Windsurfing at Llanrhystud

by Alan Cole · Saturday, December 24th, 2022

I windsurfed at Llanrhystud for a change yesterday.

The run-up to Christmas has been fairly busy thanks to trips to Bristol, work and the general December mayhem. Christmas Eve Eve was our first full day off and there was supposed the be some wind. The forecasts were spot on in the morning. The strong early morning ENE winds dropped off as the rain eased and then swung around to the SSW.

I was trying to find people to windsurf with as the forecast was for more winds in the afternoon. Alistair wanted to go to the relative calm of Llanrhystud. So, rather than brave the wilds of Ynyslas on my own, I decided to meet him there. Chris said he’d join us as well. I was going to struggle a little thanks to a sore back and a really sore arm. I’m not sure what’s wrong with it, probably carpel tunnel syndrome / RSI as it’s been going on for weeks now. I knew windsurfing would hurt but had to give it a go.

Off to Llanrhystud

It’s about a 40-minute drive to Llanrhystud for me. I loaded up the van and started the drive before the wind filled in. I had to hope that the forecast would prove correct. Sure enough, when I got there it was looking good. Definitely enough for a 5.7m sail, but as it was forecast to pick up a little more I decided to rig a smaller 5.0m sail instead.

Chris soon arrived too and went with similar sized kit, as did Alistair. I was first on the water and well powered up with the 5m. I’d taken my larger 103ltr FSW board but was thinking of changing down to the smaller 85 ltr as there was plenty of wind. I held on for a bit waiting for the others to join me. The wind had actually eased a little by the time they got on the water so I stuck with the larger board.

The conditions at Llanrhystud are certainly a lot tamer than at Ynyslas. The waves were small and lacked any power. There were a few ramps about here and there for some jumps though. Here’s a still of a jump from my GoPro footage.

The wave rides on the way back in were OK too. Nothing spectacular but it led to a nice easy, mellow session with no real drama. Alistair and Chirs seemed to have trouble staying upwind and ended up on the point. This led to some rock-hopping and a walk of shame but no harm was done.

The water wasn’t the nicest of colours though! My arm was suffering by now so it was time to call it a day. All in all a good windsurf session at Llanrhystud. Things are looking windy for next week too and the days are getting longer. Guess I’ll have to rest my arm as much as I can so as to make the most of the Christmas Holidays