VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Hi all,

I'm now weekending it on denman island. any suggestions for spots or people care to comment on places they've ridden? if anyone comes here I have a sauna on the property that I'm renting that is so flipping hot it drove me out the door tonight! crazy!!!! so i'm stoked, yes, stoked for the winter ahead.

not much response to your ? - probably KC777 is your best bet since he spends a lot of time on Hornby. I lived on Denman for a summer, windsurfed a few times both sides and in Tribune Bay. The Denman north end and south end beaches are pretty big (north end HUGE) and side-on or side-off to SE, Tribune Bay would be onshore I think but maybe big enough to safely launch if the tide isn't too high.

Hi,

My parents have lived on Hornby Island full-time since 1994 and we have had a place there since 1969 (so I have been every year since I was 3 yrs old). In all that time I have seen about 3 kites and 4 other windsurfers. I don't know how many times I have hauled my gear up there and never used it!

Note: Hornby has epic mountain biking trails,,...and SUPs are becoming more common on the island. So that is what I mostly do up there.

I have sailed a Kona One (with a daggerboard) in and around the bays on the island in the summer breezes....but found that boring....you may as well be SUPing.

It definitely tends to blow more in the winter, but it can be cold. Summer winds are very light but it will blow up when a storm comes through.

There are 2 spots that I have sailed are on Hornby when it blows:

#1 is Tribune Bay which typically blows up on SE....if Columbia Beach is blowing SE, then it is blowing direct onshore at Tribune Bay. The waves can be 3-4' and it is hard to get out as the wind is so onshore and you are constantly pushed back onto the beach by the onshore wind. I watched a kiter get teabagged up the sand here. I have found that a 9'8" surf SUP with a 4.5M - 5.0M sail and a small wave fin you can drive into the sand is a fun combo to sail here. The best part is the beach is wide and sandy so no booties. Watch for submerged rocks on the right side of Tribune Bay (as you are facing out)....one of those ate a fin off my surf SUP. I have also sailed here on 86L - 100L freestyle wave boards....but you need to hike up the side of the beach and launch into the deeper part of the bay so you can get out in the onshore wind.

#2 is launching from the spit near the Hornby Island ferry terminal (basically straight out from the Thatch Pub) and sailing in Lambert Channel on SE wind.....basically going back and forth between Hornby and Denman Island. The sailing here is good and the waves / swells in the middle of the channel can be huge....they look like 2' - 3' from the shore of Hornby but are 5' - 6' when out in the middle. The wind is also much lower closer to the islands and really picks up in the middle. Watch out for the Hornby Island ferry.....I usually sail downwind of it just to be safe. But it can send out some huge wakes. The ferry makes the trip between Hornby and Denmand approx. 1x per hour.

I think there is also decent winter sailing on SE between Denman and Vancouver Islands as well?

Another benefit of wintering on Denman is that you are only 50 minutes from Mt. Washington, driving from the Buckley Bay ferry on Vancouver Island.

Hope that helps. See under member galleris - in the KC7777 gallery for recent pics of sailing at Tribune Bay - my kids even surfed here in the summer.

Sounds like shit kev just hit san pariel or comox

Comeon Ryan, don't beat around the bush, just tell us what you really think

Hey Ryan,

I gotta agree with your in-depth analysis....Hornby is really more of a cool place to hang out, skimboard on the sandy beach and mountain bike vs any kind of real sailing destination.

And with Denman you could easily be down at Columbia Beach or up to Comox within an hour from the Denman ferry on the windy days.

KC7777 wrote:
And with Denman you could easily be down at Columbia Beach or up to Comox within an hour from the Denman ferry on the windy days.

Unless the ferry can't run because of the wind

This is about what I figured............smack dab in the middle of it all........cept i'm always looking for it right in my own backyard.....guess i've been spoiled living at Nitinaht........the stoke is back on as I eagerly anticipate fall and winter kiting on the wet coast. i'm 20 km from Courtenay. 1/2 an hour from Comox spit, and yes, not far from columbia too.........not a bad life. =) i do have a KILLER sauna to go to on Denman for apres kite. Hotter than the hub a hades. Just about killed me the other night. Yes, it's hotter than the Nitinaht. I lasted 5 minutes max and i was dizzy and stumbling out of the damn thing!!! EPIC stoke. I'm confident kiting will be as good that I am most likely NOT going to Baja this year.

Deep Bay Man!