We had never seen Andora, like this.... A huge sea, lifted by a sirocco, welcomed us Tuesday, October 30, 2018, unfortunately not accompanied by a wind of adequate quality, which would have been necessary to handle such conditions decently. Despite this, some fearless riders attempted the exit. 

 

 

Windsurfing, report sessions: Andora and Imperia, Spiaggia d'Oro (Liguria), with Libeccio and with a huge storm...

For days, Italy has been plagued by stormy winds, which are sweeping the entire territory from north to south. Many are trying to guess the right spot. In most cases, alas, they are sessions in survival conditions, where the taste of the challenge prevails over fun ....

 

 

 

Andora (Liguria, Italy), on Tuesday matched those conditions. When we arrived, around at 10,00, the sea presented itself in rather impressive conditions, which we had never seen here, before. Moments, in which the water level seemed relatively quiet, alternated with others, quite frequent, in which sets of breaking waves of height between 2 and 4 meters, with a period of less than 10 seconds, came from offshore (where you could see waves of embarrassing dimensions), sweeping away everything ...

The big problem of the day was unfortunately the quality of the wind. And here, Andora has confirmed its limits: near the shore I measured gusts at 25-30 knots, alternating with lulls at 6-10 knots. This was the situation for the first 100-150 meters from the shore. Then, offshore, wind above 30 knots more or less constant. The problem was, therefore, that the instability of the wind near the shore did not give the necessary power to overcome the monstrous waves in the first part of the sea. The gusts have often proved too be little lasting, able only to bring the riders up to 50-70 meters from the shore, and then leave them at the mercy of the breakers .... Same problem on the way of return to shore.... Wind quality already seen in Andora in many other occasions: but one thing is having to overcome two or three breakers near the shore, 1 meter/1,5 meters high, another thing is having to rely on a similar wind to try to overcome the monsters of today. We heard that The Spiaggia d'Oro in Imperia was even more demanding. Perhaps, today, the best choice was Albenga, even if the Centa River must have brought everything into the sea, beacuse of the heavy rain of the night....

 

To all this, of course, you had to add a strong current near the shore, mainly from west to east, but also in the opposite direction, beacuse of the undertow. In the water, however, all kind of stuff (woods, plastic chairs, and other objects torn from the bath facilities), potentially quite dangerous during sailing.

The sea struck hard last night, and the thought, of course, goes to all those who have lost important work tools....

 

 

The situation was similar both in the upwind spot and in the downwind spot (the so-called "Giostrine"), where in some moments (late morning), the wind was even weaker at the shore.

In the water, throughout the day, we will have counted a dozen brave riders, at most. Going out in these conditions was the result of both skill and malice, and, honestly, of luck. In fact, it was necessary to succeed to exit in the right moment, in which the breakers allowed a moment of pause, and at the same time a sufficiently sustained burst was blowing.... In short, the sea had to let you pass.

 

 

Chapeau to those who tried the session (we did not). Even the most skilled, however, have fought hard, and have returned to shore, quite tired

Honestly, now we hope that the near future will give us conditions more human and funny ...

We also received the incredible video you can see below, from the photographer and windsurfer Cattazen. He was in Andora and the in Imperia, at the famous Spiaggia d'Oro, where the PWA champion, Matteo Iachino, and few other very good riders dared to enter into the water, and performed a big show. Enjoy also Cattazen's video.

 

Aloha. Fabio

Click here, to enjoy the full slidegallery of the day.

Click here, to enjoy the Cattazen's slidegallery of the day.

 

 

Cattazen's video

 

Another short video of the day.