2022-06-17 Mixed and Shifty Day

Andreas, Handré, Ted, Brad, Blaine, Bernd, Kent, and Big Jim

It started to rain about the time we all got up. Most of the guy's headed down to Dog River for coffee and then Bette's for breakfast.

The usual shopping frenzy continued. Blaine bought the board he was looking at. Kent still has the new Roberts in his truck to demo, I picked up my new Kraken 999 foil from Sailworks, and Big Jim bought a wetsuit from ProMotion. I am sure there were other purchases as well. Oh, did I mention I also bought a 3.5m Wing for Louise! It is very light and should be perfect for her.... (I might use it once or twice while I am here...)

Andreas arrived and met up with us at Sailworks. He had Dale help him set up the new foil system that he had purchased just before he came down here.

Andreas with his new Kite Foil

I got an email from Air Time that my wing was repaired and ready so I stopped by their store to pick it up. They really have great service!

The forecast was all over the place. Jim Mudry suggested we go to Roosevelt, but we had spent so much time in the shops it was almost noon, so instead we decided on the Event Site. The rain cleared off and by 1:00 the sun was starting to come out.

We all went out. The wind started out very gusty and shifty. Tom (a guy we are always running into both here and La Ventana), said it was blowing 2mph to 27mph..... Our first sessions were pretty exciting! And add the current doing weird things to our foils under the water as well, especially in a few areas where several currents come together and mix...

Blaine - eking out the last bit of wind at the end of the day!

The wind was up and down, but generally steadied out as the day went on. Andreas went out on his kite foil set up and is trying to get the hang of his new foil. Everyone else went out on their Wind Foil setups, except for me being the only Wing Nut (I mean Wing Board Foiler). Sails ranged from 3.8 to 5.2. I started out on my 4m Wing and then switched to my 5m.

Handré got out late on a 6m sail as the wind was starting to die, but he had some good runs.

Handré patching the hole that the movers made in his board!

In spite of the shifty wind, it was a pretty good day. Kent is getting used to his new small foil, so is going faster than ever and jibing around all of us. Blaine and Brad are also blasting along and foiling through almost all of their jibes. Big Jim stayed warm in his new wetsuit, and was foiling most of the time. It took me a while to get used to my new foil as it has to go faster than the other one to stay foiling. Once I figured that out, and also changed my front hand to the second handle on my 5m wing, things started to work really well, although I am still not even close to completing a foiling jibe.

Big Jim in his new Wetsuit!

It took us a long time, and a few beers to de-rig as usual. Gerry arrived as we were packing up!

Eventually we made it back to the condo, where Bernd found us. He had arrived earlier in the day but spent the afternoon setting up his tent at Tuckers, and taking some kites in for repair at Air Time.

We went to the Mexican place for supper, and sat out side, which turned out to be quite cool. Some of us had fun on our E-Bikes going up the big hill! We were almost as fast as the others in their trucks and cars! The food and service was excellent as usual, but we were all happy to get back to the condo where it was warm. The ride down the hill on the bikes was really cool and very fast. (yes - cool as in "neat/fun", but also cool as in "COLD")

Big Air Jim, Cam, and Cynthia arrived a bit later. We had a lot of fun telling stories and catching up. It was VERY LATE (maybe 11:30), when the party shut down and everyone headed off to bed.

Ross should be arriving tomorrow, and then the Gang will all be here! (Well, except for those that decided not to come...)

Another great day!