Windsurfing in Strong Wind: 9 Ways to Stay in Control

Do you also want to be able to control your gear in strong wind? Then this one is for you. I made a tutorial about exactly that some years ago, so see this as a reminder with some fresh ideas I picked up over the last years, working with people from all over the world on my windsurfing trips.

When I'm on the beach coaching you, giving you feedback after each and every try, I can go into much more detail. Here I keep things clear and simple, so you can easily memorise all the steps you need to take.

To not hold you hostage, I start with the low-hanging fruits: things you can start doing right now, with an immediate effect. Then we finish with the things you can work on in the longer term, if you really mean business with windsurfing. Four steps, nine points: the trim, the technique, fitness and mindset. Prefer to watch? The full video is at the end of this guide, together with a checklist to save on your phone.

1. Strong wind trim: three quick fixes on the beach

Obviously, choosing the right gear is the first important step. But let's assume you're already rigged on the beach and you don't want to, or can't, change your gear anymore. Or perhaps it's so gusty that you simply need big gear, so you don't only plane in the gusts.

Here are three simple steps you can take immediately on the beach.

Increase the outhaul tension

More outhaul flattens the profile of your sail, and that decreases the pull.

Be careful not to flatten it too much. That makes for an unstable sail, and every little drop in wind feels like the wind is completely gone.

How much is too much? It depends a little on your sail brand and the kind of sail. If you feel a significant loss in stability, that's a sign to decrease the tension a little. (What the outhaul does to your sail in general is in Windsurf Sail Trim: 3 Rigging Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes.)

Use longer harness lines

Ideally you use adjustable harness lines, because they significantly increase the wind range you're comfortable with.

Here's why longer lines help. The critical point in strong wind is when the wind pulls you over the centre of the board. Then the sail opens too much, which decreases the pressure on the mast base, and in return the nose of the board climbs. In very strong gusts you might even get backwinded.

Longer harness lines help you bring your weight further outboard. You have more leverage to close the sail, and the distance until you get pulled over the centre of the board gets longer. So you have a bit more of a buffer zone.

Just make sure you keep the weight in the harness and don't start transferring it all to your arms. Try it with harness lines 2 to 4 inches (about 5 to 10 cm) longer than you normally would. (More on line length in Long Harness Lines: The Easiest Upgrade in Windsurfing.)

Lower the boom to about chest height

Another simple way to control strong wind is to lower the boom a little. Once again it helps you keep more pressure on the mast base, and that pushes the nose of the board down.

But be careful: too low creates a lot of downforce. The board pushes too much water, and that can make controlling strong wind even more difficult. About chest high is typically a good boom height in strong wind, given the rest of your sail trim is correct.

There are obviously more ways to tune and trim your sail for strong wind, but these three are the first-aid fixes to get the sail under control.

2. Technique when you're overpowered

Here are three simple pointers you can try the next time you're overpowered on the water.

Push your hip outboard, keep your upper body in

This ties into the longer harness lines. Once your lines are slightly longer, you can bring your hip further outboard. That increases the leverage you have to counter the pressure of the sail.

Only bring your hip outboard, and keep your upper body close to the rig. Bringing your upper body outboard increases the lift you create. That's a great technique for light wind, where you do exactly the opposite: hip up and upper body outboard.

The simple way to think about it: engage your abdominal muscles as much as possible, as if someone punches you in the stomach.

Leverage your weight: pull the harness lines down

Now that you've learned to create more leverage, you just need to know how to use it the right way. If you're doing the hip correctly, this should happen naturally anyway, but here's how to play with it.

Sheeting in and transferring your weight through the harness and the harness lines into the sail can do two things:

• It helps you sheet in and close the sail.
• It keeps the board connected to the water, especially when gusts or chop try to lift up the nose.

The key is to pull the harness lines down instead of just outside. This goes hand in hand with bringing the hip out: make yourself small, pull the lines down and sit down in your harness.

That obviously works best with a seat harness, although a seat harness brings quite a few other disadvantages. So the best is a waist harness that really fits your body and doesn't move up, but sits in position.

Read the gusts before they hit

This is something I keep repeating to the guys and girls who join my trips: be aware of what happens around you. Of course it takes some practice and experience, but being able to read the gusts on the water helps you adjust to stronger gusts before they even hit.

So look in front of you, and also slightly upwind, so you can see when the wrinkles and foam caps increase. Keep an eye on the waves coming at you as well.

3. Fitness: train off the water

Back in COVID times I made a home workout routine for windsurfers, so I'll keep this short and tell you what to aim for.

Windsurfing is a sport that requires the full body to be fit. If you've used your fitness watch during your sessions, you'll know that we spend an insane amount of time in high heart rate zones. So the best workout for windsurfing is obviously windsurfing. But good training can be a great complement, especially for the times you can't get on the water.

• Basic endurance: longer running, biking or rowing sessions at 60 to 70% of your maximum heart rate.
• Intervals: training where you push yourself to almost your maximum heart rate.
• Core: stabilise your core, on one hand to keep your gear under control, on the other hand to avoid back injuries, which are quite common for windsurfers.

4. Mindset for strong wind days

And lastly, I promise to keep it short: your mindset is really important. If there's one advantage of doing a sport out in nature, it's the things it teaches you about mindset.

1. Stay humble. Don't overestimate your ability to control extreme wind. Find your way into stronger wind step by step, and don't start on the gnarliest day of the year.
2. Trust the training process. Windsurfing takes really, really long to master, so don't get frustrated if something doesn't work after two sessions.
3. Enjoy every moment out there. If you have fun doing something, you'll keep working on improving while having the best time of your life. And that's something windsurfing can definitely give you.

With that said, it's time to put this into practice. Below are the steps once more, plus my strong wind checklist to save on your phone for the beach.