Wind. Glorious wind. We love it. We hate it. It is both
Creator and Destroyer. Both friend and foe. It is
surfing’s ultimate dichotomy.WORDS BY KERRY WRIGHTBLOWN
O
ur relationship with wind is
anything but ambivalent. It
breathes life across the ocean to
create the swells that become the
waves we ride. We surf because of
wind. We also don’t surf because
of wind.
Unbridled optimism at the
prospect of some solid groundswell
arriving at your local spot can quickly
be tempered by the frustrating
reality that it’s often accompanied
by unfavourable winds. Devil winds.
Onshore winds. Gale force offshores.
Nothing can affect a surfer’s mood
quite like wind.
And, perhaps you didn’t know –
it’s all thanks to the sun.
’Cos the Earth is tilted on its
axis the planet cooks unevenly in
the sunlight – like a snag in theWebber that you’re not paying proper
attention to. The tropics get toasty
hot whilst the polar caps are bathed
in ice. Wind is created by the planet
trying to even out the heat energy.
How the wind makes waves is
quite simple.
Water has surface tension.
Deform it slightly, and the pulling
force between neighbouring water
molecules will rapidly spring it back
again. As wind starts to blow over the
water, it creates teeny ripples called
capillary waves that are hardly a
millimetre high. The water’s surface
tension, kinda like its own elasticity,
tries to destroy them immediately by
tugging them back into place.
But if the wind keeps blowing, the
water surface starts to roughen up
with these little capillary waves.wind
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