252 Kilometers, 9 Hours of Nonstop Riding
Toronto to Port Weller & Back by Kite
When I told my kitesurfing friends in Toronto that I foiled solo to Port Weller and back, I had some fun with my announcement.
Email Fri 11-Oct-19 07:43 PM: If I tell you that I kited from Toronto to Port Weller and back, totally alone, you might think I am suicidal. However, I have planned this mission for over 3 years. It is 48 kilometers of open water from Toronto to Port Weller directly across Lake Ontario, and yes, it’s more like a raging ocean where six-foot swells are by no means an exaggeration. A few years ago, it took me 14 hours to SUP straight across. On a foil board powered by a kite, though, you could get there and back in a little over 3 hours, if you are lucky…
Kitesurfing is, or it should be, limited to the swimming abilities of every individual enjoying this sport. The kite-board is too small to give any kind of floatation and so when the wind dies, or when something happens and the kite falls in the water and it can’t be relaunched, the poor individual has to self-rescue and swim back to the shore while pushing all the expensive gear along with him. Kiting far from shore is a very risky business that can cost lives. Therefore, any solo kitesurfing trip from Toronto to Port Weller and back would be considered a suicide. Well, I did it anyways.
While I consider kiting with a support boat extremely boring, I also have to agree that it would be a suicidal mission to kite across solo. The only way to make this idea viable in a reasonably safe manner is to hug the shore. As crazy as it sounds, I kited 252 kilometers nonstop, reached Port Weller, kited all the way back, and landed my kite at Humber Bay Park in Toronto exactly at the same spot where I launched it 9 hours before.
Here are few details as I am sure many local kiters will fully appreciate the conditions at hand:
Number one, there is no such wind direction that would guarantee onshore conditions along the whole track! Ideally, you pick a day with general wind direction of 060 degrees (ENE) and hope for the local phenomena along the shore to “curve” the wind towards the coast.
Number two, there is no such day on Lake Ontario (except today 😊) with a kiting window of 9 hours, let alone one where you can use just one kite size! When I launched at Humber at 10am, these were the wind readings along the lake: Toronto Island: E 11kts, Kipling: ENE 13kts, Burlington Piers: N 8kts, West LO Buoy: SE 5kts, and Port Weller: SE 3kts. No, not very comforting, but I was confident the wind was going to change in my favor. All of the forecast models, I kept checking before the trip, were saying so.
When I got close to Burlington, however, there were still no white caps and the smoke from the stacks in Hamilton was going almost straight up. ☹ I needed to slow down, make a few extra tacks, and wait for the wind to catch up. My strategy worked, it felt almost as if I carried the wind with me. Later during the day, the gusts went up to 25kts, and I finished my journey in 9-11 knots, almost exactly as forecast. Which kite would you choose?
I decided to go with my Flysurfer Sonic2 13m on shorter lines (17m) and I threw 6m extensions into my camel pack just in case. It turned out to be a great call as I pushed the limits of the kite on both ends of its performance envelope.
Would you opt for wetsuit or drysuit? Water 17C, air 16C, wind 17kts. This might seem like a silly question because one could even kite in a shorty for a while in such weather, but how about a 9-hour session? When the wetsuit gets wet, the surrounding windchill temperature will eventually win. The very slow and gradual loss of overall body heat might not manifest itself during a short session full of boosting, but I am sure we all know how quickly we get chilled in a wetsuit after the session is over. If you think of 9 hours of “just” cruising in 16C chilled by 17kt wind, you realize the drysuit is the only answer. There is one big problem with that solution though; there is no such thing as peeing in the drysuit for me. Gross! My water intake during my ride was extremely limited, I managed to stay dry and somewhat hydrated but it was hard.
When I finally got to Port Weller at 3pm, I was an hour late according to my plan. My chances to make it back home during the daylight were slim, as the sunset was at 18:41. I had planned to land my kite at Weller, eat, drink and pee. None of that happened because I had no time. I simply turned around and started my journey back. In the end, I kited nonstop for 8:48 minutes, no breaks, no food, limited water, and fairly harsh conditions. Especially around Hamilton, the lake was in rage. The swell was occasionally as high as me, I rode over and between “hills”, and I wasn’t particularly close to the shore either.
I finally landed 30 minutes after sunset with my sunglasses still on. On my final approach, I was glad to see the red flashing light of Humber Bay lighthouse leading me home, the rest of my view was virtually dark.
TRIP STATISTICS ________________________________________________________________ Total distance: 252.4 kilometers (156 miles) Total time kiting: 8 hours 48 minutes Max. kiting speed: 41.4 km/h Avg. kiting speed: 28.7 km/h Fastest 5k avg. speed: 35.3 km/h Calories burned: 1912 kcal Wind direction: E - ENE Wind speed: 9-25 knots Kite: Flysurfer Sonic2 13m Board: Custom Foil: Moses: wing 590, stab.330, mast 101cm ________________________________________________________________ Interactive map and detailed statistics: Garmin Fenix 5X ________________________________________________________________