I posted on our local Facebook group that I was giving free Canada Day windsurfing lessons to the community. Daniele messaged me and her visitors Jake and Meg came out at noon to try out the Launch Pad Windsurf Academy.
They came out to the point and after the mandatory safety lessons we spent a good amount of time on the simulator learning the basics of how to uphaul the sail and tack the board. Both Meg and Jake picked up on steering the board and how tack on the simulator quite well. I was sure they would be even better on the water.
While we were doing that my daughter on the Coast Guard boat came by for a visit so we took a break to check out the awesome rigid inflatable boat that the Coast Guard use. Captain Katie and the CG crew were very nice even giving Jake and Meg some stickers! (On the way we saw a soon to be digested fish in the mouth of a decent sized water snake.)
After taking some photos of the Coast Guard, we headed back to the point to finish our lesson. I put Jake on the 3.5 metre sail on the Fanatic Viper HD and Megan on the 2.5m sail on the Fanatic Viper 80. They both headed out and were staying dry after their very first uphaul and sheeting in attempts. Jake even tacked successfully on his first try!
With a few short tows back upwind and some advice from me on the SeaDoo, both were managing to sail back-and-forth. They surprised themselves by being quite competent on their boards, each of them falling in only once or twice. The wind was warm and steady, but dropped off a bit, which made getting feedback from the small sails a bit more challenging.
They did both manage to sail quite a bit and I got some photos. Meg was determined to do a proper tack. After a nicely executed involuntary jibe she managed a beautiful dry tack and sailed back to the point - mission accomlished!
By the end of the session, Jake was moving all around the board, quite confidently to the point where he even started jibing without knowing exactly what or why or how he was doing it. I decided to have him sail all the way back down to the dock (so I wouldn't have to carry the gear in after the lesson). Meg walked all the rest of the lesson gear back from the point - thanks eh! I hope they will come back when we have a bit more wind.
Overall a terrific afternoon and I packed up the rest of the gear on the island and got myself ready to leave the island for the Canadian foiling championships in Kington next week!
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