A Year (Windsurfing) en Provence: 20-25 knots is likely too much!

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

20-25 knots is likely too much!

My first time at Sunset Point since the Ocean Spray Great Canadian windsurf regatta in 1992?

The wind was predicted to be cold and NW. I thought I would be cold. But the sun and 10c water meant the 9c air was ok in my 4/3 wetsuit with gloves and 3 mil booties.

I found it pretty hard to foil into the big waves. And hard to foil down the big waves. I completed ZERO of my jibe attempts. Pretty humbling really. Oh well, lots to learn.

Post session smile

The launch

I got up more than the GPS track below shows. My Garmin Vivoactive crashed during my first swim back to shore. There is a strong rip current on a NW that makes it really hard to get back to the shallow water at the launch. I realized I wasn't getting anywhere and foiled back upwind. Back to shore and again, even when my feet could touch, I couldn't overcome the rip and wound up back in the area where I'd been surfing in January. 3rd time I tried I came in even closer and finally was able to walk up through the shorebreak to the parking lot. I was pretty exhausted.

Next time I’ll know about the rip current

Map showing nearby Northwinds beach and Sunset Point

Luckily the website fitfiletools.com is still running (I used it last September to fix a file and donated to the them!) so I was able to recover 45 minutes of my 75 minute session off my Garmin watch.

Met Ed who was switching his foil from windfoiling to a windsurfing fin and two other regulars who were very good foilers. Tyler from the “spot of the day” chat group showed up as I was packing up.

I’ll note that the new “Anchorman” wing leash that I’ve seen on wing forums doesn't work in large waves and overpowering winds. I helped one of the guys catch his wing as he was struggling to swim downwind towards it.

Felt like 20-25 knots even though the forecast was 14-26…