My ambition is to go out on moderately breezy days and catch the swells on the bay. While it is a great workout paddling upwind, the downwind segment has been a little disappointing.

I've been out in winds up to 25 knots and managed to catch a few swells using boards such as the C4 11'6", Starboard 12'6", my Starboard 11'2", Naish 11'6" and the Naish Glide.

I've managed to catch the odd runner, and quite a few waves breaking on a sand bar. I've had nothing approaching catching runners in sequence or getting a surf-like ride. Maybe the longest ride was about 10-20 metres. In my experience if the wave is not breaking then you're highly unlikely to catch it.

So, has anybody had much luck catching wind swell? What kind of board do you think we need to consistently catch wind swells?

I don't want to have to paddle in outrageously strong winds. It's too much like hard work paddling into 20 knot winds and kiteboarding is more fun in those conditions. A 15 knot breeze throws up a decent little swell and I want to catch the bastards!

The problem seems to be that the swells are moving so fast that it is not possible to get up enough board speed to catch them. I've tried all sorts of variations of standing well forward, back or centered.

I am thinking that maybe a wider tail is needed. That might be why the Starboards and the Glide did not catch swells so easily. The C4 has a wide tail and it seems to catch swells a little better. I also had a McCoy Nugget which was awesome for catching small waves and it had a very wide tail.

Maybe a displacement hull like the Pentrator is the go. I am loathe to get a 17' board. Would a 12' Penetrator have sufficient waterline length to take advantage of the displacement hull?

I've done a lot of what I call mini-downwinders on the bay but I have the same problem. I'm paddling a starboard 12-6 and in 2'-3' windswell there just isn't enough to get much of a run.

There's a definite "stalling" feel as the board drops off the back of the swell. It feels quite demoralising when you've paddled like buggery to catch a wave.

It's also kind of odd when you've paddled over these quite large faces on the way upwind but when going downwind they feel like mushy bumps.

I've tried standing way forward to get the board to coast down the swells. It helps a little but if you get too far forward the board loses directional stability and starts yawing too much.

I was out on my 10'6" today and I don't know what you guys have got against paddling into the wind. I got to say, I kind of enjoy it. It's quite challenging to keep tracking straight and sure it's slow, but it's persistence and perseverance that is the big pay off when you reach your goal. On the downwind run back to base I even thought I caught a couple of runners - kind of fun getting in surfing stance even if I just thought I caught them.

The idea of just doing a downwinder without experiencing the pain goes against my grain. The organization that needs to go into a downwinder, setting up vehicles etc, kind of kills the idea of riding a board in the ocean for me a tad. It's good having chairlifts around to take you to the top of the mountain if that infrastructure already exists. But I reckon If you can't climb the mountain you haven't earned the right to ski down it IMHO.

With the Glide I'd be interested to know how it copes paddling into 10 - 15 knott winds. From the looks of it I think it would be fine, would track well and be stable. Seems to be the ideal port philip bay sub.

DavidJohn said...

Also..I think once you've done a 40 knot down-winder you might change your mind about all the hassle of a car shuffle.

If it was an organized thing with more than a couple of people doing it with maybe "the supBus" at the end of it acting as a chairlift, I'd definitely put my hand up to it.

During Woogie and Chris De Aboitizs' attempted circumnavigation of Frazer island 18 or so months ago on 16' second gen. rudderless Penetrators, Woogie connected 2 or three runners which he rode for over a minute and a half in which time he paddled no more than half a dozen strokes. This was on the inside of the island with a 15 knot following breeze and 1-2 feet of wind chop. On the right board conditions don't have to be all that special to get long runs.......

P.S. The Penetrator design doesn't have to be going downwind to move quickly either. A perfect example for those who haven't watched it already can be seen on youtube, just type in "ocean racing sup" for a short clip of my design going in BOTH directions......

The big difference between surfing a coastal breaking wave and wind runners is you trying to paddle into the "holes" in front of you and not on catching a swell from behind.

Wind generated swells travel in "trains" of approx 5 bumps and moving thru the train is a master swell consuming the train as it moves faster than the other 5. If you identify and surf the master swell by staying on it and only take the drop when it will take you to the next swell in the train, you will have covered a lot of ground.

Between trains, look for the shoulder waves that run off at an angle and use those to maintain speed by sticking your bow into the hole. Catching wind runners is a series of sprints. Look for the trains between 20 and 50 metres in front of you.

Download some more complete info from my training Knowledge Box here http://www.box.net/shared/grh7y5xrg4

Cheers Rambo