Windsurf Woody » Family & Friends

The Dam Jam Windsurfing Regatta

admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:53:30 +0000

Josh rippin’ on the JP/7.5

Paul, Woodette, Josh and I made the fun trip to see our friends and compete at The Dam Jam! It started with packing the trailer full of windsurf gear (lots of gear!), then making the 12hr drive to Des Moines, Iowa down Interstate 35. When we left Dryden, there was no green in the trees or grass hardly at all. But as the hours passed by driving south, we felt the air warm, and could see the earth come alive with the rich colours of spring. What a treat for the soul after our long winter.
We arrived late Thursday evening and hung around and caught up with friends. Friday we woke to warm sunny skies with wind! We eagerly rigged the gear for our first rides of the season. It was so nice to be on the water again, I could hardly believe it! Windsurfing in 80 degree weather after leaving our still frozen lakes. Friday night we went to this cool pub called Harbour Grill. It’s actually a floating pub that serves food, gas and booze. Lots of boats and people in the marina made for a fun atmosphere. Jeff ‘Eagles’ Adamski sang his fellow windsurfing faternity “Hotel California” and almost brought the house down! Great times!
Saturday we woke to sunny skies again, but zero wind. No problem though as we sat around and socialized with everyone until just around 1pm, when it looked like someone just threw the fan switch on high, and we watched Saylorville Lake go from glass flat to full-on whitecaps in about 2 miutes. The wind just kept buillding as the day went on reaching gusts of 35knots! Crazy stuff! The Race Committee tried to do some course racing, but with the building winds and bigger waves, it was hard to manage race gear in those conditions, so they decided to do figure 8 slalom the rest of the day getting seven races in after day 1. On the second race of the day they had a “dash for cash” race where I got $50 for 3rd place! First time being paid for a regatta. Hmmm, does that make me a pro now? LOL! Oh boy, we were all exhausted from the extreme racing conditions. Saturday night we partied again at the Harbour Grill til around midnight. We presented Kevin, Don,and Ulf with ‘Canadian Survival Belts’ for the efforts with us as guests of theirs over the years. We had so may laughs with the belts!
Sunday saw lighter winds in the 10-20 knot range where we managed to get in 4 course races before 2pm. We packed the trailer back up and went to the awards. I placed 6th overall in the regatta, Margot sailed great to grab third in Sport Fleet, but our son Josh was the ripper of the family on the weekend snagging FIRST in Sport Fleet! We are so proud Josh for his efforts during the regatta. It was very cool to have three Woody’s on the line! Huge thanks go out to Ulf, Larry, Randy and families for helping out putting on a first class regatta, and looking after our sleeping quarters! Very much appreciated!
For lots of pictures of the weekend click here: The Dam Jam
Next up: The US Nationals in Worthington, MN June 11-15
Stay cool…

Snowkiting fun in April

Woody — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:24:15 +0000

Strategy session before hitting the lake

Strat and Brenna having fun

Woodette with her 6m Flysurfer ‘2Cool’ enjoying the blue sky

Guin showin’ some style

Dr. Evil jumping to the frickin’ moon

Tommy from Shaw TV doing a story about local snowkiting

Kites filling the sky

Coming down from a jump

Smiles all day long

Allen snowkiting for the first time

Powered up and lovin’ it

That’s right, it’s April and we’re still snowking in awesome conditions on Wabigoon Lake! Just last year we windsurfed April 20, but that doesn’t look like it’ll happen until mid May this year. So to take advantage of the conditions presented, 6 of us headed out snowkiting on what was a sunny warm day, with steady wind. My younger sis Guin along with fiance Allen, were in town from Toronto to celebrate our Dad’s birthday, and, just so happened to bring their kites, skis and snowboards with them. And with the conditions on the lake right now being just perfect for snowkiting, it was a smart decision on their part. We all had lots of laughs, spills and thrills during the day. It was a real nice way to wind down the snowkiting season as a group like we had. Strat was pulling his daughter around on the sled, Allen was cruising for his first time on a snowboard, Paul was hucking some huge jumps, Woodette was cruising for hours, Guin was having a blast and I was just soaking it all in…very nice!
Thanks to my big bro Al for shooting some 140+ digital images of the day. Great shots!
Have fun in life!

I've been shoppin'…

Woody — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:46:01 +0000

I know it’s been a long time since my last post, but I’ve been desperately trying to find some 1987 vintage shorts (like the ones in the photo above) for my upcoming windsurfing season. NOT!!
OMG can you believe that Woodette actually even batted an eye at me in St. Lucia (where we met 21 years ago), let alone fall for me!? I mean look at me for gosh sakes! Ankle sneakers, white socks, giraffe legs, long sleave checkered shirt (I was extremely sunburnt in this photo) and the standard tourist camera around the neck. I did have Ray Ban sun glasses, BUT a freakin’ MULLET underneath that backwards ball cap! What was I thinking! This picture is currently on our fridge after Woodette found it in our picture box, so I thought it was worthy of a post. hahaha!!
So other than me still being a bit of a mullet wannabe and Woodette looking better than ever, I’m REALLY looking forward to getting back on the water soon!!
Stay Cool…

Annual Hockey Game

admin — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:14:25 +0000

Our cheerleading section!

Both teams post game photo

For the past 5yrs now we’ve been gathering at our good friends Barb and Rick’s place challenging the kids to a hockey game on Link’s rink on the lake. The annual ‘Parents vs Kids’ game has become a real highlight of our winter activities. The Parent Team was coming into this year with a perfect 4-0 record, but we quickly found our hands full with a kids squad of 12 and all 6 of us parents trying to defend our title! The kids jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead before we started to claw our way back. In regulation time (first team to score 10), there seemed to be a bit of controversy on how the parents managed to get 10 goals first while the kids had only 8. So with kids dreams almost shattered, we decided on a good ol’ shootout. Well the kids displayed their true ability in whooping our butts 4-0 in the shootout. So a big congrats to Team Kids for finally de-throning “The Champs” after all these years.
We will have our parental revenge! Hmmm, house chores anyone?
Stay Cool…

Happy Birthday Woodette!

admin — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:28:18 +0000

Ha ha, it took her three tries to blow out 4 candles! So, how may boyfriends do you have!??

The horns above her head say it all

Today is Schwaby’s birthday! You’d never guess her age by looking at her vibrant expression! I’m not going reveal it either becuase at this stage of life, age is just a number, it doesn’t reflect how young we feel. So, Happy 29th Margot! I wish you many more happy days and fun times ahead in our years together!
____________________________________________
Here’s a few shots of Strat, his sister Susan, Margot and I sailing at the Dryden Yacht Club this past Sunday. The club’s annual S.O.B.I.R. (Sail our boats in regatta) race was the first race of the day where I think we did pretty good. Maybe even won it!? But we won’t know until the scores are tallied. Second race was a “chicks at the helm” race where Woodette steered the boat, while the rest of us pulled ropes and hoisted sails. I was a little loud at times barking out which way to “pull” or “push” the tiller handle to make the boat go where we needed to. I really need to work on chillin’ a bit when it comes to racing though. All in all, another great weekend!
Strat’s sister Susan and I checkin’ out the sails

Hmmm, looks like this pole thingy needs to go on this rope thingy and…

There we go!

Stay Cool…

The week (and a bit) in review

admin — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:50:15 +0000

Future surfer dude!

A well attended “Sunday at Sandy Beach” NOW last club outing of the season

NOW club member Bruce Houston giving some instruction

Strat paddling out to rescue Jeremy in the zodiac after he stopped the motor too far from shore

Josh ripping past Jeremy in the zodiac

“Little Surfer” Shayna showing us her new skills on a 3.0 in 20 knot gusts (offshore flat water)

We’ve been having alot of fun over the past week! Camping and windsurfing with our friends at Aaron Provincal Park on Thunder Lake, where we celebrated our good friend Barb’s birthday (29th I think??)! Wrapping up a terrific windsurfing season of “Sunday’s at Sandy Beach” with our friends and Northwest Ontario Windsurfing (NOW) club members. Sailing in our new sailboat boat (which still needs a name!) at various times throughout the week, and generally just hanging around enjoying the last warm days of the year.
Hope you’re all having fun too…

Sweet Sunday!

admin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:38:59 +0000

Josh with great form closing the gap!

Josh jibing!? Who would have thought!!

Guin on a JP180 with a 5.5m sail

Josh chop hopping?! WTF!!?

Josh hangin’ loose…

This past ‘Sunday at Sandy Beach’ was extra special in that our oldest son Josh, and my youngest sister Guin were windsurfing with us! Josh has just finished up 9 weeks of working in Toronto as a windsurfing instructor at Toronto Windsurfing Club. Josh’s skills as a windsurfer have improved so much, it is really hard to believe! He was chop hopping off the waves and really getting close to nailing his planing jibes! Wow! We laughed our heads off playing in the waves/water together…great times. Woodette was also out ripping it up with us in the 12-20 knots of wind and she’s really getting the hang of the formula board now too. My sister Guin who flew in from Toronto to spend some time with family was also having a blast on our club gear!
After windsurfing for 5 hrs, we drove to my brother Cary’s new home for a big family BBQ.
Great Sunday indeed…

Our new Sailboat!

admin — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:39:51 +0000

This is our new sailboat! She’s a Tanzer 22 that has been in the Dryden Yacht Club for a number of years now and is happy to be back on the water with crew aboard. This boat has a rich history of successes, and we hope to continue that tradition within our family for years to come. Both Margot and I were thinking of getting a ’social’ boat for next year, but when we looked at this sailboat, we both knew after speaking with the previous owner that this boat belonged to us. We have sailed her a few times already (once in 20 knot gusts), and Woodette now has a whole new respect for getting in ‘the sheets’!!!
Have fun in life

Josh's Summer Job

Woody — Fri, 25 May 2007 02:22:03 +0000

Josh giving a thumbs up!
Our oldest son Josh just returned from a week in Toronto after completing his course to become a certified windsurf instructor! He had a full program spending time with Guin, Allen and Cary when he wasn’t at the club. Josh will put his leadership talents to good use this summer as he has secured an “Assistant Windsurfing Instuctor’s” position at Toronto Windsurfing Club. Of course we owe a great deal of gratitude to Tom Mae who has given Josh this wonderful summer employment opportunity. Thanks again Tom! Tom (second from left) is in charge of the Learn to Windsurf Progam at TWC. Josh’s enthusiasm for windsurfing since his Toronto trip has suprised us as parents, and we are stoked he’s showing us ‘how it’s done’ on the water! Great stuff!!
Have fun in life

Happy New Year !!

Woody — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:21:24 +0000

Margot, Mom and Guin

The bonfire and its glow

Guin and Allen by the fire

Big Al: The Grand Marshall of the fireworks!

The moment they told me of their engagement!
Another year is upon us, and what not a better way to bring in the New Year than having a bonfire party! My older bro Al has hosted for the second year in a row a huge New Years Eve bonfire party complete with fireworks. Well this years party was more brilliant than last years, both at the fire, and the midnight fireworks, with more pallets burned and more fireworks exploded. Great fun indeed! Now the best part of the whole night was our now, future brother-in-law Allen, proposing to my younger sister Guin for her hand in marriage! I’m so happy for these two who have already been together for 12 years! Way to go!! 2007 has had an incredible start!
Bring it on