New Board, New Session: Making the Most of the Wind

I finally got to try out one of my new windsurf boards on Sunday. The forecast looked perfect — warm temperatures, a warm sea, and a solid wind that would gradually build throughout the day. The really hot days were behind us, and the sun was shy, but that didn’t matter. The wind was set to pick up from 6.0 m weather in the morning to 4.5 m later in the day — the ideal way to ease ourselves into it.

Better still, Steve felt fit and motivated enough to join me, so plans were hatched, and we headed down to the beach for a session.

After a lazy morning, I loaded up my wheelbarrow and pushed it over to the pebbles at around 10:30 am. Steve drove over and parked in the car park. The wind was already blowing nicely, and the sea, although choppy with a few ramps and small waves, felt manageable. I started out with my 5.7 m sail and 104 litre board. Steve rigged a 7.0 m — his next size down was a 5.3 m, so he opted for the bigger one.

I was straight onto the plane and flying. The bigger board and fin meant I could point upwind easily, and the relatively tame conditions gave me the freedom to roam. There were some fun ramps to launch off and some crisp gybes to carve out. Meanwhile, Steve was struggling a bit to get going and gradually drifted down the beach. This gave me an excuse for some mad downwind blasts among the whitewater to check in on him. Usually that kind of downwind excursion means a long slog to get back upwind, but not today. The wind was nicely onshore, making it easy to tack back up and regain ground.

As the wind built, I decided to downsize to the new JP Magic Wave 89. Steve swapped down to his 5.3 m, and I rigged my 5.0 m in case the wind continued to fill in as forecast. Re-rigging doesn’t take long, and soon I was back out, this time trying the new board for the first time. After a few minor tweaks to the mastfoot position, it felt great. The 89 litre Magic Wave carried the 5.7 m beautifully and felt so much better than the Severne Nano 87 it replaced — more composed, more responsive, and much quicker to turn. It felt a bit twitchy, but in a fun way, and jumped and carved sharply, making the most of the onshore conditions. It had some upwind performance too which the Nano never had, and didn’t need quite as much wind to come alive.

Steve came back out with his smaller sail and was suddenly flying. I had my Insta 360 camera on my mast so tried to stay just behind him to get some shots. Now that he was powered up properly, he was having a blast too.

After a while, I dropped down to my 5.0 m sail as the wind built even more. This felt even better than the 5.7 m, although I had the wrong harness lines for the boom — too short — and that’s something I’ll sort out for next time (perhaps with longer lines or even a new boom!).

By then I’d covered over 20 miles on the water and was starting to tire. I still had sore rib (something that’s been bothering me for months), and the harness wasn’t doing them any favours. So I called it a day. There were still two sets of kit to pack down and a wheelbarrow to push home — a job that reminds me I’m not as young as I used to be. When I was younger, I never used to worry about saving a bit of energy for the end of the day. The joys of getting older, I suppose.

Still, we’d been out for a couple of hours and made the most of the conditions — more than most people can say. Despite the ideal weather, we had the water to ourselves. No other windsurfers, no kites, barely anyone on the beach. Where was everyone?

Tags: Windsurfing