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Long range windsurfing/camping?
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advance420



Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:53 pm    Post subject: Long range windsurfing/camping? Reply with quote

This is a bit of an odd question I'm sure, but who cares?

Is it possible/common for someone to have a backpack with some light camping gear, and they hop on their windsurf board, and sail to some island, set up a tent in a remote spot people wouldn't normally go, and just enjoy their day that way? Maybe a group of friends doing this?

Is windsurfing strictly a sport, or is it possible to be used as short distance travel like in the example above?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Plenty of people do that, or close to it. One can do almost anything with them.

And, come to think of it, I think it was you who mentioned learning tricks/freestyle to impress friends. That overlooks tens of thousands of people who love tricks for their own sake, witnesses or no witnesses.

Did you know they've been sailed across the Atlantic and many slightly lesser bodies of water by more than one sailor?
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carl



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

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One problem I see:
With that backpack loaded you'll sink like a rock if you ever fell off your board. Rolling Eyes
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advance420



Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

carl wrote:
One problem I see:
With that backpack loaded you'll sink like a rock if you ever fell off your board. Rolling Eyes


Haha, maybe I'd have to put a bunch of children's floaties on it.

@Iso, I guess for me, right now, I'm more interesting in planing, so tricks to me wouldn't be that important, but I'm sure later they can be fun just because they are fun.
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swchandler



Joined: 08 Nov 1993
Posts: 10588

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Windsurfing can be a bit of an adventure. Traveling to a destination and back, but realistically, it's more a day or afternoon venture with minimal provisions. Normally, most folks windsurf for the sport of it. In the right conditions, it's fast, exciting and addictive. More often than not, the adventure in windsurfing is sailing different venues. Each launch is different, with varying scenery and conditions. The magic is there.
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advance420



Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

swchandler wrote:
Windsurfing can be a bit of an adventure. Traveling to a destination and back, but realistically, it's more a day or afternoon venture with minimal provisions. Normally, most folks windsurf for the sport of it. In the right conditions, it's fast, exciting and addictive. More often than not, the adventure in windsurfing is sailing different venues. Each launch is different, with varying scenery and conditions. The magic is there.


I completely agree. The problem is that I'll likely get my crap to China, buy a bike, rig up a trailer, tow my kit down to the beach, lock up my bike and trailer, carry my kit to the beach, and then anywhere I go is from either walking (carrying my kit) or sailing. It's an island. A big island, with little islands around it. If I can ride up and down the cost as far as I like, than that will by my ticket to going around exploring.

I just don't understand the physics.

If I'm on the east side of an island, and the wind is blowing south-- if I sail south, will I be able to sail back north to get back to my launching spot?

I can understand if the wind is blowing West or East because then you can sail sideways in the wind and manipulate the sail to go the direction you want "north or south", but I don't understand how a sail boat can sail north when the wind is blowing south.
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carl



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

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see you're going to need some basic sailing instruction. Better get a "learn to windsurf" book from the library or take a lesson.
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advance420



Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 24

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

carl wrote:
I see you're going to need some basic sailing instruction. Better get a "learn to windsurf" book from the library or take a lesson.


Haha, that or go out and learn by trial and error.

Edit:

You could have just told me you can't sail into the wind. After some googling, I've found that you have to sail at an angle. Makes sense now.
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tweeky



Joined: 19 Sep 2004
Posts: 256

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

isobars wrote:

Did you know they've been sailed across the Atlantic


Don't forget you'll need this small support vessel:



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Screen shot 2012-07-06 at 10.03.42 PM.png


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Bluejaytoo



Joined: 21 Apr 2012
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

advance420 wrote:

You could have just told me you can't sail into the wind. After some googling, I've found that you have to sail at an angle. Makes sense now.


I was wondering why no one mentioned the obvious. In her dry land instruction, Ellen Faller uses a great visual called a Wind Clock, which shows how close to the wind you can sail, and what part of it you can't. Imagine anywhere between 10:00 and 2:00 being off-limits, with 12:00 being the wind.

When I was first starting out, I too had visions of windsurf-camping. If I were to do it (I never did), I'd strap a big drybag onto the front of the board. I also had visions of crossing Lake Erie. Where I sail there, it's only like 25 miles to Canada. It's been swam several times, and definitely windsurfed several times. A couple years after I started windsurfing, I got caught up in an off-shore thermal inversion and had to be rescued off that lake. It put the fear of God into me and then my dream of doing the crossing went on a shelf. I still think about it, though.
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