Post by Windydoug on Feb 26, 2008 12:03:11 GMT -5
I am not Nostradamus, but I have seen the future of winter windsurfing.....and it is the past.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to get out on Irondequoit Bay with the WaterAuthority and try out "skatesailing". One word.........
A W E S O M E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the end of my two hours of 8-15 mph wind (and 20+ mph speeds) on a 4.1, I was jibing and tacking like a pro...no joke. Well, not as good as Rick and his sail around 360's, but pretty well none the less. Expert instruction helped! Sail handling is the same as being out on the water and the board is much easier without all the bounce of chop.
I know this is not new, Ricks skatesailing board is 22 years old, and modeled after the much more expensive Freeskate. A lot of the founding Rochester Windguru's have these things laying around in their garages. He made it himself, and I'm hoping to do the same for under $100.
Ice conditions have to be good, and you can't have more than a couple inches of powder on top of the ice, so conditions can be hard to come by sometimes.....but so is winter windsurfing. Having a boom in my hands felt so good!
Check out the pictures from this weekend on the new 2008 Photo page.
www.flickr.com/photos/22832976@N07/ (for some reason the "@" sign in the web address messes up this link, so cut and paste it)
Oh, also a new guy named Brent was out with his trainer kite. He stepped on the skatesailer (after only windsurfing once in his life) and went halfway across the Bay.
Take my word, this is not the fake (in my opinion) enthusiasm that is being generated by the industry surrounding Stand up canoeing.....ooops, I mean stand up paddling. Obviously I don't get it. While we're at it, I don't get those recumbent bikes people are riding either. I understand they are more ergonomically efficient, but they remind me of a lounge chair on wheels. Sorry, side tracked...
Check it out on youtube.com. Type in "ice windsurfing" and then go to the first result of a couple guys in Maine.
Rick was going as fast as these guys.....and in my mind I was pretty close too.
WindyDoug
This past weekend I was lucky enough to get out on Irondequoit Bay with the WaterAuthority and try out "skatesailing". One word.........
A W E S O M E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the end of my two hours of 8-15 mph wind (and 20+ mph speeds) on a 4.1, I was jibing and tacking like a pro...no joke. Well, not as good as Rick and his sail around 360's, but pretty well none the less. Expert instruction helped! Sail handling is the same as being out on the water and the board is much easier without all the bounce of chop.
I know this is not new, Ricks skatesailing board is 22 years old, and modeled after the much more expensive Freeskate. A lot of the founding Rochester Windguru's have these things laying around in their garages. He made it himself, and I'm hoping to do the same for under $100.
Ice conditions have to be good, and you can't have more than a couple inches of powder on top of the ice, so conditions can be hard to come by sometimes.....but so is winter windsurfing. Having a boom in my hands felt so good!
Check out the pictures from this weekend on the new 2008 Photo page.
www.flickr.com/photos/22832976@N07/ (for some reason the "@" sign in the web address messes up this link, so cut and paste it)
Oh, also a new guy named Brent was out with his trainer kite. He stepped on the skatesailer (after only windsurfing once in his life) and went halfway across the Bay.
Take my word, this is not the fake (in my opinion) enthusiasm that is being generated by the industry surrounding Stand up canoeing.....ooops, I mean stand up paddling. Obviously I don't get it. While we're at it, I don't get those recumbent bikes people are riding either. I understand they are more ergonomically efficient, but they remind me of a lounge chair on wheels. Sorry, side tracked...
Check it out on youtube.com. Type in "ice windsurfing" and then go to the first result of a couple guys in Maine.
Rick was going as fast as these guys.....and in my mind I was pretty close too.
WindyDoug
