So people always talk about there light/medium/high wind setups, just wondered what wind range people class as light/medium/high for example is it
10-14knots light
14-20knots medium
20knots + high?
If you assume it's a pro pwa rider what would they call light/med/high and what volume board and sail size would they use in say medium conditions

I would agree with your wind strength chart . Mabee raise the high to 22 . Over 30 , it's just damage controll for me and I'm not having fun . I think a lot of people overestimate what the wind actually is . A proper 30 kts whips sand off the beach and stings your ankles . I can't even imagine what those storm chasers and speed guys feel in 50 kt wind , it must be brutal .

Depends on what gear you are sailing and the conditions.
Wave sailing light wind is usually 12 - 16 knots. Then is planing conditions until 28 knots.

beaufort wind scale below is the technical answer.

for me depends on longboards or shortboards. longboards it;s the beaufort scale.

short boards.

light 12-18kn - 6.2m 125lt
med 18-22kn - 5.6m 125/115lt
strong 22-30kn - 5m 115lt
pumping 30-40kn - 5/4.5m - 95lt
nuclear 40+kn - 4.5m - 95lt

no matter how strong i'll go out. been out in 50knots but i pick my location in those strengths and give up on gybing.

the boms version

Light - 19km/h or less (9kn)
Moderate - 20 to 30km/h (10-15kn)
Fresh - 31 to 39km/h (15-20kn)
Strong - 40 to 61km/h (20-30kn)
Gale - 62 to 87km/h (30-40kn)
Storm - 88 to 102km/h (40-50kn)
Hurricane - 103km/h or more (50+)
Wind speed in knots is approximately half the km/h figure (1km/h = 0.54kts).

Depends where you are reading the wind strength. It's supposed to be 10m above surrounding terrain.
Using my hand held anemometer on the beach, above 5m/s I can sail with 6m. That's 10 knots
Consistently above 7m/s and I'm on 5m.
Over 8m/s and I'm down to 4.5 and at 10m/s I'm struggling to hang on.
At 12m/s I don't have a sail small enough.

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Mr Milk said..
Depends where you are reading the wind strength. It's supposed to be 10m above surrounding terrain.
Using my hand held anemometer on the beach, above 5m/s I can sail with 6m. That's 10 knots
Consistently above 7m/s and I'm on 5m.
Over 8m/s and I'm down to 4.5 and at 10m/s I'm struggling to hang on.
At 12m/s I don't have a sail small enough.

10m/s is 20knots isn't it?

12m/s is only 23knots. something out of whack.

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Ben1973 said..
So people always talk about there light/medium/high wind setups, just wondered what wind range people class as light/medium/high for example is it
10-14knots light
14-20knots medium
20knots + high?
If you assume it's a pro pwa rider what would they call light/med/high and what volume board and sail size would they use in say medium conditions

For me - Our wind is patchy and this is for lake chop
5-15kts light - 7.5m - 112ltre ( 64 wide)
12-18kts medium- 7m - 90ltre ( 57 wide)
20kts plus high - 5.7m - 4.2m - 85ltre waveboard

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Gestalt said..

Mr Milk said..
Depends where you are reading the wind strength. It's supposed to be 10m above surrounding terrain.
Using my hand held anemometer on the beach, above 5m/s I can sail with 6m. That's 10 knots
Consistently above 7m/s and I'm on 5m.
Over 8m/s and I'm down to 4.5 and at 10m/s I'm struggling to hang on.
At 12m/s I don't have a sail small enough.

10m/s is 20knots isn't it?

12m/s is only 23knots. something out of whack.

The point is that none of us have a ladder at the beach to get up 10m above the surrounding terrain and measure wind.
Using wind strengths reported by BOM stations has to be blended with local knowledge to pick out your rig because you generally aren't right at the station and your mast isn't 10m tall.

Light wind: I'm pumping to get foiling and no chance of finning on my biggest sail (9.5)

7kts minimum so far but I think I could push to 6

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10-18kts light
19-26kts medium
+26kts high

Roughly speaking it's high wind once I'm on an 85L (me at 93kg).

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Gestalt said..
the boms version

Light - 19km/h or less (9kn)
Moderate - 20 to 30km/h (10-15kn)
Fresh - 31 to 39km/h (15-20kn)
Strong - 40 to 61km/h (20-30kn)
Gale - 62 to 87km/h (30-40kn)
Storm - 88 to 102km/h (40-50kn)
Hurricane - 103km/h or more (50+)
Wind speed in knots is approximately half the km/h figure (1km/h = 0.54kts).

1 knot = 1.852kmh.

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BSN101 said..

Gestalt said..
the boms version

Light - 19km/h or less (9kn)
Moderate - 20 to 30km/h (10-15kn)
Fresh - 31 to 39km/h (15-20kn)
Strong - 40 to 61km/h (20-30kn)
Gale - 62 to 87km/h (30-40kn)
Storm - 88 to 102km/h (40-50kn)
Hurricane - 103km/h or more (50+)
Wind speed in knots is approximately half the km/h figure (1km/h = 0.54kts).

1 knot = 1.852kmh.

yes i know. i posted the approximates.

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Using wind strengths reported by BOM stations has to be blended with local knowledge to pick out your rig

Perfect. I use BOM because I'm used to the forecast/prediction. And that's how I read it, a prediction of what the wind might do. I always look at the water where I'm sailing and make a decision on what I see vs prediction vs what's coming from down wind prediction/actual locations. In Busso we rarely sail at the end of the jetty where there's a weather station so we use it as a guide, 2km off shore guide.

Trees rustling= light
Trees bending= medium
Leaves flying off= go time !

at the moment in qld you can have a wind meter at the shore and it still won't help.

one minute 20 next minute 10.

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Gestalt said..
at the moment in qld you can have a wind meter at the shore and it still won't help.

one minute 20 next minute 10.

Glad it's not just us feeling that! 10-20 sounds consistent compared to some of days we have had! Also noticed some of the usual wind meters have become less reliable lately must be due to the unstable winds, one that we usually minus 4 knots from is now more like 8 knots from reality

Yep, light wind 12-16kts.
Medium 16-22.
Strong 22+

Explanation is:

light - no planing outside of waves. Very little sail pressure.

Medium - occasional plane, overall speed match wind speed. Moderate sail pressure.

Strong - wind speed greater than board speed lots of sail power.

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Light wind = little ripples on water
Medium wind = white horses on water.
High wind = time to rig small sail.
So in a nutshell there's 3 varients
Lightwind sit on beach watch sailors struggle.
Mediumwind scratch your head and ask other sailors what size to rig or high wind just get out there.

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gavnwend said..

Light wind = little ripples on water
Medium wind = white horses on water.
High wind = time to rig small sail.
So in a nutshell there's 3 varients
Lightwind sit on beach watch sailors struggle.
Mediumwind scratch your head and ask other sailors what size to rig or high wind just get out there.

Not if you are at a good weedy speed spot. Lake George and Lilacs can blow 30kts without any white caps, and blow 20kts without even a ripple.

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mob dog said..
Trees rustling= light
Trees bending= medium
Leaves flying off= go time !

Yep perfect. Wind strength is dependent on skill set too, someone's strong might be my medium. Daffy and my strong wind might translate as " You guys are nuts"

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mob dog said..
Trees rustling= light
Trees bending= medium
Leaves flying off= go time !

Yep perfect. Wind strength is dependent on skill set too, someone's strong might be my medium. Daffy and my strong wind might translate as " You guys are nuts"

Just to add a question onto the thread, in winter I feel I can get going in lighter wind. Is the air density (cause it is cold and the air is denser) a factor as well? Saying that winter goes off here and it might just be that I get all excited and feel like I'm in my 20's and pump that sail like no tomorrow.

Yup definitely density. A colder wind has more oomff

And then some people talk in mph and it is not nautical mph (knots) and suddenly we're all talking a very different language.

something i wrote in a previous thread

Say you have a feather and a brick travelling at 15knts each. They are both doing the same speed but the brick being more dense will hit you with more force.

So. 15 knots is 15 knots regardless of density. But as cooler air has more density it also has more force.

The confusion is the terminology used. We should be talking about wind energy and not wind speed.

To measure wind energy you need to know both temp/density and wind speed.

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Gestalt said..
something i wrote in a previous thread

Say you have a feather and a brick travelling at 15knts each. They are both doing the same speed but the brick being more dense will hit you with more force.

So. 15 knots is 15 knots regardless of density. But as cooler air has more density it also has more force.

The confusion is the terminology used. We should be talking about wind energy and not wind speed.

To measure wind energy you need to know both temp/density and wind speed.

Very interesting. I can feel the nerd coming out of me 1/2mass X velocity squared.

i looked into buying a wind meter that measured density but they are a bit costly.

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Gestalt said..
i looked into buying a wind meter that measured density but they are a bit costly.

Also depending on the spot. If the wind is cross on or off I might not get an accurate wind speed on the beach.
It's an interesting question.
For me light would be big board big sail 127 and 7.8 border line planning. Or maybe going out on a big board and smallish sail to practise turning around.
High wind is when if I try to adjust the sail on the beach and I look upwind, it feels like I am having my face sand blasted or it looks like a sand Storm coming towards me. 86L and 3.7
And middle is 105 and a 4.2 or 4.7
But that is also my spot it's either nuking, comfortable or crappy. I guess I could also classify the conditions as that.

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Gestalt said..
i looked into buying a wind meter that measured density but they are a bit costly.

At least in the US, one can get the density altitude readings from local airports which gives a good index. You can also work it out with some online calculators:
www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_densityaltitude
airdensityonline.com/free-calcs/

and I've used the second link to get the air density at a race track near where we sail. Air density is a big deal for tuning race cars.

The effect of cold air can be huge. Where I live, the difference between summer and winter can be a sail size (about 15%). In altitude terms, like going from sea level up to 1400m.

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Gestalt said..
something i wrote in a previous thread

Say you have a feather and a brick travelling at 15knts each. They are both doing the same speed but the brick being more dense will hit you with more force.

So. 15 knots is 15 knots regardless of density. But as cooler air has more density it also has more force.

The confusion is the terminology used. We should be talking about wind energy and not wind speed.

To measure wind energy you need to know both temp/density and wind speed.

Those cups/blades are hit with energy (speed x density) to turn them, if more molecules (dense air) with same speed hit the blade it will apply more force therefore it will spin the turbine faster and you will read higher wind speed than molecules are moving at same speed but less dense air.
So that logic tells me i would read wind energy from an anemometer.
Can you explain how its otherwise please?

Calculated wind predictions maybe a different story, cold humid 15kts maybe stronger than a hot dry 15kts at same spot.

Cup system takes net force of two opposite forces due to different aerodynamics of cups sides, but blade system has one direction and same aerodynamics all around.
Is it possible cup style and blade style give different results depending on density and cup shape?

For me if include foiling, light: 10-16kts, if only fin light: 13-18kts, med: 18-25kts, strong: 25+kts, 61kg

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Sea Lotus said..

Gestalt said..
something i wrote in a previous thread

Say you have a feather and a brick travelling at 15knts each. They are both doing the same speed but the brick being more dense will hit you with more force.

So. 15 knots is 15 knots regardless of density. But as cooler air has more density it also has more force.

The confusion is the terminology used. We should be talking about wind energy and not wind speed.

To measure wind energy you need to know both temp/density and wind speed.

Those cups/blades are hit with energy (speed x density) to turn them, if more molecules (dense air) with same speed hit the blade it will apply more force therefore it will spin the turbine faster and you will read higher wind speed than molecules are moving at same speed but less dense air.
So that logic tells me i would read wind energy from an anemometer.
Can you explain how its otherwise please?

Calculated wind predictions maybe a different story, cold humid 15kts maybe stronger than a hot dry 15kts at same spot.

Cup system takes net force of two opposite forces due to different aerodynamics of cups sides, but blade system has one direction and same aerodynamics all around.
Is it possible cup style and blade style give different results depending on density and cup shape?

For me if include foiling, light: 10-16kts, if only fin light: 13-18kts, med: 18-25kts, strong: 25+kts, 61kg

from what i understand, an anemometer uses no mass frictionless cups/blades specifically to negate measuring force because speed is not a measure of force. speed is distance / time.

it's not possible with maths to mix up the units. if a wind meter were measuring force the units would be newtons or something similar.