Windsurfing is NOT Cancelled, good thing too!

[ricki]

Recently, I visited Kanaha Beach in Maui. Squalls were inbound from former Hurricane Daniel although potentially less violent ones than we usually experience in South Florida with such systems. Winds were predicted to be on the order of 40 kts. at times.

Looking west toward kitebeach, I saw three kites, two of them involved in towing riders around. I was told the guy with the white kite was Lou Waiman. I am not sure myself.


Looking offshore, I saw this ...



There were even more windsurfers than shown in this shot out on about 3.7 to 4.7 m sails.

Windsurfing can provide a safer option to kiteboarding when stormy, unstable winds are inbound. I think Europeans may switch to windsurfing from kiting more often than in some other countries when heavy weather is inbound. It is fairly hard to get lofted 80 ft. through the air and into a building or car while windsurfing. Hit a C kite with a 40 kt. gust up from 18 kts., this may not be that hard to do.


A bunch of kids at the National Windsurfing Comp. the next day.

It is good to have options.



Surf's up off the south end of the island!

[Sandelli]

Thats a epic wave!

Rick,

What size sail is the yellow one in the last shot, far left? 2.3 meter? He's litt :roll:

I agree with the safety idea, in terms of lofting. But, man, I have NEVER hit the water as hard as I did one day in 40+ on a windsurfer (3.2 sail). I got pitchpoled at mach 3 right into my mast after a botched jump. I thought I was dead, seriously. The crew (North Beach) said it was plain scary how hard I got whacked. In other words, windsurfing in high winds has it's inherent perils too :shock: (as you already know)
I literally sold all my gear (JP and Ezzy stuff) the week I started kiting, btw.

[ricki]

Originally Posted by Skyway Scott

Rick,

What size sail is the yellow one in the last shot, far left? 2.3 meter? He's litt :roll:

I agree with the safety idea, in terms of lofting. But, man, I have NEVER hit the water as hard as I did one day in 40+ on a windsurfer (3.2 sail). I got pitchpoled at mach 3 right into my mast after a botched jump. I thought I was dead, seriously. The crew (North Beach) said it was plain scary how hard I got whacked. In other words, windsurfing in high winds has it's inherent perils too :shock: (as you already know)
I literally sold all my gear (JP and Ezzy stuff) the week I started kiting, btw.

That is Alex Aguera a well known kiter and windsurfer and I suspect he was rigged larger than most. He ran off the wind for almost a 1/4 mile before he started to tack closer to the wind he was so lit.

Take my word for it, you would have a hard time equalling the force being catapulted from a lit windsurfer against water to a kite lofting in an extreme wind gust into hard stuff ashore. It doesn't even come close, speaking from personal and collective experience.

Still, you are right, you can get hurt in more extreme winds windsurfing to be sure. I know of quite a few folks that have broken hands, sprained ankles, gone through sails, into masts, etc.. You can even get killed, it is just harder to do than in kiting. Windsurfing in extreme winds is suitable only for well experienced riders. The joke is, that if you don't have adequate experience there is a good chance you may not get far enough from the beach to do serious damage. Unlike kiting, where you can be instantly lofted having virtually no skill whatsoever or just enough to drop you in the shit.

Knowledge, training and good judgment are key to kiting and dodging these fairly easily avoidable hazards. Just don't go out in unstable weather or excessive winds kiting, that avoids some obvious hazards.

Oops, I meant the little kid in the last photo on the "trainer rig"

I met Alex several years ago and kited with him a bunch when I was a newbie. He is a great guy. I wouldn't poke fun at him, trust me.
He was an exceptionally humble and nice guy and gave me a board extremely cheap when my gear was stolen at Islamorada.

Trust me though, as bad as I was at high wind windsurfing, it was VERY dangerous :shock:

following quote from May 30th:

Originally Posted by Skyway Scott

Yep. He reminds me alot of Alex Aguera (at his time, one of the best pro windsurfers in the world who swithched to kiting for the sheer love of it)
Guess where HE is from? Yep, right down the street baby. :P

Bill and Alex are both world class athletes and even more world class guys, its been one of my biggest pleasures (in sport) to meet Alex (when I was a newbie)

[ricki]

The shot of the kids was a day and a storm later. The winds were pretty light at that time.

I was never much of a windsurfer myself. Took forever to learn to waterstart. I even hauled my monster longboard, all 13 ft. of it out into waves and wind into the high 30 mph range a few times. Dumb and needless, but true and no injuries to speak of. Converting to shorter boards made life so much easier. There was a sail reversal impact on the ground in high wind as I was rigging once. I concluded one of the more hazardous times in high wind windsurfing was just dealing with your gear on land!

Yes, I met Alex at that Islamorada event as well. He is an easy going guy, nice boards too.

Yep, I got his 137 and soon became a UG'aholic. (he basically had UG boards)

[ricki]

Yes, the waves were good that day. Here are some more shots. I took about 6400 photos over three islands so don't be surprised to see them slip into some posts.