Sunday April 7 was my last day this winter skiing or snowboarding. Both are complimentary sports to windsurfing and foiling. This winter I had several personal winging sessions that will help with my summer coaching at the Launch Pad Windsurf & Foil Academy.
I got out on Georgian Bay shore ice for wind skiing and wind skating sessions. It is a highly recommended way to learn wing control. On skis you can go out in slightly slushy conditions and if you are going a bit too slow, you can help the wing by “skating” on the skis. You have a huge amount of control over bumpy sections of ice and even the odd hole in the ice, the skis will get over that. On skates what is really cool is that you can tack up wind with almost no friction and your glide into tacks continues beautifully. Skates however are a lot bumpier unless you get smooth ice conditions which is pretty rare but I got one day!
Then I had several wingfoil sessions in March. Mostly it was fun just to get out on the water on days where I ALSO skied or snowboarded. Having Georgian Bay just nine minutes away from where we live next to the ski hills meant that there were several days where I wouldn’t have expected to be on the water. But while out skiing or snowboarding I saw the wind on the water out on the Bay and said “well let’s go wing foiling as well”! I’m happy to be getting better at wing foiling on the big waves that show up on those solid NW windy days. Happy to have a 6/5/4 hooded wetsuit because the water was just 2 degrees Celsius.
My winter training ended with a total of 78 ski and snowboard sessions plus a pond skim at Blue Mountain for the closing party. Teaching my little grand nephew Timo to ski this winter reinforced how much I love teaching ANY sport! I’m excited to get him on a windsurfer this summer.
So bottom the bottom line is that with the mild winter we had it was amazing to have gotten out for as many winging sessions as I did both on the ice and on the water!
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