2010 Resolutions....

While I really don't believe in these, especially around New Years, I do have some goals for 2010. These kinda stem from a recent forum thread on WindsurfCanada.com.

Definitely a few goals.

In the trick department, I have really stagnated the last couple of years. Perhaps this is since I'm spreading myself and time on the water a bit too thin for bagging some of these relatively difficult and unusual moves. I'm also extremely out of shape.

In the big scheme of things, these tricks aren't actually considered that hard anymore. That doesn't mean they are easy in any sense, but I'm getting old dammit... and these into the wind rotation moves are a whole new bag of worms.

Not yet decided, but 2010 is the year for at least one of these flat-water freestyle moves:
- Flakas (here's a link to a pretty in-depth article on the commitment and learning curve on this one, care of Boardseeker.com)(Oh, and here is the original Swayze by the inventor Web pedrick)
- Shakas (While I wish I could say I've made progress on these since this absolute fluke claim in New Zealand, I cannot.)
- hell, I'll even take Goiters... (or Ponches, I suppose is what they are called in the freestyle world)

Apparently, analysis by a sailing buddy Amine Fadous from Montreal while in Hatteras a couple of years ago, suggests that my flaka attempts look a lot more like goiter/ponch attempts... so hey, maybe I should just go with the flow...

And aerials:
- one handed forwards (Here is a nice one by Albeau)
- port-side forwards
- pushloops (Here's a nice basic one by Gollito, care of Continent Seven)

Alright then, on a different perspective, here are a few other things:
- Start gradually widening my footstraps, both for better ability to get over the centreline (apparently important for flakas), and also to reduce the chance of screwing up my ankles.
- Go a notch longer with harness lines and accordingly raise the boom a notch as well. I tend to ride with a fairly low boom... which probably makes it a bit harder to get weight on the mast and middle of the board for, again, those damn flakas.
- Keep experimenting with smaller FS fins. I wrote a wee stubby-fin analysis way back when about my take on stubby cut-down fins, but I think it is time to re-evaluate - especially since my new ride came with a gem - a nice 20cm MFC FS Pro UL.

And finally, I hope to write a couple articles for magazine submission, topics to remain nameless until they actually get published. Or more accurately stated: IF they get published...

So, that's it folks... Those are my goals. Let's see what the year brings. What about you?

Pansy-ism.

OK, I made up this word. But I think it adequately describes what is happening to me. I'm turning into a pansy.

Monday was absolutely ripping. Probably 25-30kts from the south in the afternoon, and 8°C. Not too shabby. Once upon a time I would have jumped all over that, suited up and made the most of it.

Well, unfortunately I am reporting that the on-set of pansy-ism has firmly taken a stronghold on my psyche for cold-weather sailing. I didn't even consider it.

I guess I have to admit that a few other minor factors were weighing in:
- All my gear is in storage in Watertown, NY.
- I currently don't own a single boom.
- The bays are covered in ice.
- It was pissing rain with snow-melt and the sewers were bypassing something fierce.

So, I guess I couldn't really have gone if I wanted to.... but c'mon! - I should have at least been thinking about it!! ;)

2010 Kit

I managed to convince my financial advisor that I absolutely NEED some new gear since the old stuff, quite frankly, didn't work anymore...

Success!

Fedex is due to arrive any day now, with some brand spanky new stuff. It's going to be a long four months til Hatteras.

Update: It's here!
I love the green beast. Can't wait to try it.

Coverage.

Basically being a hack, I'm pretty stoked if and when I get any kind of media coverage whatsoever. This time, a little article showed up in PlancheMag... That's me in the tiny photo in the bottom left corner. Kudo's to Pierre Morneau from Montreal who also got the two photos next to mine... and Nic Chapleau for taking the shots!

Big Swell

Holy Crap! Not being located anywhere near a coastline, I don't pay much attention to this stuff, but couldn't resist posting this link:

StormSurf North Pacific Wave Model

Especially pertinent today and for the next few days, as it would appear that the Hawaiian Islands are about to get a right hammering.
Can't wait to check out some of the footage!! Bring it on! [says the arm-chair athlete]

(thanks for the heads up Beach Telegraph!).

... and for those kooks who are out of the loop, or just don't procrastinate enough, check out the most recent addition of the Windsurfer International.

Last kick at the can...

It's getting cold out there, real cold.

Actually, believe it or not, its not that bad yet, but I think the weather is finally supposed to go 'seasonal' by the end of the week, with the first smathering of snowfall on Thursday.

But, we did score one more decent one at Sandbanks last Friday. I took half the day off and drove myself out to Picton to meet up with Ilan, Pierre and JF Lemay. I extracted them from the allure of the beach and dragged them off to Mac's, despite what appeared to be pretty tiny little waves. Sure enough though, the wind ramped up to a reasonable 30-35kts for the afternoon and we feasted on 3-5ft waves. Not epic in the sense of true epicity (is that a word?), but a blast none the less, and well worth the trip. Mostly head-high rides, but once again, the wave wrapping that happens there just gives it enough twist to get to reasonable side-shore conditions. I think the best wave I saw was Pierre getting about 6-8 nice turns all the way into the wind doldrums near shore. Ilan's wave riding is improving all the time. Ilan is on a solid no-skunk-yet record for Sandbanks, so if he is going to make the trip all the way from Montreal, chalk it down for a guaranteed quality session.

A few photos, care of Ilan...





But alas, it is time to dry out the equipment, pull out the parka's and snow shovels, cuz here comes winter!

Clear Out!

Equipment for sale / a vendre (Kingston, ON)

Sails/Voiles:
• 2008 Goya W3D 5.3 - Good Condition (red, rigs on a 430). $350

• 2008 Goya W3D 4.1 – Excellent Condition (black, rigs on a 370/400). $350

Masts / mât:
• 2008 Goya RDM 430 – Good Condition, with bag. $300

Booms:
• 2009 211 Components (Goya proto) 140-190 Alloy boom – Very Good Condition. $100


Photos available on request. Packages or complete rigs are a possibility. Make an offer and I'll consider.
Contact Mike/Fish at fishinator@hotmail.com

Blue

Wow! I have never seen blue on the windguru maps before, probably a testament to where I live.

Check this out: http://lostinhatteras.blogspot.com/

Andy McKinney from SailWorld Hatteras is reporting a very nutty week coming right up in Cape Hatteras!

Definitely a great blog from the Cape that we Canadians all like to invade every spring. Take a look.

Here's a direct link to the insane windguru forecast

That's gonna shake them vacation homes real good.

SessionLogs - Check it out...

Ever want to show off your best epic sessions?
Check out this application, developed by one of my old kiwi mates back in New Zealand. It has recently gone global! Well done Chris!
Consider signing up and logging your sessions! It's not only for windsurfing either - pick a sport and show off your photos and videos.
SessionLogs

3 nukes this year.

We've had 3 occasions this year to own a 3.0! Impressive. I usually consider myself lucky if I can use my 3.7 once or twice a year. I love the high wind stuff, so this has been a treat for sure!

Halloween was another very windy day. Unfortunately, I could not get my motivation up, sufficient to overcome the dismal morning rains to drive out to Sandbanks... which is where I should have been sailing. Alas, I had Bob the Builder and Wendy waiting for me to go trick-or-treating, so no way I was going to miss that for anything.

Sailed here in town with the locals:
1 hour on 4.1 in strong southerlies at Everitt, and rain...
1 hour on 4.1 in strong, but dropping southwesterlies at Patterson Park...
1 hour on 3.7 maxed, in very strong westerlies at Emily St.

I'd say it's been a reasonable fall - but definitely hoping for more!!

Sorry, no photos...

Igloos and PFD's forever... eh?!

If there is ever any doubt why windsurfers still need to wear PFD's in Canada, here is a quote from recent correspondence with Transport Canada:

"The issue of PFDs for sailboards was discussed during the regulatory consultation periods of 2002 and 2005. At that time, there was a great deal of discussion surrounding the matter. The sailboarding community itself is split on the subject. The Canadian Yachting Association, the governing body for windsurfing competitions in Canada, and other boating organizations have declared their position that all vessels should indeed carry flotation devices. As a result Transport Canada has decided not to repeal the requirements for PFDs to be carried on sailboards."

One of the first things that may pop into your head is the simple question - why are windsurfers regulated by Transport Canada in the first place? I guess they are worried about all those windsurfers who cart contraband cigarettes back and forth across the Great Lakes. MMmmm, soggy wet cigarettes. Who needs those when you can get a $10 bag'o'smokes in Tyendinaga, right on the way to Sandbanks?.

Another question: Is the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) really the governing body for windsurfing competitions in Canada? I don't know the answer to this. Racing maybe? Freestyle, wave sailing? Not that I know of - there ARE no competitions for that in this country. From my perspective, the CYA obviously doesn't know shit about windsurfing. How much of the windsurf population actually races? Secondly, aside from MAYBE running an odd race, does the CYA even recognize that there is a difference between a sailboard and a yacht? Let's see, a quick comparison: You can be inebriated, dressed in a T-shirt in winter and a non-swimmer on one, and on the other you cannot.

Note that the most recent (2009) revisions to the Small Vessel Regulations, have left essentially the same requirements in place. In summary: PFD's are still mandatory... and you better wear it, otherwise you need that paddle, 15m of rope and a sack of flares. Sure, no problem, I'll just stow those items in the trunk. I've been asking Quatro to make me a custom Canadian board, complete with trunk and built in cooler, but no dice.

I definitely look forward to the $255 opportunity to get hauled up on an OPP boat. I certainly know what I am going to do. The minute an OPP boat sneaks up and instructs me to hop on board their boat to collect the ticket: "Officer, I am sorry, but I can't swim."

Gnarly Launches

I scored a nice, but cold little dawn patrol session at Everitt Park in Kingston on Saturday. The air was warm, but we've had a couple weeks of abnormally cold temps for October and the lake is now on the cusp of foot numbness, which experience tells me is about 10 or 11C. I reckon one more week and I will have to succumb to booties. Yech... But a small price to pay to keep sailing the often stronger winds we get in the late fall.

This brings me to a topic of the day. Gnarly launches. Kingston has its fair share of nasty launches. I mean, I guess they aren't THAT bad, but they are definitely hard on the feet. Being very anti-booty, the launches here can really take their toll on one's feet.

- Emily St - the old-school primary Kingston launch is bad. For Emily St, it is the rock size that kills you. Too small to step on, but too big to feel nice, all topped off with a generous helping of algae. Walking the gear out at Emily St is a royal pain in the ass, with definite trip potential and even twist-your-ankle potential, not to mention slice potential by the damn zebra mussels. Good thing it is not a very long walk - about 5m or so and your off and going.

- Everitt - Oh man, this place is sometimes easy, sometimes hard. Either way, you definitely think twice about coming to shore to make that wee tweak to your outhaul. The problem? Very flat, slick Kingston limestone, mostly big coherent slab, but with cracks that are often filled with those pesky razor-sharp zebra mussels and also coated with that nice slime layer that makes it slicker than ice. Argh!! It would not be so bad, if it were not for the current and 5-6 second period waves that hit you over and over, and slowly drag you down-wind into the bay. Basically, coming in post-session entails sliding along the slippery slab until your feet can grip on those zebra-mussel filled cracks. Joy!

OK, I bet there are lots of stories of gnarly launches way worse than here. Got any? Despite the fact Kingston has some not-so-comfy entries, I think in my experience, what takes the cake by miles is Pungarehu in Taranaki, New Zealand, home of the Taranaki Wave Classic. It just so happens to be going off right now!! Best of luck to my old Welly mates Gary and James!

First off, Punga's is a port tack spot. While about 50% of people out there are pleased with that, unfortunately for me, I lack any experience on that tack and really struggled with the waves there. Note to self - travel more!!

To be honest, I only sailed Pungarehu once in fact, during my NZ stay, and holy shit, what a brutal spot to launch. The wave is one of the best in the world, but the launch is one of the worst. I think I launched at low-tide, probably making matters worse. The walk is about ~50m or so, across gritty volcanic rocks ranging from 0.5 to 2 feet in diameter. So, it was a mix of stepping on, and stepping between the sharp rocks to make progress - and progress was VERY slow. Stepping in between was troublesome, since it is hard to move the gear through without dragging the sail tip or boom on the sharp rocks. I've never been so battered in my life.

I distinctly remember one particularly ingenious local. He end his session at the same time as me and we were walking out together His trick? Keep an old pair of steel-toed construction boots handy, for the walk out, and the walk back. Brilliant!

Oh yeah, Lanes in Maui is a good one. After launching there once, my buddy who had lived there for a while gave me some solid advice: "You're an idiot," he said "Only Art launches there..." If you like the crunch of urchins beneath your feet, give it a shot!

Got any gnarly launch stories?

Some big NorEasters?

Models are all over the map at the moment: NAM12 suggesting southerly/westerly while GFS and others showing big NE. I think the NorEaster's will win this one...

So, were does a Kingstonite, stuck in a big N/NE wind shadow, go to score some good conditions? It's getting far too late in the season to just sit on the bench!

Maybe Quebec City - that place apparently gets real fun on big NE, but a very looong 6hr drive.

Windy. Funny how we wind slaves comb the internet for all these weather models in hopes for the next blast. More funny perhaps how we seem to neglect all the other weather components: Frigid and rainy, i.e. nasty. Should be fun!

Wednesday Sandbanks Video

Another great video by Nic Chapleau, capturing the fun conditions.

Link for full size

Sandbanks Windsurfing Oct 7th,2009 from Nicolas Chapleau on Vimeo.

Damn, that was fun!

Holy crap... Just had one of the best wave-riding sessions of my life.

Sandbanks again, surprise surprise. This place is THE best wave sailing spot in mainland Ontario/Quebec no doubt.

I did a real early shift and was there by 7:30. The waves looked pretty disappointing to start, but there was potential. Mac's looked lame, so I went to Outlet Beach. It was also pretty marginal, but all of a sudden, ramped up to nuclear. Rigged 3.7 and played around, or should I say, got spanked around, in building waves and winds 30 gusting 40. It sapped a lot of my strength, and was not the best call, since it was practically on-shore. A few others were out too, and eventually it was the 3.0's and 3.2's that dominated the spot. Everyone else was getting spit out.

One knob tried to launch a kite in that, and was swiftly rejected. I reckon he was pretty lucky to get out of that idiocy unscathed... but what do I know about kiting...

Ilan, Jack and I popped up to Mac's, and lots of the Quebec gang was already there! At MY spot!! I don't even know why I bother going to the beach anymore. Mac's is the best spot at Sandbanks, no doubt about it... hence i like to call it my spot.

It really surprised me. Again, out on 3.7, maxed, but with much less shorebreak and infinitely more rideable waves... coming in in sweet sets, up to mast high I'm guessing. First run out was probably the best waveride of my life. Nothing fancy, just down-the-line bomb with about 6 or 7 solid gouges on the waveface... I've never had a wave that good in all my life, Maui, Hatteras, Oz, NZ, you name it. Best wave ever. I think it was just luck, but those types of waves kept rolling in, and it was the best session I can remember in a long time. Lots of powered bottom turns followed by slashy and carvey top-turns.

Props again to the Quebec and Ottawa gangs for some great times. With luck, there might be some video and maybe some photos.

I'll be dreaming about this one for a while.

Sandbanks is yummy.

It has been a long time coming, but everything lined up for an epic near-classic Sandbanks day. The directions were not all that perfect, but it just goes to show that Sandbanks has a good lot of variety to it and just being so exposed to the big part of the lake, can deliver challenging conditions and nice waves - you just gotta go to the right spot!

Well, Mac's was the right spot. Could have had a bit more West in it, but that is splitting hairs. It was awesome. The wind ramped up around 2pm to a juicy 30-40kts from the Southwest. It was a mad rig-down frenzy as people rigged smaller and smaller. In the end, I was maxed out on the 3.7, while others were around the same size and smaller, down to 3.2. The waves on the outside got pretty damn large. It was an interesting mixture of messy choppy, interspersed regularly with big meaty mast-high sets coming through, enough to produce beautiful flat jibing areas on the wave faces and between. On the inside, it got interesting. As I said, a bit more angle to it and it would have been a touch more smackable, but it was still awesome. If you were in the right spot, you could get a handful of turns, perhaps sometimes even more. A smaller-than-average Ottawa and Quebec contingent made the trip this time, but all these guys are fun, and solid solid sailors. It was a pleasure to sail the spot with such a good gang, and there was a great vibe all around.

Needless to say, the lack of sailing lately is definitely showing up in my abilities, control and confidence. It was a battle to sail that long (I think I must have sailed at least 4-5 solid hours in the end), but I was dead tired by the end and slept like a log (after barely making a dark, rainy & ugly drive home). To top that off, being juiced on a 3.7 is not exactly my best scenario for trying tricks. I tried a few back loops, a couple pushies and forwards, but I don't think I landed anything but a few out of control shove-its. Near the end in fact, I was so tired I was barely able to make any top-turns without losing grip on the sail.

Amazing. Epic. You name it. Days like this make you realize why we windsurfers endure those long windless spells, just waiting for these amazing days to come along. Epic Sandbanks, strong winds and warm weather: More please!!

... and a great video done by Nic Chapleau!

Not the vacation I was hoping for...

Well, that wraps up 2 weeks of the worst vacation ever, by vacation standards. We were off to Montreal and the Quebec City areas for one week just to do some camping with our family, relax and get outdoors for a while. Well, three days in and Bradley has an awkward fall in a play park and busts his little femur. Poor little guy. Anyway, we spend the next 10 days confined to a hospital in the west end of Quebec City while Bradley enjoys the pleasures of traction. He was casted last Thursday, but unfortunately, things are not set right and he will need to endure some more traction, probably, and get recasted. Thankfully, at least we are back home in Kingston now.

Hatteras in the spring for 2 weeks - hopefully that one will be better. Stoked to get the boys on board.



UPDATE: The doc here in Ktown says the situation ain't so bad. Apparently, about 20% of most femur cast jobs need resetting after a couple of weeks. Next week, they will do another X-ray, and then likely redo the cast at a better angle. Anyway, good news is that there is no delay to his healing and no need for more traction. Time for a case of beer... Parenting is frickin' stressful.

SUP or Big-Fatty?

Just looking for a few opinions. I've got these wee twin boys you see, who are nearing 3yrs old and I'm keen to get them out on the front of a board with me, here and there when the conditions suit (i.e. light, flat & shallow).

At the moment, I would never invest in a SUP just for myself, BUT, I certainly wouldn't mind playing around with one. The main purpose though is for family sailing. So, is the big wide 200L-ish beginner board the better bet, or a padded SUP? I would think that the beginner wide-style board would offer a lot better ease of introduction of the kids, and anyone else for that matter, to the sport, but the SUP would have that bit of extra bonus for me, and I bet my wife too would take an interest. Both is not an option.

Any thoughts?

The heavy-weight contenders:
In this corner, weighing in at a girthy 13.5kg and standing at a height of 280cm tall and spanning a massive width of 85cm: the big, the bloated, the incredibly stable... "Goya Surf".

AND, in the opposing corner, wearing the stark grey paint job and cushy EVA padding, weighing in at a wee 11.3kg, but dwarfing all who dare oppose him at whopping 345cm in height: the long, the slim, the cruisy... Quatro 11'4" SUP!

Ding ding ding!!

Four Dimensions

Check out the Four Dimensions Trailer. Looks like some neat angles and cinematography a la Matrix.

http://www.fourdimensionsmovie.com/

Windsurfer International

Check out this new on-line Windsurf Journal. Pretty sweet!