Wind Surfers at Isla Vista Bluffs

By Robert Bernstein

The wind has been rather brutal for many of us just trying to get out and about in recent days. But one group has certainly benefited from the wind: Wind Surfers!

Here are a video and some still images I took at the bluffs below Isla Vista on Wednesday.

I started out with some still images like above.

But then I took a video of these three wind surfers weaving between each other.

The best part comes around 29 seconds into the video when one guy catches air on a wave. Here are a few frames from that. Starting with him first making contact with the wave:

Then the launch:

Then he is tipped back so far it seems he will land on his back:

But instead he rotates the surfboard back under himself:

And sticks it perfectly back onto the water:

He then comes back to shore, passing the other wind surfers:

And gets ready to head right back out again:

It has been said, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good." It seems that this proverb was first published by John Heywood in 1546 that indeed has origins related to sailing. For these windsurfers it was not an ill wind at all!