SAFETY FIRST
Timo also opted for that great all-rounder of a sail size, 4.7, and his biggest wave board. Our tactics were safety orientated, we would hug the shore, never venturing too far out to sea and at the first sign of any squall approaching could return to land well before it hit. It was a variable force 5, the 4.7 sails would allow us to ride out the lulls but weather the gusts. We wouldn’t normally use such small sails on our relatively large wave boards but today wasn’t normal by any means. Not only was the wind dropping away to virtually nothing at times but its direction was ever changing too. The swell period forecast for today was in the high teens and the mast high plus sets booming through every ten minutes confirmed it. The size of the swell meant there was a lot of water movement and all in all having a bigger board that could cut through the current and ensure we could make it back to shore whatever the wind strength or direction was the prudent choice.
So much is made of how these ‘bigger’ wave boards open up light wind wave sailing and allow us to use smaller sails but as I see it their real strength is just how much safer they have made wave sailing, as anyone who sailed through the decades of ‘sinker’ wave boards will be able to attest! We backed this up with a safety plan with our brother Tam who was taking shots and equipped ourselves with an array of lights, whistles, spare lines and tow ropes, just in case!
