Winter SailBoarding 2015/2016 Season

This was NOT a good winter season. It was MUCH warmer than in previous years.. Actually went on the water up north at the in-law chalet on 24DEC2015 AND 27DEC2015. Before the season I purchased an ArcticSail that was manufactured in the province of Quebec on the South Shore. It is quite heavy and the two times I tried it, it did NOT work out. Late in the season I purchased what Yvente and others call an ice sled. Since it has skates and a board, I call it a "winter skate board". It was too late in the season to get a chance to try it . I still have the ice sailboard and snow sailboard that I designed and built using old alpine parallel skis and snowboards.

The first session was n SAT 23JAN at OKA and the ice was quite slippery. I could have used the winter skate board then !! The board that got used the most is the orange one second from the the left. The one I call ice sailboard. Most of the time winds are around 10 knots / 20 kph when I go out and only my HotSailsMaui Fire 6.3 sail is required. I like to call that combo ICE+FIRE :-) The sail in this picture is a smaller WindWing.

Also made a couple of movies - entertaining, but not great :)

 
Windsurf on ice at Vaudreuils / near Montreal from joe windsurfer on Vimeo.

and here I try a new mount

It is now March 13th and things are warming up QUICKLY. The sleds have been put away for this season. Managed to get out a total of seven(7) times with an average rating of 8.3/10 !! which is excellent. MANY winter sessions are actually a FLOP - in previous years that is. I am looking forward to the water sessions which are NOT far away because we already see the light on Lac St Louis !!!

Clique the PIC

It was such a BAD winter for X-country skiing, alpine skiing, ice/snow sailboarding and kite sailing that people should have realized that it was NOT a winter for putting your car on the ice !!

But even worse than that, on the weekend that I considered my last outing, two brothers died on Lake Magog in the Eastern Townships when their ATV went through the ice :-( Really NOT a good year !!

Well, the good news is one of local pros, Yvente, managed to have a great time in Baie des Brises. He also got an ice sled when i got mine. Here he is trying many tools and much of it is in WATER !!



Since I never seem to give up, when I went up north on Friday afternoon, March 18, I had to try the lake ONE MORE TIME. Shoulda known better. When i reached the other side with my ice sailboard and SW Retro 8-oh in 25 kph North winds, I stepped off the board through a layer of ice and into about five inches of water. I was not worried since I had tested this at the outset. However, whenever I stepped, I went through again. I knew that jibe HAD to go through $%^& Oh well, now I really CAN take apart the winter toys !!!

On the same day I brought my Mistral Equipe I/ONE back down for water sailboarding.
Winds are NOT from the W or SW and thus Pte-Claire is not an option ...
Also getting cold again - somewhere around -10 in the mornings ...
Next day shows hope even on Lac Deux Montagnes !!

and the following Monday the local river already looked like this:

Even in 2016 I am still changing my "winter quiver". Sails are pretty much whatever I can get - smaller is better, but I do use the SW Retro 8-oh on occasion - in really light winds. This year I am building a windski named after local windsurf semi-pro Guy aka gtj. AND i am still finding sleds that i have never seen before - this one is simply called a "winterboard" and is sold by windpowerwindsurfing at about $850US !!! Interesting to note about way skis are angled AND there is a central ski as well. Many of the ideas I try ...

Still have NOT found a sled that works in all conditions - ice, crusty snow, powder snow and deeper snow :-(