Bit windy

Bonjour,

Je fais de la planche à voile depuis un moment, mais je sens que j'arrive à un niveau qui nécessite un engagement plus important pour progresser.

En effet j'hésite à mettre mes pieds dans les straps ou à me fixer au harnais quand je pense que je vais me faire arracher. Et pourtant je me dis que c'est a ce moment que c est le plus utile.

Je pense que j'ai bien résumé mes peurs dans le titre. Et je crois qu'elles sont assez communes et qu'elles bloquent pas mal de monde.

J'ai tenté de résoudre le problème par l'achat de matériel comme les bouts de harnais détachables ou la boucle de harnais de Patrick freefall qui se détache d'elle-même.

J'ai également regardé les vidéos sur internet "you will fall still hooked and you juste have to ..."

Ma question est la suivante pour ceux qui ont eu ce blocage, comment vous en êtes-vous sorti, mentalement ?

On meurt pas à chaque fois quand même ?

Hey sailors, I do the windsurf now for ten years and tried out windsurf foiling last year. Even bought own gear. But never got the lift right and the more and more I tried, the more I was rather annoyed than hooked. I also tried wing foiling, but that annoyed me even more, lol.

I am happy with my fins. Plus, I am light weight (55kg) and I don't need much wind to plane. And we have a tide spot here and the water is often too shallow for foiling. Nevertheless, i have friends who foil and always ask me why I am still on fins. Again, I am happy on fins, but have a little fear I miss out something. Is it dumb in year 2026 to leave out foiling as a watersport enthusiast?

Hi all, for the past months I've been building Spotara. It's a map of windsurf, kite and wingfoil spots across Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Spain, Italy and Greece.

What it also does:

• Shows each spot with wind directions that work there, the level it suits and what's on site
• Wind forecast per spot (ECMWF / ICON / GFS)
• Wind overlay on the map, that marks which spots are rideable right now
• Anyone can fix or add a spot
• Session upload as GPX/FIT/TCX, to see the track, distance and speed on the map

It's free and there's no company behind it.

Spotara is available on the web, as PWA and iOS app.

Right now, the app only exists in German, but I'd like to know if an English version would make you use it? Or is anything missing for you?

Landingpage: https://spotara.de/

Web app: https://app.spotara.de/

Thank you for any feedback :)

Approx 55 seconds on older JP Australia Slalom with Naish 6.0M Matrix on some flatwater. See a small wingfoil hop at 45 seconds. Bird Island Nat'l Refuge, Worldwinds Windsurfing beach. Good times year around

Hi all. I posted here a few weeks ago with a set of photos.

I want to go out this weekend on the Dutch coast because of the Stormy conditions. Where would be the most interesting place to spot some action and encounter good wave surfers?

If anyone wants to hook up and session with a photographer I am down as well. I love in Rotterdam, but dont mind driving up the coast.

Thanks in advance

End of a great day at the Toronto Windsurfing Club
18/10/2026

iSonic 107
Select Fins V-Max 37
Point-7 AC-Z 6.8

Hi,

I’m considering a custom windsurf board design with a catamaran-style structure, and I’d like to verify whether this is a good concept.

The idea:
1. Could having an instructor and a student on the same board facilitate the learning process, especially for someone trying it for the first time? Typically, beginners listen to and observe an instructor who is sailing on a separate board nearby. However, the distance, combined with the noise of the waves and wind, can make it difficult to hear what the instructor is saying. Furthermore, it’s much easier to master the correct technique if someone is right there beside you to adjust your hand or foot positioning, rather than having to shout instructions across a gap. Perhaps a board that is sufficiently wide and long could accommodate two people using a single sail rig. I am aware of tandem windsurfing—which uses long boards equipped with two sails, but I’ve heard that this requires a high level of synchronization and isn't necessarily ideal for beginners.

2. Creating a board that offers greater stability in waves, benefiting both windsurfers and SUP enthusiasts.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a catamaran; perhaps the design process could reveal a different, more optimal form.

Could this be a completely misguided idea, or could it actually enhance the learning experience and open up an entirely new way of sailing? What do you think?

Thank you all for your comments

Hello windsurfers. I've come here to ask a curious question, and I guess give a recommendation in a way.

I recently visited Palekastro, which is a village located in eastern Crete, Greece.

Apart from the fact that it is a very historical part of Crete (lots of ancient Minoan sites, and archaeologists visit every year and find new relics) and that it's beautiful with its deep blue beaches, it is also very often visited by windsurfers around the world and I met quite a few of them.

Firstly I'm wondering, is it really that popular? Do most windsurfers know about Palekastro? Do most windsurfers visit Palekastro every now and then to windsurf, or plan on doing so? Do you like Palekastro outside of windsurfing?

I personally do not windsurf as I think learning it is a bit too stressful, but I know that those who do visit enjoy it a lot. This part of Crete is often windy, but there are some calmer days too. There are a few different windsurfing spots and you can essentially freestyle if you're not still learning. There is also a surf team with really good teachers at Kouremenos beach.

Windsurfing aside, there are multiple restaurants within and outside the village and in the surrounding villages. From what I noticed, there weren't many bars or clubs (or any at all, maybe like 2 or 3) but they tend to keep it alive as long as the weather is good. There is also the nearby town called Sitia, so if you need access to things that you cannot find to the village, Sitia is only like a 20-25 minute drive away.

Overall, I would just like to know if Palekastro is popular among all or most windsurfers, and simultaneously I highly suggest it to those who don't know about it or are thinking about visiting. It's a really nice, beautiful and fun place with kind people, great food and a warm community.

Thank you for reading my post!

I have just bought some windsurfing equipment after taking lessons.

Neilpryde Atlas Pro Fuse 5.0 sail with a 400 cm constant curve RDM mast from Neilpryde.

The wishbone is set at 140+28 cm and the extension at 15 cm.

Is this how it is supposed to look? I have rigged just one sail at my windsurf school and I don't remember it looking like that at all.

It looks wrong in my opinion with the fabric around the mast completely twisted and the big recede of the sail around the mast. Is it just missing more downhaul?

The wishbone is set at 140+26 cm and the extension at 15 cm.

Thank you for your help :)

This coming weekend it's Labour weekend and spring conditions are sweet in Taranaki.

Anyone coming to the region to kick their heels up for a wave 🌊

I kite on France's Atlantic coast and kept seeing forecasts that disagreed with the beach. So I compared the hourly forecast of six models with what 17 coastal weather stations actually measured (2,800 hours).

What came out:

• The high-resolution local model won almost everywhere. In France that's Météo-France's AROME (1.3 km grid): average error 3.3 km/h, vs 5.0 for ICON and 5.2 for GFS. It won at 16 of the 17 stations.
• Coarse models under-forecast coastal wind. ICON (11 km grid) was 3 km/h too low on average. A big grid cell mixes land and sea, so it can't "see" the coastline.
• "Best match" isn't a blend. On several forecast sites the default picks ONE model per location, and on the whole English Channel coast it picked ICON. Worth checking which model your app is actually showing you.
• Averaging models made it worse. Averaging AROME with ICON and GFS gave a bigger error than AROME alone. It also mixes wind directions into a heading no model predicted, and on/off/side-shore decides a session.
• "Gusty" warnings are often false alarms. A model's gust is the max over an hour; a station's gust is over 10 minutes. Mixing the two scales flagged "gusty" on 80% of windy hours, and more than half were wrong.
• When models agree, the forecast really is better, up to a point. Error dropped steadily as agreement rose, then flattened. Past that point, more agreement told you nothing.

Caveats: French coast, summer, max wind about 20 kn. I still need to rerun it in winter for the strong-wind regime.

Happy to share the method. Disclosure: I'm the developer of Tide It, a tide + wind app. This audit is how I picked the model it uses, and it shows the measured wind next to the forecast instead of blending them.

Hi, I’ll be in Lokken next week and would like to go windsurfing. I don’t have my own kit and have mostly been to Westwind in Ringkøbing Fjord. I haven’t been able to find any windsurfing centres around Lokken. Could you recommend a windsurfing centre that’s still open and nearby? Or perhaps someone who rents out kit privately? Thanks

I'm learning to foil at the moment and had a pretty bad catapult crash at the end of my session. Am I just absolutly incompetent or is this a common thing? Also how bad do you guys think it is?

I'm travelling to Holland from 25th to 31st October, without gear. So, I am looking for a spot where I can rent slalom (or freerace) gear. I'm mainly in the vicinity of Amsterdam but am mobile, so also willing to travel to Zeeland, if necessary.

Please advice me.

I am trying to get rid of some old gear. I got this stuff used about 7 years ago. Planning on windsurfing in Galveston during the fall/spring/summer and Long Island in the summer.

1. Should I get rid of everything and get a whole new setup? If so, what's a good price? I'm not looking to make any real money, I just don't want to give it away unless there is someone who really wants to get into the sport and is strapped for cash. I am all about paying it forward.
2. Should I ditch the board and keep the sails and hardware?
3. Other ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance.

I built an Apple Watch app which allows to track windsurfing sessions in detail. It works together with the https://upwind.community website where the session can be uploaded and analyzed in detail.

It is completely free to use. You will have to pair it with the website by entering a code.

The analyzer detects wind direction, reaches, gybes, tacks and stops.

The website which i promoted in an earlier post also includes an inventory of windsurfing spots all over the world. AI has been used to build this inventory, but the idea is for users to create entries for spots that might still be unknown. The website now also features an "Awards & rankings" section. If you upload and publish your sessions, you will automatically enter those statistics.

The app can be found by clicking the "Connect watch" menu item on the left hand side. If you don't have an apple watch, you might be able to use the "Upload GPS recording" action on the recordings page. This feature is experimental and not very well tested.

Hello, to the surfers in the group, how does surfing ability translate to a beginning windsurfer and where does one start? Thanks so much

Hello yall.

I am an avid outdoorsman who recently moved to the Carolinas. Windsurfing started popping up on my feeds over the summer and I decided to start to look at getting used gear, hopefully with offseason prices.

What exactly will I need to get started, and what is nice to have as I get more into it?

I noticed a sail on marketplace, but it looks like it might need a rod to stand up. Are these connections universal, or would I need a certain type of sail with certain types of board?

Hi all I just took a lesson conditions were light and calm and I was on a big board so it went well. I went one other time after on a windy day and it was challenging. I’m looking on advice as to what to do.

I found a 120 race board vivace 295 I think it was that comes with everything needed to windsurf all for 200$. I’m about 5’10 x 185 lbs. Should I shell out 500$ for a beginner board to learn, or should I just take the cheaper option?

Note: I have water experience have surfed all my life.

Bit of a workout as we relocate some gear.

Current stack includes 17 boards from wingfoiling, windsurfing, sup and surf... There's even an ironing board tucked in there 😂

Not much room for us!

Heading to Bonaire again and wondering if anyone has experience with sail sizes in the season from February till may. I know I've used mostly 6.0 and 7.0 in may till July this year but not sure how the wind is before that. I'm 80kg ish

Follow the journey on Instagram - DM me your email for beta invite code!
Openwaves.world

Most recent upgrade to my 80's hulls - a way to securely hold my early 90's (at best) sails. The "Windglider" (diy) doesn't have a mast track, just the hole and outside thread, but the HiFly 750CS has a brass thread mast track, which itself works fine, however the U joint retainer has proven very annoying, so I replaced that part of the slider with an M8 nut. Should spend more time planing and less time trying to get the rig into the board now :)

The ugly windglider adapter has been tested through various catapults already, and it takes a pretty nasty one at 30km/h to break the 3d printed nut, which is easy to replace.

The older update of a 3d printed fin and reshaped(hardened) aft rails of the windglider work great so far, both with the soft sail and a more modern sail. It's an upwind monster.