Winter Sailing

As the temperatures have started to drop and the best conditions begin to roll in we have decided to focus our next topic on how to prepare for windsurfing during the winter months. If you are looking for advice on what to wear, how to warm up or any specific issues to look out for just ask our seasoned panel of team riders who will be more than happy to help.

What sails do I use with my heavy weight (90kg) to bust out of the high tide dumping shore break with an on-shore Force 5 wind with my 112litre freestyle wave board without being over-powered once I am out?

Colin Humphries

Hi Colin
It’s an issue facing many wave sailors. The sail you need to get out, either through a shorebreak or through the fluffy winds that infect so many good wave venues, is not usually the one you need to ride and jump once you’re out there.

Basically you’re after a sail:

- with a a degree of grunt to punch you through the break

- which has a wide wind range so it can cope with the difference in strength between inshore and out back

- which is light and manoeuvrable

I would steer you towards the Rock 6.0. At 87kg I’m a shade lighter than you but use the 6.0 as my ‘go to’ sail for all sorts of conditions but especially when I’m coaching on my 103 Kode. It’s got plenty of grunt but is a proper wave sail, light, balanced but bullet proof – and it sets best on an rdm.

The other option if you want something that is going to double up as a blaster in slightly lighter conditions is the Storm 6.5. But if you’re going to do most of your sailing in the lumpy stuff, go with the Rock.

All the best

Peter