2020-09-11 Foiling Frenzy

 Lac La Biche - Big Jim's Place

Brad and Blaine get the early bird award.  It looked windy, so they were rigging by 8:00am.  They rigged big, and then the wind came up more so they re-rigged.  Even with the re-rigging, they were out on the water by 8:30.  

The others weren't as excited to go out in the 10c temperature.  I made myself breakfast and finished working on yesterday's blog,

Kent, who was camping his trailer, got up early, but knowing that this group is slow to get going, made himself a leisurely breakfast, and then wandered over to the house with his coffee at around 9:30.  He joined Eddy, Gerry, and I in the sunroom looking over the lake.  THEN HE SAW BLAINE AND BRAD BOTH FOIL PAST!!!   WHAT!!!!  HE WAS MISSING IT!!!  DAMN!!!  He went running out to rig.

Kent - relaxing morning - just before he saw Blaine and Brad foil past!

I finished the blog and went down to rig as well.  I got out at about the same time as Kent, because my gear was already down the hill.

We all sailed until about 11:00 when the wind dropped off.  Blaine and Brad each sailed over 30km.  Big Jim got out and had some good runs!  Kent had a great sail but was mad that he missed the first hour.

Andreas found a launch site and was out practicing his kite foiling.

We all made ourselves our own lunches (practicing good social distancing), and put on lots and lots of clothes to try to warm up.

Gerry, Eddy, and Blaine - keeping warm!

Big Air Jim and Luciel arrived with their camper and dog Jewel.  Al arrived shortly afterward.

The wind picked up again around 3:00.  All went out on a flapper board and his 7.7.  Blaine, Brad, Kent, and Big Jim all got out, most of them on bigger gear than in the morning.  Big Air Jim also got out, but a little later than the others.  Handre took out his board and 7.0 flyer and did some finning, blasting back and forth until the wind dropped a bit, and then he came in and swapped his fin for a foil and went out again and had some good runs.

Handre "Finning" - Blaine "Foiling"

Brad and Kent

Al on his 7.7

The wind was up and down, but everyone had some good runs.

Ross, Andreas, and Mike found a Kite launch near the house.  Andreas and Ross are doing really well with their kite foiling and starting to make some jibes.  Mike was out on his 15m kite and having a lot of fun as well!

There was some excitement when Ross was re-launching by himself and had to walk around a storage container.  He was watching his footing and not the kite, and managed to get a line caught on a tree.  It took some work by all of them to get the kite out of the tree, but they did manage to do it.  Kitemare avoided.

Look close - Kite in a tree

I sat on the deck with Eddy and took photos of the action.  I still had a chill, and with Kent on a 7.0 and not foiling all the time, I am not sure how good it would have been.  I was still tired from my foiling in the morning - all good excuses, but I still felt like a wimp.  Louise would tell me that I am just getting smarter and it was a good decision - but ...  I still missed what might be the last session of the season.  At least I got lots of photos of everyone.

Big Jim's neighbor, John, came over rigged, and also had a great sail!  Jim says he is an opera singer and teaches at UofA.

Everyone was off the water by 6:30 or 7:00.  The wind actually picked up again and looked as strong or stronger than it had been all day, but no one was anxious to go out again.

Kent packed up and left because his son is planning a big pulled pork BBQ on Saturday, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Sue and Karen arrived and got settled into the cabin with Andreas and Ross.

Handre's wife, Lazelle, prepared some ribs and dessert which Handre brought over as a snack.  Both were very nice.  The desert was a Milk Tart which is a traditional South African dish.  It was very light and flavourful!  Everyone then did their own things to fill in the gaps for supper.

Cam, Cynthia arrived with their girls, Madeline and Katie, and their dog Molly.

A few of us watched the Raptors come close to winning the series.  

Lots of stories were told and probably too much beer and wine consumed.  

There was a bit of star gazing again, but it was quite cold and windy, so it didn't last long.

Everyone was in bed by midnight.  

You can see more photos on my Flickr Site Here!