Epic 38 knot French Downwinder Vid

[Off-Shore]

Came across this today on YouTube... Worth watching through to the end which shows how difficult it is to a) beach land in winds like this through the surf, and b) what happens when you try to carry a board in these strengths of winds..

[gone_foiling]

Great video, watched it a day or so before you posted it. Jealous of the conditions.

[PonoBill]

All my downwind boards have paddle loops.

[Night Wing]

Nice downwind video. Good helmet cam too. Good enough for me to pick out, when his board flipped over near the end of the video, to see the Falcon model he was riding, was 284 liters in volume.

Every morning when I first visit the Zoner site, I always hope to find a video to watch. Thanks for sharing the video.

[yugi]

The filming where the horizon isn't in the frame is nauseating.

[PonoBill]

I love the 40kt days. Doesn't happen often in Maui, but we get a few a year in Hood River. If more of us were willing to paddle in the winter in HR, there would be a lot more. the east wind has been hitting 50 pretty regularly this winter. One more reason why I'm in SoCal. Well, that and the 1 inch plus of ice that just got layered over everything in the Gorge. 

I don't have any problem remembering when I used to fly back in to PDX from business trips and try to find my car in the lot. They were all indistinguishable ice mounds with an incho of ice over them. Brrr. It's 56 in Canyon lake this morning and I'm huddled up to my coffee cup, wearing a flannel shirt and long pants.

Big sissy.

Of course, it makes me feel better about what a weenie I've become watching Boyum (headmount) posting "I'M FREEZING" pictures from Maui on facebook. 

[yugi]

We had a strong wind yesterday here, but it was one of those icy ones. Too cold for me. Besides the snow is great now.

(this pic not from yesterday, but it was one of those days)


here is yesterday's wind

[Luc Benac]

Darn, that is cold.
Good luck with the GlaGla race in a few days on the lac d'Annecy if conditions are the same....

[covesurfer]

Cool video. Like Pono said, not many 40 knot days in Maui but the Gorge gets them pretty much every year, more than once usually. When you get 40 knots on Maliko, more often than not it's just downright scary. It can be good if nothing goes wrong but no matter where you are downwinding, the issue is what the last part of the video shows, as soon as the wind gets under the board, it's going to take it.

Paddle loops are a big help when trying to get to and from the water on big wind days. I can fly my 17+ foot board like a wing, using my paddle. Of course, if one of the loops breaks, you are screwed. And I have seen them break. I use kite line for my paddle loops and replace them at least once a year.

Thanks for posting, it's been pretty thin as far as good downwind conditions for us so this is nice to see.

[DavidJohn]

All my downwind boards have paddle loops.

I wish all DW boards had them..

I had my Maliko pull out of my hands twice recently exciting the water and even though my hands were wet I'm 6'4" with pretty good hand strength from years of windsurfing but once the wind grabs your board and it starts to fly like a kite you get this violent rocking motion that sometimes you can hold.. other times it rips out of your fingers making you feel like Mr pune-iverse..  I'm very disappointed in Naish for their very average handle on their top-of-their range $4000 DW board.. Providing paddle loop options would be a smart move..

[PonoBill]

The spooky part for me is when you do a high speed faceplant that picks the tail of your board out of the water, sending it flying towards your head (STAY DOWN) and then turns 17 feet of board into a kite at the end of your leash. I had a wimpy leash break with my 12'2" starboard flapping at the end of it several years ago. Fortunately. it was on the sandbar approaching Wells Island. The board scooted at high speed into the root balls at the end of the island but was undamaged and I could walk to it in the knee deep water.