A Quick Afternoon Windsurf
It’s been a while since I last hit the water, so I figured it was time to dust off my windsurfing skills and see if I could still hold my own out there. Plus, getting out on the water means I can keep legitimately calling myself a ‘windsurfer’! The conditions were perfect—warm waters, a decent wind, plenty of sunshine and some waves to keep things lively.
It felt plenty windy enough so I headed over with just my smaller kit – always a mistake. As it turned out my 5.0 m sail and 87 litre board just wasn’t enough, so I headed home to get a bigger board and bigger sail. Morgan had come over to the beach to keep an eye on me so he sat there with my already rigged kit while I went to get more.
Back at the beach it still felt windy. So, rather than rig the 5.7 m sail I just set up the bigger board and headed out on that with the already rigged 5.0 m. This was much better, the extra volume of the 104 litre board allowed me to get up and planing and once there I could increase my speed, generate more lift and keep going even over the waves and through the lulls. I was able to head upwind too so managed to get out the back where there were some bigger waves for some nice jumps and wave-rides.
Morgan was kind enough to grab some video clips on his phone, though they’re a bit grainy and distant. Still, it’s nice to have a little footage to remember the day by—even if it doesn’t quite capture the thrill of being out there.
It was good to get out though and good to blow the cobwebs away.
