Open Ocean Sailing

Was originally going to post this to Wardog off the NG, but thought it might be a useful discussion topic here.

Wardog,

Justin Boland just posted a piece on rec.windsurfing where he mentions sailing down the backs of swells in the open ocean. Psychologically this strikes me as a different class of windsurfing, one that we never seem to talk about on the NG. Is it in fact a different class of windsurfing? Different than the Lake sailing I know, or the east coast inside the barrier islands/intercoastal highway/salt water lake sailing or the fresh and salt water wave sailing normally talked about?

I grew up and live to this day in the interior and the only time I knew the ocean was while living in a log float house at Port Alice on Hecata Island in SE Alaska. God the water and the life in it, you could see 50 ft to the bottom on clear calm days. On my wife's 23rd (?) birthday we tried getting close enough to touch a humpback whale swimming in our bay, using our 17 ft canoe. Imagine, though there's no need to imagine cause it's real, an animal bigger than a railroad box car leaving less wake than an a 17 ft canoe, doing kick turns 5 ft from the rocks.

The preceding was off topic, but driving a 16 ft Alum. skiff up the hill on one side of a glassy swell and down the hill on the other was otherworldly and then the next day the same water could look like pasture stuffed with sheep there'd be so much white, this was 20 years ago and it still lives with me and is maybe part of the reason i windsurf even if as a perpetual beginner.

At any rate the photos of deep water open ocean sailing, on the German IMCO site, move me more than all the Hot Shots in WS mag, yet no one talks/writes about it. No one cares? Few really know about it? Most are properly intimidated? Something only Germans do (and die regularly at) in the North Sea? To me this is the soul of windsurfing. Or am I a dumb ass way off in never, never land somewhere.

Thanks,

Hi Ray, Only time for a few thoughts right now...

Definitely a different class of windsurfing. I have a few theories on my it's not more popular. First off...remember the addage, 'never sail out further than you are willing to swim in?'...that knocks the numbers right down. It all goes back to going out to sea and throughout history there are many sailors who never made it back to port. 3000 men lost at sea: http://www.downtosea.com/down2c.htm Remember Baron Arnaud de Rosnay's disappearance? That didn't do anything to grow this genre of windsurfing. The Trans-Atlantic crossing had to scrub the mission. Long distance deep water windsurfing is dangerous and the wind is unpredictable, even on a macro scale. http://www.mauitime.com/issue16/surf-sport4.html

Secondly, there are a huge chunk of windsurfers who are afraid of sailing in the ocean. Then there are those that sail the ocean, but are fearful of deep water. Some will only sail where they can touch bottom. I actually know a couple of surfsailors who don't go out very far because they have been frightened of breakdowns and/or animals. Fear of the unknown. Fear is definitely a limiting factor. There are enough big lakes around to qualify as 'oceans'...if you can't see land on the other side from shore, it's a big lake.

Thirdly, for some reason, windsurfers sail in groups close to each other. Birds of a feather. Check out the Gorge, S.F. Bay, Maui...where there are large groups of sailors... back and forth in the same area...few people sailing very far from where they launch. It's great really, because it allows the better sailors to get out of the crowds by ging up or downwind. I love doing downwinders...great chance to explore the coastline. Safer if you do it with a few people and bring along some spare gear and nourishment. Boy Scouts motto...BE PREPARED. Drinking H2O and a powerbar at a minimum. You have to make sure that your gear is in top shape and that the wind conditions are not fluky and be cognizant of micro-meterological and geographical issues.

People sail out to offshore islands frequently and sail right into a wind shadow and have to be rescued. People run into sea turtles and needlefish run into you...so there are hazards. I have a 15' inflatable that I use for remote surfing and oftentimes in the P.M. you have to run with the swells downslope being careful not to pearl.

Just a few of the initial thoughts I had...

WARDOG

It's not a different class of windsurfing, but to me it is a major part of my fun so I thought I'd reply. I don't know if you're thinking about giant seas far offshore, but just sailing around in lumpy seas within a mile or so of shore is something I do all the time, often when my buds are trying to make the best of small shorebreak. I'm on the east coast of Florida where the Gulfstream sometimes moves in to within a mile or two, so I can sail out to where I can see down into the clear water and get into the seas that build when the wind blows against the current. These lumps can be head high, and zipping around them is like skiing moguls. Sometimes I spend an hour or two at this. It's also nice to be out farther and get a longer view of the shore and feel the solitude. I often see sea turtles in this zone, sometimes sharks and porpoises. If there's a clean swell running there's more likely to be an attractive break inside, but still I often go out pretty far and then, when sailing back in, go up and over the back and down the front of the swells. You're right, it's not something people ooh and aah about much, but to me it's great fun.

Being close to regular sailing on the great lakes/ocean i know of what you speak. One piece of advice. BE PREPARED to ditch the rig asap if you think you've blown it for whatever reason .. fill in blank .. Don't follow the siren call of its gotta be better up ahead because it ain't./ Ditch and start paddling. my 2 cents ray in toronto

I love sailing in the swell. I used to take a long board out in South Africa, where you don't have to go far offshore in order to hit big swells. I always made sure somebody kept an eye on me and that there was some means of rescue nearby.

If you're keen to give it a try, you take along a couple of flares and a cell phone in a waterproof pack.

My best offshore experience was actually in a sailing dinghy off Port Elizabeth. We were racing in an inter-varsity regatta and 5 minutes before the start gun we were surrounded by a school of dolphins - about 80 of them, I'd guess. Every last boat turned downwind and followed with the school. The dolphins were jumping and splashing us and we could even touch them - they were so close it seemed as though they must land in the cockpit. It was one of those goose-bump moments surrounded by glistening bodies and flying spray.

They eventually out-distanced us as the start gun went, and it was a full 20 minutes before the first boat crossed the start line! Nobody remembers who won that day, but none of us will ever forget the experience.

one of the things i like about cabarete is sailing in the open ocean beyond the reef. it's really beautiful out there and the swells can be quite large - large enough so that when you are in the trough, all you can see is green. for those that have never been there, cabarete is on a u-shaped bay, with the reef stretching across the top. the wind is side-onshore, from the right. when you are inside the bay, you feel protected, because if you get blown down wind you still end up on a beach. once you are outside the bay, on the other side of the reef, i'm not sure where you would end up. i try never to go more than a few hundred meters past the reef and never to be the furthest sailor out. it can be kind of lonely out there. i haven't seen any dolphins, but i have seen turtles.

Ray its a different class of sailing if your not familiar with it, as would be lake sailing to me. I like most other sailers around here have never sailed on a lake or on enclosed waters and the open ocean is what we have grown up with. Sailing in waves and running with swells is just part of the package and what its all about for me.

Like the others have said intimidation is often a factor and for that reason the best advise is always:

Know your sailing location. Know your weather. Have an escape plan. know your limitations

I rarely sail any further than a mile offshore, and have had the big swim in mast high surf, ditched all my gear including helmet to survive ( but luckily recovered it on the inside).

Tom Who seriously doubts he has the discipline to sail on lakes.

I love open ocean sailing. Its much more fun that flat water. The only reason I don't do it more is because it beats the cr*p out of you. It probably takes two to three times the effort as flat water sailing, and I am typically not in great sailing shape since I don't go frequently enough. Given the choice between sailing for 2-3 hours in the intracoastal in Fla and sailing 30-60 minutes in the colder ocean, I usually pick the intracoastal.

When I lived in Miami however, I sailed more often, and I typically went out one to two miles before turning around. The main reason for that was because I couldn't jibe back then...so I would just do a part jibe and try and fall into a position where my sail was positioned for a waterstart the other way. Waterstarting every few hundred yards is a pain, so I just took very long reaches. Now I hit about 60% to 70% of my jibes in the ocean, but I still like the long reaches. I am not yet good enough to do the jibe/jibe/jibe routine necessary to stay in the wave zone.

One of the riskier things I did was sail at Chrissy field in San Fran alone. I was visiting a buddy and he took me sailing there. We didn't stay together too long once we got on the water. The sailing conditions were great, but I was only wearing a 3/2 wetsuit so I was cold. The water temp is in the mid 50s. The best conditions there are when the current flows out of the bay and the wind blows in. But...if the wind dies or if you break down, that current moves at 3-4 knots straight out to sea. I didn't want to think about the possibility of breaking down, and fortunately I didn't.

I saw some guys there with fannie packs containing Eperbs (radio beacons for coast guard to find you) and portable marine radios. Probably a good idea if you sail there often. I heard legends about guys who spent the night on the Farralon islands 15 miles offshore and returned with the tide the next day.

The wind died on my friend at Chrissy once, and he got picked up by a boat. A different time the wind died on him when the current was going in. By the time he made it to shore, it was dark and he was at Fisherman's wharf. He said it was quite the scene with him dressed in full wetsuit hauling his gear up on the docks at night in the middle of all the tourists.

It's not clear the me whether you're asking about the 'open ocean' part or the 'backs of the swell' part, but I've certainly done both, both separately and together. It's all just WS to me, until the waves (surf) start falling down on top of me.

The 'open ocean' part, for me, has included off the Oregon coast, off Kanaha, Maui (out to the shipping lanes a few mile offshore ... alone), and in a sense off Kihei, Maui (at least it SEEMS like open ocean when you're a few miles offshore, alone, and there's nothing downwind but Oz). The spookiest time was my first reach straight west of Oregon, when I sailed out through the impact zone, and just kept going because it was fun and new. When I finally turned around, North America was nowhere to be seen. I knew (i.e., hoped) it was somewhere back there in the fog, so I just trusted that the wind hadn't changed direction and sailed on the new tack until North America showed up again. The next few dozen such reaches weren't so spooky.

As for the 'backs of the swell'

Couldn't agree more. It's the same for me. It's amazing that even on the other side of the planet it's the ocean turtles that cause scares. I've had 2 close encounters in the last 3 months. I can't see them until I'm on top of them. their shells are the same color as the water and they sit just under the surface. I get a real buzz when I see wildlife. once some dolphins were cruising off my bow.

I always go in spots where there are likely to be boats around. In Australia this is pretty easy to achieve. lots of yachts and fishing cruisers. I also go with mates. at least one. As has been suggested it can be risky, losing sight of people behind swells if they break gear. unfortunately I've had to be rescued a few times. Usually because the wind died. Years ago I used to sail a tandem out in the ocean. that was unreal. I always went on the front so I got incredible air.

As you say Allen zipping around swells is heaps of fun.

I dont go fully ocean, but i do cross morteon bay every now and then in my trips to the islands and back.

When i get my formula board, i expect to cut the time down some, as i usually take my ancient windsurfer express for the journey. Its less tiring than my slalom boards, and points better.

Cant see why people are scared of deep water though....If you can waterstart or, if needed, uplhaul, then theres no problem there.

Guess us beach dwellers naturally work with the ocean...