Sailing/Kiting across Canada

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KUS
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Sailing/Kiting across Canada

Post by KUS »

in a year or two I hope to plan an RV trip across the country, seen more of the US than this wonderful land, and hope to sail/kite/SUPsail at as many spots as possible.

I recently found some info from Nova Scotia & Madeleine Islands, Quebec/St Lawrence as follows. Would love to hear about all the other spots....I do know a few but to have a basic route wiki would be very cool :D Anybody wanna share some links and places or pix for a particular province/territory?

This is what Sandor sent me, coupled with some links I dug up:

"It got a bit better since I took the photo. It's going off today though. Pretty sweet. I was in the water for about 3 hours. Brrrr. Didn't want to leave. It can go off in the Summer for sure, especially late Summer but you'll still need a suit. The spot is the Seaforth Cove. Nice little wave that you can paddle around to get out easily. Then there is a point break close by and Lawrencetown beach has a point break and a reef break on the beach side. Then there is Cow Bay but it normally goes off in the Winter months. Lots of spots all along the NS Southern coast.

The Windsurfing site moved over to a facebook site. I don't know how to link it but it should come up in a search. I'm taking a guess but I think there may be roughly 60 windsurfers in all of Nova scotia, perhaps the Maritimes. The numbers don't seem to be getting any better.
The wind here is hit and miss, and most consistent in the Fall, although bigger sails and funboards have lots of time on the water at Porter's Lake and there is a nice grassy rigging area there, but it's still a lake. It's hard to sail year round here. I did it once, but that put me in -10C weather and that's no fun. Also, the Winter brings consistent NW winds which is an offshore direction for the most part. For surfing there's lots of spots but people are more secretive about their favourite places to surf. The colder temperatures are the best times to surf, lots of tourists and beginners out in the warm water days, running into each other. Lawrencetown reef is the beginner spot in the Summer and I stay away from it.
I've heard the owner of this shop (in Lunenburg) will take you out to some hard to get to locations by boat but I've never done it, however I do plan to.
http://www.novascotiasurfing.ca/content ... eName=home
There was a cool surf shop, If Only surf shop, but it just shut down. Now Kannon Beach
http://www.kannonbeach.com/wind/
has taken over most of the shops, although a local skater shop is starting to sell boards and suits.
Hurricane season is what everyone waits for in NS. Also, a trip to the Magdalen islands is always a treat. It's a 4.5hr ferry ride from PEI, but worth the trip. Camping is available on the island, and there are cottages. Lots of windsurfers and kiters in the Summer and Fall. It's a bump and jump spot with some onshore wave sailing, with beaches and beaches for as far as you can see. PEI is good for flat water blasting but I've never sailed there, just passed it on my way to the Maggies. (info links added later)
http://roadstories.ca/quebecs-magdalen-islands/
http://vimeo.com/10338034
http://www.windresorts.com/Windsurf_Kit ... Picks.html
http://www.tourismeilesdelamadeleine.co ... urfing.cfm

I heard Newfoundland has a decent surfing scene but they keep it on the down low. They get the brunt of the storms passing through and it's all coastline so it must be good.
We travelled up and down the coast of NS in search of some new spots but we had to watch the forecast carefully so we didn't get skunked. The wind here can be pretty fluky at times.

Let me know when you are making the trip and I'll give you the tour.
Cheers
Sándor"
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Post by redbaron »

Good topic!
Some friends are moving to PEI for a bit and It would be rad to have a chance to visit and bring the gear along. Such a trip would definately require many windsurf spots along the way and a lot of time invested exploring the east coast!!
Sweet info for Îles de la Madeleine.
Stoked publishing "The World" mentions Acadian Islands in New Brunswick, But Madeleine Islands looks like it would get more wave action.

From what i gathered from being in Saskatchewan, If you drive through the praires, Deifenbaker Lake is the best, but not sure how reliable the conditions are. Southern saskatchewan can be super windy, so should be lots of lake sailing opportunaties. I heard people talk about Regina Beach too. http://escapesports.ca/ is based out of Saskatoon. They are pretty in touch with the sask wind scene.
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Post by KUS »

Yeah, I hope to then head down the coast south and come around the southern States and back up the west coast.....but CAN first 8) Thanks, so yours is Saskatchewan and New Bruinswick and that helps
http://www.stoked-publications.com/en/d ... region/184

Whack of sites listed for Ontario and quite a few for other provinces here

http://www.windsurfcanada.com/index.cfm ... ationid=47

interesting forecasts for BC and only the Nat for the island...guess there is no other sailing here :lol:
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Post by nanmoo »

I saw a little doc on the Madeleine Islands not too long ago and although some of the footage was dated there were a few windsurfers and kiters in the background. Looked like a wicked setup. Long drive though :wink:
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Post by JL »

Thermals are good.
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Post by downwind dave »

i spent some time in Saskatoon way back. as i recall there were pretty consistent winds, i sailed Blackstrap lake 2-4 days a week for post-work sessions, typically on a 5.0 and 95l. weekends i'd go down to 'the Deif', sometimes i got on the 4.7 down there. watch out for ticks wherever you rig in the grass. 8)
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Post by redbaron »

downwind dave wrote: as i recall there were pretty consistent winds, i sailed Blackstrap lake 2-4 days a week for post-work sessions, typically on a 5.0 and 95l. weekends i'd go down to 'the Deif', sometimes i got on the 4.7 down there.
I checked out Blackstrap last fall and I helped launch some kiters down there. They were saying May/June are the best months. I thinking it might be worth it to bring my rig to Stoon for my next shift. A few post-work sessions would definitely add stoke to working 20-30 days straight :)
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Post by downwind dave »

if you can get a hold of a longboard/skateboard, the parking lot of sask place has acres of windswept smooth pavement for hours of fun. thats where i learned my duck jibe! :P
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Post by redbaron »

might have to. Its hard to say if the lakes will even thaw out this year :roll:
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