Windsurf Woody » Outdoors

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!

The 4th Annual Mille Lacs Kite Crossing

Woody — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:17:37 +0000

Woodette & fellow Team World member Jeff “Footloose” Adamksi

Kiters heading out for 20+ miles of thigh burning pain!

Hey, we’re off this weekend to Garrison, MN for the 4th Annual Mille Lacs Kite Crossing. The weather is shaping up real sweet with warm temps and steady winds forecasted. There’s already 65 pre-registered kiter’s with proabably that many signing up on event day, so this years Crossing should be epic! Paul, Woodette and I will be hooking up with some of the other Team World members for a weekend of laughs, thrills, spills, chill time in the hot tub and full-on dancin’ at the Blue Goose where the, “what happens on the road, stays on the road” motto holds true!
Have fun in life!

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…

A little update

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:26:32 +0000

After shoveling 4′ snow drifts around the FJ.

Driving back to Dryden in a snow storm. Not fun!

It’s that time of year when we just can’t seem to do much in the area of ‘windsports’. Our lakes have frozen over now, but with the loads of snow we’ve been having the past week(s), it’s making for some uncertain ice conditions. I hope we can get our ice shack out on the lake soon as ‘The Shack’ is a great place to warm up when we go out snowkiting.
Hope you’re all getting ready for Christmas!
Stay Cool…

Windsurfing in Canada: Lesson 101

admin — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:52:29 +0000

Windsurfing in Canada late into November requires some serious planning in order to minimize your risk to the elements. I’ve outlined some safety procedures I hope you all benefit from.
Rig your gear (with warm clothes on), then place beer strategically near hot tub…

Pre-warm feet in hot tub prior to hitting the ice cold water…

And I mean ICE-COLD-WATER….

Beach start with water level below “the boys” to prevent major shrinkage…

Sail your ass off until you can’t feel your fingers anymore…

Run back up to hot tub, undress as fast as you can…

Jump in warm hot tub and go Ahhhhhh…

In a nut shell, that’s Windsurfing in Canada 101.
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…

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

Wild Winter Weekend

Woody — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:21:32 +0000

Roland “The Ironman” Rioux winning as usual

Paul just edging Roland at the finish line of a race

Me after a long day kiting

The three amigos

Start of the kiter cross race where I’m in 3rd place…not for long though!!
This past weekend, Paul, Woodette and I headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba for another kiting event called ‘The Wild Winter Weekend’. This awesome event was hosted by Boost Kiteboarding of Winnipeg. Boost, along with their volunteers, did a terrific job organizing the event held at Oak Hammock Marsh. Free food, Free drinks, and they had a prize for everyone that registered! Oh, and guess what? Registration was FREE too! Now that’s a deal eh!? There were almost 40 kites in the air at one point when I counted, so lots of colours flying in the sky making for lots of stoke flying around as well. A real fun part of the trip was staying with our friend, and Team World member Roland, at his house in the city. Roland aka “The Ironman” was a very gracious host and did a real fine job fussing if everything was ‘just right’ for our stay. Great times and lots of laughs for sure! If any of the Minnesota kiting gang reads this post, be sure to mark this event in your calendars for next year. The Wild Winter Weekend Rocked!! No wonder they call Winnipeg the Rock Capital of Canada!
Have fun

Crossing Pics

Woody — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:42:06 +0000

Wer’e back after another funfilled adventurous weekend at The Mille Lacs Kite Crossing. The crossing this year was 38km long. Paul and I opted to do the short course due to the fact we wanted to get home at a decent time, and not have to drive on the bad roads in the dark after the big snowstorm we had in Minnesota.
I’ve updated my photo gallery (ya I know, it’s about time!) with pics from the weekend.
Enjoy