WINDSURFING ON GOTLAND.
Here I will tell you something about windsurfing on the great island of Gotland,
witch is the largest island in Sweden.
Sweden is a great country in the northern part of Europe, right above Germany.
We are some guys who use to windsurf here on the eastern part of Gotland called
"Katthammarsvik" (cat-hammers-bay) and "Sandviken"
(the-sand-bay).
We are not pro-surfers but we love to do it.
We start to windsurf as early as possible in the spring when the watertemperatur starts
to rise above 4 degrees celsius (yeah it's cold I know).
Sometimes we can start in mars but the temperature almost never rises until the
beginning of april.
The best conditions are in mars-may and september-november, in the hot summer the wind
never reaches the high speeds we need.
The best winds you get is when the weather changes all the time and you have big clouds in
the sky. Just before a storm it's absolutely the best to be out on the waves and catch the
wind when it starts to increase, and grows stronger and stronger to finally be to strong for us
to handle.
You maybe wonder why we don't freeze our butts of when the temperature is that low.
We have thick bodysuits made of neopren (6mm). Hoods, gloves and shoes to protect the rest of
the body. But still...sometimes we feel like frozen yogurt when we get out of the water.
If it's damn to cold we poor hot water inside our suits before entering the brrr...cold
"Baltic sea".
Here we don't have those big "Hawaiian killer waves"
but in Sandviken the waves can be up to 2 meters high and they look just like the Hawaiian ones, only
smaller and not so powerful.
Many people (windsurfers) we talk to say that Sandviken is the
best spot on Gotland and I think it's because the bottom is so flat and no rocks to crash the
fins into (no fun). You know when you only have one fin and don't wanna loose
it, what do you do....Yeah right...you find the only rock on the bottom and you hit it.
The sails we use is from 4.0 up to 7.5. The largest sails is only used in the summer when the
wind is weak. The heat in the summer causes the wind not to move.
If you're looking for the best condition here, you're welcome in september or october Then
the watertemperatur is about 10-15 degrees celsius in september and a little colder in october
and the wind is strong almost every day (about 8-15 m/s).
Also go to my wind-diary to see what happens on the beach day by day.
Created by Benny Karlsson
Wanna go back ? Hit the dog
....gently....
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