It was nuking in the near eastern Columbia Gorge yesterday. I was out on a 2.5m F-one, and an Armstrong MA 1225. I got a few rides downwind but was mostly getting blown around by crazy gusts. Fortunately the current was strong enough to hold me near the launch so I was out for about 3 hours.

Now I'm not new to winging but I'm no pro either. I've never previously tried winging in this much wind. Is 40 too much for nearly anyone?

There no other wings, kites, or windsurfers where i launched (though I saw a few DW SUP foilers glide by) but I'm sure kiters and windsurfers have fun at 40 mph. What about wingers?

I can enjoy 30, gusting to 40+, but a small foil around the sub 700 range and a good harness is a must. A 2.2M is also better than a 2.5 in that much wind for me at 65kgs. I'm only out in those conditions to ride good windswell conditions and typically target the gorge scenario.

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choosywinger said..
It was nuking in the near eastern Columbia Gorge yesterday. I was out on a 2.5m F-one, and an Armstrong MA 1225. I got a few rides downwind but was mostly getting blown around by crazy gusts. Fortunately the current was strong enough to hold me near the launch so I was out for about 3 hours.

Now I'm not new to winging but I'm no pro either. I've never previously tried winging in this much wind. Is 40 too much for nearly anyone?

There no other wings, kites, or windsurfers where i launched (though I saw a few DW SUP foilers glide by) but I'm sure kiters and windsurfers have fun at 40 mph. What about wingers?

I got it at Roosevelt yesterday for 2.5 hours. 38 knots, 44mph. A couple other wingers tried and got destroyed. I rode all winter, pushing my high wind limits and gear up to 55 knot gusts at Rooster Rock. Very taxing, very intense, not recommend for everyone. However, it paid off and made yesterday super fun.Upwinding was physical. My downwind flagged out glides were dreamy though. I would usually cut my glide off at 3 minutes since that would put me 1 mile downwind and I didn't want to do more than 1 reach to get back to my starting position.Cloud IX fs900 w/catalyst tail md super high modulus 80cm mast.
Sunova Carver 5'10"x20"
Ocean Rodeo Glide A 2.5m
87kg rider.

Here's a couple clips of me riding. POV.

www.instagram.com/reel/C51ahgjSUku/?igsh=MWE3ODBoeHFoZWJtZg==
www.instagram.com/reel/C5z0KpXrJUc/?igsh=MW9xb2doM3VyZHY5dg==
Screenshot of my gauges.

Loved the vids Bwalnut. It's a shame how the POV flattens the swell, though.
I was riding (ahem, flailing) at Maryhill from about noon-3 pm. Here's the wind graph.

40 mph is absolutely do-able - I was out on a 3m2 Unit this sunday here in Denmark on the east coast with gusts hitting 50 mph.
It's not unusual to have 40-50 mph - especially on the west coast of Denmark (Klitm?ller/Hanstholm) - it's just a question of honing your skills and try again and again. It gets better every time :-)
On the west coast we also get some nice swell/waves together with the high wind which makes it even more challenging - 3-5 meters and sideshore/cross-off makes it fun!

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choosywinger said..
Loved the vids Bwalnut. It's a shame how the POV flattens the swell, though.
I was riding (ahem, flailing) at Maryhill from about noon-3 pm. Here's the wind graph.

It really is a shame how the gopro flattens the swell. I almost never film because of it.

Do you launch right at the Maryhill state park? I've driven up and checked that place out but never gotten in the water there.

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choosywinger said..
Loved the vids Bwalnut. It's a shame how the POV flattens the swell, though.
I was riding (ahem, flailing) at Maryhill from about noon-3 pm. Here's the wind graph.

That's about as windy as it gets on the Maryhill meter. Usually A-town reads similarly, just later.

Upwind just absolutely sucks (for me) in a 40+ average. Was struggling on a similar day last summer on my 2.8 launching from the Rufus boat ramp. Reaches are so short... Then Chris M comes out on a 2.5 and makes it up to Rufus in four reaches. I probably outweigh him by 30Kg too

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Thatspec said..

choosywinger said..
Loved the vids Bwalnut. It's a shame how the POV flattens the swell, though.
I was riding (ahem, flailing) at Maryhill from about noon-3 pm. Here's the wind graph.

That's about as windy as it gets on the Maryhill meter. Usually A-town reads similarly, just later.

Upwind just absolutely sucks (for me) in a 40+ average. Was struggling on a similar day last summer on my 2.8 launching from the Rufus boat ramp. Reaches are so short... Then Chris M comes out on a 2.5 and makes it up to Rufus in four reaches. I probably outweigh him by 30Kg too

Wing design matters a lot at the high end windspeeds. You can't spare the effort of getting pushed downwind. My best upwind/highwind options are:

Ocean Rodeo Glide AA 3m (max gust ridden 35 knots, quite comfortable, maintains excellent low end down to the teens).

Ocean Rodeo Glide A 2.5m (max gust ridden 45 knots, not a casual extreme wind ride when hooked in, lull PR 22 knots). I really wonder if the new 2.5m AA would blow this away.

Strike v3 2m (max gust ridden 55 knots, too windy to get the darn harness loop hooked in with those skinny f-one handles so I couldn't test it's stability fully, if it lulls below 35 knots while you are on foil you can fall over backwards with this).

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BWalnut said..

choosywinger said..
Loved the vids Bwalnut. It's a shame how the POV flattens the swell, though.
I was riding (ahem, flailing) at Maryhill from about noon-3 pm. Here's the wind graph.

It really is a shame how the gopro flattens the swell. I almost never film because of it.

Do you launch right at the Maryhill state park? I've driven up and checked that place out but never gotten in the water there.

Yep. Right from Maryhill. I live in the Puget Sound area and Maryhill is the closest launch.

Glad u put the graph up i was going to ask if you mean 40mph or 40kn
You will often get aussies saying no way don't believe u etc as we all use knots ..... well except for the dumb TV weather girls who confuse km and kn so dont get me started....

Anyway gusts to 40mph is verrry different to sustained 40.... and even more so with sustained 40KNOTS
When kiting came along we all had to moderate their stories a bit
Regardless, well done not very many wingers here remaining out after about high 20's knots

Good point about the wing design. Does anyone have experience about Gong Neutra in these kinds of conditions? Neutra's sizes go down all the way to 2.0m so it could be an option here, but does the shape hold up?

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Mark _australia said..
Glad u put the graph up i was going to ask if you mean 40mph or 40kn
You will often get aussies saying no way don't believe u etc as we all use knots ..... well except for the dumb TV weather girls who confuse km and kn so dont get me started....

Anyway gusts to 40mph is verrry different to sustained 40.... and even more so with sustained 40KNOTS
When kiting came along we all had to moderate their stories a bit
Regardless, well done not very many wingers here remaining out after about high 20's knots

Charts definitely help a lot. Wind speed and fishing stories seem to go hand in hand! Here's my 3 biggest days:





I got a better board and foil for this type of riding in January, but the wind sensor broke and when I'm standing on the beach I can't really tell the difference in 40-60 knots haha.

None of this riding was particularly fun, it was legitimate training and limit pushing. However, these days made the west wind gorge conditions fun when the gusts were coming in at 38 knots and averaging 30 knots.

Out of curiosity, was the wind going against the current or with the current on these sessions? How many knots would that add or subtract?

Ive only ridden Hood when the current is against the wind, but not sure if that's the winter wind direction or not. Kind of looks like East wind (with current) in those graphics, but hard to tell.

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Velocicraptor said..
Out of curiosity, was the wind going against the current or with the current on these sessions? How many knots would that add or subtract?

Ive only ridden Hood when the current is against the wind, but not sure if that's the winter wind direction or not. Kind of looks like East wind (with current) in those graphics, but hard to tell.

Recent days were west winds, big winter days were east winds. My east wind location is tidal affected as well.

When it's light, I find the west wind vs east current really helps with your water start, gives you a little nudge, maybe 2-3 knots? When it's extremely windy though, the surface current and swell pushes you upstream despite the 150kcfs of river flow.

For east winds they always take away from your water start and it changes a lot depending on flow rates and tides.

Once in the air the experience of going and staying upwind changes. West winds are more forgiving, east winds are punishing.

Aero drag in general matters more in high winds as your sail area comes down, and of the few things you can change there board size and shape can be quite significant so give it some consideration.

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Svendson said..
Aero drag in general matters more in high winds as your sail area comes down, and of the few things you can change there board size and shape can be quite significant so give it some consideration.

I was definitely limited by my 5'3"x22" board. Switching to a 5'10"x20" helped a lot in those conditions. Allowed the smaller sail to combine with smaller foils.

If I was lucky enough to have: 40kts , a 2-2.5m2 wing, a small foil, and friends to ride with, I'd be eager to give it a go. On a lake in the SE United States, I haven't recorded any 40kts days, but definitely into the low 30's. I've been pushing a HA925 and a North Mode 5.5m2 wing, with harness, at about ~70kg.

What blows my mind - coming from windsurfing - is the dynamic-range of my wing. Even when way over-powered, I can find a stable angle of attack, hang off my harness, steer my foil nearly straight upwind, and actually take a rest. Gusts can be managed by leveling the wing. It might not be that elegant, but it allows me to enjoy long DW runs in conditions when the lake swell is epic and so it's worth a little struggle hooking in. Another fun aspect of these conditions is the airtime that you can obtain on jumps.

I would say 35kts is my limit. At that point, I will either stall-out too close to the wind or catapult from taking on too much power.

Good points above about how practice makes it easier, and also translates to less windy days. However, there are definitely some animate characteristics of the howling seas that make them unique ;)