Mini-winder.......Downwinding without the chop

[supthecreek]

My kind of downwinding.

I call it Mini-winding.... the push, without the pesky wobble. I get enough wobbling around, when I surf.
We have a lot of options, where we can be in wind, but protected from the long fetch chop.
I tried the open water stuff, but the swells never got big enough to be fun, and the chop was just plain annoying... so I prefer this option.

[Board Stiff]

We get a lot of those up here. Every time I've tried to downwind the Piscataqua, it turns into that kind of mini-winder. Makes for a relaxing paddle with minimal effort, but lacks the rush of feeling the board release on a bump.

Which Sunova is that you're riding, btw?

[supthecreek]

Surfing gives me all the wave rush I need, so I like turning a windy, crappy day like this one, into some fun

14' Search is my flat-water board this winter. I love it... super stable and fun in these conditions.

[Night Wing]

@supthecreek

Looking at the waves and wind in this video, those are the exact same wind and water/wave conditions I usually encounter in the springtime of the year on our area lakes where I sup.

BTW, I'm always curious when I see things in videos. If you don't mind me asking and you're willing to answer. Your partner in this video. What is the brand, model,  length, width and liters of her board?

[Area 10]

That's "getting blown along by the wind" rather than planing on bumps (which is what I define as moving far faster than the bump and far faster than I could reach even in a short sprint, whatever anyone else calls it 😀). All good fun, and I do this kind of miniwinding too sometimes on canals and estuaries near me. But it can't really compare with the rush of surfing waist-high+ bumps, so if you like the buzz of surfing I'm surprised you don't like downwinding. Maybe you don't get the right conditions near you? The logistics are also, of course, a palaver so it's tough if you don't have a crew of likeminded and like-abilitied people locally.

[supthecreek]

Thanks for setting me straight.
And it does compare.
Like I said: "I prefer this option"... is that ok?

Night Wing... my buddy Bruce is using my classic 12'6 Starboard Cruiser (2007?)... awesome board, one of the 1st good Surf SUPs. Works well in everything.... they should still make it.

[Night Wing]

Night Wing... my buddy Bruce is using my classic 12'6 Starboard Cruiser (2007?)... awesome board, one of the 1st good Surf SUPs. Works well in everything.... they should still make it.

Thanks for the info. It's given me a few ideas for future reference.

BTW, sorry about the "her" when it was a "him". I think I need a new trifocal eyeglass prescription change and it just so happens I've got an appointment with my ophthalmologist this upcoming Tuesday morning.

[Off-Shore]

Creek. Your video shows exactly the type of conditions I started my downwind experiences in. It's just great fun to feel yourself being pushed by the wind and then catching a few downbreeze ripples and being able to stop paddling for a while. That is where my addiction to paddling in the same direction of the wind started and I'm hoping it will lead to bigger conditions for you to experience a full on downwinder. As a surfer you will excel at it.

[coldsup]

Downwinder to downbreezers to mini-winder..........think that's it covered now.

[Area 10]

How much do you weigh, Supthecreek? The Sunova Search is only 218L. DJ was recently saying that he thought that the Naish Maliko was marginal for downwinding in terms of volume for him. I think he weighs something like 95 kilos (but this is a guess; I could be way off), and his Maliko is 281L. It's tough to get planing when downwinding, especially in confused waters, if your board is bogging down and catching a rail because of a lack of volume. Maybe this is why you are finding bigger conditions so unrewarding? The SIC F14, which ostensibly is the same dimensions as the Search (14x30), and is of course designed by a downwind expert, is 298L. That's a huge difference in volume, as I'm sure you'll agree. The F16, which many bigger guys like for downwind in difficult conditions, is 323L. A board that has 100 extra lures of volume over your Search (lovely though that board must be for small wave surfing - I nearly bought one myself) is going to give a totally different experience in the bumps.

Just a thought.

[yugi]

On the other hand in super festive stuff that surf shape also has a certain stability. It won’t jump up and plane w a heavy rider but it will get less bounced around less. I started on a Nalu 11’4. Not as much planing as a good DW board but good enough to get in the groove.

If I’m not mistaken the bro of One SUP designer has taken up SUP shaping responsibilities at Sunova. I’m guessing there’s a  dugout DownSlitherer in the works since down under they like that so much. Personally I believe Sunova would be well placed to make some excellent planing DW boards, because of their surfing heritage and masterage of “the plane”
 
Up$#@&Creek, I hope you catch the DWing bug. I’d imagine the Cape would give you all kinds of excellent DW routes. Your region breeds world class sailors. THere’s wind. Boston is one of the windiest US cities (#2 or 3 if not mistaken). There’s infinite land to land routes. So…? 
 
Where else to place an East Coast DW test center? I’m surprised by the apparent lack of downwind afficiondao’s on the east coast. It’s excellent cross training for sailor, skiers too. Both pick it up easily.

[headmount]

Come to Maui Creek.  You can use my Bullet.  I'll cruise with you on the surfski.  That vid was cool and all but you only live once.

[yugi]

Province-town to Scitiate looks sweet  Tuesday.

https://www.windfinder.com/weatherforecast/provincetown_cape_cod

I’d imagine in wind like that you aren’t surfing anyway.

Obviously summer is a better time to practice and it's just a tad long for a first outing.
My first downwinder I actually did in december in temps like that. And I forgot my leash.

I actually took off to do that route the other way around on a windsurfer in '81 or '82.
But the wind threatened to fickle out and we ended up just sailing down the coast.

[Badger]

Province-town to Scitiate looks sweet  Tuesday.

https://www.windfinder.com/weatherforecast/provincetown_cape_cod

P-town to the mainland or vice versa is a 20+ mile crossing and would require a lot of driving.

Barstable/Dennis to Wellfleet would be better. It's on a southwest line which is often the prevailing wind in summer. Wellfleet provides a big target to aim for like a pair of outstretched arms making it a very safe run. I'd love to try it.

West Yarmouth to Chatham on a westerly looks good too. 

I'll bet if Creek experienced some true downwinder conditions he would get hooked on it.

.

[PonoBill]

I think great downwinding spots are rarer than hen's teeth. I've tried some spots that people describe as "good downwinders" and generally come away disappointed. It's not just the wind blowing point to point, it's also bottom contour, fetch, prevailing current and "features"  (aka, the stuff that scares the crap out of you). For me they come in two, maybe three flavors.

Maliko -- thousands of miles of fetch, highly variable bottom contours (but never super deep), lots of features, tricky currents. And you get to thread the needle at the end.

Southside -- No fetch, howling wind, shallow water with parallel channels, whacky currents, lots of short period steepness.

Viento -- No fetch, insane wind, constant current opposite to the wind, highly variable depth (sandbars, channels, rock piles) barges and high-velocity wind and kitesurfers crossing perpendicular to travel.

If you have good wind over deep water with no fetch, not much happens. If you have enough fetch you can have big rollers with surface texture and sub swell. That makes for fun.

High wind, no fetch requires a relatively shallow, highly variable bottom to make life interesting. There might be some good spots on the east coast, but it's going to take either local knowledge or a lot of exploring and disappointment to find them. Yeah, there's a continental shelf, but shallow is relative, and it seems to me that variable bottom contour is a big factor. The lead up to Camp One is often easy money, and then shit gets real. I think that's all bottom contour.