Light Wind Delight
February 5, 2008 · Print This Article
One of the great things about longboard windsurfing that seems so bloody obvious but still often debated is the ability for it to produce great sailing in fresh breezes all the way through to light winds. I continually read and hear from some parts of the windsurfing community that there is no point even rigging up if the wind is light and you cannot get the board on the plane. In a recent forum post on this topic I recall reading “The bottom line is light wind windsurfing is incredibly boring”. While I am the first to admit that there is nothing quite like going quick on my raceboard I also like a bit of tactical light wind racing.
Crowded start
This weekend gone by I had the fortune of assisting in the running and management of the Windsurfer One Design New South Wales (State of Australia) State Championships where this point was made so abundantly clear. This was a light wind regatta with a maximum of approximately 5 knots of wind. Despite this, the regatta produced some of the best tactical racing that I have seen for some time. There were sailors picking wind shifts and getting slight tactical advantages. Some would cover while others chose to go to the edge of the course and push the lay line in the hop of some advantage.
Start line
Windsurfer One Designs have specific rules limiting pumping during their racing. In short, you are allowed to pump for the first 30 seconds after the start and then again on the down wind legs only. Part of my regatta management role included the adjudication on this pumping rule. This saw me in a small motorboat on the course enforcing this rule. Not being in the fleet and watching from this perspective gave me a new and entirely different perspective on racing. Usually I am in the fleet (raceboard) hunting for the shifts and pressure, covering my opponents and pumping to stay competitive.
Given the limited wind I set a relatively small course which combined with the light wind kept the fleet relatively bunched and together. Ever so forgivingly, light wind has a way of hiding lesser levels of skills in newer or less talented sailors. These elements combined meant that this slow moving bunched fleet was beautiful to watch. It was as if all of the tried and true race tactics were being played out in front of me like a slow motion ballet. I suddenly had flashbacks to learning race tactics from my father as a small boy. It was all in front of me. I could see sailor X making a move to pick up a shift and sailor y responding. It was as if I was reading a handbook on the rights and wrongs of race tactics and having them played out in my own working model.
Prior to the racing we all sat looking out on the water with a sense of disappointment that the wind was light. But, by the end of the day all the sailors agreed that the 4 races that we got away toward the end of the day were great racing! There was no blasting, but pure tactical genius and cunning on display.
Race to the top mark
While this may sound crazy, I reckon that there may even be a case for there to be specialist light wind regattas that have wind strength limits – say max 8 knots?
The results for the event were as follows:
Heavyweights – Greg Johns
Medium weights – Chris Thompson
Light weights – Ron Schwebel
Youth, Junior and Silver Fleet – Matt Yeshenko
A full event report and detailed results can be found at
Full event results and descriptions can be found at http://www.dobroydsailing.com/
When I first came across this article my immediate conditioned reaction was “well here’s a bunch that just haven’t moved on”. But after reading this I begin to realize how amazing it is that the good old Windsurfer is still alive. In modern times, this old form of windsurfing is ‘new’ to younger generations and could be termed “Retro Windsurfing”.
Nice balanced response, John. Most of us from the Windsurfer One Design fleet recognise that it’s a great alternative to those who want something that’s got a good light/medium wind feel, total simplicity and great tactical racing…..plus it’s surprisingly quick and the top Windsurfers normally finish a couple of minutes behind the top Raceboards and closer (or ahead of) top hybrids.
It may be significant to point out that the sailors in the fleet are very well aware of high performance sailing. Over the last four years, this regatta has attracted people who have sailed just about every type of craft at world level; we’ve had the kitesurfing national champ, the wavesailing Masters national champ, guys who have finished 1 and 2 in the 18 Foot Skiff worlds, guys from the national team in slalom and Youth worlds, guys who sail 98′ canting keel supermaxis, Tornado cat European champions and worlds competitors, and various champs from one design yachts and dinghies.
So the racers in the class know modern gear well, and love it - but the old stuff is just as good in different ways. I only got back into the Windsurfer OD four years ago, but I’ve been amazed how well it compares to the modern versions (ie Starboard SUP, Kona One, Tabou Windstyler).
As you say, these boards are seen in a different way by kids. Our Junior sailors (8 to 15 years) grew up in an era when kiting and shortboarding was already old hat. Many of them love blatting around in a big wind, but the “long boards are old, short boards are new” stuff we took on is foreign to them. They love being able to get out, sail in all conditions, and own a board that doesn’t cost the earth and break.
Hey John, not my thread, but if I may… great note yours.
Like soooo many sailors, I sail somewhere-nowhere inland, with flaky winds. We don’t all live seaside with waves. Retro windsurfing, as you call it, allows me to greatly stretch my sailing time, at low costs. I’d rather sail and practice freestyle moves on some old board, than buy multiple, expensive huge rigs that keep me from freestyling (freestyle not the same on 10m sails).
When the wind picks up, I dig shorties, and resume skills I practiced on my old, cheap longboard.
Many more outings this way. Again, great observation yours.
Cheers,
P.
Is this Macquarie? Last time we had such a fleet of Windsurfers at Macquarie was the (december) ‘89 Worlds championships.
Great pics of close tactical racing.
hello
i really believe we need to get traditional windsurfing back again. where in the hell can i buy an “ORIGINAL WINDSURFER BOARD AND RIG” from!! otherwise i was thinking of buying the excoset kona style board . the only problem is not being able to buy the soft dacron rig of the old days .!!
any suggestons i live in the caribbean island of antigua . where can i buy myself an ‘ORIGINAL WINDSURF BOARD AND RIG”
patrick
“…where can i buy myself an ‘ORIGINAL WINDSURF BOARD AND RIG”
http://www.windgenuity.com.au/windsurf.html
Also,
Check out the original user manual:
http://www.windgenuity.com.au/wind/wod.html
There are multiple groups interested in windsurfing, the ESPN double loop extremist, the plane and gibe experts, intermediates, and the cruisers.
My wife is in the later category, planing is of no interest to her, and she loves cruising on her classic Mistral Equipe. I am happy that she has found a level that she enjoys, and that she travels to the lake with me for days on the water. On light wind days I love to take our second Equipe and sail with her.
One challenge is to get even simple parts for these old boards, even though one would think there must be a graveyard somewhere where one could scrounge a few vital parts!
this is an ok link but look at it any way
cheers
bart
3-5-2008
didn’t have that much wind today. i was sailing a not so good windsurfer one design sail with with the older type board with this centre board which is ok but i do not like it. now it was the second time i had ever used a sail bigger than a four square meter . i guess
i could handle it reasonably well but the sail is on its way out and it did not have enough out haul and down haul , i am only 1.4 meters tall so you could imagine the boom was too high . overall i guess it was an ok day sailing but if i do nothing else but get a better sail it will be more fun next time i go sailing.