Windsurfing at the Fish Factory

Hanstholm - November 17, 2024

The spot at the now-defunct fishmeal factory in Hanstholm has many facets. Whether side-off or side-on—there are always days with westerly winds that work here, while others do not.

November 17 falls more into the former category. After two windy days, many windsurfers chose the Fish Factory over Middles, which lies further downwind.

With winds initially reaching up to 8 on the Beaufort scale and blowing almost exactly from the northwest, the waves at this breakwater spot were still relatively orderly. One of the launch spots is the parking lot below the second wind turbine, from which you can enter the water either in front of or behind the short stub breakwater.

Normally, there’s a lot of activity on the water here with many surfers and wing foilers, but on this Sunday—which was quite cool despite the sun - the conditions for both sports were anything but ideal. Big, choppy waves with lots of white water were rolling in, so surfing without a sail or with a wing in hand doesn’t make much sense in those conditions.

It wasn’t exactly relaxing out there while windsurfing either; the photos give you a sense of it. The waves were huge, and there was a lot of whitewater. Way out there, huge waves were forming, appearing suddenly and creating a massive barrier.

Far out in front of me, too, an almost insurmountable wall of water formed that day, leaving only one way out: luff up briefly and somehow get over it, because the gear probably wouldn’t have survived a wash.

It all ended with a windward crash over the high lip. There was a crunching sound when I hit the boom - a rib had snapped. Luckily, I could still surf; the break was above the harness. I decided to hold off on jumping for the rest of the session, though.

In the end, I got out of the water early, partly because filming would definitely be worth it in these conditions. The low sun bathed the spot in rich light. Below, you can see a short edit from that afternoon.