VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Well it has finally happened, my wife has been transferred across country. so we have 90 days to sell, buy and move our life and family to Kingston On. Suffice to say I am a little stressed, so to help me move pas that t I am hoping to hear some stories about K town, and where to go and who to talk to. I have been there before spending a summer sailing, which I remember being awesome!

I have tried to search for local sites and find some info but nothing much so any pointers tips locations ect would be great!

I have had tons of fun met some great people in the last decade and a bit. Lots of stuff learned! I don't know if I'll ever be back on the coast after this move, but I am going to try to get upto Nitinat a few more times and try PA out before I go!

Cheers

Sandbanks provincial park in Picton is the legendary spot out there for the fall winds - some pretty decent wavesailing there, I hear. Never made it out there when I was living in Montreal (my easy, go-to spot for flatwater blasting was Anse à l'Orme on Lake of Two Mountains), but lots of the guys used to drive out there.

Pretty sure there are some decent launch spots right in Kingston town as well. Looks like there's some good info on Windsurfing Canada about it: http://www.windsurfcanada.com/phpbb3/vi ... f=1&t=1157

You can also check out the Windsurfing Quebec (windsurfing.qc.ca) forum, search for Kingston and Sandbanks and then Google translate the posts. Windsurfing QC (and Québec Wind) is a good spot to look for used gear as well.

Finally, a good Ontario/Quebec resource is http://www.magma.ca/~slaby/wind/

Let's make sure we fit in some Nitinat time and a SUP surf/sail session or two before you skip town :-)

Finally, something I have some expertise in. Kingston born – live there for most of the first 22 years of my life and learned to sail there. There are certainly worse fates for a windsurfer than having to live in Kingston. It’s a nice town – uncannily similar to Victoria in many ways. Its been 15+ years since I lived there and I think the windsurfing scene might have dwindled a bit from the heyday of the late 80’s / early 90’s, but the geography hasn’t changed so here goes……

Ice is usually gone off the lake by the end of March and first sessions can start in April, albeit in cold ass water. Spring winds are fontal – not super consistent, but a keen sailor can steal at least a handful of sessions in each of April and May. Summer time has the much touted Kingston thermal. This is a wind that blows about 3-4 days per week and funnels through Kingston harbour between the mainland and Wolfe island. My friends who live there tell me it doesn’t blow as often as it used to but I also hear the same thing about Victoria so I’m not sure what to read into that. The thermal, while consistent is just on the light end of what makes for good windsurfing – probably 6.0 and slalom gear. I think that is one reason that many Kingstonians have switched to kiting – definitely a perfect locale for that sport as far as I can tell.

Fall is when the magic happens there though. Almost weekly there will be a frontal system which comes through which will last two or three days as the wind clocks from WSW to W to NW. Good 5.0 and below wind, with a decent fetch for waves and water which is still warm from the summer. That’s the sailing that I really miss.

The nice thing about K-town is that you drive a lot less to get to the sailing spots than you do around here. The main spots are:
• SW thermals – Emily St.. Right next door to the Kingston Yacht Club (KYC) the main windsurfing location, analogous to Dallas Rd. in Vic. Its where the ’83 Windsurfer worlds were held and is (used to be at least) the main gathering point for the wind riding community. Good slalom sailing.
• WSW or W frontal – Emily St. turns into a fun Gorge style bump and jump kind of place when the wind picks up. 5 km west is Patterson park. Limestone shelf rock points stick out and catch more swell making for a good backside wave spot. Occasionally you can get frontside waveriding if you are sailing when the wind clocks from W to NW. Good departure point for sailing Salmon Island – a small island/shoal in the middle of the lake which feels catches waves from every direction – like a freshwater version of the weird wave at Kanaha.
• Everett Point – W to NW. 2 minutes west of Patterson park. A fun point, great for jumping and backside riding. Also can offer up front side riding on a due South wind, although this is a bit harder to catch.
• NW - Picton Sandbanks – the regional classic. A giant sandy bay about 1 hour west of K-rock exposed to the full fetch of the lake. Swell can get mast-high here (for real) and offers up phenomenal freshwater wavesailing. When I lived there we pretty much always sailed the beach itself which is great backside waveriding – looks kind of like Pozo in the Canary Islands. These days though, most of the guys go up to the right side of the bay to Macs. https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... dg=feature Lends itself to frontside riding a little more. Representative footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF4igzd_Y9U
• Big sandy bay on Wolfe Island, the eastern shoals off of Amherst island. Lots of coastline to explore if you have the time an inclination.

Lots of the pics in my BWD gallery are from my well spent youth sialing in Kingston. Mike Fischer (http://fish-kc79.blogspot.ca/) has posted here on BWD a couple of times and I’m sure he would be happy to act a as a local ambassador to introduce you the place. PM me and I’ll send you his email address.

Sweet, feeling a little more stoaked! I remember sailing out of RMC on pirates (think 420 clones) and sailing in big winds almost every day! Every time we were told to launch the spin, and get out on trapeze! Sounds like my gear should be well sized for there at least!

Now who wants to buy a house LOL

I sailed dingy's in Kingston for three summers. My father was one of the founders of CORK. Awesome place to sail. Warm fresh water and great summer wind! You should participate in CORK.

http://ontariosailing.ca/about/awards/l ... ecipients/

I won't be getting back into racing, I think I was in kingston in 98 or 97 or 99.... we all went to ottawa to do a big regatta, I got to sail a laser and did okay. Definitely looking at getting my sons into it. My older boy will be 3 this year so next summer I want to get him in an opti program! Who knows maybe I'll see what it takes to re-activate my CYA green instructors level and teach some kids!

Well 2 weeks left! Thanks for the advice, I scouted out some good sites when I was in town. The best perk is access to the RMC windsurfing club! They have rigged sails and boards ready to go from a private launch! sweeeeet.

This is truly a unique community! I hope everyone have a great summer and fall! If anyone makes it out that way shoot me a PM .

Cheeers

Dave

Been a long time since I've been there and mostly racing, I believe that park beside the Kingston yacht Club, Macdonald Park(?) is a popular spot, the Canadians where hosted there years ago.

I think there used to be a Kingston windsurfing Ass... I wonder if it's still around. I saw some pics of quite a few RS:X racers there for CORK this summer if that's what floats you (it should the RS:X is over 200L ), so that's still active, looked busier then when I raced IMCO.