2022-09-08 Low Wind Day

Not a whitecap to be seen, but if you look closely
just behind the sailboat on the far shore you can see Blaine
with his Red and Yellow sail.

The forecast for today was not great for wind.  Brad and Blaine headed to Dog River for coffee and then went "Shopping".  (Blaine ended up with a new front foil wing).  Kent says Blaine is going down a dangerous path, he now has two sets of foils, one oriented for high speed and another for playing in the waves.  Each set will end up with multiple front and back wings.  How will he decide what to use?  (KENT'S COMMENT-  Blaine is fxxxx'd.   He has a good wing set but went out and bought one wing that is slightly better than any wing in his current quiver.   Now he will have to replace the rest of the quiver.)

Kent and I drove to Sailworks, where they tried to talk him into a new board... (apparently they already have his old one sold....), and I picked up an 899 foil wing.  We then picked up my repaired wing from Airtime.

There were people out on the river foiling, so Kent and I headed to the Hatchery.  We missed the best of the wind as people were coming off the water when we got there, but we rigged and went out anyway.

We had a pretty good, but short session.  I was on my 5.5m wing and 999 foil and started out foiling most of the time, but as time went by, I was having to pump more and more.  If I was able to foil around my turns, I probably would have foiled almost all the time.  Kent was on his 5.2 Flyer, and 800 wing and he foiled almost all the time.  He is concentrating on going fast, chasing down the troughs between the waves.  He paid the price a few times with big blow ups, and even put a small hole in the front of his board (which is now repaired).  Sorry, I don't have any photos because I was on the water before Kent, and sailed until after he quit.

Blaine and Brad arrived about the time Kent and I were coming off the water.  They brought down their stuff, but the wind continued to die so they decided not to go out.  Blaine didn't get a chance to sail his new setup...

We sat and had lunch and talked with a local named Alex who Wind Foil Races with Sailworks gear.  He had lot of tips for Kent about going fast and keeping control going up and down wind in strong winds!

It was mid afternoon by the time we packed up.  I drove to Luhr Jensen Park and walked over to the trade show to look around, but they weren't allowing the public in, so I just watched from across the fence.

When I got back to the park, Brad and Blaine were rigging their 6m Foilers and heading out and  Kent was sitting by the beach watching... There wasn't much wind, and NO whitecaps to be seen.  Brad slogged upwind and had a few runs foiling.  Blaine went the other way and almost pumped up onto his foil a few times, but never quite got there.  He said he just wanted to get wet anyway.

Brad with his 6.0m flyer - ready to go!

We were back at the condo around 6:00 and had the usual de-brief on the patio before heading to the Mexican Restaurant for supper.  

Just before supper Al showed up so joined us for supper.  

Jim, Cam, and Eddy should arrive around 10:00.  It's good to have everyone showing up finally.

Another great day.  Looking forward to more wind tomorrow.

Blaine made it home!

Blaine's new board and foil setup!