........joe windsurfer BLOG........

My First Visit to Hatteras

About three(3) years ago I suggested to my colleague, Helmut, that we go to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. He has been about twice and this year will be my first !!! He always went with Bruno of 2-rad and so, I will try that also ...

When i asked about the deposit, the Canadian dollar was on par with the U.S. , but now we are down to $0.80US :-( If the trip costs about $1000 US, it will now be $1200 !!! That means NO equipment changes this year for me :-( Luckily I have more equipment than necessary.

Speaking about equipment ... Since I will be going down with Helmut and his Mazda 3, I will be limited to two(2) boards. For me there are four(4) boards I would consider, but I want to cover as much range as possible. I have a Mistral Equipe longboard, JP SLW92, AHD FF 160/79 and Fanatic BEE LTD 124/63. The JP SLW92 is quite large, meant more for light winds and also requires quite long fins. People have told me that they have used these FreeFormulas there, but for me that one is out of the question...

The Fanatic BEE LTD 124 is a no-brainer. It is long compared to "modern" 124 liter boards, but that impacts jibes/gybes more than anything. It also means quick tacks are a possibility - especially since I longboarded much more than short-boarded. The board will handle my 6.3 and 6.9 no problem and I would like to try it with my 8.x sails while there ...

So, the big question is: Mistral Equipe/MEQ longboard or AHD FF 160 short board ? So far, the vote is split. Two people suggested the longboard and then rent short boards as required. Ca ce n'est pas mauvais/ not bad since this board can go in light wind with an 8.x and also bigger winds with 6.9. Two other people suggested the AHD FF 160. This board can also go with 8.x and 6.9, but will NOT go in lighter winds - like 12 knots - unless I bring the 10-oh sail.

One of the main reasons for me to go to Hatteras - finally - is I MUST get in the foot straps !! Would this be better with my own AHD FF 160 or a rented short board. I would like to try a Tabou Rocket in any case - especially the 125. I have written about it and drooled about it for years...

So, perhaps I should look at this entirely differently ... Bring the Mistral Equipe and the AHD FF 160. Then I would rent whatever equipment was needed for the bigger winds.

People say bring everything, but logistically I cannot ...
If I can bring the 10-oh sail, 520 mast and long boom, I will probably go for the AHD and BEE option.
With sails from 6.3 to 10-oh I would be covered from 12 knots to about 24 knots.
If I cannot bring the 10-oh, I may bring the MEQ longboard and BEE short board.
With sails from 6.3 to 8.x, I would also be covered from 10 knots to about 24 knots.
This would carry a higher probability of renting short boards - around 110 liters for really big winds and around 135-145 for 8.x sails. Then again , I want to try the BEE with 8.x sails. So, the BEE and longboard are actually a viable option - with less BIG equipment to carry n setup...

The sails I will probably bring are HotSailsMaui Fire 6.3, NorthSails Duke 6.9, HotSailsMaui SpeedFreak 8.5 and Sailworks Retro 8-oh. Obvious questions are: NO MauiSails and why two 8.x sails ??
My MauiSails are TR race sails and I am unsure of whether that is needed in a place like Cape Hatteras where the wind is slated to be more steady than here in Montreal.
I am bringing two 8.x sails because that is my most used sail size and the HSM SPF has the range, while the Retro has the grunt.
Also, with those four(4) sails I only need bring two(2) masts - Powerex RDM 460 and NP SDM 490.

Addendum: Took a look at recent wind at Avon, North Carolina. and winds were either BIG (over 20 knots) or LITE (around 12 knots). That would mean BEE 124 and MEQ longboard. Will check for more history ... Wunderground was much more interesting - average wind around 20 kph and highest around 60 kph. ( a lot of 20-40 kph, 30-50 and 40-60 kph) This would mean BEE 124 and AHD 160 with current sails !!! Investigation continues - should I ask on iWindsurf ? Perhaps wait until a little closer to the voyage :-)

Here's the wind blob from wind alert:

and windfinder:

and wunderground: (this week)

On Friday the 3rd of March winds were well over 30 knots !!

Your suggestions on what to bring and past experiences are welcome here :-)
I posted the question on iwindsurf as well..
http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29569
and so far the option of Mistral Equipe and Fanatic BEE is winning !! and WON !!
the winds generally seem to be under 60 kph peak, but do hit 70 on occassion
i thought this okay until i translated this to knots
60 kph = 32 knots and 70 kph = 38 knots !!!
40 to 60 is 6.3 for me which i have
50 to 70 kph is definitely 5-oh weather
for this i am lacking the sail and board
if i am lucky this will only happen on one day during my week there !!!
cuz that is more than what i usually sail in !!!

It is now April 18th which means about three(3) weeks before we go to Hateherass :-)
Today the air and water temps are around 19 degrees C = warm
From the 11th to the 18th temps went from 10 to 22 degrees - almost like here in Montreal
We dipped below 10, but did hit 22 !!
The best winds seemed to be 20 - 40 kph = 8-oh weather as the best winds :-(

Antoine is there now let's hope he has better - Mon and Tues supposed to have BIG winds - 25 knots
Here is a summary of the week in chart form - need to get the story from Antoine !!
He went down there in style !!

Antoine had a good time 9 outta 10, but busted a rented sail which cost him $200US. He also hurt his wrist and one finger when he was out in 3.7 weather !! He rented a Gecko 112 from Ocean Air Sports and 2 sails - Ezzy and Severne. Board can be changed out as you go. This is the deluxe rental package and costs about $275US.

And the following week? We leave NEXT Friday !! Temps are all over 15 degrees and winds stayed under 50 kph ??

Winter Windsurfing 2014/2015

I was fortunate in that it got cold after the warm spell in December 2014.
That meant that there was ice up at the lake.
Pretty GOOD ice at that. People were skating the entire lake.

I had originally brought my snow sailboard, but went back home and got my ice sailboard - pictured below. After that I had three(3) great days on the ice.

Once back home, I was hoping to get out on the snow. When I tried it on the local river, I realized that i needed 20-40 kph winds for the SailWorks Retro 8-oh that I had purchased for winter sailing. Naturally the first time I did go out for a real session, I forgot my harness :-( and thus could NOT last more than 1 minute or two at a time - before i needed a break :-(

The next time out I obviously did NOT forget my harness and met Claude at OKA Parc. Claude is at about the 15 minute mark. (btw Claude is pronounced Clode !!)

Need to reduce the film length for the BEST parts and put some music:

After that session I removed the front snowboard and feel perhaps I will ONLY put it when needed. All I need to remember is bring that board plus some 7/16 wrench and socket... Feels like the extra "plough"/push is ONLY required when there is more snow ie deeper.

I was a little surprised when people always ask the same question first: "How fast were you going?" It is NOT about speed for me. It is about FUN, TOW/snow and being outside. Perhaps the question is meant more like, "MAN, how fast were you going ?? " :-)

Just found this video - fellow is riding on a "windski" fabricated by Langis Caron !! jibes and everything

And George of Rhode Island who has a Hiberna , real Windski AND a snowfer showed me this clip:

and here is my 58 minute cut back with some musak :-)

However, deep snow requires a whole new perspective. Believe i will remove the front snowboard because it does not do much in less snow and does NOT help in deep snow. Feodor of Finland suggested wide jumping skis. They are rare and expensive. Will try some other alternatives first :-)

This winter has been rough with extreme cold for extended periods, deep snow and now really bad cold/flu :-(

Well, I think I finally came up with the "right" ideal for deep snow windsurfing ... I was going to base it on our German sled:

Was thinking of putting the skis under the sled rails and the snow board on top without altering the sled. Then I came across this ... from instructables

The idea is to use my old parabolic skis, the PVC cross bars and then a snowboard on top :-) Could even put some straight pipe to make it higher :-)

And parts should be light and readily available :

Harder to find the bent adapters than I wouda thunk... Started my summary sheet for the winter of 2014 to 2015. In early March I have had ONLY seven (7) sessions to date. The good news is the average rating is 8 outta 10 !!

RED BULL STORM CHASE 2014 Movie

Thought they were selling a DVD ??

Seems it is available here - for now !!
Use Google Chrome to be able to move about in the movie.
and does NOT seem to be functioning any more !!

http://www.redbull.tv/videos/1417708972552-2113458781/a-force-10-adventure

and so, will put some trailers:

Buy a SW Retro 8-oh to prepare for winter ??

Taking longboard Mistral Equipe aka MEQ up north to chalet basement today - outlaws have some chalets with space = lucky me. Bringing my winter sleds back down home - have one for the snow and another for the ice.

Was also going through my sails and was wondering if my newly acquired HSM SPF 8.5 could be used on snow n ice. Apparently the PVC window is fragile in the cold. That's a pisser :-( NEVER thought to check that when i purchased it... My MS-2 8.0 is way too busted up to even consider winter activity and the TR-4 8.4 is just too precious = "my precious" done in the voice of Gollum from Lord of the Rings :-)

In any case, I found a 2007 Sailworks / SW Retro 8.0 for about $200 at 2-rad. Bruno marked it as A+ and owner from Gatineau marked it as B+. With the small crinkles near the top of the luff, I will give it a B+ while the rest was A+ with lotsa life left in it.

I rigged it with my MauiSails SDM 490cm/75% carbon mast. Bruce Peterson has stated this should work fine.The sail is marked as luff of 501-505 and boom of 219-223. Put the downhaul at 490+12.5 = 502.5 and outhaul at 180+40=220 cm. This sail requires more downhaul than ANY I have ever rigged. What i mean by that is usually there is about 5 to 10 cm of rope left to pull with a tool ie before I cannot pull easily with my hand(s). This sail had about 20 to 30 cm of downhaul to go. The mast is hard top and the sail constant curve. Needed to tighten the battens a little bit - tool is on the sail and put more outhaul - another 2.5 cm to make the battens get around the mast - for switching sides. Also, I did NOT downhaul all the way - was already enough leech and bend in mast. Next time try 10 cm on mast extension - all the way and see how much outhaul is required for battens to be good. (10 cm at base and 40 at boom next time)

Obviously uphauled the sail and yanked on it to see power and flip to other side. This sail is VERY powerful and I will need to be VERY careful on snow n ice. People are saying I need LESS sail in winter and this is true, but i also go out in lighter winds. ANY slight breeze and one can fly on the ice !! Snow can be VERY resistant and as such requires bigger sails. This sail can be used on snow up to 30 kph winds - as long as snow is NOT crusty - that approaches ice speeds. On the ice I have used 8.x sails in winds under 20 kph - as low as 10 kph !!! Just gliding along and smiling...

Will post more pics of sail when my camera battery has charged %^&*(

Interestingly enough, this sail goes into the bag clew first or what i call head first. Perhaps that is how the top of the sail got crinkled ? Person stood sail on clew head while placing in bag ??

About 5 cm not hauled with 502.5 setting:

Here is the crinkly top of the sail:

and another angle on the sail:

Bruce Peterson now has a clip on youtube on the proper rigging of the SailWorks Retro:

Now, back to winter windsurfing ...
Here's an old clip with the Maui Sails MS-2 8-oh. It was light wind and not so fast. To make it more interesting, it was sped up and some "futuristic" sounds that are supposed to be music? added.

The sled in that video was the ice sled. On the ice such a large sail is ONLY used in very light winds !! Mostly such a large sail is used on the snow sled. The version I am using this year is as follows:

My snow sled is loosely based on the race sled used by Langis Carron who used to race cars and then started racing in the snow at WISSA events and did well !!

Since there was discussion about a hard top mast and sail slated to be constant curve/CC on iwindsurf ...
http://iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29450 & http://iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29457
I decided to try my NP 490/90% mast on the SW retro discussed earlier in this post. The issue was that the hard top/HT mast seemed to create a looser leech rather than a tighter leech - even with less downhaul. This is based on the photo earlier in this post and multiple riggings... Here is a photo of the NP flextop/FT mast in the SW Retro 8-oh. Same 10 cm downhaul and 40 + 180 cm outhaul as the HT mast.

Ok the leech looks loose, but upon careful examination this happens above the SW "cog" indicator. Before putting the outhaul, the battens pushed hard against the end of their respective sleeves. With the outhaul at 40 + 180 cm the battens actually seemed better than with the HT mast. The 10 cm downhaul was also taken down to about 7/8 cm and not the full 10 - just like the MS mast. And so, decided to take it out on the ice n snow for a spin. Will post the video once uploaded to YouTube...