I just finished 10 days on the amazing Oregon Coast, although I only scored 4 of them while I was there. Great people and the 2016 Pistol River Wave Bash, a great contest made the trip! You can check my b\buddies’ and PWA pro, Phil Soltysiak’s write up on the event.
I didn’t finish as well as I hoped, but am I already looking forward to next year. The highlight of the trip was a great day at the Gold Beach South Jetty. Time to train and work on wave selection and timing on the wave for next year.
Heading out at the Gold Beach South Jetty
Down The Line at the Gold Beach South Jetty – a ride like this can make all the miles and waiting worth it
Contest time – trying to make the most of all my waves
I had been dreaming about sailing Ho’okipa since I started windsurfing around 12 years old. I remember watching the video “Ho’okipa Chronicles” and scoring those sweet waves! Well after about 20 years of dreaming I scored my session!
Storm season has rolled into Vancouver Island in full effect, cancelled ferries, power outages, rain and lots wind. All good news for us wind boarders. It might be in part due to my change in work status, but I’ve scored more amazing sessions this fall and winter then I did over the summer.
Columbia beach north of Parksville has delivered many days over the few weeks, and I even missed a few of them. And it’s been delivering some of the best and most challenging conditions I’ve seen, with nice waves, but 25-50 knot winds, making it difficult to nail jibes on the outside.
A local sailor know as “Dunkinguy” throws a port forward coming over the wave and lands on the lip in 40-45 knots.
There have also been the odd day here and there at a secret point break that can deliver world class down the line wavesailing a couple times a year. The best looking day was last Sunday, a forecast of 30 knots winds and 27 foot swell. Sadly the winds missed the south Island and only swell rolled in which made for some amazing double to triple overhead swell. Also on this day winds and swell hit Tofino in Full effect and two windsurfer from Vancouver, Ryan and Jen, scored big time. View the full gallery of the epic Tofino storm sailing here.
Lets hope this stormy trend continues, I could go for a weekly session at least!
Towards the end of July, Leah, Kaia (Our Dog) and I headed down to Oregon for a little over a week of windsurfing in Hood River and the Oregon Coast. We hit a massive heat wave of 40c, and some awesome winds gusting to 40knots while we where in Hood River. By the time we headed to the coast the heat had killed the wind and I only managed one marginal day in Florence.
A forward loop attempt at Gordon’s Beach, BC on June 6th, 2013. It had been awhile since being on the water, and even longer since looping due to an ankle injury at the start of a three month trip in Brazil. It was fun and gave me a bit of a confidence boost again, to throw a loop in the cold and slightly overpowered conditions.
Winds were blowing from 25 – 30 knots, with some small to med wind blown swell coming in, this was only my second session at the spot since moving to BC.
The mount I used for my GoPro is a $5 mast mount made out of some PVC piping, cheap and has worked great so far. I’ll share more on that soon.
I’ve been in Brazil for just over a week now, but some how only scored 4 days of windsurfing. It wasn’t because of the conditions, they’ve been awesome, but on the fourth day I sprained my ankle on a willy skipper. But enjoy some of the pictures I’ve snapped more to come and a short video of the few sessions I scored and recorded coming soon.
On June 28th, we finally scored a long awaited session in Manitoba. It had been weeks without wind and a big southern push brought hot temperatures and winds gusting from 17 to 34 knots. Towards the end of the day I shot this video with my GoPro before the card was full, and I didn’t capture all the action I wanted. I decided to put it together in a quick edit anyways and share it with you, because it was my last session in Manitoba before heading to Brazil for 6 months of windsurfing and instruction in Icaraizinho
Hopefully I’ll be posting a video from Brazil every 2 or 3 weeks. I head down on July 12th so the first video should be shortly after that. I plan to post some sessions as I work on progressing my skills, some instructional videos, and some highlights from guests and pros as they come through. It should be sweet, so check back often.
Waiting for wind at Grand beach Lagoon, April 6th 2012
On April 6th, 2012, I headed out to Grand Beach Lagoon, one of the only open bodies of water around me. The forecast was calling for around 20 knots. Now normally I’m on the water in Manitoba around the start of May, so this was more than 1 month early, but we have been having unusually warm for the season.
So I headed out with decent expectations, maybe blast around, throw a few duck jibes and speed loops. I got there around 11:00 Am, no one was there yet, not expecting a huge turn out. Waited a little bit and rigged my gear slowly, as the wind started to build and drop. I called a buddy to see if he was on his way, he was figuring out a foot strap on his board still in the city.
Eventually I headed on the water, the wind was still very up and down, and the water cold! It wasn’t enough to plane on my 5.8 and Freestyle board, so I headed back to shore. I waited on shore as the wind would pick up and than drop off. Finally I decided to go in a gust, it was not quite enough, and pumped to get planning a few times back and forth, a few people had shown up now for sure thinking what is this guy doing he must be freezing!! (PS any wet suit manufactures reading this, hit me up!! I need a new suit or 2!). After 30 minutes headed back into shore to call it a day, there simply wasn’t enough wind.
I`m looking forward to the next session!! But looks like it`s going to have to wait as temps have gone back to cold, minus -15 C last night.
2011 was a busy year in windsurifng, with many accomplishments and a few pit fall, find out about my biggest wins and losses here. Here are the 5 biggest things that happened to me in 2011. Follow the jump to see them all. Lets hope 2012, bring lots of wind, lots of windsurfing, and no more injuries. Happy new years!
So after a long flight well 3 and 24 hours in airports I arrived in Fortaleza Airport. I saw the Club Ventos sign and headed over to the driver. He Didn’t speak any English, and I didn’t speak any Portuguese, but we soon managed to communicate we where waiting for two more people coming on the transfer to Icaraizinho. After 3 hours of waiting they finally arrived, but without there bags, after an hour or so of trying to sort that out we where finally on our way. In about 2 hours we arrived in Icaraizhino, where I was greeted by my boss and a few others from Club Ventos. Had a quick beer and I was ready to crash. The high humidity kept me from sleeping the first night but I quickly adjusted.
I’ve been here for just seven days. The wind has been light, quite unusual weather for here. I’ve sailed a total of seven days, on sizes from 6.2 to 5.1. Several days I was under powered. Today the weather got back on its normal pattern, and looks like it will be increasing over the next few days, and I’m quite excited. I had my best session on the trip today on a 5.9 throwing big airs of the waves on the reef, working on duck jibes, and even attempting one forward. Which I should be completing any day now.
The waves on the reef do far have been quite small, but I’ve been told they can get about head high to a little higher. I can’t wait for that. Inside the reef there is a nice flat water zone for ripping jibes and working on freestyle maneuvers.
Pictures will come soon, and I’ll work on some video but the internet is quite slow here, and cuts out when ever the phone rings. So check back for some awesome pictures and videos from a windsurfing paradise! As well sorry for my possibly horrible grammar and spelling, I think I’m forgetting it even more as I try to learn Brazilian Portuguese.
