Plumbing trumps winging…

Getting the plumbing going on the island has been a challenge this year. My copper pipe soldering skills are deficient but eventually after trying 3 times over 3 weeks (and some sharkbite fittings) I got the pipes to stop leaking! But that 3 hour project meant I missed the windy part of the day.

A challenge I finally conquered

I did go out with the 6m Unit wing on the 125l Sky board with the 2000cm foil. I slogged out and back without falling in. 

Thanks Jen for the photo

A little GPS trail

The water was already warm in the water heater I’d just turned on so I enjoyed my first post session shower of the season. Jen and I went for an evening walk and enjoyed the sunset.

Later that night after the boys arrived we were treated to the best northern lights I’ve ever seen.

Some great wing foilers at Sunset Beach

After yesterday’s great session I wasn’t really expecting another. The Sunset foilers chat was active with guys planning on hitting the water as the wind switched to NW around 1pm.

I stopped and checked out the iWindsurf station at Sunset Beach park right near the Chippery restaurant. The guys were rigging closer to the surf spot.

iWindsurf weather station

It looked promising…

At 9 knots I wasn’t expecting much and rigged the 7m Slick with the 1500 foil. The air was colder so I was in my 5/4 suit. I got out on the water and 3/5 guys were consistently foiling. I managed to get up on the foil for one 200m run before the wind shut down and we all slogged back in.

Greg? shredding before I headed out

My one little run showing red hot speed!

Whoop whoop 200 meters of foiling!

There was some debate about the wind coming up again and Tom and Greg rigged up bigger gear. I waded out when they did but it was really too light for me. Greg did get going consistently which was awesome to watch and a bit humbling. 

Greg absolutely getting it together in the light wind.
I don’t think it is just the downwind board and big foil…

I had a 7m as well but there was no chance I was getting going. Oh well, hope to get some more back up north next week. 

Jen and I did a ton of gardening and then enjoyed Blue Mountain’s springlicisous dinner promotion at Copper Blues.

Wingfoiling the clear waters of Georgian Bay

I drove all the way north to Meaford but the predicted SE wind didn’t appear. It was a nice sunny day and I was feeling good about checking out the model railway club auction in the morning and then cutting the lawn and getting some other house stuff done.

Nice clear water off Northwinds beach

I decided to drive back towards home and was excited to find that there was now wind at Northwinds beach! It looked gusty 8-18 knots from the SE. Basically side shore. I rigged up the new 6m Dutone unit wing and put that on the 125 L Sky board with the 1500 foil underneath.

My home beach!

I headed out and got going on my first run. Then I slogged a little bit for a while. I wondered whether I missed the wind, but then it came back and was actually quite strong although gusty for the next hour. The air temperature varied quite a bit - I could feel warm air where it had obviously been heated up over land - and then a cold blast where the air had spent some time over Notawasaga Bay.

Halfway through my session, I was joined by another wingfoiler, who I later learned was Kevin. We were having a great time enjoying the very clear 12°C cold water.

I had my polarized sunglasses on so I could see the rocks underneath me. Every once in a while I got worried by the limestone rocks below. I would jump off just to find out if I was in danger of hitting. Of the 10 times I thought the water was shallow, only one time could I actually touch the rock underneath with my feet. I would have easily cleared even that one with a non-planing foil. I certainly wouldn’t have hit any being up on the foil. 

Vanessa dropped by the beach with a sleeping baby and took some photos and video from shore! I only did two runs where I went out past the little island - I was a bit worried about having a breakdown especially if the wind shifted from side to offshore.

Thanks Vanessa for the photos!

A long way out there!

Thanks Vanessa for the jibe video

My tacks were pretty solid and my jibes were feeling very good. I had one stretch where I went 5km without even touching down. My top speed was 16 knots / 30 km/h. I think that is my fastest speed ever foiling.

Full session GPS trail

Lots of jibes

Getting a close view of the island!

A nice long stretch in the middle
15 minutes - 6cm without a touchdown!

I was having a ball and even tried knee foiling! I had said my wife I would be back on shore by 5 o’clock. The time had flown by and I realized it was now 4:58!

Back on shore at 5:05pm

I headed back and took some pictures of Kevin as he was coming in. We chatted on the beach for a while and realized we had a fair bit in common. His brother lives right near me. Looking forward to more days at Northwinds beach although Kevin said today was actually a fairly rare warm foil day in Collingwood. Summers here are unreliable for wind.

Photos of Kevin heading back in!

Pretty good zoom on my iPhone 15+

Kevin coming into shore

Turns out Kevin lives just across the street. As I was driving out of the parking lot he was crossing highway 26 carrying his board and backpack with his deflated wing home. Cool.

4.4km Friday Wingfoil

I only had a few minutes after Geoffrey and I worked together to (mostly) fix the island plumbing to head out for a quick session in the gusty Southwest wind.

Heading up the channel

And out to the bay
Thanks Michelle for the photos!

Some really satisfying jibes!

Surprisingly good top speeds
naturally always on my heelside runs

Wing foiling really is the superior sport in gusty wind. I managed to plane through a bunch of lulls. I had the 7m Duotone Slick wing and was using my new 1500 cm Duotone front foil. That foil is likely going to become my favourite. Super easy to get going on and smooth coasting through the jibes. I also noticed that it easily gets me to the max speed I’ve been achieving foiling which is currently 14 knots.

The 7m was a bit of a handful in the gusts that were from 7 to 20+ knots. Maybe that’s why I got such good top speed?

Looking back to three years ago when I was starting and had a struggle to get up through my channel on a south east wind. Today was super easy. Jumped from the dock onto the board, pumped and was foiling on the first run. I didn’t fall in at all on the way upwind and out to the Bay. I needed to do a couple of low speed pivot jibes then eventually was jibing and even did one foiling tack on my way up the channel.

Once out in the Bay, I was enjoying a few really nice jibes, even pointing my fingers through them like I learned from Andy Brandt in Hatteras.

The biggest issue was the tight 5/4 wetsuit which had my forearms aching. Maybe I did too much hammering yesterday on the shed? 

I should have taken the extra minute to attach the harness lines. Oh well next time. It felt really good to get out on the water. My fall trying a heelside tack into the 11°C water wasn’t bad at all. The air was 13C.

Lots of data from the Tempest weather station

I got back to the dock, had a quick sandwich, packed up the gear and headed back to Collingwood for the weekend.