strong off-shore wind.

GlennT · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 12

I am a newbie -- started a couple months ago. I was sailing pretty comfortably yesterday in a side 12-mph wind. I saw that storm is coming but I too much enjoyed my new 7.0 sail I just bought Suddenly the wind became off-shore and started blowing very strong -- I could not pull the sail from water. On any attempt wind was dragging me from the beach farther and farther. I sat on my unsinkable big board and was thinking that instead of jibe / tack I have to be practicing waterstart first... I was about to swim but a nice guy on a powerboat pulled me to the beach.

The question is how to waterstart in upwind direction in a strong offshore wind?

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Even expert sailors should not sail offshore winds unless the downwind shore is an acceptable place to land and youre packing enough food and neoprene to make it there. (It also helps if you speak the language native to that shore.) Stuff breaks. It is also HIGHLY advisable to know what the winds going to do as the day evolves.

For waterstarting instructions, search the archives of this and other windsuffing forums. This ones archives are found by clicking on Forum Search in the column of links at the left side of this page.

Mike \m/

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3552

Repeat after me. If the wind is offshore, sail no more.

Coachg

duracell · Joined: 06 Oct 2015 Posts: 109

Hmm, strong offshore wind: sounds like the weather today (5-7Bf). Sounds like TONS OF FUN! Helmet, floatation vest, full armored neoprene, good gear (powerjoint), spare cords on you in case something breaks, try putting 2 harness lines on each side of the boom AND DONT SURF ALONE!

Waterstart is important, but if the sail is WAY too large it will get quite difficult. Then you can only inch your way out of the water. You turn your board a bit upwind and lift your mast hand a bit just to catch enough to start the lifting process. you control the lifting speed a bit with your back hand. Make sure you use as little sail area as possible. You have to stay VERY low above the board and hook in AND issue TONS of downforce from the first second on (as soon as your halfway out of the water, things tend to go really fast that last thrid of the way out). Check out www.guycribbs.com, he has written quite a few articles with good advice. -> DOWNFORCE!

carl · Joined: 25 Feb 1997 Posts: 2674 Location: SF bay area

Offshore and/or strong wind is definatly safer if you know how to waterstart. I needed a lesson for waterstarts, i just couldnt figure it out, maybe a DVD would be ok for some.
W.starts are the same in any direction of wind, youre generally pointing the board slightly downwind (you may have alittle different technique in strong wind though, the DVD should go into that). Once youre up and going, then start sailing upwind. If you dont know how to sail upwind well then even a chance for off-shore wind is NOT for you.

wsurfer · Joined: 17 Aug 2000 Posts: 1635

You could treat yourself to some waterstating lessons in Aruba...its offshore there and strong most times. Lots of good insructors and someone to get you back to shore if you dont get it right.

waterstarter · Joined: 26 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

To echo the last post, check out the forecast before you go out. Also ask locals if there are tendencies in wind patterns. iWind site has great wind info forecasts which should be cross-checked with weather.com, http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ or your local weather station.