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...

Here is one video sample with the SW Retro 8-oh on the snow using the NP mast:

 

In December of 2023 I broke the strap at the top of the luff sleeve...

Thus, in FEB2024 I decided to toss sail in the garbage and this is the skeleton:

 

and I still have the key lol

This post on the SailWorks webpage explains the parts of the batten :

https://www.sailworks.com/batten-removal-installation

and has this wonderful pic with labelling :

 

 

Summary of 2014 Summer Windsurfing

Since the season is almost over ...
Definitely over for those who will not wear full wet suit material...
(Had my last session with no gloves Friday...)

This summer, as usual, it was mostly light wind and thus longboards with 8.x sails. Last year I busted the nose of my FUC/Fanatic Ultra CAT board, butt was repaired this year. Actually the nose and butt were repaired :-)
That board stayed up at the lake and am considering using it around Montreal next summer.

This summer I used the MEQ/Mistral Equipe I (purchased last year) with the 8.x sails - mostly the HSM/HotSailsMaui SPF/SpeedFreak 8.5 that was purchased this year.

The BTF/BIC Techno Formula was sold in two(2) days and I purchased a 2012 JP SLW92 PRO with Select Race 66 cm fin. Also purchased a Curtis Slalom 57 cm fin to try with an 8.x sail on this board. Now looking for used True Ames SB/Santa Barbara 23in/58cm fin. Only got to take this board out once so far. Wind was a bit too light, but when this board planed - man, it was FUN. That was with the TR-4 10-oh in about 10 to 12 knots. I may need to learn to pump when missing a knot or two.

Sails 7-oh and down were barely used - if at all. The Fanatic BEE LTD 124 was NOT used at all. Helmut got out twice this year with his Hawk 135. Unless one has a VERY flexible schedule or time off, it is VERY difficult to sail with the smaller stuff.

My boss Roni, used to windsurf on Lake Garda in Italy. Since his son was born five(5) years ago, he has NOT windsurfed ! I got him to go out on my MEQ and his Tushingham 8.0 sail. He was so excited that he purchased a used Fanatic Hawk 150 LTD at an excellent price. If I had not purchased the JP SLW92, I would have sold my AHD 160 and purchased that board - NICE !!!

In general this was NOT a good year for windsurfing. In 2013 I had about 70 outings and in 2014 had about 40. That's 57% as many sessions as the year before. My wife will say I was out a lot - more than twice a week. Forty sessions over six months is 40/6 = 6 2/3 sessions per month. With about four weeks per month, that's 6.67/4 = 1 2/3 sessions per week. That's less than 2 sessions per week, but i will NOT argue that point with my wife. She is VERY understanding until I go out for extended outings - like eight+ hours !!! {which i did about four(4) times this year :-( } Still better than what Helmut got ... He does not go unless 16+ knots announced ...

Here is my preferred video of the year for 2014 - on the sold BTF.

Which board will make people talk more in 2015? My FUC board or my BIC Dufour Wing ?? The post on the BIC Dufour Wing STILL gets the most hits EVERY month. It is a board that I rarely take out any more. Perhaps I should take it out at OKA just to get the tongues wagging :-) People reacted less to the MEQ than the FUC. Believe the MEQ was a more common board in this neck of the woods ...

Excellent quiver for the year ...
As usual - NEED to improve technique next year !!
When am i going to get in the foot straps ??

Eighty (80) percent of the outings were on longboards and just under 80% with 8.x sails. This means with the longboard, JL SLW, 8.x sails and 10-oh sail - cover pretty much over 95% of my outings. Next year hope to get out in some stronger winds - at least 7-oh conditions !!!

Had some time on my hands and played with some videos - the winter one is from last year obviously






Objectives for 2015:
Go to Cape Hatteras in MAY and HAVE FUN = first time !!
Get in the foot straps and HAVE FUN
Pump to plane and HAVE FUN
HAVE FUN !!!