Thank you to Dragon Boat Club member Scott, also of Scott’s Tree Service, for pruning the branches that were blocking much of the view of Breakwater Beach.

Thanks to Luk Stanek, Alex Switzer, Mike Shaw, and John Crump for spending a few hours on a Saturday cleaning up the branches.

And, as always, thanks to the ‘The Lodge on Harrison Lake’ for providing the site, camera, and Internet access.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Luk, Alex, Mark, myself, and others we now have our new wind-meter mounted and working on top of the Harrison Hotel roof.

Thanks to the Harrison Hotel for allowing us to put it there and supplying the Internet connection.

Our website displays wind measurements from 10 am to 8 pm (summer hours).

The wind speeds should be very accurate.

We may tweak the direction readings a bit to reflect the wind in the center of Harrison Lake, it seems to be reading a bit east right now, which may be due to the wind fanning out after passing through Harrison. That is something we notice when sailing also.

The two graphs at the bottom attempt to give an indication of the abruptness or ‘punch’ of the wind gusts. If you have any suggestions for better ways of calculating and representing the wind ‘punch’, let me know.

Click on the ‘Wind Graph’ tab above to see the graphs, but first, check out this nice photo that Luk took of the wind meter mounted on the hotel:

North Shore Ski & Board is now an active supporter of our club and they have given us a generous donation. They are a long time major supplier of kiteboarding and windsurfing gear, as well as gear for snowboarding, skiing, and other sports. They are located at 1625 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver, BC and can be contacted at 604-987-7245.

They are supporting us, so please support them.

Randy

—- June 2017 update to the original post:

View the minutes of the meeting by clicking on the HWS Info menu item at the top of the page.

—- The original post:

I just received this email from Rhonda:

Spring Greetings!! (finally)

The 2017 season is just gearing up and we are planning our AGM this coming Sunday, May 28 at 11 am.

Meet at the Breakwater Beach, bring a chair and any questions or concerns you have regarding our little piece of paradise.

Quick beach tidy up preceding our meeting and *fingers crossed* some great wind for sailing after.

If its raining we will meet at the local Muddy Waters Cafe on the main drag.

Can contact myself (Rhonda) at 604-462-9259 with any questions, otherwise hope to see you there!!

Pass this on to anyone interested, we;d love to see new members joining this year!

Please let me know if youd like to be removed from the emailing list, I promise its only used for important announcements such as this 🙂

(email from Rhonda)

It is time to pay membership dues for the 2017 season. The sooner we have them the sooner we can use them.

It is very easy to pay by Paypal.

At the top right of the HWS home page:
1) Select either an individual or a family membership.
2) Type in your full name.
3) Click the Pay Now button and follow the instructions.

For more detailed information and/or to pay by check click the ‘Join’ menu item at the top of the page.

Randy

We have a really good wind meter now, but we are moving it to another location.

I will post more information when I get it.

Randy

October update: Check out the ‘Beach Info’ tab for a new Aerial video of Mike Shaw kiting and jumping near the beach.

I have added a new menu tab with the label ‘Links’.

It goes to a page that contains links to items of interest for windsurfers and kiteboarders. I started it off with a couple of links to kiteboarding safety videos.

Check it out, and if you have links you think are worthwhile adding, please let me know.

Randy

The 2016 AGM meeting has come and gone but you can view the minutes of the meeting by clicking on the HWS Info tab above.

Just an FYI for those people that may not know already, our very own Harrison Windsports president Luk Stanek raced kite buggies and also held the world land kite buggy speed record for many years. His speed is still tied for 5th place all time according to this website:

Land kite buggy speed records

We were at the beach the other day when a couple of friendly RCMP officers stopped to mention that boaters have occasionally had difficulty seeing kiters and windsurfers when they are wearing a dark wetsuit and sailing a dark kite or sail.

For more visibility, consider wearing a bright colored PFD, or perhaps a bright colored rashguard shirt over your wetsuit.