WINDSURF MAGAZINE 107whitewater, jump and to generate speed to ride waves which often lack shape;
and also a distraction because the act of resisting a powerful rig dominates their
every action. It also stops you thinking tactically. With speed, you don’t have
to manoeuvre into position and seek out the perfect wave. You just deal with
what’s in front of you. You also have an accelerator pedal to zoom away from
tricky situations. Always sailing with a powered up rig doesn’t necessarily cor-
rupt your technique (or speed sailors would be out of a job), but it breeds an
agricultural attitude to trim, balance and turning corners. It’s not big or clever
to be sniffy about onshore wind and waves; they’re just a set of conditions
which the best exploit with imagination and dynamism. However, if you want
to really sail waves rather than just scream around on (but mostly in front of )
lumpy water, you need to seek out a different environment and change your
attitude to kit, technique and the weather. It starts by forming a new relation-
ship with the wind itself and ditching the hammer.
ATTITUDE CHANGE – THE FORECAST (FORGET THE STARS)
For the whole week, Windguru was only offering one star. “Not good is it?”
chimed one of the group with the look of a kid who had just broken his
favourite toy. He was right. It wasn’t good ... for getting a GPS record - but
perfect for proper wave sailing. He was looking in the wrong places. Look at
the swell period - an amazing 14 seconds, which gives you time to line up on
waves and also to waterstart between them should something go wrong. The
greater the period between them, the cleaner waves tend to be. And look at
the swell direction. It was SW, which meant it was going to strike our chosen
beach at a slight angle and refract around the headland. A refracting swell
tends to peel better, whereas waves which pile directly into a bay or beach,
tend to dump and close out.
As for the wind, more important than the strength is the direction, very
slightly offshore - the perfect wave riding direction. It’s not going to be a
jumping day – but 15 knots is plenty with which to float out on a big wave
or fsw board or a SUP.A GOOD FORECAST DOES NOT ALWAYS LIE IN
THE STARS.