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Actually, I’m gettin’ old and am but a shell of my former being. But the spirit of the marathoner lives on, and can get me in over my head…
Back in 1999 (I think), I joined my stepfather and several friends/family for a stag sailboat race, known as “the Niddle”, up on the St Lawrence. It was always the weekend after Memorial Day. We’d sailed it for years, and I got a notion to do it on a windsurfer. Now, mind you, this is a 30 MILE race, they made the “little boats” go only 1/2 way (too slow). Windsurfing it wasn’t even anyone’s idea, so there was no windsurfer group. On the attached image, the starting line was about where the “o” is on “Governor’s Island” (just beside Clayton), there’s a channel buoy a little to the SW of the “L” of “Linda’s Island” that had to be taken to starboard, then counter-clockwise around Carleton Island, past Cape Vincent and back to the starting line. The shipping channel goes through this section of the river, as does about a 4 knot current. Oh, and, yeah, in early June the water is pretty cold. A much gnarlier challenge than Geneva to the Barge and back!
The day before the race, I went for test ride, and the winds were 15 or so, from the NW, so it was almost just 2 reaches for me…I didn’t intend to sail it, but was going so well I just kept going and it took 3:36…nearly the course record held by a big lake racing yacht (it was huge, racing machine, 46′ or something). My stepdad didn’t mind and kept mum about my scheme.
So when all to boats left harbor, I climbed on my Mistral IMCO with a NeilPryde 8.7 Z1, and went out to mix it up with the fleet (about 35 or 40 boats). I stayed well to leeward, until after the gun and then followed the fleet over the line. Everyone was laughing, but not taking me seriously!
Unfortunately for me, the wind had shifted and instead of a reach it was blowing straight down the channel from Cape Vincent. So it was an upwind grunt. But the IMCO went pretty well upwind, and I actually was able to stay with the tail end of the fleet until the buoy mark (which is where everyone thought I would turn around). I did pretty well over the top of Carleton Island, but the fleet was gradually pulling away. Not long after I rounded Carleton and went past the town dock at Cape Vincent, the wind died. Like DIED. Glass. Perfect waterskiing. I had 8 miles (downriver) to go. The fleet drifted back to Clayton and I started pumping the rig (on a longboard, straddle the centerline, and alternately fan the sail right, left, right, left, pulling back with your “leading” hand). The committee boat came to rescue me, but I rejected the offer (I must have been delirious). Though I was a bandit, didn’t pay a fee, they all knew me and so timed me in (I think), 8:01. Yup, 8 hours. Got a mention from the MC at the awards ceremony for being the longest lasting out there (and as I recall my sanity was questioned).
The Niddle is defunct now, the guys who ran it have all died or are old and no longer sailing, and the next group failed to keep it going. Those weekends were a lot of fun, but it was only windsurfed once.
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I’ll adventure around the islands surrounding our Georgian Bay cottage on a fantastic purple early 1990’s Equipe/IMCO board with a 7.5. Flip the daggerboard down (and move the track forward a bit) and beating to weather is so simple, and railing it up makes the slower speed an exciting balancing act. I never log adventurous miles like yours though. Half the time I will schlog/glide around a few islands to get to the wind depending on its direction. Transporting gear to a perfect launch is not really an option as all of the waterfront is privately owned.
One of my early goals and successes was launching and returning to there at the end of my sailing. 90% of the time, my return is a bunch of tacks upwind as the prevailing WNW blows over the back of our cottage and onto the water. Years ago I took returning to our dock a step further and added stepping off onto the dock from the board. I had about a 90% success rate this summer.
Wd
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The Equipe was a great board. For me, raceboards make gusty conditions more interesting, because you can use the CB and beating straps to really drive upwind, and in the big gusts move the track back, CB up, and get in the back straps on a reach. Much better than schlogging/planing. There is not much worse than schlogging, and longboards are the cure (including windSUP). Your family cottage sounds nice!
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