Nitinat 2005 - Trip #6 - Demo daze story time
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:50 am
To start off....WOW!! Amazing weekend meeting new people and trying out lots of new gear and sailing fast!! 
THURSDAY
Okay, left home at 7am to catch the 7:30am Brentwood-Mill Bay ferry. Stopped for food at Thrifty's, then at McDonalds for breaky, then at the LC for race prizes and refreshments for myself. $100 later I'm on my way to the lake. Road in was fantastic, 5 minutes of kinda bad rocky spots but other than that flat and nice to drive! Arrived at 11:30am to sunny, warm conditions with light wind blowing <10kts which was nice as there was time to unpack the overpacked Escape and set up camp. Well, 5 minutes in the wind picked up and I dropped the tent, stove and food and grabbed my sail, boom and mast and started rigging the Severne Overdrive 8.5 and unpacked the Formula board. 15 minutes later I was on the water in my shorts rippin' in 15 kts of wind!! Got on a plane in about 4 seconds and let out a HUGE YAHOO!!!!!
STILL THURSDAY
It was now 1pm and it had picked up to 15-20kts so I came in and rigged the Severne Powerdrive 7.5 which was very easy to rig and put a fin on the Carve 121 and went out like greased lightning!! The Powerdrive has lots of low end power(thus the name). By 1:30 I was overpowered on the 7.5 so I came in and rigged up the Severne NCX 5.5 and went out again but it wasn't quite enough having to pump to get on a plane. As I was sailing back in a fella is in the water hanging on to his rig waving his arms so I figured, 'really friendly guy' so I sailed over to say HEY DUDE!! He actually had a broken mast and needed a tow in. I was underpowered myself so I said I'd go in and get the Formula board and come back and tow him in......came in, went out, hooked in and turned downwind before getting into the straps....to B-line it to him.....bad idea....18-20kts with 8.5 was a bit too much.....catapult over the handlebars and then BOOM!! mast meets board feet go skyward and SNAP, CRACKLE, POP the rice crispies were done!! I came up under the board and looked and saw nose crack....CRAP!! I waterstart and think think what would superman do....well, he'd fly in and get this dude!! So I head downwind again standing on the back of the board to keep the nose out of the water. Get to him and have a tow line in my harness. Hook him up and pull him to shore. Take the board out and have a look...OUCH, that hurts....5-6 inch crack in the nose. Put the Formula on the beach in the sun to make sure it was dry out anything that got in, sit down and cry for 5 minutes then jump on the Carve 121 and 7.5 to go out and throw some HATE!! or not....just wipped my tears away and went out and practiced jibes some more. Sailed till 5:30pm and came off the water when it's still blowing 12-15kts...what am I thinking...well...it's going to be a looooong weekend and I was hungry!! Sat down with Vic and a fella named Rob from a House-like motor home parked on the edge of kiteville with solar panels on the roof. Wish I was living in that thing!! Put on some GOOP from Vic and hoped for the best for my precious board. Wait and see tomorrow. Cooked up my steak ate it, went around the campsite and said HEY DUDE to anyone I knew or looked friendly. Set up my tent and camp, unpacked the rest of my things. Started a little fire in my cozy little fire pit and spent the night alone thinking about my big board and what the next day held in store.
FRIDAY
Woke up Friday morning at 7:30am to a cloudy light inflow wind and decided to walk up to the store to call my parole offwifeicer and and stretch my legs. 16 minutes to walk to the store. Walked back 16 minutes and it was blowing <10kts and looking like clearing. I made coffee and eggs/bacon/hashbrowns/salsa. Delicious, yummy breaky! By 8:45am it was blowing 10-12kts and NO ONE was on the lake yet.....what the Hell is going on..?? Mike of the Mike and Rosie and their cute little 5 month old gang(sorry forgot her name) came by and asked to buddy up in the campsite I was in.....It was big so I said sure, they were camping for 3 weeks and I was leaving on Sunday so they pulled their luxurious trailer into the spot and started unpacking. I cleaned up the dishes and walked thru the campsite to find Phillipe from Airtime Boardsports from Vancouver as he had brought a sail I bought from them 2 months ago but hadn't had a chance to pick up yet. Found him and my 'new to me' sail and rigged it up. It was now 9:30am and blowing 15kts so I put on my 2/2 shorty(as it was still kinda cloudy) and took out the Carve 121 and the Overdrive 8.5 with a 40cm swept freeride fin. It didn't feel great and was spinning out a bit and having trouble going fast.....came back in and lowered the mast 3-4 inches and moved the mast track back a bit and went out......BIG DIFFERENCE!! Took off like a BAT OUT OF HELL!!! Came back after 30 mins of really powered up sailing, crashing most of my jibe attempts. Came in and grabbed the Severne C2 6.5.....it's now 11am and let out another YAHOO with only 2 other kites and one other windsurf-dude on the lake. I was going sooooo flipping fast it wasn't even funny.....LOVE THIS SAIL!! 2 cams and lots of power and range. The Trident Performance Sports and North Shore Ski and Board guys came in and rigged up their sails and boards for the demos. Also the North, Naish and Mistral fella's were rigging up their gear too. By the afternoon there was soooooo much gear on the beach it was unreal. Came back in and downhauled it a bit more and went out again. It's now Noon and people are lining up to get out on the lake. Still kinda cloudy but a good solid 20 kts. Sailed the Carve 121 and Severne C2 6.5m all day as the wind was solid 20-25kts all day until 5pm when it dropped down to 15kts. Came in and looked over the Formula and it looked nice and solid so I rigged up the Severne Overdrive 10.0m and took it and the Formula out as Declan has already taken out his 2005 Starboard Formula 159 and SSR 10.0m. I chased him up the lake but he was too far ahead so I got up to the island and decided to bear off and come home.....SNAP...AGHHH!! WHAT WAS THAT....Looked back and the adjustable outhaul had let go.....water was thick with jellyfish so I tried to sail downwind overpowered with it flapping but no good. I dumped the rig and jumped into Jellyfish soup to re-thread the line through the hoops and re-tie the knot. Crappy job in the jellyfish soup but got it done and by now it had picked up t0 18-20kts again....Well, I jumped on and headed downwind....ZOOM!! Ripped back hanging on with foot in the chickenstrap the whole way...YAHOOO!! Lots of fun but also lots of work hanging onto a big sail in overpowered conditions. Made it back to the beach after ripping by SuperDave Kite-Dood at Mach speed. He followed but couldn't keep up although he caught me at the beach and sprayed me with his tiny little kids board(if you can really call that a board...more like a cutting board-HA!). Bryan from VAN was sitting on the beach drinking a bear...offered me one and I accepted thankfully. We sat on the beach and enjoyed a few relaxation-pops while talking about the 8 hours of sailing and what a great day it was even though it was mostly cloudy all day. It was 6:30pm and still blowing 15kts...amazing...it just wouldn't shut down. I took off the shortie and put on the BWD-WINDSURFING/KITEBOARDING T-shirt and cooked up another steak and hashbrowns with Bryan. Headed over to the Trident/Northshore campfire and had a drink and chatted about the racing the next day, Vince and ? + 1, Brett+2(insano kids, TommyV, Declan and Tracey +2, SpeedyPete and Tina + ? and some others were in fine form and getting started for a night laughter(if you could call it that...TV!!). I left there and headed over to say hey to Glenda and Alex and ? and Dave and Jolene and ?(dog) who's campfire was a bit quieter. We chatted till Midnight and thought it was time to hit the hay but on the way home saw Bryan and SuperDave necking together in SuperDaves Vanagon so I knocked on the door and asked what they were doing. They gave the 'We were just talking' line so I jumped in and thought I could get in on the action. Nothing doing....all we did was talked till 1am when it was time to sleep and dream about the fun to come on Saturday.
SATURDAY
Awoke at 8am and slowly dragged my tired butt out of bed barely able to bend over to tie my shoes.....ooooh my back was stiff!! Yup, just my back! - HA! Grabbed my water bottle and started very slowly jogging to the store to phone the parole offwifeicer to check in. The water was dead calm and not many were up yet as the 10-11 hours of wind the day before had, I think, slowed the start of today. There was low cloud which was already starting to clear......please don't start blowing too early!! Finished my phone in and started jogging back to camp...faster and faster.....yahoo...feeling pretty good now. Arrived back at camp and Tony and Lea + 2 were up and Glenda + 2 were up so were chatted and I helped Lea rig her sail. Note: One of the best things about Nitinat is the friendly feeling there is there. I don't feel akward asking others for advice or help with most anything. This place is truely special. I hope it lasts 4-ever....except maybe the addition of a fast food outlet nearby...HA! - Just joking! Got back to camp at 9am and I could see a light windline at the top of the lake so I started up the camp stove and cooked up the Eggs/Bacon/Hashbrowns and Salsa and coffee for breaky. Delicious!! The campground was getting full but not as full as I thought it would be with all the Demo's available for sailing. Lots of windsurf and kite gear everywhere. NICE!! Cleaned up from breaky and the wind had arrived. It was blowing 12-15kts so I took out the Formula and Severne Overdrive 8.5m again and ripped for 1 hour when it picked up to 18-20kts and it was time to come in as I was getting OP'd. It was nice being able to use the 8.5 instead of the 10.0 as those Overdrives have lots and lots of power. 3 cams for a nice steady powerful pull without the usual hassle of a full on rac sail. Easy to rig and easy to sail....NICE!! Came in and a few others were just getting out. Long days of wind make for slow start mornings. The water was still pretty flat so I took out the 2005 96 litre Starboard Hypersonic with a drake 42cm fin and threw on my 2004 Severne C2(twin cam) and took off on my first speed run...with the Garmin Foretrex 201. Went out on a broad reach rippin' across the tops of the waves with what felt like just the fin in the water(a little overfinned I'm thinking). Got to the other side and looked at the Max speed...52.5km/h!! YAHOO!! A new personal best top speed up from the 50.0km/h of 3 weeks ago set in same conditions on my old hyper with an 8.0 on it. This was one fast, fast, fast board!! Did another 5-6 runs but couldn't get any faster!! WOW, what a feeling......going soooo fast is kinda scary but really, really exhilerating!! I had set a buoy earlier in the morning with the help of Vince and the NSSB jet ski but now didn't see it and it was getting close to the 1pm skippers meeting so I took Dave and Jolene's jet ski out to look for it....gone....I think I used too small a weight for the bottom and I guess it blew downwind into deeper water and now the attached buoy was under water....stupid me, not enought weight or line....D'OH!! So as I was coming in I saw the Trident/NSSB guys out racing on their own from a beach start. I ran and grabbed the Cave 121 and Severne C2 6.5 and joined in on the next race. Right from the start it was noticeable that Pete Norrie was the Rabbit and probably the best jiber!!! Tommy V was always right on his heels and sometimes found himself in front of Pete by some weird circumturnearlystance..?? The races were 3 laps, Start off the day use beach, around the mark(only one left of 4 set 3 weeks ago) on the other side and back and jibe close to the beach at the day use beach again....3 laps and you'd better make your jibes or your going to get left behind...well...I did!! I probably made 70% of my jibes but unless you're on a plane the others are gone!! The start was crucial as if you didn't get on a plane right away the dirty(and sometime stinky) wind left behind from the pack was useless for 20-30 seconds. We had 6 races of which I came last in all of them but never got lapped so feel pretty good about that fact even though I did a couple of TOM TURNS....3/4's of the way across - HA!! The 5th race I was in 2nd place at the first mark, Pete jibed first and then I was quite high upwind, TommyV was coming in underneath me I ducked infront of him but couldn't hit my jibe, fell and by the time I got up and got wind there were all very long gone!! Fun anyways!! Finished racing and sailed rest of the day on the Carve 121 and 6.5 as it was a steady 18-25kts from 11:00 till 5:00pm. At 5pm I pulled out the Formula and 8.5 again as it had dropped down to about 12kts at 5pm, not many windsurfers on the water now...only about 10-12 kites....got out and up to the island and it had picked up again to 15-18kts....I ripped on the Formula and 8.5 till 6pm and then decided that was enough for today....by now it was blowing almost 20 again and there were 10+ windsurfers out and 10-15 kites out again. I put my gear to bed and changed and grabbed a bowl of peanuts and chocolate chips and lime flavoured chips and a big bowl of salsa which I took down the beach to peope who eagerly grabbed the Nitinat appetizers and smiled!! It was dinner time with Bryan and SuperDave and I cooked up 3 breasts of chicken and a plate of hashbrowns. Bryan and SD had Chicken curry and we all shared and drank some refreshments and talked about the fantastic day that was enjoyed by all. There was talk of the North/Naish part going to happen with free food and booze which we walked down to take a look at....drank some RedBull and Vodka(de-flippin'-licious drink) and talked to many, many kiters and met lotsa new people and sold some BWD-WINDSURFING/KITEBOARDING shirts. The party was just going fine and I decided to head down to the Trident/NSSB fire and give out the prizes for the days racing. Winners were...in 4th place, Keith for not getting too far ahead of me in any race(thanks dude - bottle of wine), in 3rd place, Declan for going around the actual whole course and being close to winning each race and for supplying me with a Hypersonic to race with(bottle of wine) in 2nd place, TommyV for NOT actually going around the whole course each time but still being superfast and close at each finish(bottle of Penguin wine), and in 1st place, Pete Norrie sailing his Sonic with secret fin and superfast secret sail and coming in 1st in each race and actually never coming off a plane even when waiting for the next heat(Bottle of Baileys). We had a drink there and warmed by the fire talked about gear and racing and decided to head up to the North/Naish/Mistral Bash and by now the party was in full swing!! Crazy kiter-dudes and dudettes everywhere, the RedBull was obviously flowing freely one guy dove across a completely full table of cans/bottles/knives and forks/jars of mustard....TOTAL INSANOVILLE. Decided it was time to leave when the chairs started flying....okay...Ba-bye!! Back to the tent and asleep in less than 2 mins!! NICE!!
SUNDAY
Awoke at 8:30am to ominous looking clouds and a slight wind. I thought back to the May long weekend of packing up in the rain and slowly rolled over and got dressed and started packing up. Within 30 mins it was spitting and the end of the lake looked ugly with rain coming this way. With a little help from Vic(de-rigging my boards and sails) I was mostly packed up by 11am. People were stirring and others started to pack up and drive out. The whole morning it spit but never poured. It started to clear a bit at Noon but by then most had packed up. I helped pack up the Severne sails(tried to sneak a few into my quiver bag but got caught by Declan) while others packed up the boards and other gear on the beach. All gear was packed up by Noon:30 and I said my good-byes to those who were still left and got in my overloaded vehicle and drove home. Drove straight to the Mill Bay ferry and arrived at 2:45 and caught the 3pm ferry and was home by 3:45pm. When I arrived home my parole offwifeicer and child were asleep so I unpacked and drank/injected a leftover RedBull that I found in my bag. Love those things!! When they awoke we went to Mickey D's for dinner and a play then home and went to sleep early as the next started at 6am.....YUCK!!!
WRAP-UP
My looooong weekend was a huge success and a HUGE amount of fun. I met lotsa new people and I hope I don't forget too many but if I do....I have only forgotten your names in this write up, I haven't forgotten the good times! Mike/Rosie/little cuteness, TommyV, Declan/Tracy/Two angels, Pete/Tina, Vince/?+1/Brett+2 crazies, Rob Laurin, The fella(name?) from Trident who traded my BWD T-shirt for his Severne Hoodie, Crazy Bob, Kate, Dave/Jolene+dog, Phillipe, Lea/Tony+2, Bryan/Dave, Keith/Kathy, Good Ol' Vic, AC and his gang of newbies, ChrisB the 2nd friendliest guy in the campsite, Rob/wife/3 dogs/5 cats/1 large rec vehicle, Max/Morika and the many others that I met and cannot remember because of too much RedBull + Canadian Club...aghh! I look forward to seeing everyone up there again very soon. Thanks for the memories and happiness!! LATER DOODS and DUDETTES...IT WAS A BLAST!!
THURSDAY
Okay, left home at 7am to catch the 7:30am Brentwood-Mill Bay ferry. Stopped for food at Thrifty's, then at McDonalds for breaky, then at the LC for race prizes and refreshments for myself. $100 later I'm on my way to the lake. Road in was fantastic, 5 minutes of kinda bad rocky spots but other than that flat and nice to drive! Arrived at 11:30am to sunny, warm conditions with light wind blowing <10kts which was nice as there was time to unpack the overpacked Escape and set up camp. Well, 5 minutes in the wind picked up and I dropped the tent, stove and food and grabbed my sail, boom and mast and started rigging the Severne Overdrive 8.5 and unpacked the Formula board. 15 minutes later I was on the water in my shorts rippin' in 15 kts of wind!! Got on a plane in about 4 seconds and let out a HUGE YAHOO!!!!!
STILL THURSDAY
It was now 1pm and it had picked up to 15-20kts so I came in and rigged the Severne Powerdrive 7.5 which was very easy to rig and put a fin on the Carve 121 and went out like greased lightning!! The Powerdrive has lots of low end power(thus the name). By 1:30 I was overpowered on the 7.5 so I came in and rigged up the Severne NCX 5.5 and went out again but it wasn't quite enough having to pump to get on a plane. As I was sailing back in a fella is in the water hanging on to his rig waving his arms so I figured, 'really friendly guy' so I sailed over to say HEY DUDE!! He actually had a broken mast and needed a tow in. I was underpowered myself so I said I'd go in and get the Formula board and come back and tow him in......came in, went out, hooked in and turned downwind before getting into the straps....to B-line it to him.....bad idea....18-20kts with 8.5 was a bit too much.....catapult over the handlebars and then BOOM!! mast meets board feet go skyward and SNAP, CRACKLE, POP the rice crispies were done!! I came up under the board and looked and saw nose crack....CRAP!! I waterstart and think think what would superman do....well, he'd fly in and get this dude!! So I head downwind again standing on the back of the board to keep the nose out of the water. Get to him and have a tow line in my harness. Hook him up and pull him to shore. Take the board out and have a look...OUCH, that hurts....5-6 inch crack in the nose. Put the Formula on the beach in the sun to make sure it was dry out anything that got in, sit down and cry for 5 minutes then jump on the Carve 121 and 7.5 to go out and throw some HATE!! or not....just wipped my tears away and went out and practiced jibes some more. Sailed till 5:30pm and came off the water when it's still blowing 12-15kts...what am I thinking...well...it's going to be a looooong weekend and I was hungry!! Sat down with Vic and a fella named Rob from a House-like motor home parked on the edge of kiteville with solar panels on the roof. Wish I was living in that thing!! Put on some GOOP from Vic and hoped for the best for my precious board. Wait and see tomorrow. Cooked up my steak ate it, went around the campsite and said HEY DUDE to anyone I knew or looked friendly. Set up my tent and camp, unpacked the rest of my things. Started a little fire in my cozy little fire pit and spent the night alone thinking about my big board and what the next day held in store.
FRIDAY
Woke up Friday morning at 7:30am to a cloudy light inflow wind and decided to walk up to the store to call my parole offwifeicer and and stretch my legs. 16 minutes to walk to the store. Walked back 16 minutes and it was blowing <10kts and looking like clearing. I made coffee and eggs/bacon/hashbrowns/salsa. Delicious, yummy breaky! By 8:45am it was blowing 10-12kts and NO ONE was on the lake yet.....what the Hell is going on..?? Mike of the Mike and Rosie and their cute little 5 month old gang(sorry forgot her name) came by and asked to buddy up in the campsite I was in.....It was big so I said sure, they were camping for 3 weeks and I was leaving on Sunday so they pulled their luxurious trailer into the spot and started unpacking. I cleaned up the dishes and walked thru the campsite to find Phillipe from Airtime Boardsports from Vancouver as he had brought a sail I bought from them 2 months ago but hadn't had a chance to pick up yet. Found him and my 'new to me' sail and rigged it up. It was now 9:30am and blowing 15kts so I put on my 2/2 shorty(as it was still kinda cloudy) and took out the Carve 121 and the Overdrive 8.5 with a 40cm swept freeride fin. It didn't feel great and was spinning out a bit and having trouble going fast.....came back in and lowered the mast 3-4 inches and moved the mast track back a bit and went out......BIG DIFFERENCE!! Took off like a BAT OUT OF HELL!!! Came back after 30 mins of really powered up sailing, crashing most of my jibe attempts. Came in and grabbed the Severne C2 6.5.....it's now 11am and let out another YAHOO with only 2 other kites and one other windsurf-dude on the lake. I was going sooooo flipping fast it wasn't even funny.....LOVE THIS SAIL!! 2 cams and lots of power and range. The Trident Performance Sports and North Shore Ski and Board guys came in and rigged up their sails and boards for the demos. Also the North, Naish and Mistral fella's were rigging up their gear too. By the afternoon there was soooooo much gear on the beach it was unreal. Came back in and downhauled it a bit more and went out again. It's now Noon and people are lining up to get out on the lake. Still kinda cloudy but a good solid 20 kts. Sailed the Carve 121 and Severne C2 6.5m all day as the wind was solid 20-25kts all day until 5pm when it dropped down to 15kts. Came in and looked over the Formula and it looked nice and solid so I rigged up the Severne Overdrive 10.0m and took it and the Formula out as Declan has already taken out his 2005 Starboard Formula 159 and SSR 10.0m. I chased him up the lake but he was too far ahead so I got up to the island and decided to bear off and come home.....SNAP...AGHHH!! WHAT WAS THAT....Looked back and the adjustable outhaul had let go.....water was thick with jellyfish so I tried to sail downwind overpowered with it flapping but no good. I dumped the rig and jumped into Jellyfish soup to re-thread the line through the hoops and re-tie the knot. Crappy job in the jellyfish soup but got it done and by now it had picked up t0 18-20kts again....Well, I jumped on and headed downwind....ZOOM!! Ripped back hanging on with foot in the chickenstrap the whole way...YAHOOO!! Lots of fun but also lots of work hanging onto a big sail in overpowered conditions. Made it back to the beach after ripping by SuperDave Kite-Dood at Mach speed. He followed but couldn't keep up although he caught me at the beach and sprayed me with his tiny little kids board(if you can really call that a board...more like a cutting board-HA!). Bryan from VAN was sitting on the beach drinking a bear...offered me one and I accepted thankfully. We sat on the beach and enjoyed a few relaxation-pops while talking about the 8 hours of sailing and what a great day it was even though it was mostly cloudy all day. It was 6:30pm and still blowing 15kts...amazing...it just wouldn't shut down. I took off the shortie and put on the BWD-WINDSURFING/KITEBOARDING T-shirt and cooked up another steak and hashbrowns with Bryan. Headed over to the Trident/Northshore campfire and had a drink and chatted about the racing the next day, Vince and ? + 1, Brett+2(insano kids, TommyV, Declan and Tracey +2, SpeedyPete and Tina + ? and some others were in fine form and getting started for a night laughter(if you could call it that...TV!!). I left there and headed over to say hey to Glenda and Alex and ? and Dave and Jolene and ?(dog) who's campfire was a bit quieter. We chatted till Midnight and thought it was time to hit the hay but on the way home saw Bryan and SuperDave necking together in SuperDaves Vanagon so I knocked on the door and asked what they were doing. They gave the 'We were just talking' line so I jumped in and thought I could get in on the action. Nothing doing....all we did was talked till 1am when it was time to sleep and dream about the fun to come on Saturday.
SATURDAY
Awoke at 8am and slowly dragged my tired butt out of bed barely able to bend over to tie my shoes.....ooooh my back was stiff!! Yup, just my back! - HA! Grabbed my water bottle and started very slowly jogging to the store to phone the parole offwifeicer to check in. The water was dead calm and not many were up yet as the 10-11 hours of wind the day before had, I think, slowed the start of today. There was low cloud which was already starting to clear......please don't start blowing too early!! Finished my phone in and started jogging back to camp...faster and faster.....yahoo...feeling pretty good now. Arrived back at camp and Tony and Lea + 2 were up and Glenda + 2 were up so were chatted and I helped Lea rig her sail. Note: One of the best things about Nitinat is the friendly feeling there is there. I don't feel akward asking others for advice or help with most anything. This place is truely special. I hope it lasts 4-ever....except maybe the addition of a fast food outlet nearby...HA! - Just joking! Got back to camp at 9am and I could see a light windline at the top of the lake so I started up the camp stove and cooked up the Eggs/Bacon/Hashbrowns and Salsa and coffee for breaky. Delicious!! The campground was getting full but not as full as I thought it would be with all the Demo's available for sailing. Lots of windsurf and kite gear everywhere. NICE!! Cleaned up from breaky and the wind had arrived. It was blowing 12-15kts so I took out the Formula and Severne Overdrive 8.5m again and ripped for 1 hour when it picked up to 18-20kts and it was time to come in as I was getting OP'd. It was nice being able to use the 8.5 instead of the 10.0 as those Overdrives have lots and lots of power. 3 cams for a nice steady powerful pull without the usual hassle of a full on rac sail. Easy to rig and easy to sail....NICE!! Came in and a few others were just getting out. Long days of wind make for slow start mornings. The water was still pretty flat so I took out the 2005 96 litre Starboard Hypersonic with a drake 42cm fin and threw on my 2004 Severne C2(twin cam) and took off on my first speed run...with the Garmin Foretrex 201. Went out on a broad reach rippin' across the tops of the waves with what felt like just the fin in the water(a little overfinned I'm thinking). Got to the other side and looked at the Max speed...52.5km/h!! YAHOO!! A new personal best top speed up from the 50.0km/h of 3 weeks ago set in same conditions on my old hyper with an 8.0 on it. This was one fast, fast, fast board!! Did another 5-6 runs but couldn't get any faster!! WOW, what a feeling......going soooo fast is kinda scary but really, really exhilerating!! I had set a buoy earlier in the morning with the help of Vince and the NSSB jet ski but now didn't see it and it was getting close to the 1pm skippers meeting so I took Dave and Jolene's jet ski out to look for it....gone....I think I used too small a weight for the bottom and I guess it blew downwind into deeper water and now the attached buoy was under water....stupid me, not enought weight or line....D'OH!! So as I was coming in I saw the Trident/NSSB guys out racing on their own from a beach start. I ran and grabbed the Cave 121 and Severne C2 6.5 and joined in on the next race. Right from the start it was noticeable that Pete Norrie was the Rabbit and probably the best jiber!!! Tommy V was always right on his heels and sometimes found himself in front of Pete by some weird circumturnearlystance..?? The races were 3 laps, Start off the day use beach, around the mark(only one left of 4 set 3 weeks ago) on the other side and back and jibe close to the beach at the day use beach again....3 laps and you'd better make your jibes or your going to get left behind...well...I did!! I probably made 70% of my jibes but unless you're on a plane the others are gone!! The start was crucial as if you didn't get on a plane right away the dirty(and sometime stinky) wind left behind from the pack was useless for 20-30 seconds. We had 6 races of which I came last in all of them but never got lapped so feel pretty good about that fact even though I did a couple of TOM TURNS....3/4's of the way across - HA!! The 5th race I was in 2nd place at the first mark, Pete jibed first and then I was quite high upwind, TommyV was coming in underneath me I ducked infront of him but couldn't hit my jibe, fell and by the time I got up and got wind there were all very long gone!! Fun anyways!! Finished racing and sailed rest of the day on the Carve 121 and 6.5 as it was a steady 18-25kts from 11:00 till 5:00pm. At 5pm I pulled out the Formula and 8.5 again as it had dropped down to about 12kts at 5pm, not many windsurfers on the water now...only about 10-12 kites....got out and up to the island and it had picked up again to 15-18kts....I ripped on the Formula and 8.5 till 6pm and then decided that was enough for today....by now it was blowing almost 20 again and there were 10+ windsurfers out and 10-15 kites out again. I put my gear to bed and changed and grabbed a bowl of peanuts and chocolate chips and lime flavoured chips and a big bowl of salsa which I took down the beach to peope who eagerly grabbed the Nitinat appetizers and smiled!! It was dinner time with Bryan and SuperDave and I cooked up 3 breasts of chicken and a plate of hashbrowns. Bryan and SD had Chicken curry and we all shared and drank some refreshments and talked about the fantastic day that was enjoyed by all. There was talk of the North/Naish part going to happen with free food and booze which we walked down to take a look at....drank some RedBull and Vodka(de-flippin'-licious drink) and talked to many, many kiters and met lotsa new people and sold some BWD-WINDSURFING/KITEBOARDING shirts. The party was just going fine and I decided to head down to the Trident/NSSB fire and give out the prizes for the days racing. Winners were...in 4th place, Keith for not getting too far ahead of me in any race(thanks dude - bottle of wine), in 3rd place, Declan for going around the actual whole course and being close to winning each race and for supplying me with a Hypersonic to race with(bottle of wine) in 2nd place, TommyV for NOT actually going around the whole course each time but still being superfast and close at each finish(bottle of Penguin wine), and in 1st place, Pete Norrie sailing his Sonic with secret fin and superfast secret sail and coming in 1st in each race and actually never coming off a plane even when waiting for the next heat(Bottle of Baileys). We had a drink there and warmed by the fire talked about gear and racing and decided to head up to the North/Naish/Mistral Bash and by now the party was in full swing!! Crazy kiter-dudes and dudettes everywhere, the RedBull was obviously flowing freely one guy dove across a completely full table of cans/bottles/knives and forks/jars of mustard....TOTAL INSANOVILLE. Decided it was time to leave when the chairs started flying....okay...Ba-bye!! Back to the tent and asleep in less than 2 mins!! NICE!!
SUNDAY
Awoke at 8:30am to ominous looking clouds and a slight wind. I thought back to the May long weekend of packing up in the rain and slowly rolled over and got dressed and started packing up. Within 30 mins it was spitting and the end of the lake looked ugly with rain coming this way. With a little help from Vic(de-rigging my boards and sails) I was mostly packed up by 11am. People were stirring and others started to pack up and drive out. The whole morning it spit but never poured. It started to clear a bit at Noon but by then most had packed up. I helped pack up the Severne sails(tried to sneak a few into my quiver bag but got caught by Declan) while others packed up the boards and other gear on the beach. All gear was packed up by Noon:30 and I said my good-byes to those who were still left and got in my overloaded vehicle and drove home. Drove straight to the Mill Bay ferry and arrived at 2:45 and caught the 3pm ferry and was home by 3:45pm. When I arrived home my parole offwifeicer and child were asleep so I unpacked and drank/injected a leftover RedBull that I found in my bag. Love those things!! When they awoke we went to Mickey D's for dinner and a play then home and went to sleep early as the next started at 6am.....YUCK!!!
WRAP-UP
My looooong weekend was a huge success and a HUGE amount of fun. I met lotsa new people and I hope I don't forget too many but if I do....I have only forgotten your names in this write up, I haven't forgotten the good times! Mike/Rosie/little cuteness, TommyV, Declan/Tracy/Two angels, Pete/Tina, Vince/?+1/Brett+2 crazies, Rob Laurin, The fella(name?) from Trident who traded my BWD T-shirt for his Severne Hoodie, Crazy Bob, Kate, Dave/Jolene+dog, Phillipe, Lea/Tony+2, Bryan/Dave, Keith/Kathy, Good Ol' Vic, AC and his gang of newbies, ChrisB the 2nd friendliest guy in the campsite, Rob/wife/3 dogs/5 cats/1 large rec vehicle, Max/Morika and the many others that I met and cannot remember because of too much RedBull + Canadian Club...aghh! I look forward to seeing everyone up there again very soon. Thanks for the memories and happiness!! LATER DOODS and DUDETTES...IT WAS A BLAST!!
