The Glide – the new sport of longboard wavesailing
November 14, 2007 · Print This Article
Jeffrey Henderson, sailmaker of Hot Sails Maui, lives in the home of the shortboard. Waveboard heaven. High-wind nirvana. And what is Jeff doing for fun and for the future of windsurfing? He’s becoming a prophet of longboard wavesailing. Longboard wavesailing seemed almost like an oxymoron for years. Wavesailing meant shortboards. Longboards meant flat water. But as Jeff and a few other people realised modern longboards (like SUPs) under sails can be just as effective in the surf as longboards you paddle – and longboard surfing has long been the growth area of windsurfing’s sister sport. Henderson reckons longboard wavesailing can give the same boost to windsurfing.
Shortboard wavesailing is fantastic, but longboard wavesailing offers you different sensations. You can punch out through the white water in only a few knots of wind, so you can slide your longboard across glassy waves rather than windblown chop. You can cruise into the sunset, after the shortboards and even the kiters have gone home. You can slip out to isolated breaks, and wriggle out off beaches too small and sheltered for a shortboard to work. And just like long surfboards, long windsurfers have that stunning feeling only a long hull slipping through the water can create – the ‘glide’.
'Kona Surf' Photo curtesy KONA_WINDSURFING.COM
“We want to be the inspiration to get the beauties back on the water and remind people about a great feeling called ‘glide’, long lost to shortboarding” writes Henderson. “It is a totally unique feel that sets the soul on fire, and revives your energy, instead of exhausting you.”
Way back when, of course, all windsurfer surf sailing was on longboards, but that was all but forgotten for about 20 years. It hung on in a couple of places. Henderson sailed alone on Maui, and the original Windsurfer One Design class sailors in Australia still got together for an annual fun contest in small surf. But longboard wavesailing remained almost unknown until the last year or two.
It’s now dovetailing neatly into the SUP boom, because SUPs fitted with mast tracks make great wavesailing longboards. Kona are also making specialised wavesailing longboards, and PWA pros like Scott McKercher are getting out in the wave on their longboards. But still, while there are echoes from the distant past, longboard wavesailing is such a developing facet of the sport that every time you go afloat, you can be adding your own little bit to history.
Let’s let Henderson take up the when and why of longboard wavesailing;
“What is it? Sailing surfboards with no footstraps in light wind, hopefully in waves. You can sail when there’s no wind, the curse of our sport as a business for the last 20 years.
Why? Sail before kites can launch. Sail for quiet, private fun and reflection. Surf glassy empty waves. Crossover to stand up surfing in no wind. Go surfing with a friend. All the reasons windsurfing started and more, just better in surfing waves.
Who? Globally, we are few in numbers, but increasing by the day.
Stand up paddle surfing will attract many new converts to longboard wavesailing.
History? Guys in California and Hawaii surfing bent stock windsurfers. I started wave sailing tandem surfboards in 1997. Future?_Lets make it up as we go.
Where? Anywhere light wind blows and tiny to big surf happens.”
'The Longrider' Photo courtesy - Robert Oricci Designs (RRD)
The boards Henderson uses are long (about 12 foot/3.66m), designed for surfing rather than planing. “Simply, these are WAVE boards that work the same way a SURFBOARD does” he writes. “Boards need to be pretty long to get the ‘glide’ to work. If you want the ‘glide’, stay long.”
In outline shape, they are similar to the original Windsurfer, but they are wider, have more rocker and different rails. “They need to be surfboards first, windsurf boards second” he notes, and the specialist boards are obviously better in the surf than ‘normal’ longboards; a Raceboard doesn’t work well in waves at all.
Having said that, when I got into longboard wavesailing I was stoked to see how well an original Windsurfer went. Sure, it wasn’t like the waveboards I used to compete on – but after just one sail, in a country cove in the late spring evening after the kites had packed up, I realized how much I’d been missing since I’d decided longboards weren’t meant to surf. In about ten knots of wind, the longboard punched easily out through the small waves. It didn’t turn like a shortboard, but this was real surfsailing, carving long arcs along the top and bottom. And most importantly, it was all laid-back joy as the longboard slipped along into the westering sun.
“I have sessions where I can’t remember anything as I have been so in the moment the whole time on the water” says Henderson. “This is not replacing short boarding; it is just a complement to it.”
I completely agree with all of the article! Windsurfing lost a lot as it split into it’s many sections, wave, freestyle, slalom, formula, etc, a board and rig for everything. The Longboard brings it all back together again. I built myself a Longboard possibly simillar to the one described , a Surfboard (Malibu)that I surf and sail, it was made as a Surfboard first, with all the qualities of a Mal, and a mast track and remoovable foot straps, I love it!!!
Sounds good, Fish. How long is the board, and how long ago did you make it? Where do you sail? Care to write us something or drop us some pics?
I’m thinking of modifying an old Windsurfer One Design – basically more rocker than I want to put into my racing boards, as Jeffrey reckons that will get it to something pretty close to a wavesailing longboard.
gidday Chris 249, I posted a bit in the forum under DIY photo. It’s basically a surfing Mal 9′7″ X 26″ (292 X 66) & kept as thick as poss, it’s made as you would a surfboard & very simple (for a simple person!). It only took a week to make. It surf really good & windsurfs good also. I live nort…
nice to see the glide returning to the sport.
This intrigues me! I don’t have the money to drop on a new Kona or similar “modern longboard” but have had some fun SUP’ing my old Mistral Escape in small waves in New England–even though I got some crazy looks from other surfers. I want to try some mellow wavesailing. Can anyone comment on techniques to maximize the surfability on an old style longboard like my Escape? I’m thinking a longboard (surfing) fin might make a big difference. I think I can probably fit a noserider fin from a longboard surfboard into the Escape. might this work? Thanks!
Hi Nick, sorry I didn’t see your post.
Have you had a chance to try the Escape yet? It seems to be pretty flat in the back so it might be a bit stiff in the turns; the Hot Sails Maui guys say that you need lots and lots of rocker and that a board that goes well in waves won’t really plane like an Escape-style board does. It will be interesting to hear how an Escape with a raked fin and the track right back would go. My own longboard wavesailing is mainly with a very small fin longboard surfboard type fine but since that’s the only fin that board takes, I can’t compare it with anything else.
hi, i agree nick. I dont have the spare cash for new longboard.
especially when the old ones work just aswell thou a bit heavier.
I have been wave sailing my bic melody for two years now. its waterlogged and heavy as anything. but thats why i like. once its planning on a wave its like a tank. super fun and cost me 50 quid.
all the wide boards i bought for $$$ sucked in waves, my bic melody rocks i love for surfing 2ft waves and works amazing as a long distance paddleboard (arm paddling) as it has the weight to get you thru chop and from getting blown ofcourse.
also good for fishing. why go forward when you can go backwards. i mean how many longboards are lying in people garages and gardens rotting away. GEt em out and get radical.
longboarding rocks, for young and old.
Windsurfer South Coast England
Hi marus,
you´re right. Many old boards are waiting to be ripped.
Check my tribute to the rotten ones, if you like.
http://www.3beaufort.com/planken_in_pension.php
hang loose, torsten
Hi Guys,
Having read your comments, I agree things have slipped behind in the world of wave sailing on longer boards.
However, I have an old Mistral Take Off, retractable centre board, foot straps and twin fins. It was promoted by Robby Nash back in the early eighties and was real fun.
Having broken the mast in the surf in the mid eighties, I put it under my father’s house and there it stayed for 23 years before I sailed it again last summer.
It is still in good condition. I have a newish aluminum 2 piece mast, although the sail and boom are a bit sad. I am researching modern day gear to see if I can get it and myself performing for this summer. I am going on 61 now and need all the help I can get.
Any advice on gear and setting up the old board would be appreciated.
Remember, the mind doesn’t forget but the body does.
cheers pete
http://www.aerotechsails.com I use a Phantom 7.5 sail with a 460 RDM mast.