Swimming, Towing Your Board Home

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Skill that helped me get to shore at least 4 times the past 10 years is sailing without a fin.
Easy to maintain direction, easy to stay where you are, but really hard to go downwind, and of course, upwind.
Speed here is not your friend.

shamran · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 23

You could also sail backwinded.

makaniman · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 22

Sailors, if you sail out, have a plan to get in when a breakdown happens, cause they do happen. Don't go out with sketchy gear or rigging, over half of breakdowns are rigging errors/gear errors. Practice your skills; swimming, paddling, de-rigging in water, carry extra line and even a small knife.
Stay calm, act - don't react. Lifeguards are there for emergencies for sure, but don't depend on them as a "tow service". Be smart, stay safe.

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3551

Number 3.

http://uswindsurfing.org/introduction-course-3/

Coachg

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

fxop · Joined: 13 Jun 1998 Posts: 202

Iso recounted:

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Why would anyone toss their only floatation device, one that keeps them out of the water for hours, and one that can be paddled at 3 mph for hours?
Swimming? In the ocean? Trolling for sharks? Get cold? Almost invisible? Sounds like a dumb idea to me.
Detach the rig, leave it, and paddle home.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

For brevity, I omitted the reason he abandoned the board: he was so tired from racing up a mountain that day ... TWICE ... on his bike that he couldn't disengage his rig. He made many other errors before and after the wind died, but knowing how to swim his assembled gear would have overcome them.

Two other factors that others might learn from:
1. He was very afraid he was going to die before reaching shore, but he sucked it up and kept stroking.
2. He repeated most of those same half-dozen errors a few days later. We can only hope he takes more time to think about it over the winter.

As for sailing without a buddy ... it beats not sailing, and if the problem is urgent, that buddy's going to be too far away to help you even if he could find you. That takes us back to being self-sufficient.

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3551

fxop,

At places like my small local lake, sailing alone is probably a common occurrence. Sailing alone on an isolated beach along the ocean with strong offshore winds or currents, I would hope rarely.

You wanted comments on what to do in case of a break down in dangerous conditions. Sailing with a group or buddy is not only fun, it is way safer. They can tow you in or bring out a replacement for the broken part.

Coachg

windward1 · Joined: 18 Jun 2000 Posts: 1400

I agree with Coachg on most everything he has said on most forums. However, I will take exception to this last one.

Sure, life is important, but sometimes windsurfing is more important. If I had to wait for a sailing buddy every time I windsurfed I would miss more than half my sessions! I am not going to go just because no one else is going.

I take into consideration whether I have dependent children ( I do not) and whether the wind is offshore or whatever else the conditions are that up the risk, but I am not going to not go because I do not have a sailing partner.