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| RMC in early December... Photo by Craig Butler |
The Session
To be honest, I've had better sessions, but damn, how often can you sail in 10°C air in December! What a treat. It was a bit light to start off, but soon ramped up to decent 4.7. The chop cleans up nicely as it enters the bay, so generally, you either have relatively flat water, or nice small rollers. It's pretty clean, and definitely satisfies a freestylers demands for a nice mix of flat, but with the odd ramp for shove-its and loopage.
Quite bizarre, but I've landed more 540's here than anywhere else, but I'd say I've never landed a single grubby. Something is wrong with me.
One thing that is noteworthy. The rubber. Oh my god the rubber. It is for sure a novelty to sail this late, but in one way, its a huge pain in the ass. All that damn rubber to put on, take off, and generally withstand for the whole session. It makes it very hard to breath, never mind sense where your feet are...
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| Gregger ripping a jibe on the inside. RMC. Photo: Craig Butler |
The RMC Windsurfing Club
The RMC Windsurf Club is situated in the Royal Military College (RMC) in Kingston, sandwiched between the outlet of the Great Cataraqui River to the west, and Navy Bay and Fort Henry to the East. It's a small bay, maybe 250 m wide or so, and tucked away just a bit so the place works best on a southerly, but you can still get out to the main Kingston Harbour on a southwester.
So what is so special about the place? Well, first off, it's actually got a bit of a scene going with lots of keen cadets partaking at any time of the year (consider Mark, another sailor out yesterday, learning waterstarts in ~8°C water). This is quite remarkable for Kingston, where the scene has dwindled to a select few holdouts, including moi. The place is situated on a rocky shoreline, but alas, connect together a whack of floating docks and voila, you have the easiest launch on the planet. Step right on the board and go!!! Now, tack onto that a clubhouse building with rigging space for a couple sails, an anemometer, a hot shower, and a sound system, and BOOM! Deeluxe! It's a pleasure to sail here!
Wanna know what else? It's a club, complete with lots of learning kit, and its open to the public. Talk about a sweet place to learn! I think this website is a bit old, but check it out here: http://www.rmcwindsurfing.com/
Other
I think Greg, Mark and Gen sailed again yesterday, Dec 15. Cranking southerlies again, probably 30kts +. Hardcore for sure! Happy Santa sail guys!
5 comments:
Thank you! Nice to see a blog by a fellow Kingstonian windsurfer. Thanks to the links to the RMC club. I am a middle-aged woman who can't do any jumps etc. but I still love getting out there on my board (not in winter though - my last time out was in September). Talking about rubber - I don't like it either!
Good to hear from you Nancy and a big thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
The jumping isn't for everyone, so long as the fun is there!
Where do you usually sail?
C'mon get back out there...that's why god created drysuits!
If I keep reading these windsurfing blogs it looks like I'm going to have to learn a new language!! But watching you guys and seeing such great pictures sure keeps me coming back!! (And I've always wanted to windsurf, just never jumped in and did it, and now that I'm over 50, not sure if the ole body would stand up to it!!)
Don
http://exposeyourblog.com
Don, don't even think about it, just start! I sail regularly with a guy who is 67...he's no great athlete, but he sails in every condition imaginable. There are guys in their 80s on the water!
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