Sunday, July 19, 2020

Nuking Winds at Sherman Island

In anticipation of a windy day at Sherman Island, I prepacked my minivan with Windsurfing gear, including my Goya 84-liter Quad Custom Pro and 2018 Fanatic 105-liter Freewave STB.

I woke up at 5:40 and checked the wind forecast at Sherman Island. According to iWindsurf, the wind was already 26 knots! With the ebbing tide running until noon, my best shot would be to drive there ASAP.

After a drink of water, I packed my wetsuit, apple, and banana and was off. The drive to Sherman Island took about 85 minutes. I parked at Sherman Island County Park (which was already getting full of cars, even at this early time). There were already many windsurfers on the water!

With the strong wind, I rigged my Ezzy Elite 4.0m sail (my smallest sail) on an Ezzy 370cm mast. I decided to use my Goya 84-liter Quad, as I needed the extra control provided by the four fins. With the ebb tide, returning would be easy.


The wind was mighty and gusty. Sailing across the river was quite challenging. Usually, on my single-fin Fanatic Freewave 105-liter board, I encounter a lot of spinouts during these conditions. However, the quad fins of the Goya Custom kept me planted without any hint of spinout.

Here is my GoPro Hero7 Black video of my excellent windsurfing session:


 
There were many large ramps, and I had some lovely long jumps. Although I tried multiple jibes, I failed all of them.

After two hours of excellent windsurfing, I was physically exhausted. I unrigged my gear, drove home, and returned at 12:30pm.




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