Beginner Windsurfer Steve is Awesome

Steve reached out for Windsurfing lessons. He was smart and wanted to make sure that he knew what to do on the used windsurfing board he had recently purchased. I’m grateful to the seller of the board for recommending windsurfing lessons!

Steve and Pam had kayaked down the Key River the day before in their two person kayak. They were staying conveniently just 800m away at Diamond Key Lodge.

In the morning they paddled the 800m over to the Launch Pad. We met at the point and went to the old Launch Pad building to go over paperwork and do our safety briefing. (I had already had little Timo out for his first windsurfing lesson.)

Back at the point we rigged the 3,2 Duotone Now sail for Steve. I selected the big Viper HD which I had paddled up to the point as a good board to start on. The Viper board is larger than the BIC Vivace 370 that he bought but would turn out to be an exceptional first board to try. The wind had already picked up to 8 knots from the southwest and was looking to be a perfect Georgian Bay day.

We went through basics on the land simulator and I already felt confident about Steve's skills. He picked up on balancing on the board, steering and getting underway very easily. I didn’t even have to demonstrate how to tack. He was able to learn that still standing on the simulator! That got him going in the other direction as well. He was also good in his non-dominant direction. I left him to practice a bit more while I collected the rest of the gear.

His self-rescue demonstration on the water got him a bit upwind. Then he got on and sailed across to Diamond Key Lodge. We were in constant contact with the bbTalkin headsets.

Steve did his first tacks in the distance and I already suspected I wouldn’t need the SeaDoo. Indeed he had enough skill to sail back and managed to make it right back to a starting point on his first windsurf runs staying upwind on the way out and back!

At that point, I decided to get on my board (the smaller Viper 80) and sail (Duotone Ice 4.2) and went out windsurfing with him. We had a great time talking about windsurfing skills through our waterproof headsets. We could also keep in touch with Pam on the point who was taking some pictures of the fun on the water.

Soon enough we were sailing all the way out to the green marker exploring Georgian Bay. He managed to eventually start doing jibes without having fallen in. We did several "S" turns cruising back downwind to the point where Pam was excited to see him completely dry after an hour and a half of sailing. WOW amazing!

After having their lunch back over at Diamond Key, they returned by kayak. We started our second session. This time the winds were much stronger at 10 to 16 knots (windiest spot in Ontario) and he was still confident on the larger board and 3.2 Now sail.

It was time to switch him to the Duotone Viper 80, which at 190 L is much closer to the 180 L board he purchased. The skills he learned through the morning were evident. For the rest of the afternoon he started going faster as the wind built, but amazingly kept staying up wind in the windiest spot on Georgian Bay!

I enjoyed giving Pam a lesson on the iRIG even if she initially said she couldn’t do it. Steve was still out enjoying the conditions so I took a few photos from up on the new Launch Pad deck. Steve’s session ended with some nice jibes straight to the point and high-fives all around for a good session.

We had some drinks back at the old Launch Pad after a tour of the new building. I think Steve as well on his way to being able to enjoy windsurfing safely back on Lake Simcoe or wherever he choses to launches. They went back to Diamond Key with a copy of my Trictionary book to review overnight. I think I’ll keep recommending that resource to students.

I’m hoping they come back again sometime soon so we can work on new skills and tricks. Later in the day I got Richard out for his first foil. What a great day.