Ha! Thanks. Now I can imagine my wetsuit in gold!

Monday Sep. 24 7:30am. Little session on Lake Michigan just before work. Beautiful sunrise. ESE 12-15kn. 6’ waves/swell and active shorebreak. Rigged the 8.5 and took the Bolt out. That was challenging with wind and waves almost parallel to the shore to get out passed the shorebreak. Once out in the bay, the roller coaster was just impressive. High, close together and topped with a messy chop. With a bit more wind, the Starship and a smaller sail would have been more fun. Good morning workout nonetheless.

Sept. 27, 2018. Great afternoon on Lake Winnebago. A bit gusty from the SW but good enough for some fun with the 115l Starship and the 5.7 Revo. A few kites and 4 windsurfs at the Deadwood Point launch. Water and air was warm. Mosquitoes were not invited but came in numbers... Arms and legs bear the marks! Looking at the pics, my wife tells me that I should go back to the gym to workout that beer gut!

Met with Roman who came from Chicago and had fun with us


Roman in a nice carved jibe


Drag-racing with Ben






And since the knees are doing a bit better, tried a few small jumps off the chop

Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. This was the annual Lake Winnebago crossing organized by Kevin from WindPower in Fond-du-Lac. About 8-10 of us took on the challenge - mainly windsurfers and a couple of kites. The conditions were pretty good with a steady west at 14-18kn. West wind meant that we couldn't cross the lake in its width but in its length: About 27 miles of it! From the WindPower launch to the boat ramp near Sherwood up on the northern shores. When I heard what the plan was, I thought I would never last this distance. Anyhow, we all rigged up around 8.2-8.5 cambered sails and off we went - few like me on short boards (I had my 125’ Goya Bolt) and most on racing boards and vintage Mistral guns, thin and long!

I don't really know how long it took me to get through this, but I did it all the way through. This was fast enough that my fin was happily whistling for most of the run. I'd say probably an hour and a half of continuous sailing in the chop, port side. …maybe more, I don’t know… Here's how it went:

First 30 minutes: started to tack upwind to pass through Deadwood Point and aim towards High Cliff in the distance. I initially got punished by the chop that was pretty deep and painful, but I soon realized that with more speed, I could let the board "fly" over it to make the ride against it more efficient and comfortable. First lesson learned and at that point I think I was second in leading the pack at a good steady clip.

Next 45 minutes: the wind started to gust a bit more with what felt above 18kn at times. At that point, I realized that I had been going a bit too upwind and needed to go downwind. I decided to somewhat "surf" the waves and the chop as fast as I could while keeping things under control. I probably was about 1 to 1.5 miles out from shore. Going downwind started to put a lot of pressure on the quads and the forearms because the stance is a bit more sited and the harness line – not as much in-use - becomes a bit more of a liability in case of a sudden pull in the gusts. Downwind at full tilt in 1 to 2 feet chop and waves scared the hell out of me! Try this over several miles! I never really could commit to it fully like guys sailing formula boards. I never could trust myself to stay in control in a fast downwind and this resulted in the need to stay sidewind in the gusts. I realized that I wasn't making as much progress downwind as I wanted and that amplified with the wind kicking in higher gear at that point as well.

Last 30 minutes: By then, I was still second behind the first sailor - about 700-800 yards behind and about a mile west of him. High-cliff was very close yet felt very far, and the north end of the lake finally came in sight. But I was too far upwind and in a last desperate move, I stopped, sat on the board in the middle of the lake for a few minutes and gave the 8.5 as much downhaul and outhaul as possible. That helped but I was still overpowered and while my forearms were toasted, I resorted to keep going side or slightly upwind to stay in control and finish the crossing quick before I couldn't hold it. Arms and legs were burning but, with the need to reach safety and land somewhere, every bit of cramp and pain disappeared quickly. At that point I just want to reach terra firma - regardless of where that was.

I finally landed about 2.5 miles west of the finish line. I then picked up my cell phone and called to let the guys waiting at the finish line know where I was. I took a 10-minute break and then decided to drift downwind near the shore doing small back and forth along the shore line. The wind was gusting strong and the 8.5 was a huge pain at that point. I progressed downwind about a mile till my arms and legs gave up. I pulled my gear up on the bluff crossing someone's property and called for the guys to pick me up. Happy to have made it but 99% spent!

Glad I did it. It was fun. Great to build confidence and know my limit! Next time, I’ll do a bit more prep!



At the starting point.

Wow, great job Greg! That looks freaking though! I doubt I can do it-it takes a lot of endurance. Also organising an event like that takes considerable effort I guess, boat, transportation etc.. Quiet an adventure!

Thanks Ady. I got through it because I had no idea what I was getting into! There was no boat involved. Just a couple of vans and a large trailer for transporting boards and sails back to the starting point. They were checking on us from shore at a couple of points along the journey to make sure things were ok. I think one guy turned around after 30 minutes sailing but everyone else finished I think. There was a couple of life-long racers that actually did the trip back on their own, sailing the same distance back!! ...They didn’t look fresh upon arrival! Ha!

Wednesday Oct. 3 2018. Quick session during lunch time between 2 meetings. SSE 15kn gusting 20kn or so. Started the session on North Beach in Sheboygan on the 125l Bolt and the 8.5 Lion : overpower! The wind out on Lake Michigan didn’t look that strong... deceptively without whitecaps! Then switched to the 7.0 Lion and thing got a lot more fun! Nice swell out and good speed. Perfect way to tolerate an afternoon of power-hungry coworkers!

Greg from Sheb. wrote:

Wow, dude, that's a long ass way. Leg burner! Way to go.

Reid Fillman wrote:
Thanks. Leg burner for sure! It comes in stages though.
first 30 minutes: All is good, "I own this!"
next 30 minutes: Burns and hurts, "I need a rest but c'mon, just ignore the pain!"
last 30 minutes: It still burns but in a numbing kind of way, "I'm weak and gona crash in the next gust!"

Sunday October 7 - NE 15-25, rainy, foggy - Interesting day along the south jetty: The wind was all over the map. Hard to rig for such conditions. I had the spot all to myself tho! Started with a 125l + 7.0, had to switch to the 115l + 5.7, then finished with the 115l + 7.0. I launched from the jetty: When the temporary wooden stairs are not there, I now just throw my rig out downwind over the rocks and carefully walk down to push the board out in the water gently. I then reconnect the two in chest-high water. The south jetty offers protection from waves and swell during NNE so that's not really a problem. Getting out without the stairs would be a bit of challenge... Haven't tried that yet and if unaided, that sounds like a recipe for damages to board and sail.
Maybe someone has a good technique on how to link board and rig in the water with a Europin/tendon plate and a Chinook extension. The extension won't engage the pin all the way unless the button is depressed. Not so easy holding the board on its side with one arm and the extension with the other hand while pressing that button. I found its easier to put the plate on the extension first, slide the T nut in the track and finally screw the plate securely to the deck. Got to try some lube on the pin, that might help! When needing to change rig, I downwinded towards the beach and left a sail there, then walked the board back 200 yards to the jetty and off I went back out with a different sail... Not looking very efficient but it saves from having to go pass the shore-break in the middle of a wind shadow, courtesy of the giant hotel building nearby.
These are the kind of days when having dedicated mast and boom for each sail saves the day!

So, what happened this week in Sheboygan?
• Wednesday October 10: morning session on north beach in gray/rainy weather. Wind out of SE at 11-15kn. Spent 2 hours on the 125l Bolt and the 8.5 Lion with pleasant temps in the high 60s.
• Saturday October 13: afternoon at Deadwood on Lake Winnebago. SW 15-20kn. Temps in the upper 40s. My new 5-3 from ProMotion is just making it warm and comfy. I sailed the 125 Bolt and the 8.5 Lion. Awesome time on the water with a couple of other local Windsurfers. I ended up crossing the lake back and forth (about 3.5 miles one way) for the fun of it. I set the GoPro on the shore pointing out and got a few faraway shots. Better than nothing!
• Sunday October 14: impromptu and short afternoon session on south beach Sheboygan with an unexpected SE at 13-15kn. It didn’t last very long but enough for a ride with the Falcon Lightwind and the 9.4 V8. The local Kite crowd was there to share wind and beer at the beach. Perfect way to end the week!

Too much work this week meant that I missed almost all the wind and fun, except on 10/18 Thursday afternoon: Lake Winnebago with SW 7.0 conditions, sunny and 50 degrees. It was so nice that by the time I was done, the sun was almost setting and I had spent 4 hours sailing. Kevin from WindPower was kitefoiling during the last hour or so, and an other gentleman was windsurfing on an old kit. ...Great times.
Today Sat., on top of strong wind, the weather is really crappy up here: temp in the 30s and snow falling all morning. That’s below what I would call acceptable. ...I can feel the season is coming to an end pretty soon.
Looks like Sunday will be SW 15-20kn by afternoon on Winnebago, with temp in the upper 40s. I’ll give it a shot at Deadwood. Should be a repeat of Thursday it seems.












You got to be kidding! We’re not even in November!