After a rainy lackluster fall and winter for windsurfing, the conditions finally turned on in O’ahu this spring. There were a few good days at Backyards, and I finally got a chance to windsurf an iconic wave of the surfing world, Sunset Point. When you kick out at Backyards, you get a clear view of the same swell line jacking up on the Sunset reef. I’ve often mind-windsurfed this wave and imagined what it would be like if there weren’t 50 surfers in the water. The setup at Sunset is perfect for windsurfing; a heavy, butter smooth long right that finishes in a large channel with side-offshore to offshore winds. While Backyards offers one or two hits before you have to kick out, when Sunset is working, you can easily get in seven or eight turns from the Point through the West Bowl and all the way to the inside of Vals. Besides being one of the world’s most famous surfing waves, Sunset is known for the pounding it dishes out when clean-up sets sneak in from the West and close out the channel. Surfing or sailing, you have to always be on your toes, as one mistake could result in a beating and very long swim. This day wasn’t quite big or west enough to line up properly, however the west bowl offered up some clean sections and heavy lips. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the better days at Sunset as I’ve yet to find O’ahu’s version of Jimmie Hepp.
See you in the water,Nick Warmuth
Photos courtesy of Philip Newmarch
