It is now Spring 2024 (with snow in April) and I cannot believe that I have not put up a post about my Mistral SLE 303 yet !?! This board was supposed to prepare me for the StarBoard iSonic 117W and I did/do NOT care if i bust(ed) it up. That too is a special board and rips !! Was looking for fins to put on that iSonic ... When I saw a Mistral SLE 303 for sale with the slalom fin, I purchased the fin with the board for less than $100 in 2016. The fin is marked as 46, but measures at 44 and I fixed it up with some MarineTex and then some black paint after ... Could not find any black paint and ..read more

 In February 2024, my middle son's girlfriend showed an interest in going windsurfing on the ice and snow. It was my wife's 65th birthday and Litchi watched me reach 29kph in 15-22kph south winds on my ice sled using a SailWorks Hucker 6.6m² bump n jump sail ? Unfortunately for her, I was lacking my smaller sails, masts and booms ... So, when I went to water my plants back home, I picked up masts, booms and sails ... Apparently I purchased this sail from AuVentFou in 2006 to be used as a learner sail. That shop has been closed since  the summer of 2019.   The ONLY windsurf shop ..read more

I start every year by "looking" and doing the "window shopping" ...  This year I have been looking at windfoiling, but only found one or two interesting used "packages" and they are well over $1000. That would mean selling one or two of my fave boards --> like the JP SLW92 and/or the AHD SL1 140 ☹️. So, in order to cheer myself up, I analyzed my current stock ... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/ Up north I have the Mistral Equipe II / MEQ II, BIC SL200 and the Mistral SLE. I was thinking of bringing the GA Swift 10-oh + MS 510 mast + HP/MS carbon boom up north for the MEQ ...&nbs ..read more

As it is now almost February, 2024 ...  I guess I better summarize 2023, before I jump the gun on 2024 ! The reason I write about "jumping the gun" is ... every year around this time I "start the shop" ... because I am drooling and dreaming of getting back on the water !! Maybe now I understand better why the folks go south to hit the water in the winter months ...  I was out on the ice and snow eleven times in 2023 (includes DEC 2022) and thirty-eight times out on the water. Both of these numbers are slightly above the annual averages ... For the winter season I purchased a used Ma ..read more

 Snovum Godum as my Russian friends would say !! On January 2nd I managed to get out on the ice and snow up north ... It was 10-25kph WSW on semi-rough ice. I think the video and the comments on youtube say it all ..read more

This is a DRAFT of winging and wingfoiling - which seem to be hotter topics than windfoiling !! and was I inspired by this page: https://wingsurfingmag.com/the-not-so-short-history-of-wing-foiling/ This idea started a long time ago with Tom Magruder and his "Wind Weapon"!  Yes, his sail or wing is attached to the board with a "pole" or mast (in 1986?) I have written about this previously: http://joewindsurfer.blogspot.com/2014/04/wind-weapon-original-kitewing-way-back.html The next pic is Pete Cabrinha at the 1980 Pan Am cup in Kailua     - wing designed by the infamous J ..read more

 On Saturday, the 28th of Oktober, 2023 I chatted with Benoit Falardeau at Oka Parc about different types of foils. He informed that he had sold his first kit, but did purchase another more performance oriented kit. More interestingly, he also informed me about the differences in foils --> between wingfoils, kitefoils and windfoils. He stated that the mast on a wingfoil is the closest to the front wing and typically has the longest fuselage (for counter-balance). The kitefoil mast is a little further back on the fuselage and the windfoil even more to the back ... Let's see if we can s ..read more

 Hier et aujourd'hui c'est plus chaud que nous sommes habitués à OKA ... J'ai "posté" les photos ... dans l'ordre qu'ils ont été pris Pour agrandir les photos, il suffit de cliquer dessus     ... et ensuite ... "right clique" ou gauche  ..read more

Early in my "windsurfing career", I used to buy fully cambered sails because I was a "longboarder". As I migrate to free-ride and free-race boards, I find this is no longer necessary. My first BIG sail was a MauiSails TR-4 10m² race sail with 4 cambers. I purchased it with the 520cm mast in 2010 from Paul in CT. In 2013 I purchased a TR-6 8.4m² race sail from WindSpirit (it has the initials M.B. on it, but is NOT Martin Bertrand/Bert).  I have had a free-race MS-2 with 2 cambers from Christophe that I had to trash - killed it in the winter on ice n snow... I liked that sail a lo ..read more

 Yes, Tuck Tape and not Duct Tape ... for sail repair ?? YES !! There was a "new member" and windsurf newbie on quebecwind who asked about repairing a windsurf sail and this product at Canadian Tire was suggested : Now, ironically, I had just ordered and received this from windspirit.ca where it cost me  over $40 with postage. When I use this $26 Chinook monofilm tape, ..................................I often have issues with "air bubbles".  The Tuck Tape, which is half the price of the Chinook tape is EXTREMELY sticky and has NO issue with the "air bubbles". I applied this ..read more