First day in Hatteras

We had a great 2 day touristy drive down to Cape Hatteras. Jen, Phillip and I stopped in Washington for a day of museums during the 16 hours of driving. A highlight was seeing the original Wrights Flyer at the Smithstonian. We also stopped at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk. 

So it was 4pm by the time we actually arrived at the big rental house in Avon on the Outer Banks. I quickly started rigging gear as the wind had started building. It had been unsettling on the drive down as it was so windy and I felt like we were leaving wind to find wind. 

But it was so warm and nice once we arrived and as soon as I was out on the water I had few regrets about having left cold and windy Ontario. I set up the 7m Duotone Slick and the 99cm Slingshot foil under the 140L Fanatic Stingray board because I figured that was what Phillip would want to go out on. I went out for a quick 4km test foil and was feeling comfortable in the conditions. The 60 cm short slingshot mast was the right call.

GPS trail with the 7m wing

First wingfoil session in Hatteras

Phillip came out and I gave him the gear, but it was clear that it had already gotten too windy for him to use the 7m wing comfortably. I went back in and started rigging the 5m slick wing and a board for me. I brought it out to Phillip who was already getting some sustained runs, but was clearly happy to have the smaller wing. 

I was on my 2000cm Fanatic foil on the 125L Sky wingfoil board. The longer 82cm mast made it harder to avoid the bottom on the way out. 22cm is quite a difference in mast length.

Wingfoil session on the Sky 125l

I had some fun foiling alongside Phillip who is already getting extended sustained flights. He was really enjoying his second wingfoiling session of his life. I guess his lesson last year at the Launch Pad was really good!

After a bit, I went back on shore and rigged up my Skate 108 board and 5.6 Idol sail. I had a great session in the sunset and was eventually the last person to come off the water. 

Top speed 35 km/h

Great pizza dinner and reconnecting or getting to know all of the people in the "Heaven's Gate" house was a great way to end our first day in Hatteras.

Early windfoil session at the Launch Pad

April 2! Almost a month earlier than I’ve ever been one the water in Northern Georgian Bay. We were up opening the cottage and collecting the gear to get ready for a drive down to Cape Hatteras.

Post session thumbs up!

An unusual east wind was blowing. It was 10°C air and sunny but the water was 2°C. I had the 4.7 Duke still rigged that I’d hoped to use for winter ice sailing but that never happened this year. So that was the sail I put on to the Fanatic 140l Stingray which still had the 99 cm foil underneath it. 

The strong east wind - very unusual

2°C water temperature!

Low water and birds by the old pier

I got out and realized the harness lines were all falling apart and the boom was too low. But I managed to do 10 km before calling it a session. Because the wind was so much from the east I was able to tack almost up into the Key Harbour channel. Never had a true east wind to do that before.

Tacking east up into Key Harbour
Then around the island counter-clockwise

Decent time on the old slingshot 99 foil

Storage room cam!

I came back and went all the way around the Launch Pad island this time going counterclockwise downwind to the west. Normally when I do that circumnavigation I’m doing it on a west wind and do it clockwise.

It was super gusty so my foil track has me going fast and then slow especially when I was in the wind shadow. Wind foiling is definitely the preferred method to be out on a day like today. Shortboard windsurfing would be slogging way too much. Wing foil would be hard to handle in the lulls. 

Loading up gear for Hatteras

The east wind was predicted to build - and indeed it got stormy

A great start to northern Georgian Bay sailing and probably my next session will be in Hatteras!

Blue Mountain Pond Skim!

Well it isn’t really a wind sport, but it seems like an adventure worthy of a blog post!

After getting back from our great trip to Bonaire, the ski hill was still open and was promoting their Retro Pond Skim. I’ve never done a pond skim, but decided to give it a try.

I was pretty nervous the night before, debating whether to ski or snowboard across the 100 foot pond. What was certain was that I’d be wearing the crazy unicorn outfit I’d received a few years ago at a work party.

In the morning I headed to registration where I was pleased to hear that NO people get hurt doing this. Jen and Katie came over and cheered me on as I went across.

Leaning back a bit too much…

Made it!

I wore my unicorn outfit to give me wings!

I made it all the way to the green carpet on the far side! But then I started sliding backwards very slowly into the water. Luckily one of the rescue crew gave me a hand and I slowly plodded up the ramp and then down the snow on the other side!

The pond skim video!

Yeah, at 59 years old, another item off my bucket list!

E foiling day!

With the wind dropping off to almost nothing for our last full day in Bonaire, it was time to hang out on the leeward side of the island.

Flying on the little Lift E-foil

We started with a sunrise yoga session with Ladina at Ocean Oasis. 

Morning yoga

Nice beach at Ocean Oasis

Cheesy Dutch post yoga breakfast

Nearby CrossFit at the abandoned hotel site

Then a quick breakfast there and back to our room. Jen and I went snorkeling for a bit - there were definitely a variety of fish but the corals are suffering.

Finding Nemo?

I managed to arrange a 1:30pm eFoil session with Salu WaterSports who have a concession right at Delfins. I was able to register and pay on their website and after a bit of back and forth via email it was confirmed. Jeroen arrived with two foil boards. A small lift3 with an exposed propeller and the large version - a generation 4 lift efoil with a shielded prop.

Learn to fly!

The gear for e-foiling

That exposed propeller scares me….

I’ll admit to being frightened of the exposed propeller and gladly took an impact vest and helmet. Jeroen wanted to test a new controller on the g4, so he sent me out in the smaller unit since I said I’d done it before easily on the bigger version last year. This time it took me quite a while to get the hang of it on the smaller board! The smallest Lift Efoil board under my almost 100kg weight would sink so much that it often lost signal to the controller and would cut out before getting going.

I got better at keeping the board up and getting to my knees and eventually had a few flights. I didn’t come anywhere close to the propeller each time I fell and was very careful with the controller when mounting the board. By then Jeroen was out on the larger board and it was working fine. So we switched boards. 

Jeroen helping me get going…

Not quite getting flying…

I have to mention that the whole time we were using BBTalking headsets similar to the ones Dasher used for my wingfoiling lesson. It makes such a difference being able to talk back and forth with the instructor! Jen even had the headset on for a bit so she and I could chat.

The other fun part was Jeroen enjoyed my limited German so we had a good deal of our conversation auf Deutsch. On the bigger board I got going immediately. The heavier and wider Efoil was so much easier to stand on and get flying. The enclosed propeller doesn’t really have any downsides - it gets going and kept me up on the foil just as well and feeling safer.

I had some great long runs and was quickly at the 45 minute mark of my session. We traded back boards and now I was easily able to get up on the smaller one. The board did cut out on me around 4 times mid flight- I think it was when I got my right hand close to the controller in my left hand, the signal would cut out. 

Happy with my foiling!

All done!

Doing some S turns on my last run

Some fails on the small board then success on the slower big board
Finally some higher speed on the small board

Garmin foil track with a few weird spikes when
I had my hand underwater! (I didn't run aground.)

Google Earth image of my run (edited with no spikes)

I finished with a nice little run back to the pier with my hands far apart. Jen was kind enough to take video for a lot of the session. After some nice high fives Jeroen said I should be proud of myself for getting that smaller board going. „Du kannst stolz sein! Ja ich werde meine Mutter davon erzählen“. Yes I’m proud and will tell my mom! I loved the experience but I'm not sure yet that for the price that it is a perfect solution for teaching people wingfoiling?

Thanks Jeroen for the lesson!

Thanks Jen for the support!

The BBtalking hat

The efoil boards - exposed prop on the smaller left unit

Jen and I then did a little shopping in town, filled up the rental car with $40 USD of gas and started packing. 

Last photo of the day

A little dinner and a moonlit swim in the pool and it was time to set our alarms for our 8am flight back home. 7/8 days on a windsurfer, windfoil or wingfoil. And 1/8 days snorkeling and E-Foiling. 2 great dinners with friends. Jen’s knee rehab going well. Some wingfoil coaching from Dasher. Great food and memories of past family trips. What a great vacation.

Early flight the next morning!