2021-05-24 Sailing in the RAIN!!

Wabamun Lake - Jim's Place

Kent's Report:

It was rainy and a bit chilly but Cam and Cynthia both said let's go and dragged the old farts (Jim and Kent) out of the cabins and onto the water.   

First, however, Jim and Kent had to help the ER doc get his foil set up correctly with some minor surgery on a Roberts board to align the bolt correctly.   

After that, it was all fun.  Four foilers and one finner when Ben came out and sailed a 5.2 and the titan.  It was an awesome day.  6.0 for Kent.  5.6 for Jim, and 5.2 and 6.0 for Cam.  

We had some minor excitement when Cynthia had her hull and sail separate but a quick jet ski trip and all was well.

Cynthia is making jibes and when I commented she said “well foiling is just easier than windsurfing”….   At this rate, we better stay on our game to stay ahead of Cynthia and Ben. 

The first foil of the year and the spaghetti is stirring.

Kent

Kent's Track

Cynthia's Advice:

Whatever you do, don’t combine a streamlined mast extension with a surf-bent deviator.... that is a recipe for separation of board and rig.

Glad to see friends are getting some fun days in on the water.

Lac St. Anne - Alberta Beach

Harold's Report:

It was actually a terrific day. 

You’ll see from Vadim’s excellent photo that Al rigged 3 sails.  He used every one of them (I think he used the 6.5 very briefly).  The reason for the 3 sails was that the wind just kept building. 

Al mostly used his 5.5 with his 85 litre sail. 

Vadim used his 5.5 sail with his 117-litre board and his 99 liter Carve. 

I used my 99-litre Carve and my 5.3 sail. 

Great swells all day.  Fun turns.  Some occasional light rain, but nothing serious.  It was probably about 13C and got a little cooler as the day went on, but I don’t think anyone cared.  As you can see from Vadim’s other picture, I wore my very best jacket warm jacket for the occasion (the one with the duct tape holding in the down stuffing), so I was even comfortable de-rigging.

Blaine chose to sail with the kiters.  Has he no shame?!!!

He looked really good.  Hit most of his gybes in that rolling swell.  Pretty impressive.

Ross paid us a visit and was looking good.  I didn’t notice if he was using his foil. 

I don’t know if any more of the cast of kiting characters were out.  They’ll have to give you their end of things. 

Al's Report:

Here's my contribution.  I didn't pay attention to Harold and Vadim's sail sizes:

Wind (30 - 60 k) was predicted for Alberta Beach on Monday but maybe with some rain.  

Al and Vadim were ready to go but Harold was worried about getting wet in the rain.  Eventually, his arm was twisted and we all got there about 2 pm but not much wind.  

Al rigged a 6.5 but by the time he finished that he rigged a 5.5. Al had some good sailing with his big board then switched to his small board.  

The wind kept building so he switched to 4.8 for an hour of well-powered sailing (and lots of de-rigging in the rain afterward). 

Harold, Vadim, and Al all had a great afternoon.  In the distance, we could see some kites (Ross and Mike?) and Blaine foiling.  Blaine visited Sunset Beach at the end of the day for a quick chat before we all headed home for dinner.

Vadim's Report:

I was on 6.5 and 99L Curve. I made only one run on 117 l board. The most important that I didn't use GO board, which means we had enough wind all session!

Ross's Kiter Update:

Blaine hung out with the kiters because we are a younger-looking, hipper, group and don't use duct tape to patch our jackets.

Foiling was put on hold for some old-school riding.  Andreas, Matt, Mike, and I were all out banging our knees and hips on the chop and jumping around on 7 and 8m kites.  

Blaine was sliding by like a ghost on his foil and 4.2(?), looking awesome.

Unlike where the windsurfers were...downwind and drifting in the rocks?.....it pretty much rained at various rates from when we launched until we packed up and had a beer in our parkas and rain jackets. 

There was no sun, just various levels of failing precipitation but at least there was no sleet, hail or snow.  Surprisingly, the water at Lac St Anne was quite warm...unlike the ice water of Pigeon Lake.

Harold....foils are big long things with wings on them about 1m tall.  Regular fins are pointy little things sticking out of the bottom of a board, and on kiteboards no bigger than about 150mm. Pretty easy to see the difference.....? So yesterday I was using the pointy little fin thing....not the big long wing thing.......

Vadim's Rebuttal:

When kiters reach Harold's social status they will be able to buy jackets also and eventually be able to tape them with duct tape!

Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place

Ted's Report:

It was cold and rained all day.  The high temp for the day was 11c with a windchill of 7c.  I glanced at the whitecaps a few times, but had no desire to get wet!

Maybe I'm getting older - Louise says I am getting smarter???