SE Saturday

[LeopardSkin]

I counted around 35 windsurfers throughout the day.

[Alton]

Best session of the year! Glad I got an early start before 10am. 9m+surfboard was only good for 0.5 hrs before switching to 7m. Waves are crazy disorganized inside but better outside. Surprisingly waves jacked up rather quickly to head high.

In the afternoon wind got so strong (SSE 35+) that keeping upwind was impossible. I got greedy and went for another run - way overpowered so self-rescued down at Centennial. Very odd when I touched ground at Centennial that my kite fell out of the sky - maybe a SSW wind shadow. Quickly flagged out to prevent the kite from powering up. The kite lost all its air but lucky for me the only damage was losing the connector between the main bladder and center strut.

Overall another challenging day with high tide chop and overpowered conditions.

BoundaryBay_Sat_Jan_2.gif (26.35 KiB) Viewed 6798 times

[Michael]

That was epic, one of the best days in a long time! I think I said "legendary" on the beach a few times. The last few hours were crazy, wind got stronger and the waves got xlarge! At first the 3.7 was too small and I struggled to keep up wind. Had a few walks up the beach but glad I didn't re-rig for the second have was perfect. Bottom turns were super fun with South wind and big swell. Lots of back loop crashes, landed on my gear a few times and my front foot came out on one, I'm in a bad grove where I tend to over rotate.

[tweegster]

James and I went out at Crescent at 10:30. Wind was sideshore with a wind shadow and swirliness for the first 200 feet. Beyond that was the "corner effect" from Kwomais point where it was nuking. It built until it was well into the 40's with smoke on the water. Rode for about 45mins, but it became mostly a survival session. Waves were waist high and a nice angle for boosting, so hit a few and went back in happy for land.

Should have made the drive over to 3rd.

[tweegster]

Clarify.... Gusts well into 40's, lulls in teens.

[ShonanDB]

Arrived at CNL for the late shift and got a solid hour of 3.7 overpowered goodness. Nice waves on the outside and some big air. Got one unintended forward attempt when I started rotating downwind. Landed on my side with my gear still in hand and ready to waterstart. Off the water by 3:30 when it rotated more South and the 15 - 30 knots conditions were unsettling.
Nice way to start 2021.

[Mike]

Yep, another good day. Started odd with no clear sign or sound of wind on beach, but it did look windy out on water. Thankfully started on 4.5 instead of 5.3. After about 20 minutes switched to 3.7. I thought rigging with a bit more downhaul was helping me depower on the waves, but, it was probably just a bit lighter wind than last Wednesday. Full session ended with a hole in the 3.7 (nose dive in water, harness hook to sail). Taped up last night and good to go again! Tough call on replacing a sail (even if it's 2004) when it's not used much. BUTwhen it's used it's on the best of days.

[Slappy]

It was a pretty good session, a bit on the gusty side though. Ended up with 2 hours of riding and 45 min of swimming. Waves weren't great down at Centennial or even on the outside at 3rd but South of 3rd on the outside there were some nice big ones to be found. Once the wind went fluky ended up getting caught in a legit death loop, first time for me. Managed it okay but after I had my kite and bar dealt with I couldn't keep up with my surfboard as the wind took it faster than I could swim/sail.

Log entry:


Death loop commentary:

[Michael]

Ended up with 2 hours of riding and 45 min of swimming.

That looked nasty! Glad you're OK. I saw one kiter way outside just after I came in. I figured it must have been you. Looked like you were having fun at that point, I hope you find your board.

[Alton]

... Once the wind went fluky ended up getting caught in a legit death loop ...

Angus - You got me freaked out. Glad you're ok. You were surprisingly calm and cheerful after your crazy session.