Just curious what you guys consider the lightest conditions to go wave sailing- and on what gear? I know it's fun when it's blowing 15 knots plus, but what's the least amount of wind you'll go out in? Just talking ya typical beach break stuff, head high max and light breezes.

Cheers.

When I lived down in Gerroa I'd go out on a SUP with a 5m sail in 5 knts when there was good swell. In beach break dribble I probably wouldn't bother.

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PhilSWR said...

Just curious what you guys consider the lightest conditions to go wave sailing- and on what gear? I know it's fun when it's blowing 15 knots plus, but what's the least amount of wind you'll go out in? Just talking ya typical beach break stuff, head high max and light breezes.

Cheers.

for me when the wind gets annoying to SUP - 12 - 15 knts SUP sail or maybe the OES 112 Quad if its steady any lighter than that you might as well just surf or SUP it - you can usually paddle out quicker than you plod - if its onshore I wouldnt bother

Not beach break stuff but check this out this for light wind + pro sailors
There are several heats uploaded to vimeo.

Good clip mate. Seems like a chug-a-thon getting out, but once on the waves it's game on, with plenty of speed and power even on the smallish boards they're riding. Sadly my home break doesn't look like that...not very often anyway

That would have been considered a windy day after the last two years in nsw

sup sailing on nice clean waves with light wind is so much fun. We try to wavesail as much as possible. I got box head last week on 6-8knots cross off 4-6foot and got way more waves the all the surfers and sup's. Was getting over 400m waves. Cross off works better in light winds because the wind increases more when your on the wave. Any excuse to go sailing. Im not going to pretend that it's better then 20knots but its still heaps of fun.

Get on the water

Box Head can be epic hey. I use to surf there a bit when I lived on the Cen Coast, pretty amazingly long wave really. Never viewed it as a sail boarding spot, but now you mention it, it would be pretty close to perfect. And being a goofy it was Heaven to me.

Probably 10-12knots is game on, just want enough power in your sail to help going thru breakers, and this is normally enough to water start in also

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PhilSWR said...

Box Head can be epic hey. I use to surf there a bit when I lived on the Cen Coast, pretty amazingly long wave really. Never viewed it as a sail boarding spot, but now you mention it, it would be pretty close to perfect. And being a goofy it was Heaven to me.

Yea it has given me some of the best waves to surf and wavesail. I'm a goofy footer to and it's all time. Only can sail it down the line when everything lines up. Needs a big south swell and a strong NE other wise it's all sup sailing. There are some pretty big whole out there as the head land gets in the way which forces you wide but that usaly works out well. When the bomb sets come through everyone get caught inside and your out wide by your self and you get them all the way to the beach. So much fun. Recommend heading out there when the swell and wind is right. Other wise no so good.

12 plus knots usually to go out but when im out i'll head back in when it drops below 8 knots, which is usually a swim back in

anyone from gero will say "yea about 25 knots otherwise its a bit pointless"

6.2s (and even 6.7s to a degree) and 105 litre wave boards are totally high performance these days

You just have to make sure that your rig is light - that is one of the keys to the big sails.

This in turn opens up a whole new world of light wind sailing

and makes those 12-15 knot days full plane , get lots of waves and some jump conditions.

Had an 11 knot day in the desert last easter - 6.2 and 95 litre board - chest high waves - some of the most fun wave sailing i have ever had - and probably did my best ever up and under aerial pop out of the lip straight up in the air i have ever done (i cant usually do these).

Big wave sails are going to be seen a lot more on the west coast. sounds like the east coast is pretty sorted for wind this year.

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Reflex Films said...



Had an 11 knot day in the desert last easter - 6.2 and 95 litre board - chest high waves - some of the most fun wave sailing i have ever had.

I can appreciate the light wind and chest high wave combo. To make that type of wave sailing more fun and less hard work, I just recently got a 101 lt JP FSW, and for my weight (76kg) it floats very well. It's fine to up-haul in near glassy conditions, so takes the stress out of the "Is there enough wind to waterstart??" question. I also recently bought a 5.7 Gaastra Manic wave sail of a mate, it rigs very nice on 4.15 mast and is surprisingly light. This combo has given me some great wave sessions in small stuff (up to face high) and winds ranging from 6-12 knots. Sadly, I'm not good enough to sail waves comfortably once it gets over 15 knots... But the time will come!

the ultimate starboard weapon for light wind wave riding :




....on the left