Saturday 26 October 2019 will be another windsurfing day that we will remember on Lake Garda: the lake gave us a Peler wind at more than 30 knots, which we enjoyed at the Prà de la Fam, a spot that was completely sold out.

Windsurfing, report: Prà de la Fam (Lake Garda), 26/10/2019. 30 knots!

I begin to have difficulty finding ,every time, the right terms to describe the days spent windsurfing at the Prà de la fam. If that of September 1 was a Peler that made us shout of happiness (read report), how would we define that of Saturday 26 October? May those who were there help us to find the right words, perhaps in the comments at the end of the article.

But, the beginning of the day has deceived many, making them go out with overly large sails. We should all have been patient, and remember that Peler wind, these days (before returning to standard time), enters late, around 9.00-9.30. Or we should have listened to the essay Marco Maywald that, while I had almost finished rigging the Goya Guru X Pro 4.7 2020, rightly pointed out, as soon as the sun came out of Monte Baldo, that the lake, looking to the south, was really seriously ruffled ...

But you know, the windsurfers of the weekends, after a whole week spent at work, are impatient, and want to get into the water ..... and wants to be sure of gliding ...

But let's take a step back.

Friday night, I arrived at the Pra parking lot quite early, compared to my usual habit. At 10:15 pm I arrived at the port of Tignale. Waiting for me, and encouraging me to arrive at the Pra a beautiful girl with whom I would spend the whole night. Alessandro di Torino had given Fred a beautiful Tabou Pocket 94 2016 to deliver and try (ah, ah, what did you understand?).

Warm night for the season, and the usual magical atmosphere of the evenings at the Prà. Luckily I decided to go to sleep at the Pra the night before, because the next morning the spot parking lots were full as I hadn't seen for a long time, and some riders couldn't get into the water (or had to go to Campione), because they didn't know where to leave the car.

When I woke up, Saturday morning, I really saw many familiar faces, which would be too long to mention. Let us say, to make it short, that everybody was there ... starting with a large group from Windsurfing Club Valmadrera (although then we knew that, also in Valmadrera, riders had a nice day, good for 4.7). For the sake of brevity, I mention Daniele, at his first time at the Prà (which he will remember for a long time), Pietrone, who arrived in the middle of the night ..., and Davide, who was right to run the risk of coming to the Prà .....

Returning to the news of the day, despite the warnings ..., I entered the water with the Guru 4,7 and with the Tabou Pocket, set as thruster, with the default fins. 5/4 wetsuit (but a 4/3 would have been enough), bare hands and feet (having caught a cold, I put on a neoprene cap, which could have been avoided, otherwise). I sailed just 5 minutes, and went back to shore to sheet the sail, also passing to the lower clew buttonhole. I had sailed for other 10 minutes, and went back to shore again to switch to the Ezzy Elite 4.2 2017 ... I went back into the water and quickly realized that even 4.2, for the most of the time (and not just on the gusts), for me - 70 kgs - wasn't the right sail! As confirmed by the Capo Reamol anemometer, the wind on some gusts reached 35 knots.

I reminded of the words I said to myself in the garage on Friday evening, loading the car: "I can leave the 3.7 and 80 liters at home, since it won't be that strong tomorrow". And instead, they would have been my perfect gear for the day....

I continued the session, hoping for a wind drop, which actually started to appear only after 11.00 ... Anyway, I defended myself. The Tabou Pocket 94, under these conditions, was not completely at ease, mainly due to the too generous volume. Anyway, I've already got some impressions: it's an easy board, which glides almost immediately both for the rather flat scoop-rocker line, and for its width, generous both in the middle of the board, and in the bow and stern (almost a freestyle, in some ways, in the shape, which narrows drastically only at the ends, especially at the stern). It is a stable board, very fast, which keeps planing for such a long time when going out from the jibe, and which also has a lot of headway in the fast tack entrance. On the chop, a bit messy yesterday - probably more than anything due to the considerable traffic in the water, the board suffered a little, bumping more than necessary. To complete the test, I look forward to try it again in its conditions: at the lake, with wind  at no more than 30 knots, or at the sea, with small wave conditions. These first impressions have already made me doubt, that, at this point, it could replace my Tabou 3s 106, perhaps set as a single fin, for lighter wind conditions, in flat water.

At around 10.30, I took a break, both to rest a bit, and to hope that the wind dropped, and to admire and immortalize the show in the water. In this regard, we cannot help but point out the presence on the spot of Mattia Fabrizi, Pwa athlete, sponsored by Severne and Patrick, whom we noticed in great conditions, with different kono and culo perfectly landed (while we, the "earthlings", would like to learn just a forward ....). 

The windsurfers show - at least a hundred? - was so beautiful, that I noticed some tourists and passing cyclists stopping to contemplate the scene. At 11.00 am I returned to the water and finally i was almost right powered (except in some gusts).

I came out of the water - well tired - only at around 11.40, when the wind started to become really unstable.

I unrigged without hurry, planning to stop at Garda for the whole weekend - since it practically was still summer time. With a few friends from Waterwind we went to buy bread, sliced ​​meat, cheese and beers in a supermarket, and we enjoyed lunch together by the lake in Toscolano.

Now, let's see what the feast of 1st November will offer to us.

Aloha. Fabio

Below a selection of photos of the day. Click, instead, here, for the complete slidegallery (low resolution photos free for all).

The video of the session, with some spectacular maneuvers by Mattia Fabrizi.