w-surf-2018

The Don Ferguson Report

Don and Annabelle Ferguson Take a fantastic trip to Padre Island for some fantastic sailing.

Donald Ferguson is feeling happy.
November 3 2018 at 4:20 PM ·
Good windsurfing day. With Kathy and Mike Wahl and Joyce Bull Demink and Ron Demink
@ the flats S. Padre Island
A big thanks to them for orienting us to the sailing site.
We were both very impressed with Joyce's fast tacks on her 85 L board.
Good sailing from. everyone today.

November 5 at 4:11 PM ·
Great session again today, but a little weird as the tide was coming in the entire time. Local windsurfers and kiters couldn't care less.
We were a bit more concerned.

Saturday November 10, 2018
Good Morning All
Here is the latest on our adventure here in South Padre
Big change in the weather here yesterday morning. At 9 am you could light a match and it would not blow out
air temp around 85 deg F. Not long afterwards the cold front came across dropping the air temp to a comfortable
70 deg F and wind gusts to 35mph. By this time we were already loaded up with windsurfing gear and on our way.
The Flats is an area just North of us where almost everyone goes to windsurf and kite, with a very distinct division
between the two sports . The low lying sand flats are somewhat prone to flooding on these Northerly winds as we had experienced in previous days, but today we were at low tide today it was actually more shallow than usual.
Upon arrival some of the old guard,, locals looked at my 85 L carve and said " No way, you need an old rather heavy
Gorge style board today as yours won't stick to the water well in this kind of wind" My thoughts at that point was that I have often sailed
this board in Hatteras in windier conditions and never had a problem in the past. And the water here was even flatter.
So I decided on 4.0 and 85L. Most of the locals were on fibreglass and 3.5s. Those of you that know me
know that to me it doesn't matter what you are on, it's more about comfort zone and having fun and having
enough power to slice through a nice planning jibe. In my opinion.
Rigging up your gear in the open in thirty knot gusts without any shelter other than your vehicle can also present
am array of problems in itself, however once rigged I ventured out and although the conditions seemed a bit intimidating at first,
I quickly settled in to some great sailing.
I had nailed the gear set up and was completely comfortable to the point of being able to pull off some great planning jibes
both inside and outside in the very flat water and with a bit of effort I even managed to find a few ramps to do some hops.
After sailing for about 3 hours I was exhausted and decided to call it a day. I came in most of the locals were pretty impressed that
I was able to sail so lit up and having a great time, Laura and
I were the last ones to leave the flats ( Don't forget to turn the light off) :-) More to come,,,,,,

The Skydog Report

Tuesday August 28, 2018

Rondeau Bay and away we go. I arrive at eleven am and the parking lot is all but full. They tell me that it has been windy all morning. Les suggests that I set up my 6.3 Ezzy and it get right to it. Les, Don and Annabelle go for a run while I am setting up and by the time I am ready Les comes in and leads me across the bay through the weed patches. Hey this is fun and when I see Les Jibe near the far side I also try a jibe but oh no, I fall as I often do. I try a water start but my knees are not co-operating and I try and try again with no success. I finally give up and les has been waiting close by and says he will drive around and pick me up on shore so I swim with my equipment to shore and after fifty minutes I finally climb up onto shore with Les's help. We get back to the set-up area and Les sets up a 4.7 sail and goes out into the great wind. I pack up and head home. I just don't have the required strength any more. I will try to get in shape for next year. See Ya then.

If You Can Help with the Captions email

caskydog at gmail dot com

2018 Video Here