SUP Downwind tip: take the onramp to the freeway

Durée: 6:04

Downwind tip: catch the smaller slower moving bumps to connect into the bigger, faster moving swells. I first heard Guy Pere use this great analogy: find and use an 'onramp' to the build the speed you need to merge onto the 'freeway'. As you come off the faster moving swells, look for an 'offramp', a smaller bump that will keep your speed up as you come off the back of a bigger swell, which allows you to maintain the glide and look for another faster moving 'freeway' to merge onto. Just like when you have to merge into fast moving traffic, you need to accelerate first on the onramp to be able to pull into the fast moving traffic. On our Hawaii Kai SUP downwind runs, the offshore winds create slower moving, shorter fetch close period bumps that move to the left- the onramps. Longer period windswells and open ocean swells move to the right and move too fast to catch without building momentum of the onramps. It's hard to get long rides on the freeways but the speed from those faster moving bumps are the reason why the fastest guys are so fast on downwinders.

Theme: Downwind tips