2012 back on the ice and snow

I have been waiting to get back on the ice and as usual it is better to be patient !! The wind was not great at the chalet and the ice was good, but broke through the top layer at places. The 7-oh was not enough and when i rigged the 8-oh, the crinkles turned into a hole $%^&*( At least i did get to try my hand at videoing and making my first movie which i have enclosed here. The best part of the day was that it was not cold and kinda pleasant outside ... Will need better conditions and practice with the camera ... Find the editing with Windows Live Movie Maker NOT very intuitive and it takes long to load into boob tube... Next one will be higher speed !!!

This version has enhanced audio using RealPlayer Converter and Audacity...

For enhanced video quality - choose 720 HD - if your internet and PC support this !!!
NOTE: I have extended this into one LONG post - there are better videos from yours truly FURTHER DOWN :-)

Surprisingly the duct tape kept the sail from tearing more ...
I obviously do NOT like to have duck tape {miss spelled on poipose :-) } on my sail. Once back home, i purchased and applied monofilm sail repair tape. Got some from Bruno at 2-rad. I managed to almost use up the whole roll of tape - all 10 feet of it !!! No wonder Bruno asked me how many rolls !!! The sail looks like it may last the winter after all. Next year I already reserved a TR-6 8.4 to replace this sail. Had a BAD feeling and premonition. If necessary i will get any 8.0 to 9.0 for under $200 to sail through the winter ...

These guys are in Sweden and have MUCH better conditions.
They have slowed down the video for the music - you can be sure they are flying ...
The "sleds" also swivel to allow turns - wide as they may be ..


Ice windsurfing from Jonas Gåhlin on Vimeo.

The first attempt was last Sunday - 16DEC2012. My next attempt was Saturday 22DEC2012. This was after much snow and warmer temperatures. So, I had to try and use my snow sailboard... Again, not much wind when I went out, butt it picked up later. The bigger issue was the ice - or lack thereof.  I went in the water up to my knees. The good news of the day was: the monofilm tape repair on the 8-oh sail worked well and the video i made of the road to the chalet worked better... NOT sure i will post either one here - we will see ...{naw}

Last Sunday - 30DEC2012 - i attempted to windsurf in deep snow with less than ideal winds. It was a flop. I anticipated this, butt it was good exercise :-) I have been analyzing the design and looking at using three skis tighter together and the idea of a pointy front with body like a sled came to mind. Lo and behold, snowfer has changed their design and it looks just like that !!! Too bad they are so much money !! Will have to build one myself ...

Since the conditions SUCK, I took some time to look about and I found an old wooden ski. This is a water ski and fits almost perfectly between the outside skis on my 3.14. Since this is another modification, do i call this setup # 3.2 ?? The ski also has a slight fin that may help with spinout - only time and TOS/time on snow will tell. Remember, this sled is for deeper snow ... Now I am actually waiting for the weather to cool down. It has been raining and perhaps i will be able to use the ice sled instead :-) Anyhoo, here are some pix:

24JAN2013 - Everyone keeps askin' me,"So, when you goin' and make that movie?"
Well, this has NOT been a good year for me on ice n snow :-(
We have been in the deep freeze the last few days and there was some wind taday.
So, I go down to the local river to check the ice - looked OK from the train ...
There were some tracks with water in 'em...
Nah, can't be ...
So, I try and guess what !@#$%^&*(
I almost git a "soaker" ie wet boots
Try a little further down - away from the bridge...
Yeah right %^&*( same shite {never shoulda told the wife about this either :-( }
All i can hope now is: Vaudreuils better be okay for the weekend #$%^&*(

Close to home - these guys are called ICERATZ and have set world records on ice. Believe they are all from MASS, USA...

First day, Fast ice from Dean Withrow on Vimeo.





 This is NOT about windsurfing, but is SO good, I had to post it here !!!

31JAN2013 - This winter has been up n down in temps and full of surprises.. Today's winds  were spectacular in the words of "sailboarder" - also from Montreal. Dorval is usually marked with the highest winds and so here is a pic of the situation today in Montreal... Average winds of 30 mph and gusts of 40 to 50 mph !! At lunch I did NOT see any planes and birds were having issues !!!

For those of you unfamiliar with mph  --> almost the same as knots 1 mile = .9 knots and almost 2 time kph - 1mile = 1.61 kph.

02FEB2013 - Finally checked the river and the ice was good at Parc Charbaneau plus there was a breeze out of the East that was less than 10 mph. Put the HSM 6.3 on the RDM mast and used the ice sled. The downhaul can be 6 cm less on the sail and works fine on ice. 

None of these videos were modified in any fashion. The ice was ROUGH and the wind LITE and as such I did NOT use the harness nor let it RIP. Just the same I rate this session 8 outta 10 since it has been SO long and the temps were NOT too cold. Was doing about 15 to 16 knots in speed, which is about the same as mph. AND i DID manage to do a gybe/jibe, butt was NOT taping :-( Oh yeah - i did forget my sun goggles!! Good thing there were flurries and not too much sun ...

This video was loaded into the blog directly with the GoPro on my helmet:

{seems hi-quality and better audio, butt long to load}butt keeps "failing to load" - will put youtube version - seem to have this video in multiple posts :-)

This video was obviously loaded into youtube and has the GoPro on back of the boom. I can see why others say to put the camera on the bottom of the boom and put camera in upside down mode. This one can be put into 720HD and full screen:

Now the camera has been placed ON the ice board facing forwards. Once again on youtube and you can choose 720HD with full screen:

And the BEST for last. Here the GoPro is on the board facing back. It feels really FAST :-) Once again it is on youtube and you can choose 720HD with full screen:

 

SUN 3FEB2013 -- Today wanted to go out again. Was hoping to go to vaudreuils where winds were to be about 10 mph from the NE. People seemed buzy, wife ill and i was still on-call. A 1 hour session quickly becomes a 4 hour session if i go to Vaudreuils. SO, went on the local river again. Winds were lighter than yesterday . more northerly and more luffs. Even the 7-oh did not feel like enough on the ice. No harness, no gloves at times and no videos. Was about to give the session a 4 outta 10 when the winds picked up and as such can give it NO more than 6 or 6.5 outta 10 !!!

MON 4FEB2013 -  Winds were 40 to 60 kph from the West all day. So, thought i would check the Parc out in the evening. That location is better for winds from the East and as such i did NOT even rig up. Also, there is another hazard - snowmobiles running at night. Perhaps i need a lamp on my helmet?? Will need to check the other location to see if one can venture out on the ice without sinking in :-)

FRI 08FEB2013 - Got out of work early. It was windy from the NE at over 20 knots and snowing all day. Time to test the snow version. It was a FLOP !! The old ski bent up and as such the setup sank in snow. On ice there were no more fins and kept spinning out. The sail behaved well and was the best part of this test. The ice will do better with fins, but what about snow?? This board is supposed to be for snow - almost any depth we get here. Need to go back to the drawing board or modify ??

Next day - am trying to bend the water ski into shape and have put the metal fins back on - to stop spinout.