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

St-Jean Baptiste 2023

This has to be the quietest St-Jean I have EVER seen. Okay, I have only lived in La Belle Province for the last 40 years of my life, but that has to count for something :-)

There were a number of reasons for this "tranquility".

For one thing, there was the rain, which can put a damper on things lol

However, FAR more serious was the smoke from the forest fires up north !! 

It was SO BAD that there was an "article"/post suggesting that Montreal had the worst/wurst air on the entire planet.

Worse than ANY industrialized, uncontrolled Chinese city !! 

Suddenly people were speaking about "air quality" and when is it safe to go back outdoors? People were still riding bicycles, motorbikes and convertibles with the top down !?!? (I like to see girls on bicycles with their tops down lol --> Like the Queen poster)

We discovered websites like iQair and spoke about AQI and PM2.5 units lol

On the 25th and 26th of June, my town was OVER 200 AQI which is apparently DANGEROUS - and NOT just for people with health issues !?! By the 27th the values were under 50 !!! which is considered completely safe

Here is a pic of the sun from our town when the sky was fulla smoke !!!

I have added the iQair site as a shortcut in the weather links on this "blog"

A Windsurf Sail that Folds in Half ??

Just when you thought there was NO "new stuff" ...

On Saturday June 3rd, 2023 I went out to OKA and tried to windsurf in what I call "overpowering conditions". Someone said,"Phew!! Je pense qu'il y a 30 noeuds l'autre bord!"

So, I went to La Crête and practiced water starts all the while trying to stay in the shallows.

When I got off I saw a dude taking this out of his SUV:

It did NOT look like a kite kit, wingfoil or ???
What kinda animal is this ??

Apparently RRD have had this foldable sail out since about three years:

For me it is surprising that this concept has NOT been attempted before.
The only thing I noticed was the loose leech is shallow waves at the top.

The mast was also in 5 pieces ...

https://www.windsurf.co.uk

Dude says VoilOKA sells them & probably are supplied from windspirit. At VoilOka the mast and boom compact kit is $1244 + 15% tax. This does NOT include ANY sails, which are $850 + tax each. Way over $2000 for a 6-oh ?? WoW

How about wind-spirit ?? HD compact kit is $650 + tax and PRO is $1500 + tax. However, these look like sale prices !! and the 5-oh is $570 + tax on sale ..

Once upon a time ... there were these MultiSails where you added pieces to make the sail larger. Obviously that never took off. But reduction of storage and transport space has always been something to consider. However, I will NOT become a fan of inflatables !!!

NEW NorthSails Air CAM sails in 2023

 It is a free-race sail and I did NOT see the air cam system discussed in the slalom sails. I guess racers are not meant to drop their sails and/or be able to waterstart these BIG boyz/sails ?!?

I have not written much about "new stuff" in the windsurf arena cuz for me, it was feeling a little stagnant. Sail (and board) companies are talking about keeping the same product for more than one year now - this is good business (if your product sells).

Okay, there is now windfoiling, which to me seems way too complex (just getting gear is too much work for me lol) and way too expen$ive for an old retired fart like myself. PLUS, two of the local windsurfers that I respect greatly in terms of their windsurf skills (the two Benwahs) have tried windfoiling and sold their stuff.

Based on my observations and discussions on the beach, people are going to wingfoiling. Both from windsurfing/foiling and from kitefoiling. Butt, I digress lol

I saw about this product on youtube, where their AI was kind enuff to suggest that video to me lol

and the North Sails sales pitch is here: https://northwindsurfing.com/freerace

Basically the wide luff of the cambered sails are filled with an air chamber that actually incorporates the cambers. 

The initial installation is NOT trivial and I ask myself (and perhaps I will ask NorthSails) WHY they did not send these sails out with the air chamber + cambers installed ?!?!?

and here are some "first impressions" expressed lol

Before I forget... these sails are also made with NO seams using this new 3Di material and technology.

So, what is my take on all this ??

Firstly, I hope it does NOT require a different mast (what is MDM) and that the pump is included with the purchase ..

I do like the idea of the wide luff staying free of water for uphauling, but also feel like NS is adding another feature of complexity... Cambers can be a pain of their own free accord.

I would like to try one, but am NOT in the market for a $2000 sail plus perhaps a $1000 mast !!!