high wind limits

[1tuberider]

What are your wind speed limits? We found gusting to
45 a little to much.
I have done this in 15-25 gusting to 35 and it was fun.
At gusting to 45, I found myself catching every bump, riding
the board from the tail and basically not having much
control when trying to come in sideways to wind, even being sheltered
by the shadow of Whalers. Then to paddle into the wind for the final 50
yards not making way standing, I went to the knee paddle position
which was barely enough power.

Glad we did this in the harbor and not offshore as originally planned.
My buddy did not have as much power or experience and ended up
luckily 4 miles down the beach instead of being blown to Eureka.

When do you call it to much?

[Area 10]

It depends so much on the run and location. 35 knots (and I'm talking average wind speeds here, not peak gusts) in open sea in big swells can be much more dangerous than 50 knots in an inland confined space. But basically, my limit is around 50 knots. You've just got so little control over where you go with winds that high, and it becomes a mission just to get your board to the beach etc, and the chances of injuries or expensive dings goes up exponentially after 35 knots. But 50 knots is pretty extreme. I find that many of my fellow paddlers tend to miraculously have other things to do at the last minute once it gets over 35 knots. But then I live in a cool climate: 35 knots when the air is only 5C and the sea is 4C is a whole different thing from 35 knots in Hawaii. The windchill and danger of exposure if something went wrong presents a real hazard.

So, it very much depends. But if it's 50 knots then everything has to be pretty much perfect (including my crew) before I'd go. Anything over 40 will give many people pause for thought - quite correctly. Most people will never have experienced winds that strong, never mind paddled in them.

[Eagle]

25 kts with gusts to 35 are good but many DW peeps we know like the adrenalin rush and go out when 40+ in storms.

In steady 20 it is pretty easy to catch pretty much anything for us anyways.  Normally DW windspeeds vary from 15-30 in the summer.  25 is full easy planing on the Bullet and around 30 on the M14.  My choice for steep and deep is always M14.  Fast fun ride and very surfy.

[PonoBill]

Yeah, it's all about the location. 45mph straight down the middle or slightly onshore is what I dream of, but it's definitely an acquired taste. Lots of moments when you're just a passenger, and your attitude about that determines whether you like it or not. Peaking to 50 in the Gorge is a total blast. You hit places like the Wells Express and it's just one long, very fast ride. But you're afraid to fall off, and if you do, stay underwater until you know your board is downwind of you. Having it cartwheel into your head is not recommended.

It happens often enough here in the gorge to get comfortable with high wind, but it takes experience to learn the moves, it's completely different.

I've never experienced too much wind, but I have experienced too much wind from the wrong direction. 20 mph with some offshore is fine, 45 with some offshore is pretty scary. That or a bunch of other issues that make it imprudent to launch. We're crazy but we're not stupid.

[1tuberider]

Thanks guys

We did the crazy that day. Stupid for us would have been running offshore and
then trying to paddle across wind direction for a mile to the beach. Might have had
to dw to Eureka.

Its hard to recognize when its too much. Then the tail between the legs
is harder to explain.  It is important to define max conditions you can
enjoy and when to play with the tail.

[covesurfer]

Water temp, wind direction relative to safety (is it possible to swim or paddle to land or will you get blown away from it) and fetch as it affects the swell size, all figure in to the equation for me when evaluating whether it's ok to go.

With big, relatively light, unlimited boards, the forces of wind and breaking waves can result in losing the board, even if your gear is in good shape. You also don't want to realize that you should have replaced that rudder cable that just popped, especially on a huge day. I always carry some bike inner tube to friction fit under the rudder spindle, in case something fails.

Even experienced downwind paddlers can get nailed when it's really big. It happens with some regularity. One guy with tons of experience got taken off his board last year by a breaking wave, here off Maui. His leash broke and the board was gone. The wind did the rest. Fortunately, he stayed calm and slowly made his way towards the beach, a swim of over a mile in very rough conditions. The board didn't come out so well and was found smashed to pieces some miles down the coast, a few days later. He did eventually get his paddle back intact. He was actually lucky everything else went right after the leash snapped and the board was lost. While the water is warm here, there's also some big, toothy fish out there.

I find around 35 to 40 mph to be wild fun. Over 40 mph, which I've only had a handful of times, it becomes pretty evident that the wind will pick up that big, expensive unlimited and do whatever the hell it pleases. The force of wind over 35 mph is truly awesome to feel. It is nature in all it's raw power. When you fall, you better protect your head if you are on the downwind side, because the board will blow directly into you. Then you'd better grab it quick before the wind gets under it and has some more fun with you. If you hit the board when you fall, you can get injured or even crack the board. Everything just gets intense after 40 mph.

So, when it's blowing anything over 35, meaning the gusts will be really intense, it's a good idea to think hard about what it's going to be like once you are out there and what might happen if something goes wrong. The bottom line is evaluating how much risk there is going to be if things go to hell. There's days when it's no shame to stay on the sand, even though the might look like crazy fun.

[LaPerouseBay]

Hookipa, 01-22-17. 

That's the Waialele in the background.  Length: 345 ft. Max. Deadweight: 5,621 LT.



Day before on the other side of the island.



I'll do windy days on my ski on the south shore, but no more on the north shore.  Swells are too massive.  The white water will mow anything if you lose hull speed.  When those east bombs hit the reef it's a big mess.   

Like cove said, Sup is freaky in high wind.  I tried one with he and HM on the south shore this winter and bailed early in the run.  I wiped out hard and the board went way high and the leash pulled really hard.  I was rattled.  I tried to get going but never settled, so I proned it to the nearest beach.  Skis don't have the windage, so no worries, even if offshore.  Boats like the south shore when it's windy.  Bombs don't have the fetch to get too big.   
 
I've done a few high wind ski days on the north shore, but those are risky if you wipe out.  No more of those.  Really scary in a ski. 

Did a windy F-16 maliko with Admin back in 08 or 09 that was gusting over 40.  I remember falling at pier one, then trying to knee paddle.  But kneeling or proning didn't work.  The wind was so strong it would lift the tail as the crest came and spin me.  The only way to proceed was to stand up and get going.  That was wild. 

[headmount]

I did a 45-55 day several years ago and it was good.  It was before I had a rudder board.  The board I was using was a 14' at around 36 pounds.   The weight helped in that circumstance and the board felt like a Cadillac.  Conditions appeared as if they were some CGI effects in a disaster movie about an earthquake.  Paddling out of the gulch before I turned off the wind, it was my first and only time I've actually been blown off my board.  But once pointed downwind, it wasn't bad.  I went with two others who I never saw once the whole run.  There were also two OC-1s that launched at the same time.  It was intense but if conditions were like that again, I'd go.  I still own a heavy 14' and believe that's the call for that kind of deal.  That happened the last day of March.  I may have written about it on the Zone.  Can't remember.

Definitely a double leash affair.  PBill introduced that idea to me a few years later and on a day like that... perfect.

[LaPerouseBay]

Yeah, you wrote about it here, but not much.  It was back in 09 or 10.  The windsurfer guys had a contest that week for elevation.  They had a fancy gps accurate enough to measure height.  They were going 40+ feet if i recall correctly.  It was every bit as windy as that photo I posted the day you went.  I thought you were crazy. 

I did one 4 years later in ski.  Never again.  Scared so bad I didn't know whether to shit or go blind.  HUGE tree on the road (in Kahului) on the drive home.  Never again on the north shore for me.   

[PonoBill]

It's supposedly gusting to 50 here in the Hood today. Felt like it during my kite lesson--a fine day for lesson one. Didn't have any trouble getting the kite in the air. Control was just a little more of an issue. I did fine though, on days like this it's great to have an anchor. I make a fine anchor.

I'm trying to find someone to downwind with. Rod is headed to Wenatchee for a video shoot. I have the opportunity for a Hood River Triathalon--OC6 in the early morning (festive), Kite lesson at 10:30 (intense), and downwind at three--but I need a shuttle. Diane is sick so I can't do a solo. Sucks to be me. I need to widen my circle of DW friends. Maybe Lazlo will go. Current is wicked, the drops are gonna be humungous.

[laszlo]

friends. Maybe Lazlo will go. Current is wicked, the drops are gonna be humungous.

Hey Bill next time give me a call. Although I would have passed on today, I would gladly go most days. Today looked sketchy for my first Gorge downwinder of the season, cold air, really cold water and an out of shape body. With this much current I'm going to need all the help I can get. It was very gusty today but it also had huge holes.

[laszlo]

On the other hand it looks like Arlington had much more steady conditions!

[PonoBill]

Tomorrow might be good.

[JP4]

Did a Viento early this afternoon with Joel, Russell, and Dennis. It was blasting at the start of the run with overhead swell at times. These two photos are about two seconds apart from my head mounted GoPro. That's Dennis disappearing on the left. The swell certainly can get much bigger, but we were remarking later how big it was for the beginning part of the run. It seems like the really big rollers are usually by Mitchel and then Swell City, but the combo of 35-40kt winds and super fast current have changed things up a bit. Unfortunately after about a mile, the wind backed off into the 20-25kt range, which is probably the minimum required to go upstream against the current right now without really wearing yourself out. Wells Express was going towards Washington pretty hard today, so there was a lot of cross chop and it required going left to catch the swell and then surfing hard right to stay on the Oregon side. Super fun run, but it's definitely a little work to get upstream this spring.
JP

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[PonoBill]

If you plan to go tomorrow, give me a call.