VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

S16 – windsurf – Cape (June 25)


Bigger. Arrived at the Cape to find smooth glassy sets that were larger than yesterday rolling in and people out light-air wavesailing. Rigged the same thing I started on yesterday (4.5/115) hoping to be ahead of the curve and let the wind build and then size down to the smaller board (92). The only problem was the wind filled in to ‘just right’ by the time I got down to the beach and launched (so much for light-air wave sailing). The Cape was a popular choice again today and there were times when there were close to 20 sailors on the water. Wave selection was a challenge for me this morning, except for the big sets I found on the way out. My first ride out a rather large set (second largest of the day according to BWD) walled up and I managed to cross the first wave, jump the second and when my sail fluttered and backwinded at the apex of the jump I knew I was in trouble and landed awkwardly nose to windward. The third wave was starting to break while I was in the water and wasn’t so kind (washing ensued). Separated from my gear there was enough time to swim to it given the generous wave spacing (thank you south swell), flew my sail and crossed the last wave of the set. Whew! Not the way I wanted to start my session. Settled in a bit and caught a few rides (even a party wave with M, who wasn’t too pleased and later called me ‘Party Wave Dave’). The wind picked up and got to size down to Quad 92 and sailed until the 4.5 was too much. Adrien, Massimo and Ryan arrived and quickly took to the water for a late afternoon sail (just in time for full 3.7 ‘hate’). Welcome to the Cape!

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S17 – windsurf – Cape (June 25)


Tightrope. Waiting for the hate to back off in hopes of using my already rigged gear again (4.5/92). It took a while but the new arrives from Vancouver started to waiver on their smaller gear. Took to the water and bobbed out through the light wind near shore to be powered on the outside. Caught a few small rides and nice to have a cool-down session!

Water shots taken by TheLaw (coming soon).

/edit A few afterthoughts on yesterday: JP was absolutely killing it (moves executed with no visiable signs of fear whatsoever)! Windoctors dairy loading trail yielded mixxed results. Kus' movie stunt guy demo on the way home from DQ was most impressive (super smooth body roll after getting launched from skateboard after front trucks disappeared down a mini-sink hole).

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S17 – SUP – Cape (June 26)


Silver surfers. Surf/SUP session in the fog for Lisa, Udder, Michael, myself and Mark. Took a break to shoot some pictures and captured the silver surfers streaking through the fog. Nice rides and surreal looks.

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S18 – windsurf – Cape (June 26)


Long Beach. Light wind made it feel like a day at Long Beach – started with SUP, then wave-SUP and finished with windsurfing. As I was headed out with the 115 I asked Hood River Mike, "Shouldn't the clearing sky be to the north and fog to the south, not the other way around?" He said, "Your breaking new ground!" Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Then Moo gave me the 'shark' sign from his surf board as I was launching (luckily all I saw was a playful seal). Got big smiles and thumbs up from Trudy and JP as I was leaving the water - nice! Busy day (in a good way)!

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OK campers here is what you have all been clammering for, the Trudy Lary pix - raw and unedited! A special "Thank You!" to Trudy for sharing her talents with us! With heart felt graditude on behald of the BWD Surf Camp 2016 participants.

If you enjoy these, please thank Trudy directly.

As a teaser, here are a few of my personal favourites!


JP killing it at the Cape


BWD surf camper TheLaw


BWD surf camper Windoctor


Ben Page slaying it

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David!

Thanks for all of the hard work editing and posting all of these great shots. Hours of work get put into these photos and we appreciate it!

Felt the need to document the documentarian. C36 wind-SUPin'. The only sail out there Sunday.

Dave bus rolling south. Looks great, see you guys soon!

winddoctor wrote:David!

Thanks for all of the hard work editing and posting all of these great shots. Hours of work get put into these photos and we appreciate it!

Most welcome WD!
Thanks for the pic(s) 4J!

S20 – SUP – Cape (June 27)


Smooth. Morning fog but smooth glassy waves with Michael, DB (surf), Udder (yellow SUP) and myself (blue SUP). More yellow waves than blue at first, then some more blue waves. Smaller than yesterday with some roll so I took the larger SUP (AllWave 145) to save energy for the afternoon windsurf. Sad to see M start his journey home today. Thanks for sharing the adventure!

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S21 – windsurf – Cape (June 27)


Quality. After the fog burned off the wind started to fill in the beach started to buzz. Sweet, clean and consistent south swell filled the Cape and over 20 windsurfers took to the water. Lots of smiles and thumbs up! Nice to see BWD frolicking in the 'hippo pond'! Then wind got gusty and shifty (Leo thought it was due to a heat bubble) and the group split – some stuck it out at the Cape hoping for more delicious waves and others headed off the `The Rock` for some jumping.

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S22 – windsurf – Pistol River (June 27)


Airtime. Windoctor, Kus, DB, AG, Massimo, Ryan and myself headed off to Pistol River. Conditions seemed mild except when the south swell rolled through. I saw Windoctor abort his ride out near the beach as a south swell turned mean. Six happy sailors and one broken mast left Pistol River (DB lost a mast to the shorebreak).

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Glad I opted out on the coast this year. What a bust. Maybe it will turn around and get good at some point. Drinking heavily and feeling good here in Dunkin. Keep sending your sick photos brahs.

It's all being photo shopped as they hunker down in Vegas squandering the millions Dave makes on the BWD site

Here is gallery number 2 from Trudy Lary - raw and unedited. Once again special "Thank You!" to Trudy for sharing her talents with us! With heart felt graditude on behald of the BWD Surf Camp 2016 participants.

If you enjoy these, please thank Trudy directly.

As a teaser, here are a few of my personal favourites!


Thelaw at the Cape


Windoctor at `the rock`

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dunkinguy wrote:Glad I opted out on the coast this year. What a bust. Maybe it will turn around and get good at some point. Drinking heavily and feeling good here in Dunkin. Keep sending your sick photos brahs.

Your presence, deep carving in the waves and high jumps have been missed and there were several comments about your post yesterday Trevor. You are travelling with us in spirit!

S23 – windsurf – Cape (June 29)


Explosions. Morning wind in the campo had most at the Cape early. New campers today included the ‘bus-of-Daves’ (DWD and Fish) and the Redbaron de la Long Beach (Jesse). The arrival of new ‘spider man’ edition Hot Sails on the beach also caused some excitement, but Windoctor’s interpretative dance atop the bluff with the bubble wrap was what really amped things up! Moo took to the water with kite and the new arrivals joined in on windsurfing gear. The mid-day wind ramped up quickly and sail/board changes were required earlier than usual. Strong wind and diminishing swell made it challenging to find/hit target waves (for some). Many tales followed for ‘unexpected’ goings-on – rolls in the shore break, jump height, pin-wheel jumps, impromptu push loops, just-sailing-along-smack-downs and many more! It was ‘real’ Cape conditions today – some pleasure mixed with some pain. Definitely memorable!

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S24 – windsurf – Cape (June 29)


Bucking bronco. The evening glass off looked to be well underway with the wind steadying and smoothing so the evening crew took to the water. Got to witness Massimo’s self-proclaimed ‘best wave ride ever’ to which BWD said, “I thought you said he hadn’t done much wavesailing.” Then the Cape decided she had other plans and full beat down ensued complete with ramping wind, waist-high square chop and some chucks on the wave faces. But there were waves to be had, so the hardy persevered and some on the beach were tempted to return to the water by the sights they saw. Diner saw lots of laughter (stomach hurt from laughing so hard). Just as much fun off the water as on!

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S25 – windsurf – Pistol River (June 29)


Single. Eleven days in and today was the first single session day of the trip. Early morning wind. First stop was the Cape where Kus and Portland Dave were headed out. Redbaron joined Nanmoo, but it looked like a lot of work (gusty) for the size of waves on offer. Headed down to Pistol River to see smooth clean swell and big gear wind. Ended up sailing at Pistol River and the low tide made for no shorebreak, shallow water launch, and medium sized sloughing waves. Swell built over the day and there were some really BIG swell rolling on the outside. One snuck up on me after a gybe and I looked way up at the steep face with the crumbling peak and decided to try and climb over the round shoulder to avoid a potential wash (it worked). DB broke a second mast today going two for two. High on the fun factor and low on the fear factor (for Pistol).



Still windy in the evening and just saw Nanmoo and AG sail gusty side-off south jetty (complete with sea lions, crab traps and shore pound). More audience members than participants. Very interesting lighting. Well done fellas!

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S26 – windsurf – Cape (June 22)


Breakfast Club. Started the day with an 8 am cool stable wind session with Portland Dave and DB. Solid wind right form the beach made exiting with jumps really fun! Small playful wave rides were also on offer. Dana took to the water just as we left for Crescent City.

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S27 – windsurf – Cape (June 22)


NorCal. Smaller waves (good) and stronger wind (good) than when M and I SUP-sailed here two years ago. Warm air, sun, smooth waves and side-off conditions were well received by the group (especially after hearing reports of `crazy` wind at the Rock).

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S28 – SUP – Crescent City (June 29)


The group followed Pete and Lisa to the north for a surf/SUP session. Udder was super keen to go “surf'n California” once he realized we in NorCal! Most of the others waited for the evening class-off for an impromptu SUP contest (that we were only told about once we returned back to the beach). Official results are as follows.

Udder (long soul ride)/BWD (hit the lip & paddle twirl) – 1st place (tie)
Thelaw (single good wave)/Fish (snappy cut backs)/C36 (soulful style) 2nd place (tie)

Lisa (amazing wave selection) – 1st place long board division

DB (skilful rides) – 1st place funboard division

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S29 – windsurf – Pistol River (July 1)


Playful. Most of the BWD crew had a sleepover at the Chateau WallMart in Crescent City last night in the hopes of a morning SUP session and afternoon windsurfing session, but the waves and wind had other ideas. After a couple of rather odd morning encounters with the locals, I headed north back to Gold Beach and after a quick look-see at the Cape decided to sail at `the rock`. Low tide and steady wind made for a playful day. Wind swell was tightly spaced and Leo said he thought the wind felt onshore to him. I overhead another frequent flier say they did their longest walk back up the beach ever today (likely the result of being underpowered and washed). There were some healthy sized wind swell to mark Nanmoo's first return to Pistol River in two years. On one ride inbound I was being chased by at least four rather tough looking waves that I swear looked like they had teeth! I decided it was a good time to sail into the beach for a drink of water instead of taking my chances punching back out and saw BWD calmly gybe and head out against the grain (brave soul that he is). Downwind Dave celebrated Canada Day in style by dawning a Canada costume complete with wrestling mask and throwing forwards at Pistol River. Nice to see Windsurfish and Janetfish arrive safely and a nice surprise to see JoeBlo out on the water today!

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S30 – windsurf – Cape (July 1)


Glass-Off. Nanmoo, Redbaron, DB, Seattle sailor and I followed Luke out for the evening glass off at the Cape. BWD and Udder kept an eye on us from the bluff. Luke tracked down the background south swell like a hunting dog and the rest caught a few waves too. This was the first open ocean session for Seattle sailor and he was super stoked to be sailing the Cape, punching out through the waves and catching his first wave! With a little luck there may be more in the morning!

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