Thursday SE clocking SW

[Lowesdown]

So my session at Centennial was the best I've had to date. I managed to get both feet in the straps during the first session before the wind died. Came off the water and waited for it to build again. C36 came into the parking lot on two wheels jumped out and hooked me up with longer harness lines. I threw them on the rig and went back out. Got both feet in a few more times and tried to hook in... Then weee, catapulted. I did manage a few other times to get hooked in but came off of planning. More time on water should help, thanks to all those who gave me feedback and useful information.

Left around noon headed to a meeting in south surrey and after the meeting went to WR. In my excitement from the awesome session at Centennial I rigged and followed Jordan and Lubo onto the water. The wind was not good at all and tide was high.

Plus Side: I got some swimming exercise and got to watch Jordan and Lubo have fun.

Down Side: Once I realized I wasn't going to succeed, I made way for shore. However the swells and waves slammed me into the rock garden. My rig took a bit of a tumble into the rocks as well. I checked over my gear once on the beach.... There are a few tears along the mast sleeve of my 5.7 and a few cracks in the gel coat of my board.

Lessons Learned: Slow down and don't sail WR at high tide until I get much better.

[Alton]

Big smiles and good windsurfer turn out. Adrian, Adrien, AJ, Michael, Dave (from Tsawwasen), Ryan (from Tsawwassen), Daniel (windsurfdan), Scott (Lowesdown), Nicolas, Francis, Richi, Babymama, Dave/C36 and many more.

Forgot Brian Lewis

[Alton]

Plus Side: I got some swimming exercise and got to watch Jordan and Lubo have fun.

Down Side: Once I realized I wasn't going to succeed, I made way for shore. However the swells and waves slammed me into the rock garden. My rig took a bit of a tumble into the rocks as well. I checked over my gear once on the beach.... There are a few tears along the mast sleeve of my 5.7 and a few cracks in the gel coat of my board.

Lessons Learned: Slow down and don't sail WR at high tide until I get much better.

Scott - we've all been there. Keep up the stoke!

[Lowesdown]

Scott - we've all been there. Keep it the stoke!

Always!!

[8mdude]

Awesome day. Literally sweating during my 4 hour session with 4.5 square meter / 83 L.

Nice to see some happy faces. And thanks to Adrian for loaning me his brass plate.

[Michael]

Lessons Learned: Slow down and don't sail WR at high tide until I get much better.

Dude every time I sailed White Rock my first few years I broke or damaged something, including one of my toes! I totally had a love hate relationship with that place for a while.
So glad to hear you had a good session at Centennial though, definitely the best place to get into winter sailing. Stoked for you!

[Alton]

Down Side: Once I realized I wasn't going to succeed, I made way for shore. However the swells and waves slammed me into the rock garden. My rig took a bit of a tumble into the rocks as well. I checked over my gear once on the beach.... There are a few tears along the mast sleeve of my 5.7 and a few cracks in the gel coat of my board.

Scott - You have at least 7 days before the next session. If you're like me and not into DIY repairs, contact:

Dennis LeFeaux at North Sails Canada
11911 Machrina Way, Richmond, BC V7A 4V3
(604) 271-2111

Rob Mulder at Roberts Sailboards
993 3rd St W, North Vancouver, BC V7P 1E4
(604) 986-0041

[ShonanDB]

Arrived at Centennial Beach at 10am just as it shut down and stood around for about an hour and decided to go check out the Ferry Terminal as the low clouds looked to have switched SW already. When I arrived it was SSW and a solid 20 - 25kts so I rigged my 4.7 and 73L and was on the water by 11:20 and was fully powered for about 45 minutes and then it started shifting between S and SW and got gusty/holey so I switched to the 110L. With the extra volume I was planing all the time and then it steadied out and the waves built to about thigh to waist high. Lots of steep faces for port jumps and the waves set up nicely to run the trough for 20 -30 metres at a time while on starboard tack. Haven't gone that fast in a long time and scared myself a few times when the gusts hit. Switched back to my 73L and sailed until about 1:30 when the 4.7 became too much so I came in to rig down but shortly after coming in, the wind backed off and became holey again. Another windsurfer showed up around that time (didn't catch his name) and he said he was kiting at 3rd in the morning. Went out for another 30 minutes but it was too holey so I came in a packed up around 2pm. As I was leaving it picked back up again (looked to have switched SW again) and the other guy was planing on his 85L & 4.8.
I had to be in South Van for a meeting at 4pm so I had some time to kill and drove over to Steveston and parked at the Gates/Cates Park to check it out. It was SW there and 25 gusting to 30 and looked good!. Getting in the water at high tide looked dodgy but you could see decent swell rolling through starting about 200 metres out. Wish I would have gone straight there instead of going to the Ferry Terminal.... next time. Good day overall and actually got some work done today as well!

[AdrienGrelon]

Stoked to hear you made good progress today, Scott! Great to have some new faces getting into the sport rather than going straight to the darkside... That shallow water setup is definitely primo for progressing, with easy beach starts and break options.

Today was definitely the best day of the year so far for me. Loads of jumps, and some solid loop training finally on some real ramps (not squamish chop)! I think an updated stokeometer is in order:



Put together a quick edit of some of the GoPro shots I got today. Unfortunately, the case fogged up quite badly by the end, affecting the quality of some of the shots.. Joe demanded loops in the last one, so this one has a lot of loop (attempts)



Got some good looping tips from Daniel, can't wait for the next big day!

Also, I can totally see Dave ripping a big powerslide into the parking lot in his minivan in angst at getting on the water

[Chris Klohn]

Hey Adrien,

Love the clips! Especially the last one where you look back at the clew and rotate all the way. A little more aggressive turn off the wind and you'll be planing out of them.

Cheers,

Chris