2016-09-15 Hatchery - Last Day - Almost

Last Blast!

OK - first I want to apologize to Kent - talking about the windsurfing foil that he is going to buy and how he is going to fund it along with his  new Mountain Bike, which arrives next Tuesday, and the biking trip that he is going on next week!  Apparently, I went too far when I mentioned his comment that either he or Lorna would have to stop spending.  Apparently, that comment was made in confidence after a few glasses of red wine.  But then again, anything is fair game on the blog...
It sounds like he is definitely going to purchase a foil, but probably next spring.  He said the only reason he didn't buy it this fall was that the Slingshot rep didn't have one in stock....It will be interesting to see how many of us follow suit!

Handre and Cam were gone by the time we got up.  Cam wanted to get home by Friday, and Handre had to be in Calgary for a seminar.

We had a slow morning with the usual routine.  Someone commented that the first part of the trip was sort of unsettled with all the trips out West for East wind, but that the last few day had settled into the normal routine.  Coffee at Dog River followed by Breakfast at Bette's.

The forecast was for wind in the corridor, maybe a bit lighter than yesterday.  The call was the Hatchery.  After the usual morning visit to the shops, most of the guy's headed across the river by noon.

Gerry dropped Eddy off at the Event site, where Marten and Brandon were going to sail.  I decided that with the lighter wind, I would try another day of Kiting as well.  I had found a lucky penny earlier in the day - so maybe it would be a good day.

Brandon - getting a boost!

I think everyone had a great day.  The wind was a bit lighter.  The big guy's were on 6.6m sails, most were on sails in the five meter range.  They sailed until after 6:00pm.

Kent had a great day on his slalom board and 5.6 Hucker!

At the Event site, Brandon was the first on the water.  The wind seemed to be building so I thought I would let it settle in before going out, so read for a bit and ate my lunch.  The wind wasn't picking up as much as we thought, so I decided to take out my 13.5.  Marten and Eddy followed shortly afterwards.  Marten, Eddy and Brandon worked their way up to the Hatchery for a while and sailed until late.

Eddy had another kitemare.  He was coming back from the Hatchery when his kite suddenly deflated. It was the same valve that came loose the last time.  There he was in the middle of the river, a long way from the event site.  He partially inflated the kite and then drifted for a while before Marten came by to assist.  Marten towed Eddy for a while, and then a guy came up on a Jetski and asked if he could help.  YES!  Eddy rode back in style - but frustrated with his kite.

I had a great sail, other than once when I had a pretty good crash and lost site of my board.  I dragged back and forth where I thought it was, but to no avail....  Finally, another kiter picked it up and dragged it over to me.  It was way to the North, just upwind of me.  No wonder I couldn't find it.  I now know that there is an eddy near the sandbar that pushes everything North across the river.  Bart calls it the toilet-bowl effect, and he uses it when racing his sailboats.  Going East, you aim right at the sandbar as the current is actually opposite to what it is in the main part of the river, so it pushes you along.  Then as you get close, you head out to the channel and get pushed out as you go.  After I got my board back, I continued on without difficulty.  I was able to go upwind pretty well at will, but the farther up I went, the stronger the wind got, and I was at the top end of my range already.  I did manage to stay upwind of most of the "beginners" so it was easy to stay out of everyone's way.  When I decided to go in, I was able to do an easy downwinder straight to the beach.  Just as Cam told me, when you are going downwind it feels like the wind is lighter because you take your speed off the windspeed.  This is opposite to a windsurfer.  I landed further out on the sandbar to avoid all the chaos closer inland, and then landed the kite without difficulty.  Good day!

Ted's Kiting GPS Track - as usual, I forgot to turn the watch on at first...

It was about 4:30 when I finished packing up.  There was no sign of Marten, Brandon or Eddy, so I decided to head over to the Hatchery to visit with the guy's and take some photos if they were still sailing.

Harold, Gerry, Blaine, Brad, and Ross (Kiting) were still out, so I got out my cameras and took some shots and video.  Kent joined me on the rocks and worked my Camera while I shot video.  Maybe there will be a short 2016 video after all.

Ross

Brad - mid jibe!

Gerry, Making it look easy!

Blaine

Blaine - Tack gone bad....

Blaine, who had sailed over 50km, was last off the water at about 6:30.  We sat around and told stories until dark, then headed up to the Taqueria Mexican Restaurant where we met Marten, Brandon and Eddy.  We had a table for 13 and enjoyed "The Last Supper", sitting outside on the deck.

Relaxing after a great day of sailing/kiting.Clockwise from Left - Ross, Kent, René, Blaine, Harold, Brad, Al and Ted

Everyone is planning to leave in the morning, except Ross, Marten, Brandon and I.  We are hoping to get one more light-wind kiting session, and then head back Saturday (possibly sailing at Roosevelt.

What a great trip!  Safe travels to everyone!

Ted

Harold - after a long day of sailing!

René - had a great day on his 5.6 Hucker and big board!