Taking off into heavy off-shore W (dont' say the word)

[SUP Leave]

Had a beautiful session this morning at Westhaven State Park here in WA. Waist to head, groomed faces, everyone smiling.  We have a rare April heat wave going on now. The offshore wind was really strong this morning (high pressure building today). I have always liked offshore breeze, it makes the waves feather nice and gives them a cool shape, but today there was too much and I hated it.

To get outside I just needed to stand there with my paddle up like a sail and I could be to the outside in no time, I could have made it to Japan in about 3 hours. That was nice but, that extra strong offshore caused me a lot of problems getting waves. In normal good take off position I would stall out as soon as my board canted out over the wave face. Over and over, it was really pissing me off. Actually it was making me wish I had a pointy nosed fish-shape surfboard, not an All-Wave. That big round nose just caused me nothing but trouble. As a matter of fact I fell off the back when I lost a wave and the board blew over my head behind me.

Any tips? Is there something I could have done to mitigate?

The only waves I got was if I took off way inside, which came with it's own set of problems. Like missing a wave and then taking 5 on the head before I could get back out. I was exhausted by the end of a 2 hour session. I caught a set wave and was riding it all the way in to go to work and the reform foam-ball blew the paddle out of my hands. I spent 20 mins to find it.

Great fun. I am going to work until Midnight if I have to, so I can be back in the morning.

[addapost]

Do you know how strong the winds were? I'll be honest (but not much help) I don't even bother going out if the offshore is much stronger than 18 mph or so. It's not just the wind speed itself, the wind actually accelerates quite a bit as it goes up the wave face. I am sure there are some physicist types out there who could calculate it but a steady 18 mph breeze in your face on flat water accelerates to, I don't know, 22? 25? 30? as the air goes up the wave's face. So at exactly the moment you need the least resistance you get the most. Around 18 mph I am stopped dead and can not catch a thing. Then I break out the SIC Bullet and go for a down winder. I hope someone has some tips.

[SUP Leave]

I would guess somewhere in that range. It is about 15 mph now and it has died off a lot. Interesting to hear your input about the increase in speed at the top of the wave. I thought it was just because you were higher in the air, so you could feel more wind.

[PonoBill]

The wind up the face of the wave is a little more than the speed of the wave plus the speed of the wind. So if you have a shallow water wave traveling at 10MPH and an offshore breeze at 10 it's about 20.

To take off in a stiff offshore the trick is to get forward on the board quickly, and take off early, in the pocket. You need the extra speed to overcome the lift of the wind over the wave.

A narrow nose helps, though you won't be able to get forward as quickly, so there's a tradeoff. I'm not a fan of offshore wind unless it's under ten. Then it's nice for holding the face up.

[supthecreek]

There is a good thread about this topic from last year. Follow the link below.

My take on strong offshore winds:
Any offshore wind can be used to your advantage, if you think like a sailor and use it... instead of fighting it.

That said... there is a point that wind becomes dangerous.... boards fly, chords break... always use common sense.

Check out this previous thread:

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,19983.msg196554.html#msg196554

[stoneaxe]

There's a definite increase in wind speed up the face of the wave. All you can do is get inside and take the late drops....definitely better than onshore mush. Positioning is more critical but the drops are more exciting. All part of the fun even if it can be a bit frustrating when you miss a nice one.

[Califoilia]

Ran into the same problem yesterday and today at SanO, with winds between 15 and 17 in shoulder to head high stuff (a bit smaller today).....

The only way I could get into any was with a real late take-off, and just hope that I could get turned and down the face before it broke on me.

With that said, the success rate was still about only 50% on whether I made it or not....with the unsuccessful ones either still blowing off the back, or getting trounced by the wave breaking on me.

As far as boards go, neither the pulled-in nose of my 8'5" or the rounded nose of my 7'8" Mini Simmons style board made that big of a difference in the big scheme of things....

The bigger/narrower board paddles a little quicker and gave me a few more feet of paddling momentum/speed before the drop, but it doesn't accelerate as fast as the smaller/wider other board, that takes off like a little rocket once I get it tipped down the face.

From all those around me both days, all said about the same thing wrt getting into the darn things with conditions like that. 

So all-in-all.....trying to take off into a heavy off shore is sketchy at best, and maybe just way too much work the the actual end results.

But again, YMMV......

[1tuberider]

I was surfing an offshore spot in high W and found myself losing ground trying to make way.
I had to prone paddle to overcome the w and then pop up with the paddle in hand. That was the tricky part
trapping the paddle and then not stepping on it when popping up.  The waves that day made it worth it.

W means you have to be more careful when turning around and getting underway. It stalls your speed that you
normally have so you have to work harder. I usually stop sus when W gets over 25mph as its just not the same
and actually increases your chances of getting hurt. 

W a bad word?

[SUP Sports ®]

Heavy offshore winds with hollow beach break and coupled with a big wide nose like that Fanatic...and, not much offshore wind experience could spell disaster...trip to the ER...problematic at best...watch your head and face...

That said, short of changing boards...quicker strokes...smaller paddle blade size...and, moving up a bit can help...but, I definitely ride a more pulled nose board when I'm in those conditions...however, our Hammer Series has a wider nose...but, is still pulled right at the tip...it can handle offshores because it paddles so fast and doesn't get hung up...

[bts]

Your body is a pretty big sail.  I try to crouch down a bit.  Sometimes I try the Connor choke on the paddle...without much success.

I use a bigger easy paddling board.  Pretty flat rocker, but not that thick.

Sometimes I knee paddle.  Occasionally I give up and grab a prone board.

[raf]

This'll be obvious to the better surfers on here, but I'm still learning, and here's something I noticed;  I tend to cheat a bit on a SUP when I'm taking off a little deeper and often do angled take-offs.  This means I don't get as much speed for the bottom turn, but it also allows me to take off on a steeper section of the wave.  The other day we had some strong offshores in the 20mph range, shoulder high conditions.  You could make an angled take-off, but you lost so much speed that the wind would push you back up to the lip and you'd miss a wave you thought you had.  In very strong offshore W, try taking off absolutely straight towards the beach.  Don't make that bottom turn until you get right to the bottom of the wave.  The stiff wind will likely hold up the face and give you more time than you thought you'd have.  Once you are at the bottom, don't go back too high unless you are carrying plenty of speed to help you through your top turn.  I would be nervous surfing a big, heavy board in anything over 20mph without a helmet

[SUPJorge]

"Heavy offshore winds with hollow beach break and coupled with a big wide nose like that Fanatic...and, not much offshore wind experience could spell disaster...trip to the ER...problematic at best...watch your head and face..."

SUPsports, I fell out of my chair when I read that.

Heavy offshore winds + hollow beach break + Fanatic + not much offshore wind experience = trip to the ER on 4/19, 7 stitches to the forehead. 

not me, my girlfriend

Uffffff..

[SUP Leave]

Sorry to hear about your girlfriend Jorge!

Thanks all for the tips. It is comforting to hear you guys having the same experience. At first I thought I had lost my touch or something. I moved farther and farther inside, thinking I was just too far out, even though I knew I was in the right spot (at least under normal wind conditions).

I did a lot of what you all said, and did catch a couple prone paddling on the inside, and they were pretty fun waves. I agree that the situation did get dangerous. I was careful to protect myself. The most dangerous part was when I was taking waves on the head I was using the technique where you control the board by pushing down on the tail pad as the wave hits you. It worked fine, but the wind would get ahold of the front of the board and throw it up and over my head. That was dangerous, but I was in contact so there was control.

After my session I was sitting on the beach watching and there was a longboarder or two who were having the exact same problem. One of them stalled out at the top of the wave for what seemed like 10 seconds, arms spinning like a sidewheeler paddleboat. He was in the same area as me and I never witnessed him being able to drop in on any wave.

Wish I was there now.

[abmatt]

After some sessions in howling, white-capping offshores in Nicaragua -- which is famous for such stuff -- I'd suggest that wide-nosed boards might actually be a way to beat the conditions. You can get way up on the nose to paddle (even a foot or so from the nose), crouching lower than usual (as bts suggested), then scurrying toward the tail once you start the drop. Both of my boards have full noses and that's what's worked for me, anyway.

It seems if you had a skinny-nosed board you'd be stuck paddling at the midpoint, and then even that skinny nose would get caught up by the wind.

Of course if you wipe out, duck. I got walloped on the top of my head last month when I got careless.

Worst comes to worst, I dust off the old prone board.

[SUP Leave]

I was out again this morning in conditions very similar to when I started this thread. The waves were smaller, and the wind was slightly less (the board only blew over my head 3 times). The crowd was bigger though.

I caught way more waves today. Basically, I combined a lot of what I learned from this thread with just plain getting farther inside. A big problem was getting blown farther out while I waited.

The biggest help was to see the wave I wanted and to paddle quartering towards shore, to get myself farther inside than I normally would. Once I did this I started to really have fun until the tide changed then I had to find new shoulders and by then I was too tired.

I also crouched more, and paddled in from way farther up the board, a couple of pearl-dives until I got that dialed in.

Fun stuff, I'm going to work late tonight so I can go again this week.