When is windy too windy?

[DelawhereSUP]

For those of you who flatwater SUP - when is it too windy to SUP?  I am not talking about a one-way downwinder or a course where you can hide from the wind for part of the course.  I am asking about having to paddle upwind for a portion of the course; when is too windy?

[supthecreek]

Lots of variables...not the least of which... what  kind of board you paddle. In my case, on short surf SUP, 15mph for longer, 20mph for very short distances, above that, I go backwards.

I frequently paddle when the wind is over 20mph, but I plan my trips to be protected by a bluff along a bay or river. If a portion MUST be into the wind, I always pick a loop that has me into the wind on the outbound leg... so my home leg is easy, and doable. When you live in a place with lots of strong winds, you have to work with it if you want to paddle... particularly in winter.

You have hit on one of the factors that got me started exploring creeks.... they are generally in tight areas, protected from the wind. The are slow and short, because it's hard to find long protected spots. I can get into some out of the way creek and dink around on a crappy day and have a on of fun. Not much exercise.... but at least I'm on the water.

When you CAN'T hide from it.... some times it's good practice on a really (20mph) windy day, sometimes I'll just paddle straight into a nasty wind, for as long as I can, then just turn around and fly home. My worst was 20 minutes of agony to go 1/2 mile.... almost never went forward.

Just don't get yourself in trouble with blowing boards and dangerous situations.

[PonoBill]

With the right board, the right paddle, and the right attitude you can paddle into about 25 mph and make headway. For me that's Starboard 12'2", Ke Nalu Wiki, and I keep telling myself--just to that tree, and when I get there--okay, just to that log.

[southwesterly]

I spent 30 years seriously chasing the wind before I got into standup. To tell you the truth, now any wind is too much wind for SUP, at least for me. I LOVE glassy water.

[TN_SUP]

Is the upwind progress strategy different for a planning surf shape versus a pointy displacement hull? In my limited experience, I found my self putting weight forward on my surf style board but standing back on the displacement board to accomodate wind waves.

[Blue crab]

I do a fair bit of upwind / downwind training & enjoy the upwind.  I find the key is all timing as there is some momentum to be had by sprinting down the back face of a swell. Also helpful to periodically choke up on the paddle to isolate different muscle groups and decrease air resistance. I prefer a displacement hull in these conditions to avoid that terrible slapping noise.

[KiwiSupGreg]

I prefer a displacement hull in these conditions to avoid that terrible slapping noise.

i find that noise ok......oh different topic 

[Wetstuff]

DES,  If you're not too far from Assateaque, there's some really great wind shadows available on almost any quadrant.  Where they have the canoe rental in the federal park you can hide really well from either hard S. or NW'ers.  Like Creek's creeks ..there's some nice guts to sneak into to.  If you start from the canoe launch one road farther S. - you are in the guts already.  A week ago the water temp. was in the upper 40's. I'd bet the 50's finally this weekend on a W wind.   

Jim

[TEX_SUP]

For those of you who flatwater SUP - when is it too windy to SUP?  I am not talking about a one-way downwinder or a course where you can hide from the wind for part of the course.  I am asking about having to paddle upwind for a portion of the course; when is too windy?

Keep in kind that the biggest hazard might be loading and unloading your board from your vehicle.   The bigger and lighter your board, the worse it is.

[mrbig]

Depends a lot on the air temperature. Severe wind chill is a definite stoke killer. On my Marlin in air temps over 50 I'll paddle into 15 mph for 30-45 minutes to get the poor man's downwind. I am sure a younger competitive racer would paddle for a much longer time regardless of wind  and temperature considerations.

[hbsteve]

When I'm having trouble getting back to my launch point.

[PonoBill]

Then again, if you're pointed in the right direction, there's no such thing, as this shot from Standup Journal illustrates.



A little detail. That's me in the white. The standup Journal online edition is really slick. the pictures are zoomable to huge size.

[TN_SUP]

At what point do you need a leash for your paddle?

[NoFoSUPer]

This one of those questions that is going to be different for everybody. For myself 20 knots is about the limit on up winding. I have a large surface area & it acts like a sail in the wind.

Some times I will paddle on my knees up wind to keep the drag low & enjoy a down wind on the way back. This back fired on me a couple weeks ago when I paddles into the wind for about a hour in Peconic Bay , paddled up a creek in New Suffolk (saw my first Osprey of the season , March 18th) , got back into the bay & the wind changed direction so I had the waves at my side the whole ride back. Oh well , good balance training. Good thing I was on the JL board , it is much more stable then the Bark.