Sunday, 10 April 2011
Windsurf Mag does 2011 board tests
You may have read about it. Windsurf Mag did some 2011 board tests and they are posted on their website http://windsurfingmag.com/which links to the James Douglass blog: http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2011/04/windsurfing-mag-board-test-wrap-up.htm Josh Angulo was present, butt did not sail. What was that ??
Windsurf Mag does 2011 board tests
You may have read about it. Windsurf Mag did some 2011 board tests and they are posted on their website http://windsurfingmag.com/which links to the James Douglass blog: http://jimbodouglass.blogspot.com/2011/04/windsurfing-mag-board-test-wrap-up.htm Josh Angulo was present, butt did not sail. What was that ??
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Wind Obsession
In case you have never heard, Benoit Gauthier was known around Montreal for the Wind Obsession custom boards he made. Unfortunately this seems to be in the past tense. We, Helmut and I, met the other Benoit - do not remember his name and cannot find him on the web, in the repair shop. The other Benoit took us on a tour and explained that they have not made a board for about 3 years. That is, until just recently. They have many WO used boards for sale : http://www.windspirit-direct.com . Their shop is on the "South Shore" and you will miss it if you blink twice AND it is about 45 minutes from Montreal. The sign can be seen at the left of the 
picture and the shop is in the back. There are two(2) doors where the last one is to a kind of show room with lots of standard windsurf stuff, SUP paddles, and people busy. They work off the web and the season is around the corner, so ... The reason they do not make boards any more is: just cheaper to buy ready made and they are all good - they sell: JP, RRD, Starboard and Exocet. My big disappointment was : there were three(3) AHD boards in repair. One even was an AHD FF 130 where the area around the footstraps had gone soft. Benoit was going to cut it out and put epoxy re-enforced with carbon and/or kevlar and then paint it all white. The other AHD (model unknown since it was on it's back} had what Benwah called a styrofoam splitter. When one tapped on the bottom, one could hear there was a space between the bottom and the styrofoam. This to fix is apparently a $300 job. I am so flabbergasted that I do not remember what the third board problem was. Unfortunately this means I cannot buy another AHD - no matter how much I love mine. Tinho Dornellas of Florida and Bruno of 2-rad warned me of this. VERY SAD.
We had originally gone to pick up a brand new Sailworks Retro 6.0 from Patrick Bergeron of SW, who is still at Hawaii. Pat sells stuff as patsurf on a local website and is always worth checking ...My joy was going in the repair shop and i had to tear myself away. Felt like a kid in the candy store learning how they make the candy.
On the way back we stopped at 30noeuds, which is also on the South Shore of Montreal. This shop seems to have gone over to the kite side. I was looking at a used MS Pursuit 7.5 and no-one even asked if they could help me. The sail still has the 484 luff and should fit on my 490 even if Barry Spanier says NON. So, I am torn between MS and SW 7.5. I will wait it out and see if i really need the 7.5. May go with the SW because the smaller sails are all starting to go with RDM masts. Originally thought I could get a mast for MS 7.5 and 6.x. If the Switch 6.4 goes well on an RDM - then why bother getting a 460 MS mast ?? AND there is a company called SAILWORLD in the NE States that sells a sail called the Blast 7.5 for a very reasonable price. These sails are known to be good for heavyweights like myself. The luff is 487 cm - thus a 490 mast should work just fine ...
picture and the shop is in the back. There are two(2) doors where the last one is to a kind of show room with lots of standard windsurf stuff, SUP paddles, and people busy. They work off the web and the season is around the corner, so ... The reason they do not make boards any more is: just cheaper to buy ready made and they are all good - they sell: JP, RRD, Starboard and Exocet. My big disappointment was : there were three(3) AHD boards in repair. One even was an AHD FF 130 where the area around the footstraps had gone soft. Benoit was going to cut it out and put epoxy re-enforced with carbon and/or kevlar and then paint it all white. The other AHD (model unknown since it was on it's back} had what Benwah called a styrofoam splitter. When one tapped on the bottom, one could hear there was a space between the bottom and the styrofoam. This to fix is apparently a $300 job. I am so flabbergasted that I do not remember what the third board problem was. Unfortunately this means I cannot buy another AHD - no matter how much I love mine. Tinho Dornellas of Florida and Bruno of 2-rad warned me of this. VERY SAD.We had originally gone to pick up a brand new Sailworks Retro 6.0 from Patrick Bergeron of SW, who is still at Hawaii. Pat sells stuff as patsurf on a local website and is always worth checking ...My joy was going in the repair shop and i had to tear myself away. Felt like a kid in the candy store learning how they make the candy.
On the way back we stopped at 30noeuds, which is also on the South Shore of Montreal. This shop seems to have gone over to the kite side. I was looking at a used MS Pursuit 7.5 and no-one even asked if they could help me. The sail still has the 484 luff and should fit on my 490 even if Barry Spanier says NON. So, I am torn between MS and SW 7.5. I will wait it out and see if i really need the 7.5. May go with the SW because the smaller sails are all starting to go with RDM masts. Originally thought I could get a mast for MS 7.5 and 6.x. If the Switch 6.4 goes well on an RDM - then why bother getting a 460 MS mast ?? AND there is a company called SAILWORLD in the NE States that sells a sail called the Blast 7.5 for a very reasonable price. These sails are known to be good for heavyweights like myself. The luff is 487 cm - thus a 490 mast should work just fine ...
Wind Obsession
In case you have never heard, Benoit Gauthier was known around Montreal for the Wind Obsession custom boards he made. Unfortunately this seems to be in the past tense. We, Helmut and I, met the other Benoit - do not remember his name and cannot find him on the web, in the repair shop. The other Benoit took us on a tour and explained that they have not made a board for about 3 years. That is, until just recently. They have many WO used boards for sale : http://www.windspirit-direct.com . Their shop is on the "South Shore" and you will miss it if you blink twice AND it is about 45 minutes from Montreal. The sign can be seen at the left of the picture and the shop is in the back. There are two(2) doors where the last one is to a kind of show room with lots of standard windsurf stuff, SUP paddles, and people busy. They work off the web and the season is around the corner, so ... The reason they do not make boards any more is: just cheaper to buy ready made and they are all good - they sell: JP, RRD, Starboard and Exocet. My big disappointment was : there were three(3) AHD boards in repair. One even was an AHD FF 130 where the area around the footstraps had gone soft. Benoit was going to cut it out and put epoxy re-enforced with carbon and/or kevlar and then paint it all white. The other AHD (model unknown since it was on it's back} had what Benwah called a styrofoam splitter. When one tapped on the bottom, one could hear there was a space between the bottom and the styrofoam. This to fix is apparently a $300 job. I am so flabbergasted that I do not remember what the third board problem was. Unfortunately this means I cannot buy another AHD - no matter how much I love mine. Tinho Dornellas of Florida and Bruno of 2-rad warned me of this. VERY SAD.
We had originally gone to pick up a brand new Sailworks Retro 6.0 from Patrick Bergeron of SW, who is still at Hawaii. Pat sells stuff as patsurf on a local website and is always worth checking ...My joy was going in the repair shop and i had to tear myself away. Felt like a kid in the candy store learning how they make the candy.
On the way back we stopped at 30noeuds, which is also on the South Shore of Montreal. This shop seems to have gone over to the kite side. I was looking at a used MS Pursuit 7.5 and no-one even asked if they could help me. The sail still has the 484 luff and should fit on my 490 even if Barry Spanier says NON. So, I am torn between MS and SW 7.5. I will wait it out and see if i really need the 7.5. May go with the SW because the smaller sails are all starting to go with RDM masts. Originally thought I could get a mast for MS 7.5 and 6.x. If the Switch 6.4 goes well on an RDM - then why bother getting a 460 MS mast ?? AND there is a company called SAILWORLD in the NE States that sells a sail called the Blast 7.5 for a very reasonable price. These sails are known to be good for heavyweights like myself. The luff is 487 cm - thus a 490 mast should work just fine ...
picture and the shop is in the back. There are two(2) doors where the last one is to a kind of show room with lots of standard windsurf stuff, SUP paddles, and people busy. They work off the web and the season is around the corner, so ... The reason they do not make boards any more is: just cheaper to buy ready made and they are all good - they sell: JP, RRD, Starboard and Exocet. My big disappointment was : there were three(3) AHD boards in repair. One even was an AHD FF 130 where the area around the footstraps had gone soft. Benoit was going to cut it out and put epoxy re-enforced with carbon and/or kevlar and then paint it all white. The other AHD (model unknown since it was on it's back} had what Benwah called a styrofoam splitter. When one tapped on the bottom, one could hear there was a space between the bottom and the styrofoam. This to fix is apparently a $300 job. I am so flabbergasted that I do not remember what the third board problem was. Unfortunately this means I cannot buy another AHD - no matter how much I love mine. Tinho Dornellas of Florida and Bruno of 2-rad warned me of this. VERY SAD.We had originally gone to pick up a brand new Sailworks Retro 6.0 from Patrick Bergeron of SW, who is still at Hawaii. Pat sells stuff as patsurf on a local website and is always worth checking ...My joy was going in the repair shop and i had to tear myself away. Felt like a kid in the candy store learning how they make the candy.
On the way back we stopped at 30noeuds, which is also on the South Shore of Montreal. This shop seems to have gone over to the kite side. I was looking at a used MS Pursuit 7.5 and no-one even asked if they could help me. The sail still has the 484 luff and should fit on my 490 even if Barry Spanier says NON. So, I am torn between MS and SW 7.5. I will wait it out and see if i really need the 7.5. May go with the SW because the smaller sails are all starting to go with RDM masts. Originally thought I could get a mast for MS 7.5 and 6.x. If the Switch 6.4 goes well on an RDM - then why bother getting a 460 MS mast ?? AND there is a company called SAILWORLD in the NE States that sells a sail called the Blast 7.5 for a very reasonable price. These sails are known to be good for heavyweights like myself. The luff is 487 cm - thus a 490 mast should work just fine ...
Friday, 1 April 2011
Repair attempt
Okay, spring fever is starting to hit !!
Took the windsurf board down from the wall and fixed one side with Marine-Tex. It looks a little better, butt I wish the board had been a little more sturdy. Got too good a board as my first shortboard I guess... The first pic is the side without repair - scuffed by mast extension due to crashes or drops. The second one is with the Marine-Tex - no sanding and still wet...You can clique on the pics to get a clearer idea. Hope other boards are doing better than this...
Once dry, I think I will just wet sand it lightly and then put some ReDek on it. This will stop exposure to UV and also give it some grip for the bear feet rides :-) Sorry, my feet are EE wide - so, they are NOT bare, they are bear feet :-) And then obviously do the other side having learned from mistakes on the first attempt :-)
Followup: Originally I had planned to do the Marine-Tek fix later when it was a little warmer since it suggests 72 degrees Fahrenheit to cure - that's about 24 degrees Celsius or quite warm. Now I put the board inside the house whenever I can, butt this is in the living room since I donut have a very large house. My house is also NOT at this temp. This means it is still sticky after one week. So, what i just did today was pop the basement windows and slide the board through the window. Then after putting the board on my 7 year old son's play table, cranked the temp up to 72 degrees :-) Also read that Marine-Tex is sensitive to UV. Perhaps I will get some marine paint before the ReDek. This is apparently quite expensive. Perhaps i will speak with my buddy Ed, who is now building a boat - his second one. The first was a canoe. Pretty cool actually !! Hey, i believe this is it !! YUP - Ed confirmed it ...
Just checked the Québecwind forum - people are still going paraskiing on ice {skis with kites} @ Vaudreuils, some are going windskating on the South Shore {skateboard with big rubber wheels and mast base} and some are talking about windsurfing. BEST of ALL worlds ??? Here is a pic taken by Natalie's Steven at Vaudreuils:
Back to the "lost scuff plate" that goes between the mast-base and the windsurf board. This was from my spare mast-base and it got "lost" playing with my winter sailboards. Got some suggestions on StarBoard and Australian w/s forums: cut from old car mats or plastic containers and i discovered the lid from a coffee can is exactly the same size. After going over all I had done with the winter sailboards I found the plate on a shelf in the garage - phew :-)Here's a last look at my babies with their mast bases removed - before they get put away for the REAL windsurf season :-)
Repair attempt
Okay, spring fever is starting to hit !!
Took the windsurf board down from the wall and fixed one side with Marine-Tex. It looks a little better, butt I wish the board had been a little more sturdy. Got too good a board as my first shortboard I guess... The first pic is the side without repair - scuffed by mast extension due to crashes or drops. The second one is with the Marine-Tex - no sanding and still wet...You can clique on the pics to get a clearer idea. Hope other boards are doing better than this...
Once dry, I think I will just wet sand it lightly and then put some ReDek on it. This will stop exposure to UV and also give it some grip for the bear feet rides :-) Sorry, my feet are EE wide - so, they are NOT bare, they are bear feet :-) And then obviously do the other side having learned from mistakes on the first attempt :-)
Followup: Originally I had planned to do the Marine-Tek fix later when it was a little warmer since it suggests 72 degrees Fahrenheit to cure - that's about 24 degrees Celsius or quite warm. Now I put the board inside the house whenever I can, butt this is in the living room since I donut have a very large house. My house is also NOT at this temp. This means it is still sticky after one week. So, what i just did today was pop the basement windows and slide the board through the window. Then after putting the board on my 7 year old son's play table, cranked the temp up to 72 degrees :-) Also read that Marine-Tex is sensitive to UV. Perhaps I will get some marine paint before the ReDek. This is apparently quite expensive. Perhaps i will speak with my buddy Ed, who is now building a boat - his second one. The first was a canoe. Pretty cool actually !! Hey, i believe this is it !! YUP - Ed confirmed it ...
Just checked the Québecwind forum - people are still going paraskiing on ice {skis with kites} @ Vaudreuils, some are going windskating on the South Shore {skateboard with big rubber wheels and mast base} and some are talking about windsurfing. BEST of ALL worlds ??? Here is a pic taken by Natalie's Steven at Vaudreuils:
Back to the "lost scuff plate" that goes between the mast-base and the windsurf board. This was from my spare mast-base and it got "lost" playing with my winter sailboards. Got some suggestions on StarBoard and Australian w/s forums: cut from old car mats or plastic containers and i discovered the lid from a coffee can is exactly the same size. After going over all I had done with the winter sailboards I found the plate on a shelf in the garage - phew :-)Here's a last look at my babies with their mast bases removed - before they get put away for the REAL windsurf season :-)
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Trial Run on the Football Field - SUN 27MAR2011
Drove the little one off to see a friend and the wife was going for a walk. Hey, it's a little cooler than yesterday and windier. Perhaps I can try the football field ? Winds hit 12 knots and more from the WNW. Put the 6-oh on the epoxy mast and used the pi winter sailboard # 3.14. Too many lulls in the wind and the angle was not good for the field. Still spring ski conditions. Tried board #2 which is now angled at 20 degrees. It felt like it could go, but it was too much work and looked like a train passed through in terms of tracks.
Put the Gaastra Flow 3X 7-oh on board pi and it went better.
Gave the session a 6 out of 10. OK. Was still out over one hour and tired after. Almost did a full tack.
Lesson: Need a better field than that. Next session - if it happens this winter - Near Mirabel !!!
Hey, my good friend Dolores went to Quebec City over the weekend and saw windsurfers doin' it on fields just near Québec !! COOL
Put the Gaastra Flow 3X 7-oh on board pi and it went better.
Gave the session a 6 out of 10. OK. Was still out over one hour and tired after. Almost did a full tack.
Lesson: Need a better field than that. Next session - if it happens this winter - Near Mirabel !!!
Hey, my good friend Dolores went to Quebec City over the weekend and saw windsurfers doin' it on fields just near Québec !! COOL
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)