2021 Sailing Season

 Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place The guys (and girls) started arriving at Ted's place around noon.  It was a very hot day and mostly calm. Blaine arrived just before noon.  It wasn't windy enough for foiling yet, but he was anxious to rig.  After lunch, Mike, Barb, Andreas, and Ross arrived, and then Harold as well.  (Karen and Sue arrived later in the afternoon.) We sat down by the lake, waiting for wind. The wind kept teasing us with relatively strong gusts, and then nothing.  We decided that if we went Wake Surfing, the wind would either come up or die.  I convinced Louise to come with us to drive the boat, and Barb came along for the ride.  Andreas, Ross, and I all went wake surfing.  I went first to demonstrate.  I was a bit nervous because I hadn't wake surfed since last year...  Spencer and I have been wake foiling instead, but I managed to get up, drop the rope, and even transition from the right side of the wake to the left a...

 Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place Ted's Report: June 23 - Foiling in the Weeds. Well, my lake is starting to get more floating weeds.  After getting caught in several weed patches in a row on the far side, I found that if I sailed/foiled a bit downwind, and stayed on my half of the lake, it was pretty clear.  I foiled for the last hour without picking up any weeds - well maybe one.... It was a pretty good day!  I am getting through a lot of jibes with speed - maybe there is hope. June 24 - No wind but Wake Foiling with Spencer and Wake Surfing with Louise. Thursday, was a beautiful warm day.  Spencer, Louise, and I headed out in the boat just before supper for some wake surfing and foiling.  We had a great evening in the boat.  Louise isn't dropping the rope, but the rope is now slack almost all the time.  She is really progressing.  I am starting to get more comfortable pumping the foil when I start falling behind the wave, and Spencer, of cour...

Lac Ste Anne - Alberta Beach Harold's Report: Well, Al and I arrived at Alberta Beach at about 10AM, just in time for a squall.  We looked at the rain,  the wind, and the maelstrom on the water and asked “what do we rig for that?”.  For me, the answer should have been my 3.2 (yeah, I have one of those) and my 74-liter Starboard, but I rigged my 3.7 and my 85-liter board, and Al rigged his 3.8 and his 85-liter board.  There was sufficient power... Once the squall died down we were fine on the 3.7 and 3.8.  Extremely gusty so you really had to sail it (lots of micro-adjustments), but lots of big swells to ride.  Al discovered the bigger smoother swells near the pier and hit some jibes.  He’s stoked. We quit about 2:15PM due to sheer exhaustion.  In the meantime, Vadim showed up.  The wind was backing off so he sailed his 5.6 Hucker.  Still lots of wind, so he blasted.  Over in the kid’s section, there were two or three kiters.  R...

Pigeon Lake - Brad's Place Harold's Report: It was a strange day at Pigeon.  Brad's Place Things started at about 12:30PM.  Blaine and Brad headed out on their foils and 5.2 sails and after a while switched to their 7.0s.  They blasted for quite a while. Vadim, Allan, and I rigged a variety of bigger sails and nibbled a bit at the wind, but there was some walking involved.  Harold Finally, I blew up my wind wing and played around for an hour or two (hard to keep track of time when you’re floundering and flopping).   After a while, I realized that I had board lash wrapped around the fin, which made it difficult to control the direction of the board, among other things.  I also figured out that tracking along the shore is not a victory when the shore bends and you realize you have been bearing downwind – makes for a long walk back.  How come it looks so easy in the videos?!!! Around 4PM the wind really clocked in.  We could tell because the foi...

Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place Ted's Report: Ted and Kent It's always better to sail with friends.  Kent decided to make a visit to my place to do some foiling. Kent - Loaded and ready to go! Kent said that when he stopped at Safeway, that all he could think about was how good it is to be loaded up and heading out to do some foiling. I loaded my truck so I was ready when Kent arrived at 11:00.  We were on the water by 11:30.  The wind was up and down, but we foiled pretty consistently, although sometimes very overpowered, for an hour, then took a break, and then went out for a second hour.  We came in as the wind was dropping. Kent We left our gear on the grass to dry and went up the hill to the house to have some lunch.  The sky suddenly got dark, the wind picked up, then thunder and lightning, and rain!  Eventually, the rain lightened up, giving us a chance to go down and collect our very wet gear. Shortly after we had put our gear away a second storm came...

Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place Ted's Report: When Louise and I got up, the sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze from the south.  We checked the weather because the forecast was for thunderstorms all day, but it looked clear, so we went for a bike ride to Tim's for a late breakfast in Camrose. It was a muggy day, but the temperature was around 20, so it was really pleasant. We stopped in Camrose to confirm the brick color for some landscaping work we are having done, and then at Tim's for breakfast.  We started home around 10:30 - just as the wind picked up.  Fortunately, it was mostly side-on, but it still made for a tough ride home. When we got home the wind was gusting over 60kph, and there was big swell rolling down the lake. I had to recover for an hour or so from my bike ride, re-hydrate, and have something to eat.  I then loaded my truck with my stubby and headed down the hill to rig.  I thought I was going to rig my 4.2, but as I got the board out...

Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place Ted's Report: I got out Friday morning for a session before the wind died.  The first hour was really good on my 7.0 Flyer, and then the last half-hour was a bit up and down.  It was really a nice session with a steady wind. I decided to go upwind to the Water Intake, but the wind started to die before I got there, so only made it halfway.   I am loving my new Moses foil!!!

Ross's Report Ok....I will provide a kiting update. No kiting in the rain Wednesday.  My second vaccination day. Last week there was lots of action: Monday Ross and Mike at Alberta Beach, 9m foil (Ross) and 15m twintip (Mike). Nice afternoon.  No rain.    Friday and Sat my fourth trip to Keho for this spring.  Mike was getting his vaccination so couldn't attend.  Tim, Matt, and Ross on Friday kiting 5m and 7m, sunny and temps 30degC.  A bit gusty but some fun waves.......and sunny and 30degC.   No rain.    Saturday, Andreas made a quick trip down in the morning.  Very strong 5m/6m kiting.  Matt being younger and tougher held on to his 7m.  Gusts recorded at the Kite Ranch west of where we kite were up to 80k.  There was good swell especially at the east end of the lake. There were lots of strapless jumping for me, and even a few strapless landings as well! The temperature was about 20deg C but cooling down i...

Pigeon Lake - Brad's Place Blaine's Report: While Ted was bike riding with his lovely wife Louise this morning, Brad and I were rippin it up on the water in the rain.  We started out on our 6.0's.  Brad went down to his 5.2 and I hung on  . We had fun, and the water was warm enough to go barefoot. It was the best day ever, followed by beer in the hot tub  .  We are eagerly waiting for the border to upon up! Dried Meat Lake - Ted's Place Ted's Report: There was not much wind this morning, but also no rain.  Louise and I had a cool, but nice bike ride to town and back.  35k, with a stop in Camrose at Tim's where we sat on the grass and enjoyed a tea and latte.  It rained all afternoon, so I wasn't interested in sailing - wind or not.....