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Up-winder…it’s a thing!!!! At least when you arrive at Durand and your buddy is way out and way up wind it’s a thing.
Two days post sesh and I am still buzzing from the session I had on Friday. Read below.
I arrived simultaneously with Art around new, to find Scott (we had to search a bit) way out on the lake and taking an improbable tack to wind. He was riding his Ezzy Lion 6.5 and Goya Bolt and after reporting to Groupme that is what I rigged up.
Joe Gary, and Mark T. arrived in time to be briefed on the situation, and Art and I hit the water together. Art rigged his 5.8. By now Scott was inching his way closer to the Genesee river/Charlotte, so I went for it. Luckily I was wearing my Applewatch loaded with Waterspeed App to track all the stats of this adventure. With every turn I made, Scott seemed to be getting two reaches further upwind, and from where I was, he looked to be past the pier and ripping out in front of Ontario Beach!!!! Is he headed to Braddocks?! I had never ventured this far upwind before when riding at Durand and the novelty of it became more apparent with each turn I made.
I eventually lost sight of Scott as I neared the opening to the river….maybe he stopped in for a picnic lunch with wife Kim at Ontario Beach Park. All of the other sunbathing beauties would likely be jealous when this big zeke with a windsurfing rig comes striding from the water for a sammy and ice tea.
Anyhow, the water was noticeable colder at the river mouth (as well as smellier and browner), and dotted with unfamiliar seaweed. A few other bigger sailing craft were out and I enjoyed waving hello as I sailed past. The wind got a little lighter as I pressed beyond the pier, so better judgement prevailed and I successfully blew my jibe mid river to turn for home.
It took me ten turns to get up to the Genny from Durand.
Downwinder time.
On the ride home, I revisited some nice waves in the downwind shadow of the Summerville pier off of the private beach located at the turn in Pattonwood Dr. (Windsor Beach on my map). No shore break hear….what a great spot to learn on Lake O. without getting pounded. I laid down some blazing runs, and at times had to turn back into the wind as I had nothing in my sail. I was back with the crew in no time, and suddenly noticed Scott already back home. I’m not sure when we crossed paths, but there he was……must have gone out to the Ontario Buoy to kicks.
It took only four turns to get home.
I was still feeling fresh after the adventure, so stayed on the water on a day that was great for my soul. Pain, my schedule, and a lack of wind have had me feeling “blah” about windsurfing this summer but that all disappeared for a couple hours of fun with friends.
Scott, Joe, Gary, Art, Mark, and Keith were all in or near the water for the next hour as we chased, jumped, jibed, fell, and laughed until the wind lightened and muscled tightened for most of us. Gary, back from a week in San Fran with Mikey Z. was sailing especially well. Everybody was happy. Mark T., who has recently returned to windsurfing with a nice Fanatic and Ezzy set up reported taking some shore break lumps but staying on the water until he wore out the wind around 6 pm.
Waterspeed App, Applewatch stats. (not bragging here…just cool to look back on a stoker of a session)
41.4 mile continuous session- no breaks. Sailed enough to cross the lake.
Average speed: 18 mph – lots of long reaches.
Top speed: 30.2 mph- Those blazing downwind runs home!
I’m back to school/work in a few days, so wind should return on Wednesday (Iwindsurf says so!).
Windydoug
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A long awaited Dougie post! Yay! That was sooo much fun. The wind was steady everywhere so I disappeared over the horizon for a bit! You know how your mind is constantly narrating a story when you alone on your board….well at one point Dora the Explorer was singing “OH CANADA!”
Love your tracking app and the way it is color coded to your speed, turning red as you slow down in the jibes and green and yellow as you speed up. The Goya Bolt held up to the chop well and a recent session on Seneca with a weed fin and noted increased jibe performance leads me to believe that if I ditch the slalom fin my jibes will immensely be improved by a wavier fin profile.
I think I did catch a glimpse of you near the shore in front of the mega homes but once I hit my jibe at the mouth of the river I high tailed it home rocketing off the wind and made it home in three to four reaches! I don’t think I’ve ever gone that fast on the Bolt, it was actually a bit scary except that all I had to do was take my foot off the throttle to calm down!
One of the advantages of foiling is that it get you out in the marginal conditions and if it suddenly ramps unexpectedly say due to a thermal, your in the right spot for a nice sesh!
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“The Goya Bolt held up to the chop well and a recent session on Seneca with a weed fin and noted increased jibe performance leads me to believe that if I ditch the slalom fin my jibes will immensely be improved by a wavier fin profile.”
A pointer slalom fin will be the trickiest to jibe, bouncing out a lot unless the rider really commits to the inside rail with lots of pressure. On my iSonic, I mainly have a pointer for 7.5 conditions (a smaller one came with the board, but I rarely ride the iSonic in 6.5). I love my Surfgrass fins, but not for the iSonic (most comparable to a Bolt).
For freeriding in chop, I would suggest a swept pointer style, I’ve always like the True Ames Convert. It’s more of a B&J than blasting fin, but is very forgiving. I’ve also had their Sweepers and Slalom Pointers, but don’t like those as much…never felt as loose as the Convert. The Shallow Weed might work, but I’ve rarely seen them and never used one. Some folks have them for the OBX.
https://www.trueames.com/pages/windsurf
I have a 13.5″ in a Tuttle base that is among the stuff I’m looking to sell (see in the For Sale section). It would be about right for 6.0-7.0.
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I caught your session report on FB, Eric! nice!!! Wilson sounds legit. A bit of a hike for us, but when we are jonesing for a session, who knows. Webster park here in town is a nicely exposed wave spot when the water is way down (and before the flooding of two years ago) but it now has huge rip rap and is quite technical. In years past we would head east to East Bay Rd. on the immediate east side of Chimney Bluffs. I have not been there in 3-4 years however.
I can’t say enough good things about Waterspeed app. The creators keep refining it and adding nice upgrades. I now have the ability to export my track to “Relive” to create a video overlay on a Google earth map. The accuracy seems pretty good as well as related to track and speed.
Wd.
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