Each year @ the start of the windsurf season ...

 ... ...it seems that I start looking at and offering to purchase something in the windsurf world ...

This year it was a used SlingShot Wizard of 150 liters

At $500 I felt like the price was right (for me) . HOWEVER, there was a catch !!
This board had homemade nose repairs & I asked for more pics ...

and the base was ONLY tuttle ...

I was hoping for those double tracks too

None of that would normally stop me, as I can repair that nose properly and there are plenty of foils that are tuttle based. However, I stopped the "hunt". WHY then ??

First of all, I was a little wary of a repair that was covered by "kiteaid" tape. No way of knowing how large the repair is (owner says 6cm) ; how well repaired or how well it is holding up ! And originally I was hoping for a Levitator  160 board with an I84 SlingShot foil ...

NONE of that was the real reason why I abandoned this purchase. 

On Wednesday the 28th of June, 2023 I went out in light winds (20-40kph SW) at La Crête beach in OKA Parc with my Fanatic Shark HRS 145 (original Fanatic 50cm fin) and my 10m² GAastra Swift (520cm MauiSails 100% mast). I fucking LOVED my session... Benwindy was out on his Fanatic 145 Ray using his Ezzy Lion 8.5 sail. Benoit had tried windfoiling and sold all his stuff. Please realize that he is quite a GOOD windsurfer. He gave it up and blamed it more on his selection of foil than on the difficulty of learning that sport. Benoit Falardeau is another accomplished windsurfer who tried windfoiling and sold it all ...

On top o' all that ... Older kiter buddy (fellow who had issues with his knee last year) came in from a session using his 21 m² kite. He is a decent kiter as far as I can tell and he quit trying kitefoiling as it was too much trouble to learn. Then Georgie showed up (who was supposed to be kite foiling by last season) and when asked about kite foiling; he said it was way too difficult!! George is a ski instructor at Saint Sauveur and went from windsurfing to kite sailing (water AND ice) and now onto kite foiling ...

Too many respected water people tried and dropped it AND I realized that Lac de Deux Montagnes was alredy low in water levels and starting to show algae.  These two items alone are a reason for me to NOT embark on this sport here. I do remember someone once saying they would like to try windfoiling, but NOT HERE !! Before I forget ... Sylvain was out there kitefoiling and jumping like this was the BEST wind session EVER (and it was NOT lol).

The ONLY person I know who went from windsurfing to windfoiling and stayed there is Claude, who lived in OKA (sold me a fin once). Told me it took him three seasons to get completely comfortable ... Marie from Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac has been trying two years now ...

When I informed the owner of the Slingshot Wizard 150 of my decision, he sent me this video:

If I was to guess ... 

.....I would say that wingfoiling is getting more popular than windfoiling..

In early August a fellow in St-Lin was selling a NP foil:

We arranged to meet and I drove to his house (30 minute drive). When I got there, my phone dropped to the floor and would NOT start again (was caught in a power on loop). It had overheated with WAZE and then with the whack - was done.

I thought "no worries" ... I am at the house. Looked a little bit off - the house and area, butt again - no worries. They were NOT home and the dog did not bark (Beware of Dog signs all about). 

I took this to be serendipity and headed back home. 

It was a deep tuttle and I considered trying it in the country on the Mistral SLE - if it breaks = NP.

HOWEVER .. Marie who heads the "Regroupement des sports aérotractés du lac des Deux-Montagnes" facebook groupe - where we fight for our rites on the beaches of OKA Parc 😄 has added some fuel to the fire. Recently on a light wind day I saw here out there blasting on a SlingShot Windfoil board with an Infinity 76 foil as a fin. She says it took her 2.5 seasons and she is a damn good windsurfer !! She is using a Slingshot Wizard 130 !!
    She DID say that she started with a 150 liter windfoil