Windsurfing in Canada: Lesson 101

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…
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Pre-warm feet in hot tub prior to hitting the ice cold water…
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And I mean ICE-COLD-WATER….
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Beach start with water level below “the boys” to prevent major shrinkage…
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Sail your ass off until you can’t feel your fingers anymore…
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Run back up to hot tub, undress as fast as you can…
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Jump in warm hot tub and go Ahhhhhh…

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

The last session…

Guess who is R I G G I N G !
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Strat on the liquid mercury…
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Surfy rippin’ on her JP180/6.2m
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Strat and I blasting on the flat water!

Ooooooo, jibing in the butter flat water!

We’ve been blessed with a late fall that has extended well into November now (yeah to global warmng!) allowing us to windsurf comfortably later than I can ever remember. With just a dusting of snow on the ground, we were all hoping to get out “one-more-time”, but now with the air temps below freezing, it really takes the fun factor out of windsurfing. As it is this time of year, we only windsurf where the flat water is and not take any chances getting smashed on the big part of the lake.
The lakes will freeze over any day now with a calm cold night, then we’ll turn our wind attention towards winter snowkiting. Thanks to my Big Bro Al for standing on the dock freezing his hands taking the pics and video. Woodette and Josh also showed up later in the day (when Josh finished school) for some windsurfing, but they missed out on the photo ops.
Stay Cool…

A sail to remember…

Doing what I do best…rigging, rigging, rigging!
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Paul with his wolf ‘block heater’ hat that he wore sailing all day!
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Strat warming up his feet in Paul’s ‘hot water’ cooler!
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Waiting for the wind at the Dryden Yacht Club.
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Woody (9.2m Neil Pryde RS Slalom/Formula board) bundled up to the max!
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Woodette (8.5m North sail/Formula Board) before the wind started to crank up.
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Strat (9.8m Nitro2/Formula board) winding it up.
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Josh (7.5m Neil Pryde V8/JP 160 board) hammin’ it up for the camera!
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Paul (10.8m/ML5 Formula board) rippin’ in the flat water!
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With today being Remembrance Day, we thought what not a better way to show tribute to our fallen soldiers than to ‘rough it’ a bit windsurfing in the ice-cold-water of Wabigoon Lake. Paul, Strat, Woodette, Josh and myself toughed it out for over 2hrs today. The day was looking like the wind wasn’t going to materialize, but when the clouds cleared, and the vibe started to turn on high, Mother Nature rewarded our patience with some awesome planing conditions for a day to remember with windsurfing in November! We kept the Blue Moose running with the heater on for a toasty warm place of refuge post session, and Paul also filled up a cooler full of hot water for anyone that needed to warm their feet/hands up mid session. What a great idea!!
All in all, an awesome November day on the water with family and friends!!
Stay Cool…

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