to go. I hadn't been on the 4.8 Idol with the Techno 148 and 76cm slingshot foil for a while. It is pretty comfortable even if the board is bigger than it needs to be for me. While I don't stay on the foil completely through the jibes, I'm getting good at making sure I don't fall in either. I went without booties again so I could use the footstraps. Toward the end of the session I did have my left hand cramp up pretty awkwardly. It eventually loosened up but it was a good sign that my day should be finished after 3.5 hours on the water.

Wind foiling lets me explore!

Lots of touchdowns and slowdowns on my windfoil jibes

Overall I'm hard pressed to say which sport I like most. I'm really grateful to be able to do all 3 in a day and enjoy the different sensations. It also helps that various different muscle groups are used.

The angels streaming out through the clouds!