Wellington, and why it rocks.

It's been a long time since I spent 2 years in Wellington, New Zealand and I don't think a day has gone by without missing the place.  Not only is Wellington amazing, but the whole country is stunning.  If you're into outdoorsy stuff, it is a damn fine place to be.

So, leave it to the guys there to produce a really nice windsurfing video about sailing in Wellington.  Check it out.  The spots are great and the sailors are solid.

Direct link:  http://vimeo.com/60047363

Quatro Quad LS 78: An Amateur's Review

Going to try to take the time to walk people through my first impressions of my spanky new Quatro Quad LS 78.  First off, Quatro is a sponsor. There, disclosure.  Regardless, I'm going to review this board in my most honest way possible, and I'll tell you now before you even get very far in this, I've got absolutely nothing bad to say.

First, a big thanks to Keith Teboul and Levi Siver for creating what so far appears to be magical board.  I don't quite understand how they made this board do what it does.

Anyway, this is my review... and keep in mind I'm not a pro, but an advanced sailor, 170lbs, and I sail 3.7 to 5.3 in anything from flattish water, through bump & jump and into side-onshore to side-shore waves (when the stars align, like they happen to do on Saturday).  I've had two outings on it so far.

Outing 1:  Gusty 5.3 B&J.  
Sailed in Kingston harbour on Friday afternoon.  It was gusty.  Sometimes on, sometimes off.  Mainly sailing the 5.3 and freestyle board, and truth be told, the conditions were making me a bit bored.  So, I came out about to pack it up, disappointed that it never seemed to have ramped up any more or solidified.  Sure enough, some gusts came through before I had the rubber off and I thought, fuck it, gotta try the new Quad.  A disclaimer here - I have NEVER ridden a sub 80L board with a 5.3.  So, I guess I never really thought it would or could feel good with the 78, but hey, it was gusting, so what the hell.  Plugged 'er in and off I went. Planed off the rocky beach and almost instantly, the board/sail combo felt OK.  I immediately dug in and went on a major upwind trajectory, swung a few hard upwind/downwind cuts to get the feel.  Obviously, I wasn't going to be able to give it the work-out I had hoped, but I did get about 4-5 quick runs during that gust, and already, I was very impressed.  As I said, super-natural upwind ability, and holy crap did the thing like to cut hard turns.  Got a few small backside cuts on waves and wow.

Anyway, out of that 10min of sailing, I found out that a) it didn't feel like 78L, more like mid-80's, b) it flew upwind and c) it enjoys being cut and turned hard.  I even shlogged a couple times, and it wasn't like my 76L 2008 single fin that was either going or sinking, it seems to have a low gear and the board can be shlogged without submarining to the bottom of Lake O.  Just seemed like somehow the volume was in the right place.  First impression: two big thumbs up already, and that was just B&J.

Was it slow?  Not in the least.  Who says Quads are slow?

Was it sticky?  Not at all... It jumped when I wanted it to jump and stuck when I wanted it to stick.

Outing 2:  Ripping 25-40kts, side/side-on waves at Mac's.
A perfect day.  The wind ramped up from 20-25kts up to 35+, gusting 40 I am guessing.  I was the first to show up at Mac's.  I could see in the distance lots of kooks down at the beach and wondered what the hell anyone was doing down there...  but then again, I love Mac's, and I'll take foot high front-side over 5-10ft backside any day of the week.  A sailor from Quebec showed up and we agreed to sail at Mac's together, and then gradually more folks started showing up, including my good buddy Craig.  You could tell the sailing was marginal at first, a bit off-shore, but you know that's what makes the place work, especially when you truck 500m upwind to the Pocket, a little embayment with lower trees overland that lets the wind in and has more wave wrapping.  And, it was supposed to pick up that afternoon.

So, threw on the 4.7 Eclipse with the 78LS.  Craig rigged his 5.0/86 Freewave.  Craig is an upwind machine, and to date, I've never come close to being able to follow him, usually since I am on the smallest gear possible and small freestyle fins, but also cuz he is damn good at going upwind!  Not this time.  I went out first, got things tuned up a bit with a few runs near the launch, came in, adjusted the footstraps and ditched the GoPro.  Craig had already been out for 5-10min and was already working his way up to the Pocket, so I did the same.  Now - I don't know if he was already giving up on the upwind and coming back down or not, but I lapped him on one tack. I have never in my life gone so far upwind so fast.  In the end, it took me just two long tacks and I was up where I wanted to be, and this was where the waves are happening.

Oh my lord, then the board started to shine.  Now I know for a fact I'm not hacking the wave apart like Levi or Teboul, but it sure felt like I was.  I was up there in the Pocket by myself for about 1/2hr before Joe joined me.  Lots of waves with lots of turns.  Some were logo-high with 8-10 frontside cuts some were 5-6, some were 1 or 2, chest high, but damn, the board was doing what I wanted it to do, nice sharp turns, no cutting loose, no edge digging, no kookery was going down.  Do I attribute that to the board?  Yes, for sure, to some extent.  I've never been able to as easily link so many turns than I did on that day.

At first, I was moderately powered with the 4.7, and then it started to notch up.  It got to be too much to handle and I was having troubles holding on with the backhand on the topturns.  So, deciding to rig down, I picked up the biggest cleanest wave I could find, and that turned out to be the longest ride of my life.  Must've milked that wave for 20 turns + and found myself back at the launch.  I'd just ridden a wave 500m, give or take, downwind and just kept turning and turning.  Wow.

The wind continued to pick up and I went through the 4.2 quickly, then down to the 3.7.  By that time, I was tired, so I never made it back up to the Pocket, but shit, the waves were good enough right by the launch so I, along with everyone else, just feasted right there.

So, how was the board with the 4.7, 4.2 and 3.7.  Perfect - through the whole range.  Board never felt too big or too small.  Somehow, and this is the magical part, it just sailed great, even when maxed on the 3.7, just like the previous day, even when in marginal 5.3 B&J.  That's what I mean by magic.  I don't know how else to describe it.  The range is impressive.

Conclusions:
In the end, I had lots of reservations about the Quads, and was heavily leaning towards the Thruster at first.  Thanks to some positive opinions from Amine Fadous, Dan Thomson and Allenwood, I dove in to the Quad concept and I have zero regrets now.  Most of what you read out there suggests they really only shine in side-shore conditions and don't have a lot of positive to say in non-ideal conditions, but I'd like to offer a contrary opinion.  If you like to turn hard, if you like a playful board, if you like a board with wide-range, try a Quatro Quad LS, I doubt you'll regret it.... and then as a bonus on those really nice wave days, you'll feel like a f$%&ing superstar!

http://quatrointernational.com/boards/production/windsurfing/quad-ls/

Photos by Craig Butler.

And as a bonus, here's a shot of Amine and Pierre trading off on a Mac's wave:

Too bad the photos never do the waves justice...

... and some more photos from Craig:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wavespirephoto/sets/72157631733940653/show/

The boys and the SUP!

My kids have made leaps and bounds with their swimming this year.  Along with that comes a lot more water time which of course, I love.  We spent last weekend at my bro's cottage on Buckshot Lake, up near Plevna, Ontario.  It's a beautiful lake, but like most cottage-sized lakes, it's smaller and hence the wind that actually makes it down onto the water for sailing is gusty and very messy.

Nevertheless, we had some wind, and we got to sail!  And that includes my dad, brother, neice and myself... and my boys.  I rigged up my 5.3 Eclipse with my fat standup board (with custom attachment for a handle on the nose), and did some puttering with the boys.  Very happy to see that they are enjoying it, and more than that, pretty happy to bail off the board too!

Extra props to my Dad, still ripping the slalom ski at 71.  The only one as well who can start on one ski off the beach behind my bro's tired 70HP Evinrude!

Here's a GoPro clip of Bradley and I.  Somewhat long and unedited...  I've got another one with Jalen and one with my nephew Mark, hopefully I can put together a small highlight reel soon.

Youtube versions of Jalen, then Bradley.  Jalen does a nice dismount at 2:32.

Bradley's highlights are at 1:36 (wipeout) and 3:40 to 4:10, with the 10 point dismount ;)

Figuring out this GoPro Thang...

I built a cheap tail mount for my GoPro, which hasn't seen a whole lot of action yet... so I am trying to learn how to use my video editing software, and figure out where the best mounting points are.  Unfortunately, we've had not so much wind, so I've only played with the boom tail mount.  Keen to try a mast mount next.

Annual Pilgrimage

I haven't posted in a long time... perhaps since I haven't sailed in a long time.

Looking forward to 2 weeks in Hatteras for a lot of reasons!  Staying oceanfront week 1 in Avon, then heading to Rodanthe for week 2, soundfront.  It's gonna be sweet!

Bring on the wind!

Too much rubber.... can't breath....

Probably sailed my last session of 2011.  Decent day for December, a couple weeks ago - almost 10°C and wind about 20-25kts from the south.  Sailed at RMC with my buddy Greg, a virtual spa for windsurfing.  Other clubs should take note of how awesome this place is.

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...

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!

Weekend was a ripper!

Killer weekend. Finally. The shite year-of-sucky-wind seems like a long time ago after this past weekend.

Saturday: 35-45kts SW. Sailed Mac's at Sandbanks. Not as clean as I've seen it, but love sailing op'ed 3.7 since that extra power is helpful in getting back at the wave for a smack.

Sunday: 25kts ish, WSW. Sailed Mac's a bit again, but tired from Saturday. This fat ass is a bit much for 4.7 on a 76L waveboard.

Monday: 30-45kt treat, WSW. Sailed Emily St in Kingston with my old mates for a change. Great times! Started off in solid 4.2 in building waves, then nuked to op'ed 3.7 again and the place just lit up. Big rollers for jibing on the outside, making them oh-so-smooth, then legit frontside waves on the inside for 1 or 2 hits full power. Loved it!

Thanks to Craig Butler for the photos.  Some more of his are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wavespirephoto/

Sandbanks:

Emily Street:

I smell a good weekend...

Yes, those lines are black... SWEET!

'Rip'-hood to Fatherhood - The whole thing.

Here is the complete Rip-hood to Fatherhood article, as per my previous 3 posts, but available as a much easier to read PDF. Enjoy.

LINK

'Rip'-hood to Fatherhood Part 3/3

Well, this is the last of it. If you've enjoyed the write-up, let me know in the comments please. Feedback appreciated.

My day so far

Great forecast, long wind-drought, left-over vacation time...

Here's my day, and I hate to say that this is only "so far"... because I am a sucker for self-abuse.



Yes, that is how I like to use up my left-over vacation time.

Update:

Home with beer in hand, shotgun in lap ;)

Skunk number 3. Sucker for punishment. I am officially done chasing shit. I'm going to pack the kite stuff from now on.

'Rip'-hood to Fatherhood Part 2/3

Part deux is here. Check it out!

'Rip'-hood to Fatherhood Part 1/3

Sorry about the .jpg format - can't think of any better way to do it!
Any suggestions? Blogger formatting capabilities are pretty weak.

Anyway, enjoy...








Part 2/3 coming soon.... To Delivery, and Beyond!

Some day....

Some day we'll get some wind and I can post something again. For now it would all have to be woodworking topic (built an outdoor shower), web browsing, and some stand-up paddling.

Coming soon... part 1 of an article on Parenthood vs. Windsurfing. Guess who wins?

Memories of Hatteras

Not a whole lot of action around here to speak of, so just have to rely on my memory of windsurfing being a fun sport with a photo to prove it! Thanks for the photo Steve! Check out some of Steve's other work here.

Oh yeah, Father's Day camping weekend at Sandbanks was great! No wind, but lots of sand all over.

Nope, this is not me on the purple kite... I swear.

I'm not sure how kiting will fit into my world, especially around Kingston (now that we've been spoiled by shallow water & warm Hatteras conditions), but it is fun, and very different.

This is a shot of me during about my 3rd hour of water time with the kite. After about 2-3hrs on the water, I was semi-managing to stay upwind, turning to toe-side, and shlogging through some 'jibes' (if that is what they are called in this shorts-over-wetsuit world of kiteboarding). Yes, I am still a windsurfer and feel like I need to continue taking shots at teabaggers ;)

All in all, great trip to Hatteras. First week we stayed in Avon with Amine Fadous and family from Montreal. Had great wind most of the week culminating with a great ocean-side sail at Ramp30. Second week we were up in Rodanthe for the first time, with Peter Williamson and family from Ottawa. For sure a bit less variation for windsurfing (a bit too shallow, resulting in a bad shoulder check to the sand bottom), but far superior for kiting. This gave Cheryl and I a chance to play! I'd say we had wind enough for either sport probably about 12/14 days. Nice.

A few things can be said for the (mainly Ottawa-based) kiting community that surrounded us up in Rodanthe - they are super helpful, super friendly and always willing to give pointers to beginners. Cheryl and I both felt immensely safe learning in that environment, and we owe a big thanks for the many launches, relaunches, good vibes, words of encouragement, and rescues in the Pamlico Sound.

Update May 16 - Here is a great photo compilation of the Ottawa crew up in Rodanthe by Steve Slaby! Great work Steve!
http://www.vimeo.com/23769102

Fun on the sound...

Wish I had some shots of Ramp30 action, but unfortunately I have none. Had a great time with Amine at Ramp30 on Thursday - blowing about 30-35, sailed a 4.2 for some extra grunt in the impact zone. I find sailing ocean side in Hatteras is ALWAYS a big challenge - it's always a bit holey on the inside leaving you for dead just when you need to be planing. Playing on the waves more to the inside always leaves you questioning how early you should be bailing.

Took some early breaks after some major kookery, but then managed to get somewhat of a groove on and made fewer mistakes. Fun times. Had some nice 3-4 turn waves with a few aerial attempts, skipped the loopery and just made the most of the waves.

Anyway, here is a spock photo from the sound. We've been getting great wind til now and sailed almost everyday on anything from 5.3 down to 4.2.

Not too shabby...

By the time we get around to scoring that purple, I'm sure my hands will be destroyed!
Damn pansy work hands...

Stoked to be getting on the water very soon!

Hatteras Season is almost here!

Totally curious if there are other 'Hatteras Pilgimage' rituals elsewhere in the world?

For those readers from far off places (I am assuming there might be one or two if I am lucky), I wonder if other sailors elsewhere in the world have a similar ritual.

The background: Canada is not known for its tropical nature. Relatively speaking, it gets cold here, damn cold. Generally cold enough that the water vanishes into solid sheets of ice forming an impenetrable barrier between us and our medium. Picture a smoker desperately eyeing a cigarette behind a solid glass window. That is us in the winter.

Generally speaking, most people around here are not willing to battle the extreme colds of the transition seasons, so a standard sailing season for a reasonably dedicated sailor is typically May (earliest), through November (latest). Outside that window, the water is unbearable for most, or the air is just too frigid. This leaves a hideously long off-season, bordering on 6 months or hair-pulling insanity. I imagine if a windsurfer were a smoker wanting to quit, it would be dead easy. We deal with severe withdrawal symptoms every damn year!

Hatteras gets nice and windy in the spring. With all these lost souls in desperation of wind and water, somethings gotta give. Fortunately, it's only about 12-16hrs of driving (depending on roughly where you live up here), rental homes are cheap, and its reasonably warm and windy! A win-win for all. Typically you see more Quebec and Ontario license plates in Avon in late April than NC plates! We INVADE the place, and love it!


That season is almost here... We've got a couple weeks booked in the spring and totally ready to pounce. Cheryl is going to work on her kiting a bit more and hopefully I can get working on some new tricks. Totally stoked! One week in Avon, one week in Rodanthe!

What do others out there do to satiate their winter-time jitters?

Thanks for those great photos last spring Steve! (Steve Slaby, 2010)

2010 Year End...

I hate when this happens, but sure enough it always does. It gets frickin' cold and the water gets real hard. Seems to do it every year around this time... funny that.

So, recap of the year? Certainly some positives and negatives:

- Great stint in Hatteras in early May and finally made the effort to meet & sail with some locals, including Andy McKinney of Wind-NC, Olaf Podehl of Avon Sail House and Bill Bell of OBX Beachlife and the Hatteras Wave Jam. Certainly had some fun times playing with my buddy Amine in the sound, exchanging tricks in close proximity.

- Got my boys Jalen and Bradley out for their first rides!! Totally stoked on that!


- Sailed some perfect flat water in Shippagan with Eric Girard of Club Wind & Kite and buddy boosting big airs all around. Also had a wicked fun session at Haut-Shippagan, all by myself, again in strong wind, near dead flat (btw: this is very nice for freestyle!).

- Some of the best Sandbanks sessions of my life shared with a whole slew of new friends from Quebec! First one in early September (had to delay our departure for Shippagan for that one!), and another banger in October.

Unfortunately, on the downside, a couple of things:

- I gotta get back into shape!! I've yet to establish a reasonable balance between family-man Dad and active healthy adrenaline-chaser. Challenging. The result: I'm tiring out way quicker than I used to (I used to be the king of 3-4 hr sessions with no breaks) but probably even worse, I'm having a lot more close calls with serious ankle, leg and shoulder injuries. If I hope to progress further with freestyle, this can't continue.

- I learned nothing new. I've had the same goals of learning some new tricks, including flakas, pushies and shakas, whichever one, whichever order, I don't care... I just need something new to help me keep the stoke. It is becoming quite clear that it's the progression that keeps me interested and coming back for more. Not sure what will happen as that progression naturally slows down - and it seems to be!!

Lastly, I have been working with a few others to get an article or two published in Windsport, but to date, no luck. Fingers are crossed that something will materialize in the new year.

All in all, a decent year, but definitely need to get my ass in shape for next year. Cheryl and I are committing to do 3-5 orienteering/adventure races next year, so I think inherent in that will be getting to where I need to be in terms of cardiovascular fitness and flexibility. We're starting fresh in the spring with the long version of the Giant Rib's Raid, a 23-25km orienteering run.