Wednesday August 14. A repeat of yesterday. Almost same conditions except that the swell got a bit bigger and messier with maybe bigger dips in the 5 feet+. This time the GoPro was on but the battery died in the most interesting moments going in and out the harbor, passing the lighthouse, blasting on flat water and exiting through big swell.
On the plus note, my starboard side jibes have significantly improved. I’ve had a few instances when I can truly say I’ve achieved a proper planing jibe - the board still going 14mph upon exit and feet back in the straps right after the stance switch and the rig flip. I had one a couple like that on lake Andrea a few weeks ago with Ady. That was a breakthrough. The feeling is awesome and puts an instant smile on the face!
If someone is asking what has made a difference, I can only say point out to 2 or 3 things:
- internalize the steps by watching others doing it over and over,
- repeat and practice (tempo and muscle memory),
- and the part that made the biggest impact for me was to fully and aggressively commit to the move.
Whenever I enter the move on the defensive, I killed the speed every single times. It has taken me 3 years to get the hang of it. I now have to do the same on the Port side cause - funny enough - I can’t make it the same on that side yet. ...next year for sure.

Sinking vessel!









Pictures never do it justice, but still, check out the swell and waves breaking away from shore. This was just awesome to ride.




Breakwater spectators


Man overboard

Yes! Consistent curve and trajectory is key. If in the curve I keep turning passed the broad reach point, the speed just vanishes and While the jibe stays dry, planing needs relaunch. Same here: since I ride the Starship with outboard straps, I switched the stock wave fin for a True Aimes freeride upright fin I kept from the days with the Atom. The fin is about a couple of cm longer than stock and it made the ride more locked-in, helped gain a bit of speed, made releasing a little easier and turned a bit less sharp.
Obviously, looks like you’ve been hooked on speed! I think you need tu upgrade to a 110-120 freerace of some sort for days in the 13 to 20kn. Especially for sailing on flat-water Wolf lake, you’ll find that particularly satisfying! Also, it will give you a clear advantage over me, cause on the Bolt with a 7.0 in 20kn, I'm not sure you’ll be able to keep up with the Atom!

Friday August 16. Third day of the week on the water so far. No too shabby, knowing that Sunday brings a cold front with gusty-stupid Southwest winds that I intend to take advantage of!
Back to Friday: it was supposed to be outstanding and it was just OK. The promised 19 to 24kn never came tru. Instead it started light in the early afternoon, then a ray of sunshine helped the SSE thermal to kick in at around 14-15kn for about 60-90 min. Then a storm cell approached, things got dark above and the wind bumped up to a pleasant 17-19kn. This lasted for 30 min until thunder and torrential rain rolled in.
I sailed the 8.5 + Bolt throughout because I didn’t want to bother shlogging in the lulls. With a bit of tuning, this was manageable. The 7.0 and smaller Starship in the chop + swell would have been better but timing didn’t allow rerigging. Fun afternoon nonetheless.

Same pictures from the GoPro. Nothing really new here, but a good session anyway




Jumpy-jumpy with the 125 is a bit of a handful (top to bottom sequence)




Really don’t know why i had to pull a thumbs up here... got to stop this bad habit!


Port side turn - for once this one was close to acceptable


Tick-tack...


I’m outa here!

Thanks for the tip Ady.
I sail with adjustable harness lines set at 31-32” on both longer booms and 29” on my short boom (I prefer a slightly more upright stance in high wind). I think that your impression might come from the fact that in Superview, GoPro angle tends to distort the image and doesn’t provide an accurate reading of distances - even at close range.

If you look up a couple of posts, you’ll see in a few pics how it is setup on one of my large booms rigged with the 8.5. If I make the lines any longer, I’ll have to use telepathy to control my boom! I also made the point to adopt the 7 position as much as possible this year and that has increased my efficiency on the water but has a tendency to also put my more stress onto my knees. When I’m tacking upwind in choppy conditions, I sail with a more bent knee on the front to soften the pounding. I loose efficiency but it’s a bit more comfortable. It’s just that I have to if I want to keep sailing the week after (joints are not getting any better with age). On return runs, down the swell and in less choppy conditions, I make a point in using my body weight as much as possible to save energy, go faster and be more in control.

And for the wide hand stance, I keep the front hand closer to the boom when I tack or when I’m over powered. That way I feel more in-control in the gusts. Sailing broad or beam reach, I will be more relying on the harness lines and the hands will be closer.
Regardless of what I do, your advice are valuable. Next time we sail together, you’ll tell me what you think.

Shoulder-width

In survival mode, you don’t always control everything and you tend to hang on to anything in every possible ways! and it’s obviously harder to ask old dogs to do new tricks!

Sunday August 18. This is the 4th session this week! Unprecedented. All with the Bolt and the trusted 2-cam 8.5. This time it was a short one on lake Winnebago in front of Kevin’s WindPower Surfshop. The wind was on and off - 12-17kn, maybe 19-ish in the gusts at times. Worked on my jibes and for once, the ones on the port side were smoother but the short and deep 12” chop made it more challenging than on Lake Michigan swell. Finally, I teamed up with Fred, a local kiter, and we did a short back and forth run to Deadwood Point, about 2 miles away. This was fun.

Launching: Going down that slippery stairs.










Oops! Did not see this one coming. Thankfully, that wasn’t someone swimming :


Mike teaching windsurfing. 6 windsurf for 2 kites. The correct ratio

You are killing it up there!!!

Ady wrote:
Ha! Yeah, I can’t stop; see below...

Talking about teaching old dogs new tricks, let’s talk about windfoiling for a bit. I’ve probably been foiling 5 or 6 times since I got a foil in the spring. Every session bringing its load of frustrations and exhilaration. The last one was back in July 29 when I sailed the choppy lake Winnebago again in not a lot of wind at all - maybe 9kn and 13 in the gusts. On the exhilaration department, I got to do long runs up in the air (several hundred yards). the silence and the floaty feeling is an awesome experience. The only issue is that keeping the damn thing leveled for extended periods of time is super sensitive to the slightest displacement of weight. Then things become unbalanced and everything turns quickly into chaos, and usually finishes in a couple of crash types: one I would call the Swirl of Death and the other the Demonic Dive. Let’s review the difference.

Swirl of Death: that’s when the foil breaches and the board suddenly dives at an angle - usually on the rider’s side - which make everything go upwind. If you are lucky, and with the proper amount of momentum, the foil can give you a second ride up above the water while your body is desperately attracted down by gravity and getting awfully close to the sharp wings. The key is to not let go of the boom because wherever it takes you, it will likely be fare enough away from the blades! The sequence below isn’t the best but will give you an idea (left to right and top-down).

1- All is fine and groovy
2- All of a sudden, the foil breaches
3- Then the plunge is initiated
4- “I can save this” hits the mind for a small fraction of time
5- Splash!
6- The rider and his ride are sharply heading upwind and die in a scary swirling motion



Demonic Dive: this one is a tad more aggressive as it clearly gives you the impression that the gear has a mind of its own and really wants to get you off its back like an annoying horse fly. You know you fly and you also know that the following will be your punishment for daring to challenge gravity. Same here, better old tight onto that boom; that’s your life insurance! Let’s review (left to right, top-down just like comics)

1- How awesome is that?
2- Oh no! Sudden descend
3- Then you say to yourself : “it’s diving deeper than expected!, that cannot be good”
4- Splash
5- Brutal deceleration
6, 7, 8- Now the rider is catapulted forward in an elegant motion (not shown here, you’ll have to trust me)
9- The rider finishes with a nosebleed and the board in need of a nose job



Who wants to join the fun?
Uphauling, how fun is that? (btw, notice how accurate GoPro speedometer is!)


Pumping and pumping, how fun is that?


Provoking a constant fear of height, how fun is that?


For a few moments of bliss, how fun is that?!


It’s actually plenty of fun. Join the club if you dare!




Alright, I’m done with this nonsense, back to the good old windsurfing

Have you thought about sailboats? I got into the daydreaming phase of it after my trip to Ludington, MI. I believe that’s a less embarrassing way to have fun /with family or without/ in light wind days and beyond for people of our age. I haven’t seen anybody looking like a clown in a sailboat.
I went so far as to fantasize about sail boating becoming my and my wife’s /she doesn’t know / post-retirement full time activity eventually, this from someone at the lower end of the moderate income bracket

Ady wrote:
Not sure that's true! Check out Albert below. He doesn't even need an outfit!
Also, I can't sail on a boat for too long cause I get sea-sick! I can't take a flight without a Dramamine! That's embarrassing!

LIGHTWIND EARLY MORNING SESSION IN SHEBOYGAN

Friday August 23. Squeezing a quick session before my first office meeting in the morning. The wind was showing 13kn. Perfect for the Falcon Lightwind and the big 9.4 V8. By the time I was rigged up, the wind had dropped. I was all set, so I went out anyway and had a relaxing low speed cruising in the bay and some schlogging as well. Water was warm et the light and cloud made for a beautiful vista.



A group of fans waiting for autograph


Pumping and pumping...


Peaceful sailing in 9-10kn with gusts in the 12kn max.


Beautiful sky and clouds over the lake, doesn’t matter if this was a great session or not, the weather was perfect and the scenery as well.

LATE AFTERNOON WINDFOILING AT KOHLER ANDREA STATE PARK

Still Friday August 23. The wind was still blowing a painful 9-11kn and my gear was still in the car, so that was the occasion to continue my foil training after work. This time I launched from the beautiful Kohler Andrea State Park just a few miles south of Sheboygan. The place is quiet, the rigging is grassy, the launch is sandy and almost no one there to see crashes and other embarrassing moments! Actually, it went rather well: Just one crash over the entire session (Against 6 or 7 last time), i can “fly” consistently hooked for a full tack over a few minutes, and I reach 20mph for the first time! This doesn’t sound fast but it feels fast enough when i’m up a couple feet above the water.

I’m still riding with the back foot off the strap but I feel riding in straps might happen soon as I get more confident with managing the board’s vertical movements. For those learning this sport, I found that I had to move forward and shorten my harness lines quite a bit from normal Windsurfing in order to get a comfortable grip and stance on the board. While flying, the front hand gets much closer to the boom clip and this helps putting more weight on the front foot and on the mast foot to better control the board’s level.

Flying above the water in a smooth and quiet ride.


Woohoo! First 20mph. Hard to believe but this feel fast from up there


The obligatory crash sequence (left to right, top to bottom)




Careful. No sharp fin for the shin please






To close the session, an artistic splash!

ALWAYS MORE FUN WITH FRIENDS

Wednesday August 28. I took a day off and traveled the lengthy 55mph - 45 minutes ride to Lake Winnebago. We had West wind on and off throughout the day. When it was on, it was a 6.0 weather for me. A few of us had plan to meet at Kevin’s Windpower surf shop and launch from there. I was wearing a 4-3 and temps in the mid 60’s felt cold at times. Summer is over!
Over the past few weeks, I’ve strained my right knee quite a bit with excessive pumping on the foil and sailing big rigs. Putting pressure on it is quite painful, so I’m talking it easy on the water and can’t really push hard on the fin on my port side and push down on the mast foot on my starboard side. I need to quite buttered slices of bread for breakfast and work on my quads and core to turn this around.

Gloomy day, bright gear!


Picture of the day: Mike (foreground) and Rob.


Rob zooming by on a 140l-something Naish Kailua


Mike’s always clean jibes on a 85 or 95 Fanatic Freewave STB and 5.7


Mike trying my Naish Starship with his rig


Racing with Scott who’s about to pass me downwind


Me trying a Naish Titan 120 - this thing is super-wide: 77.3cm! GoPro angle doesn’t do it justice. You could take wife and kids for a ride on it!


Me trying to keep up with Mike


To finish the day, a celebratory jump!