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Shorebreak
Every time we go windsurfing we should be aiming, as an absolute minimum, to get onto the board in some fashion and to sail
away. Getting swept back up the beach before you’ve got started is hardly ideal. If the water is flat when launching then
obviously we can get going with ease. If there’s a little bit of shorebreak then it should be ok if care is taken. Too much water
dumping on the beach however and you may have to give it a miss and turn into a spectator to learn the ways.
Timing can be critical. If unsure, take a
seat on the beach for five+ minutes and
watch the pattern of the waves, looking
for a regular let-up in the shorebreak.
Like arriving at a busy road whilst
carrying a stack of shopping you need to
stop and take in what’s going on – not
just rush straight out and hope for the
best. Waiting a while to observe the
water’s behaviour as well as the actions
of others should give you a good chance
of choosing the safest window to launch
between the sets.
Think about how you carry your kit.
Carrying it in the normal way with
yourself between the board and the
mast is ok to get you to the water’s
edge. Carrying on like this into the sea,
however, carries the risk of being
trapped between the board and mast as
a wave washes over your kit. A worse
scenario perhaps is having a wave break
onto your kit with you standing on the
shore side of the kit as this could knock
you over and push you underwater
beneath your kit. Consider switching
your grip just before you wade into
the sea. Holding the board and the rig
in front of you with your back to the
waves means that you cannot get
trapped if you slip and you always
have the option of letting go of the
kit, allowing it to be pushed safely
away from you towards the beach.
Also consider that dumped water
returning to the sea can wash over
your rig as well as incoming water.
Sometimes when coming in its best
to just lift your kit onto your head to
keep it clear of the water… this is
best performed on smaller kit and
can be learned and practiced on the
beach!
Again, some locations might not be
affected too much in this way but it’s
always a good starting point. HW
might be fine in one location yet in
another (like the south east coastline
around Brighton, for example) it
usually brings astonishingly harsh
shorebreak, which is best avoided.
uk
WIND
SURFING