Just got back from 10 days of fieldwork on Haida Gwaii. Short days were good (not light enough to walk until 8:45) for being out of condition. We had one great storm, I think the day before SW BC got it - I was in Sewall Inlet camp, and it blew about 60 kt in the gusts - huge sheets of blowing spray. Would have been just right for a 2 m sail or a trainer kite! The wind started to strip roofs off a couple of the older houses in the logging camp -- and they've been through a few storms! (the maintenance guys loaded up the roofs with big rocks and they stayed put). So much rain was coming in around the windows of even the newer buildings, the manager lost a TV and DVD player from his bedroom due to water damage.

I was up in Massett at the beginning of the trip, and met several surfers - apparently there are a whole raft of them wintering up there this year but NO kiters???? Massett in winter seems a great place for kiting, with temperatures almost the same as the south coast, and options for NE, SE or NW winds - and it blows hard a lot -- mixed in with great surf and huge open beaches you can even drive on legally, even in the parks.
Morley

Hey thanks MF4. I have always wanted to take a windsurfing trip up there. Did you see or hear of anyone that windsurfs up there? They sure get a lot of wind.

Hey what do you do for a living that takes you to cool places?

dave

Dave:
I've asked quite around quite a bit about windsurfers up there. There used to be a SARTech in Masset who windsurfed when there was a big military base there. I never met him, but apparently he did some pretty extreme surf sailing there. I heard last time about two guys, I think from Sandspit, who used to jetski in the surf and have since started windsurfing. It seems strange that it is such a perfect place for windsurfing and kiting and the beaches are empty except for party trucks.

I do archaeology for a living - check out my website.
Morley

Hey dave apparently the guy who used to make the boards for silent sports lives up there..peter young....but am sure bruce at silent sports would know how to get hold of him