Cruising
The Windsurfer’s guide to Cayo Costa and Cabbage Key
I just stood there, starring at my Expedition Windsurfer not believing my eyes. I had left my dagger board at home, some 70 miles away! I had just carried the board to the kayak launch ramp at Grande Tours in Placida Florida and realized that I was missing the dagger board. I never take it out of the board, where could it be? I had no choice but to load the board back into the truck and head for home. The Expedition Windsurfer is a specially designed windsurfer capable of being packed out for multi-day camping trips. My plan was to spend the next 4 days sailing... [Read more]
The Expedition Windsurfer
The morning broke very cold for west central Florida. The mid 40s is unseasonably cold for this time of year and I was feeling every degree. I was stoking the fire, trying to beat back the cold and waiting for my coffee to heat up, when two commercial fishermen motored past my campsite. I wondered how they felt about the cold weather. I had spent the night on a small mangrove island near the mouth of Bishop Harbor in Tampa Bay. Last night in the orange glow of the setting sun I found a small spit of sand adequate enough to set up camp. I now had a panoramic view... [Read more]
A Year of Longboarding
Every newbie to windsurfing asks this same question: What board should I get? When I started windsurfing the answer I got most often was a Starboard Go. It’s stable, got good floatation and it planes easily. It even has little side fins you can attach when the wind is low. I started having problems with the board soon. I sail on the Hudson River, and my launch site is small. When I’d get blown downwind without realizing it, it would take an hour or more to work my way back. When the wind was low, the board wasn’t much fun. It was like sailing a pancake. Being... [Read more]
Blast from the past
Chris Thompson, one of the founders of LBWS, has a proud windsurfing history having been around in the beginning of a great sport and competing against the likes of legends such as Robby Naish and Phil McGain. Over the years Chris has sailed a plethora of boards and competed at a high level in both windsurfing and many dingy classes including the very competitive Laser Class. As well as being a talented sailor Chris is a great commentator on windsurfing and sailing in general. He has been writing on sailing and windsurfing in particular for more than 25 years. No doubt... [Read more]
Cruising a longboard
The island and the lake have been there for 15 years or more…..”there” in that list of places I have to explore one day. But through all the shortboarding, the slalom and bump and jump, that “one day” never happened. The island and the lake were always too far downwind, or too far upwind, or too shallow for a slalom fin, or the wind was too light. Wallace Lakes, NSW Australia It wasn’t until my lake sailing met the longboard renaissance that I finally got to sail to the island and the lake. A gusty, patchy nor’westerly was bringing an early promise of spring.... [Read more]