2022-06-20 Event Site

June 21, 2022

Handré - sizing up the wind before heading out!

I think everyone was a bit slow to get up this morning. The forecast was for wind most of the day, and strong enough that we would probably be on the limit of our foiling abilities.

A few guy's went down to Dog River for coffee, but it was a holiday in town, so Dog River and Bette's were both closed. What were we to do!

Some of the guy's did find a spot that was open, and Brad said that the highlight of his day was when a lady walked into the coffee shop with a pet baby pig!

Brad's pet pig!
(Thanks Bernd for the photo)

Most of us met at Sailworks. Kent was looking at a new, even smaller, front wing so he can go even faster. Of course the guy's helped him set it up. I'm not sure what else was sold, but I am sure that Sailworks had another good day!

We started gathering at the event site around 11:00. It was windy, but it took a long time for people to rig. I guess after five or six days of sailing in a row, we were all a little sore.

Kent was first out (on a 3.8), followed by Blaine. Handré went out windsurfing on his 4.5m sail and had a lot of fun! He was the only one of our group who went windsurfing. Cam and I were winging, and everyone else was windsurf foiling. We were all on our smallest sails.

Blaine - hiding from the wind - thinking about going out!

Cynthia was out on her 3.0. We were sailing in the same area, so it was fun passing tracks with her every reach or two.

The wind was very strong, but gusty and shifty, so it was a handful!

Bernd was out on his 7m kite and twin tip. He said he had a good sail, but it was a lot of work compared to his sessions yesterday in the lighter winds! Andreas went out kiting, and then switched to kite foiling. He had a good kite session, but his kitesurf session was a bit out of control. Ross went kiteboarding, and then decided not to go out on his foil.

Bernd on his 7m kite!

Cam went out twice and had really good sessions, making almost all of his jibes! He has advanced so much this trip!

Cam completing a jibe and heading upwind!

Kent had some trouble on his last session. He was looking around to make sure it was all clear to initiate a jibe, when his foil hit a dead head (a short log floating perpendicular with only the top barely showing). He went over the handlebars hard. He flipped his board over to see if there was any damage, and saw that two of three bolts attaching his front wing had sheared off, and the wing was skewed at about a 45 degree angle instead of a 90 degree angle. At least it hadn't fallen off! He was able to slog back, but that ended his day. I guess he will be at Sailworks early in the morning for a repair!

Kent - Learning how to jibe with his new small fin!

I think everyone had a great day with several sessions each, but everyone struggled a bit in the gusty conditions and strong wind.

We could all easily have been Windsurfing. It is interesting that everyone except Handré decided to foil instead. We are all struggling with if we will ever windsurf again????

Handré - the only finner!

For a change, I was the last one off the water. I had four, relatively short sessions during the day. I really like LOUISE's 3.5m wing, even in the gusty conditions. I am getting pretty comfortable getting up on a foil, and going upwind and downwind, and even riding and surfing in the waves, but I am still struggling with the turns. (I mean I don't get any!).

Ted had a good day.
(Thanks Cynthia for the photo!)

It was after 7:00pm by the time we all de-rigged. We met at 6th street for supper, and then went back to the condo for a few drinks and to watch a windsurf video before heading to bed!

To see all of my photos from today,, got to my Flicker Site!