July Update – Another Solid Month on Vancouver Island

July is at an end, and on Vancouver Island all in all it’s been a pretty solid month.  It started off with a bang on Canada Day, and a few solid hours of sailing.  The rest of the week continued to blow unfortunately I came down with a cold and missed a few solid days that week, but what can you do.  I’ve scored about 11 sessions since my last update including a weekend trip to Nitnat.

With not much happening right around Victoria after recovering from a bit of sickness the forecast was looking favorable for a spot called Pipers Lagoon located just North of Nanamo.  I headed out, but arrived a bit late, and the few windsurfers on the water were on the way in.  I got to check out a new spot, and hope to sail here again on a windy day.  It is an excellent place for beginners taking their first steps with a sandy beach and a lagoon at high tide.

One day really stood out, June 9th at Gordons, fully lit on a 4.7 with some very nice ramps.  So nice in fact I made several backloop attempts.  Luckily I had my GoPro mounted on my mast so there is some nice video of a bunch of backloops into crashes, I’ll post the footage shortly.  The conditions that day also provided some waves that you could squeeze one or two turns in on, quite fun.  Unfortunately majority of the other days didn’t provide much for ramps or windsurfing.

Also in July I made another weekend trip to Nitnat.  On the agenda was attempting to work on Vulcans while over powered, and I managed a few attempts each day.  I think my fear of sprained ankles on this particular move is still there, having already sprained it 3 times.  So I spent a lot of time working on carving 360s and was getting closer by the end of the weekend, this should be excellent practice for my bottom turns in waves.

The second last week of June saw two more great days at Gordons beach working on forwards and and some backloop attemps.

Coming soon I’ve got some backloop carnage video from my GoPro and a few more videos, so check back soon.

 

End of Season Wrap Up – 2011

Crazy 40+ Day at Victoria Beach End of Aug 2011

Crazy 40+ Day at Victoria Beach End of Aug 2011
The Season started in April at the 2011 Windsurfing Magazine Board Tests live.  I had two and a half great weeks of riding brand new light wind gear and sailing with 30other sailors.    Plus I got to stay in some sweet beak front Houses on the Avon Sound. The drive was a killer over 30 hours from Winnipeg to Avon, the way back even worse having to do it with a sprained ankle.

When I returned I had to take a month off the water.  Not a big deal since the season didn’t start for a month.  The ankle was still giving me some problems, and was attending physio often, I hate to admit its not 100% yet,but nothing I can deal with.  Just keeping my fingers crossed I don’t re-injure it.  This was the second injury tot eh same ankle.

Pre Season me and a buddy launched Prairie Ocean Windsurfing, a local windsurfing school to help promote windsurfing in Manitoba.  Over the summer we got some new blood into the sport and helped people improve there skills, plus had a blast.

This was also the first season I dedicated myself to keeping a windsurfing log, had done it before while racing, but never after every session.  This season I recorded a little over 30 sessions, only missing about 5.  I sailed mostly 4.7 – 5.8 with a few session on bigger and a few on smaller.   Most of my time I was riding at Willow Island or Victoria beach where I scored some huge days.  I found the log helped me improve, letting me focus on what I need to work on, and things I did right or wrong during that session. I would deffinitley recomend it to anyone looking to step up there game, and I will for sure keep doing it.

Anyways the Manitoba season is officially over for me, as I’m off to Club Ventos, Icaraizhino Brazil this afternoon.

Enjoy the Photos after the jump. (more…)