Des Moines I love you! Saylorville Lake

[Randy]

Had a great day windfoiling. Tomorrow looks even better. I’ve got Bic’s Kerfoil and Slingshots windsurf foil if you want to check them out.

[Eric S]

Can't wait to get back out! On call this weekend so gotta stay local and grab a snow session with kite.

Randy, what size sail were you using and what slingshot setup do you have? I was using the H2 wing last year on the 30in with old Starboard Go 150 was a sweet setup with long switchfuse to get the foil closer to the mast foot.

Looking forward to riding with you and sharing new knowledge !!

[Quetzalcoatl]

Hey Randy:

Glad you got some of Iowa's great freshwater! (and you may be the earliest upper midwest sailor to get IN the water).

Did you sail from Cherry Glen or Oak Glen or some other Launch site?

Eric (Quetzalcoatl), still hoping to get in the water soon!

[Randy]

IMG_7847.jpg (40.44 KiB) Viewed 3322 times

Thursday was the typical 5-20mph wind, so I used the 7.8M Loft cam Switchblade. Spent most of the day with the Bic Kerfoil. Dave Holmes had done a repair for me and it worked beautifully. I was a little nervous to maiden voyage the Slingshot Hoverglide FWind 1 in cold water. The mast is about 8" taller. Spent my last half hour on it and was amazed at how stable it was. No problems on my strong port side, but felt goofy with it starboard side. Friday morning was more in the 10-18mph range, so I rigged my 5M only to discover it wasn't quite enough. As we all know, one way to guarantee more wind is to rig bigger. I did a couple runs on the 7.8 and it filled in. Friday I was dedicated to getting to know the Slingshot foil. With winds filled in to 10-25mph, the 5M was perfect. Loved the feel and play of the Hoverglide and the trouble I was having with my non-dominant side was gone. I had the front wing in forward position and look forward to trying the other setting for comparison. I was using my Go 200 and also look forward to trying this on a board with less volume, although with the cold water it was nice to have such a stable platform.

This is a trip to 70 degrees and marginal winds I wouldn't have taken without foil versatility. The winds were ENE and I launched from the Acorn access. Again, I can't stress how much the windsurf foil opens up opportunity. With the shorter fetch across the width of the reservoir, kiting would have been a challenge in such gusty conditions. Larry says NW is great wind for longer fetch and less gusty winds.

Friday sounded like a damn war. Actually, I guess it was. Anyway, the Iowa National Guard is next door and they were involved in training missions all day. The migratory birds and myself were a little unnerved by this. As I was leaving two young women showed up and started offloading several buckets and other tools. They had put on some not so glamorous coveralls and I asked them what they were up to. They said there's amazing fossil collection there, so keep in mind for any non-sailing partner you may want to lure to this beautiful location. I'm definitely returning.

[Eric S]

Fantastic writeup Randy - I really like that H2 slingshot wing - I was using it on the 30 inch mast last year from the Flight School mast set. Also using an older Starboard Go 150. the weekend you went down I was on call but am ready to head back down to iowa this weekend if there's a bit of wind. I've received my new WindSupFoiler and should have a set of GoFoils end of week. Let's hook up and ... FLY

New board making good use of it's time lending hand to drying kite used yesterday on snow up at Mille Lacs