Monday, September 7, 2009

Anatomy of a Summer Windsurfing Sesh in FL

The windsurfing weather has been crappy here in Florida since I got back from vacation. It's the typical summer pattern; saturating heat and humidity under mostly cloudy skies, with hints of afternoon seabreeze usually squelched by over-spilling thunderstorms.

Yesterday looked like another bummer when I checked iwindsurf in the morning. Then there was a teaser wind blip caused by a thunderstorm. When there's a thunderstorm early, it tends to blow any chance for a seabreeze to re-develop, so I wrote off windsurfing for the day and did some other stuff. Branches started wiggling around 4pm, though, enough for me to put my formula gear in the van and drive down to the beach to have a look. It looked great! A nice 10+ knots of breeze, perfect for my 9.8 msq sail. I rode powered-up for two hours.

Photobucket

So that's how you get a good windsurfing sesh in Florida in summer. Patience, luck, a big-ass sail, and willingness to jump on any wind opportunity.

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