Windskate and Windski

Would like to revive this subject, since the air and water are too cold for me now ...
My average for on the water in December is a BIG fat zero and ONE for ice windskiing !!
The cold weather is only just starting now - the 10th of December 2017 ...

and YES, here we are in APRIL 2020 and I am reviving this subject AGAIN !!
with the COVID-19 pandemic one has ta find things ta do !!
so, I am continuing with the windskate that I started b4 - 2016 ??

The experiments I did earlier for windskating (on a skateboard) and discussed below were fun, but did not go well - NOT to my tastes anyway ... I found the windskate idea interesting , but dangerous. Learned quickly to dump the sail if in ANY kind of trouble. I found the board a bit short and narrow.

My first experiment to change all this was with some wood laying about - it was 50 inches long and 17 inches wide. I was looking to go 8 or 9 inches wide and 48 to 54 inches long. So, I stuck with the 50 inch length and tried the 9 inch piece first. Initial tests on the press wood suggested it would not break with my 105 + kilo weight. When cut to size, standing on it felt very comfortable - not too wide nor long. Put the wheels on at 7 inches from the ends. It rolled well and i stepped where the back wheel was and it was ok. Put some stress on the board in the middle - hmm. Ok, stress test time and it broke, This is okay - because I really do NOT want it to break while riding on pavement. Now I will search for a more appropriate wood and probably do more stress tests before assembling the wheels and mast base ... All just part of the fun ...

And what does a search for home made skateboard wood bring ?
Quick search on internet and it seems maple and plywood are the best choices ...
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Well, it seems local freestyler, gtj/Guy Trudeau jr, is starting to influence me...

He runs a website called http://windskate.ca and is also know for his freestyle tricks on the water.

First I tried a windskate where I took my son's 31 inch skateboard, changed the wheels and put a hole for the mast base ...

 These wheels are wider and come from a longboard. They also roll "better"

Because the board is short. the mastbase had to go in front of the wheels...

Most people including Guy, put the mast base behind the front wheels. The boards are also longer. Putting it front means the board often tips up when moving it about (without people weight holding it down).

When I saw Guy today in December 2016,  he suggested many things... He keeps BOTH wheel bases long. I can switch the wheels onto the longer truck from my son. Guy's boards are longer, as discussed, and also FLAT. He makes them thicker now so that they do not break. His wheels are also even wider than mine and finds the really wide and large wheels just slide too much. Would need a harder rubber on those wheels ...Next spring 2017 I will purchase a full kit from Guy...

When I did my experiments, I only had my HSM Fire 6.3 sail here and not my smaller junkers. I don't have good smaller sails ...

(need a better pic of this sail ...)

how about this one - NOT me obviously

The good news is of my windskating sessions so far - nothing was broken and I did not get hurt. I do have my windsurf helmet, knee pads, good gloves and purchased elbow pads ...

I did try to make a "longboard" windskate ...
As I wanted to see which lengths would work best for me, the first attempt was not expected to be great ...
It was press wood from some old TV cabinet that was laying about ...
Made it about 50 inches by 9 inches , which passed the length and width test, but not the durability test ...

So, went to the hardware store to check out wood prices ...

Maple is just too expensive for me at this point - am still in the experimental stages ...

Found some crude dried pine which seems sturdy, but will probably NOT last long ...

Made it the same 50 inches as the above experiment with the trucks 7 inches from the ends ...

Left the board at its current width - for now ...

Forgot to change one of the trucks to the wide truck ... later ..

First experiments showed that the board was sturdy enough and width did no bother me ,,,,

Very ruff looking at this point - thicker than the final result will be too ...

Well, I put the wide trucks on and am experimenting with a wide angle lens on my phone...

So, now in April 2020 with the COVID-19 virus and people doing "social distancing", what is one to do ?? How about continuing windsurf projects that shoulda bin dunn long ago ?? cuz even windsurfing may go "on hold". My current "masthead" on my blog is a sign saying Canada Parks is closing ALL their parks ...So, I finally added the mast base to the new POC board:

Here is a different angle of the same thing ...

At time of writing, the setup has NOT been tested yet.

It promises to be dangerous and exciting :-)

The smallest sail I have here at home seems to be the WindWing 4.6. Here I rigged it with the PX RDM 460 mast and the blue Maui boom, which had to be extended one notch - not easy. Downhaul setting was 16 cm, but can go to 10 or even 8 cm on the extension ...

 

So, on Easter Saturday 2020 I did the POC(proof of concept) run in front of the house

Winds were 90 degrees to the street and fairly light 20-30 kph W

It looks like the setup WILL work, butt needs more space :-)

Perhaps this afternoon I can try the Walmart\Reno Depot parking lot

It seems it all closes at about 17h00 today and that is when it is the warmest 

part of the day ... Let's hope it all goes well ... Wait a second - please check reminder below

Reminder: It was Easter weekend when I broke my shoulder doing my first wind run on ice :-(

I must have really scared myself because I still have NOT tried out this kit since Easter 2020 and I have been out with my 3.0 m² training kite at least three(3) times ...

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With all the good things Guy is doing, why not copy his windski as well ??

I had thrown out the skis from Helmut because they were at the chalet and I was NOT going any more. Did keep the boots just in case.

Since my boots did NOT fit the skis I got from Marc's garage sale, I had to move the back bindings:

Guy suggests cutting the clips, but mine come off - leave them off ??

For the boots I unscrewed the top portion

and cut the backs as suggested by Guy

the cross bar was purchased from Guy

and now ... almost ready to get the rest of the materials

nuts, bolts and washers as suggested in the video

okay, got some nuts, bolts and washers

and moved to NEXT step:

where pucks are attached to the crossbar

need to ask Guy about the bolts and how long is really necessary

What I did for now, was add some more washers. The setup looks okay and ready to mount pucks onto the skis.  Guy suggests seven to eight inches up from the bindings. Did an experiment about where to place the pucks on  the skis and it was 7.5 inches from the bindings. As such, that is where I will place the pucks ...

As it gets wider further up the skis, I decided on eight inches from the front of the bindings. As I could NOT find my protractor, I had to print one from the internet in order to measure 360/5 = 72 degrees between the screws and decided on 1.1 cm from the edge. Here is the first puck mounted ...

and now just need to let things dry - silicone and loctite - before testing it out 😊

Was going through my winter posts and looking for other windskis. There used to be a company called windski that built something like American "magic ride" who posted on Auzzie windsurf forum: (says it does not tack or jibe well, but then none of my models seem to either...)

Apparently this was a water ski - something I tried with an older ski that did not work out for me ... 

Here it is in action ...

 "my ski won't perform well with larger sails. The ski seems to bite too much to the snow at the bottom of the ski 3/4 to the front end area of the ski. Found any thing less than a 5.4 and down works perfect."

Will look for pics from "original" windski ... They used to be @ www.windski.com, but that address does not exist anymore and is available ... Here is a sample:

They claimed that the windski and "windski carve" could go in ANY depths of snow ...

 

In March of 2021 I found an old video with the "original windski"

 

Found pic at a site where they "talk" about classifications of winter sailing ...

http://www.winterwindsurf.com/clasification-of-constructions-for-winter-sailing/

1) Sled with rider standing on structure

2) Hand-held like a kitewing

3) Kites connected by lines ...

Obviously there are also ice sailboats !!!

and for me these below are ALL sleds, but all completely different !!!

This fellow says he simply attached the sail to one ski with a rope ??

Here's another single ski, but with snowboard(s) and a platform

Well, brought the stuff up north to the out-law chalet cuz the ice is supposed to be frozen. This is on TUES 27DEC2016, my birthday... when i tested the ice at night/evening, I managed to break through top crust and find some water before next layer 😒 and it looked light / perhaps water ? near the middle of the lake $%^&*(( On the following morning put on the BIG boots and wandered further out. The ice made a BIG BOOM like lake was a GIANT WOOFER. Was afraid for about 2 seconds. Went and got my other sleds and took out my favourite ice sled with the HSM Fire 6.3. Ice was fine (8 outta 10) but the wind was too light  - off n on around 10 kph (6 outta 10). It was good to go out though !!! Just been too long - think i have a serious addiction 😊 This is the ice sled:

The next day I tried again, but wind was even less - 6 outta 10. Tried my ice sled, but the ice was too sharp and rails too sharp - did NOT go better than above sled. When I rigged the SW Retro 8-oh, the wind died !! This is my blue ice sled:

I must have spent over one hour looking for a specific board on this blog that buddy Claude Belanger showed me @ OKA. He met Langis Caron @ WISSA in 2010 I believe and based his boards on that/those meetings ... It is a combination  of skis and snowboards with an angle of about 23 degrees. What is interesting is the mount of the platform AND the joining/amalgamation of the skis with the lower snowboard (which has been cut in order to match the 23 degrees of the skis !!

What differs between Claude's model and that of Langis Carron is, Langis only had one ski coming out the front : (in case you did not know - Langis was a Québec race car driver who also won WISSA windsurf races on ice n snow)

Here is a windski from Langis Caron in action !!

Here is a local fellow using a windski like mine ...

Here's Brian Foster aka magicride on his windski @ Lake of the Woods, Oregon

another video bites the dust - even Brian cannot get it :-(

Oh well - replaced with another of his videos ..

Well, it has been confirmed that this WindSki and Guy's version do NOT go well in deep snow. DEEP is not a number and so, what is meant by deep snow. Ironically, it is NOT a big number. For me 6 cm of snow can wreak a day out in the winter and ten cm for sure. Need more wind and more effort. On the ice 15 kph winds can make the ice sailboard fly. Need 15 knot winds when the snow is over 10 cm. Starting to sound like summer planing requirements ??

In any case, I am constantly wondering how i can overcome this deep snow "issue" and often come back to this idea:

The idea is to keep the weight and drag up and over the snow line. How much height is required ?? At first I was considering 12 inches in order to ensure one is over the snow... Went outside with deep, wet snow and measured how deep do I sink with my weight in these conditions = ten inches. Okay, does it make a difference if one is on a ski ?? With one ski and my full weight on it, it sank about five inches which is obviously ONLY half the amount. This seems to indicate that 12 inches of height may be too much and awkward for nothing. A typical step in a stairwell seems to be 8 inches and so, since this seems to be a comfortable height, that is what i will start with... Have skis in the garage and an old snowboard from my sister up in the chalet basement. Will put three crossbeams one foot apart under the snowboard. Maybe I should NOT share all this information until I have patented the model ?? 😊

What about deeper powder snow ?? That happens rarely here and if so, at least the weight and drag will be up higher and perhaps able to push the extra fluff out of the way ?? 

What about spin-out as there is NO fin nor angle of skis ?? 

Have thought of that and have a potential solution, but cannot share that here - not until patented 😊

may as well add some new stuff since I brought the post back to the fore front ...

how about winch windsurfing on the mountains ??

https://www.boardseekermag.com/longform/world-first-winch-windsurfing-in-snow/#1vDhElyfm3CXs4Qm.97

or Levi Siver on Japanese mountain:

now for deep snow am using this as an idea to think about - elevated platform !!

other George told me that the snowfer works in deep snow, but is out of business !!

found this on iwindsurf in March 2019 !!

Here is another dude with a raised platform - not quite as high as I wanna go , butt ...

This was my prototype of the raised platform, but the PVC may not be strong enough ..

and thus, I have moved on towards a more metal frame - again NOT tested YET  :-(