Those who can't sail....watch!

If you are itching for the waters to warm up (or thaw as may be the case), the best cure is a good dose of www.youtube.com. Some good, some bad, some nice, some really ugly....but there is video after video. Anything from watching someone in a speedo learn to windsurf (not suggested!) to the trailer for nearly every new windsurfing movie, Youtube is pretty cool....and pretty free!



(Bonus if you can figure out which video this screen capture is from. Extra bonus if you can tell me who the person in the foreground in. Ultra bonus for telling who the person in the back ground is!)

Starting them young!

Here is a shot of Windsurfing Direct Dan Steinitz and son Andreas. Andreas is 3, and is the youngest person I have seen windsurfing (assisted or unassisted). Way to go Dan for starting him young, and way to go Drey for being the youngest winsurfer we have seen!

Night Sailing

Windsurfing Direct customer Mike Feibus couldn't get enough sailing on his January trip to Bonaire during the day......so he rigged up and hit the water at night!

Jump, Jibe, and Wail

Mike has the jump and jibe part covered in Barbados. Smaller waves than usual have let him get out on the Fanatic Hawk 108 and Gaastra Poison 6.2 for some great blasting sessions. The verdict is that the 07 Gaastras and Fanatics are the envy of all the other sailors on the beach! Glenn gets his crack at them starting on Monday as he heads down to Barbados for a little time on on the water.

Happy New Year

From Mike, Eric, Glenn, and the rest of the Windsurfing Direct crew, all the best for 2007. Hopefully 2007 is full of wind, warmth, and good health.

Merry Chrismas - Windsurfing Style

Vlad Cam

Local hardcore sailor Vlad sent me this picture from his sailing session this past Saturday. Looking at the angle of the wind in the picture, Everitt Park (aka Vlads backyard) would have been nice bump and jump with nice starboard ramps. What wouldn't have been so nice was the 3C temperature and brutal wind chill, but Vlad looks not to have minded at all with a powered 6.0 Gaastra Matrix in his hands!

Maui Report

Glenn is back from Maui after taking a couple of weeks away. The trades were a little fickle, but did score some very nice 5.3 Gaastra Manic sessions on the Tabou Da Curve 79. Nice clean waves in the head to logo high range, steady winds, and a lot less crowds than in years past. On the days that weren't so windy, surfing was the call and there was some great conditions on the West side, as well as the North Shore. Chest to head high peeling waves help take the sting out of a no-wind day pretty easily!

More pics to come!

Surf Expo 2006

Mike (on the left) and Glenn (on the right) spent a few days in late September at Surf Expo in Orlando. The "on-the-water" part of Surfexpo is alway the best, as we get to try all the new boards and sails for 2007. Light winds dominated for most of the time, but that gave us a great chance to try out great boards like the Bic Hybrid, Bic Nova 240, Fanatic Vipers, Starboard Serenity, as well as the new Gaastra and Severne sails.

Towards the later part of the afternoons the winds were strong enough that we were planing on 7.5's and 8.5's, which really let us test how well these high volume boards planed and handled stronger winds. It blew us away how a board like the Hybrid One Design from Bic can be such a blast to sail in light winds as well as such a good performer on a plane. Versatiltiy is the name of the game with these boards as they can do pretty much from allowing total novices the easiest learning possible, to satisfying planing veterans who want to use larger sails to plane in light to medium winds (they make fun light wind freestyle boards as well!)

Dust-in the Wind

If you windsurf or not, you will find Dustin's story below both inspirational and amazing. and all of us at Windsurfing Direct have been more than honored to help Dustin's wish come true:

Attention Glenn,

We want to send a Thank You to you and Windsurfing Direct.

Our son Dustin was diagnosed with Cancer back in March of this year. He spent the summer going through Chemo and to say the least did not have a good summer. It was a really tough one for all of us. Dustin had started doing some windsurfing with a good friend and as Dustin calls him "Coach" because he is really his curling coach. Richard had lent Dustin some of his second hand equipment and he was really looking forward to using it this summer, but was not well enough to do a lot of surfing. Richard took him out on day trips out to the lake just to get away and do whatever surfing he could handle.

Then, one day the nurses at the Cancer Center had mentioned to us about the Children’s Wish Foundation, so I called them. They asked Dustin in person what he would like to have. He told them he wanted some windsurfing equipment. So along with the help of Coach -Richard who is the one you dealt with, got Dustin all of this wonderful equipment. I can tell you he is absolutely delighted to have it. The package is way more than we could have ever hoped for.!! The sails are beautiful... he laid each one out separately and just sat and admired and checked over each one, along with all of the other equipment. He did get to sail it the day they gave it to him. Richard and Dustin spent a couple hours on the lake as it was quite cold here that day. So... next year, I am sure that as soon as the ice is off the lake, the two of them will be on it... He can watch is instructional videos this winter and be ready to go!

Dustin has finished all of his Chemo and is well on the way to recovery. He has gone for 3 monthly checkups so far and everything is clear.

We want to sincerely thank you again for the part you played in granting Dustin his WISH!!!!! This is something he will have for a many years to come and something we will never forget!! It is a beginning of a new chapter for us.

If you want to help make a wish come true, visit www.childrenswish.ca to find out how you can make a difference

Got Wind?

No shortage of wind over the past 48 hours, the only sail Glenn rigged was a 3.7 Gaastra Manic. Sandbanks early Sunday was a blowout with gusting over 60+mph, it was liquid smoke on the water and Glenn lasted about 45 mins. It was certainly to much of a good thing in terms of wind since it made wave riding nearly impossible as a bottom turn with a 50 knot gust in your sail isn't exactly comfortable.

After thawing out and driving home, Glenn did a classic bump and jump session, on a 3.7 again. Actually, not a lot of bumping and jumping since control on the water was pretty hard to come by in the 50 knot gusts.
















Thanks to Mark van Dam for the great shots! (check out his site at www.imagesbyvandam.com)

Bring it!

Classic fall winds set to visit us starting tomorrow morning, and looks like they may stick around for a couple of days?

Want to know how the 2007 F2 Geurilla 69 or 84 sail? How about the 2007 Fanatic NewWave 74 Team Edition vs. 2007 the Fanatic All Wave 74? Those are going to be first out of the van to test tomorrow, so check back for a full update and report!

Working Hard

For us, Christmas always comes a few months earlier as next seasons models arrive and need to be tested. Mike and Glenn got out for an evening session to try the 07 Fanatics. Mike was loving the new Hawk 108 for its speed, quickness to plane, speed, smooth ride in chop, speed, feather light weight, and did I mentioned speed? Mike rips through a jibe at Everitt park, on the left of the picture. Glenn really has been liking the Fanatic All Wave series in the 75L and 85L version for turning the "so-so" backside riding days into ripping front side days. The All Wave series planes so early but is so loose that lighter wind 5.4 and 5.8 wave days are now a blast, and we can make three times the amount of turns on the same wave!

Lip Smacking Good

A great shot from Craig Butler taken of Glenn sailing Mac's Point last Sunday. Solid 25-30 knots with 70 degree air and sunny skies made it seem like summer,not fall. With side-off winds the riding was all front side with as many hits on a wave as you wanted, and the Fanatic New Wave 75 was right at home smacking off any lip it could find! A great crew with Bill Reid getting the longest drive award (5 hours) and Andrew White with the shortest (10 minutes).

Now he's hooked....

New windsurfer Jonathan Gardam sent us this shot of his first day out on the Bic Nova and Gaastra Pilot. A great combination for Jonathan to learn on, but also a huge amount of room for progression past the entry level stage. Judging by his form, progression is already happening and we will no doubt be seeing pictures of him blasting along in the straps and harness in no time!

Cruising

Porfirio Verde and his family are new to the sport, but are learning quick and ripping it up on their new Gaastra Freetime and Bic Nova. Learning for them was simple and fun, and are already learning to use the footstraps and plane!

Think the summer of 2006 is almost over and you need to wait until next year to learn? The best winds happen in the fall meaning that there are still weeks, if not months left to learn how to windsurf just in time for the fall season!

No Blog Updates = Too much time sailing!

Anytime that there is a big gap between blog posts, it is because we are all sailing....a lot. We have been getting lots of TOW (time on the water) and are more stoked than ever.

Mike and Glenn scored a great afternoon on Sunday with Glenn getting to christen his new Fanatic NewWave 75, nicely powered by his 5.4 Gaastra Poison. A wave board isn't christened until it has been looped several times, and the New Wave is offically christened.

Mike put his NewWave 81 through a solid work out - spending more time in the air than on the water! Mike seemingly never needs to sail anything other than his 5.6 Sailworks Hucker so far this year. The wind range of that sail is like nothing we have sailed before - planing and jumping in light winds on his Fanatic Hawk 110 up to massive jumps in solid winds on the FreeWave 98 or NewWave 81. We would never call it a wave sail, but it's an awesome bump & jump sail!

All were too busy sailing to take pics, but our sailing pal and photographer Craig Butler snapped this one of Glenn last week - mid lay down into carving 360. Check out all Craig's work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wavespire ....his scenery and ice shots are great!

Windsurfing Patterson Park

Windsurfing at Patterson Park Kingston Oct. 2005 a little wave riding.

Glenn's Cool Turns

Long Weekend Winds

Lots of great sailing over the long weekend here with a strong SW system coming through. 6.0's were the call on Saturday, and anywhere from 5.5 to 6.0's on Sunday. Evan snapped this picture of Dan Michaluk whipping a vulcan on his Gaastra Echo on Saturday.