July/August 2002

Riding the Wind

Whether you're 8 or 80, windsurfing's a breeze

The beach sand whirled across the roadway like dancing dust devils as I came over the causeway bridge approaching Sanibel. It seemed to me that conditions might be a little too windy for windsurfing this day. As I pulled off the pavement and headed for the beach, however, there they were. A half-dozen vans and SUVs were parked next to the water, their occupants climbing into wet suits and rigging their boards. One figure stood out. Tall and slender, fit as a teenager, Harry Biffar was standing with his wind meter held aloft.
     Harry Biffar is the “dean” of Southwest Florida windsurfers. At 6-foot plus, 84 years of age and sporting a pacemaker, he has been windsurfing for 16 years. He started when he bought a board as a birthday gift for his son, local cinematographer and television personality John Biffar. Harry became so intrigued by the sport that he decided to give it a try before giving the board to his son. He was hooked. John’s board became Harry’s toy.
    Harry Biffar’s addiction to the sport is not unusual. One regularly sees a cadre of apparently young athletes off the Sanibel Causeway, feet planted on their boards, leaning into the wind that propels their transparent sails as they cavort across San Carlos Bay. Not all, however, are as young as they appear. Dr. Dave Butcher, for example, is a kidney specialist who is out on the water two or three afternoons each week.
    Jaro Blass is another windsurfer whose youthful physique hides the years of experience his wind-creased face reveals. Blass spends eight months a year in Southwest Florida at a condo in Lexington Country Club. During the summer months he lives in Minneapolis, where he surfs on Lake Minnetonka. Windsurfing is his main reason for “wintering” in Southwest Florida, which he has been doing for 15 years. He claims the conditions along and near the causeway are among the best in the world.
    It is a sentiment shared by Roy Massey, who at 38 is among the younger enthusiasts often seen at the causeway. Massey is the owner of Ace Performer, a shop on the way to Sanibel that outfits windsurfers. He has been windsurfing for 20 years and learned his techniques in the water off the causeway.

World-Class Winds
According to Massey, windsurfers from around the world come to the Sanibel Causeway to play at their favorite water sport.
    “We’ve had people from France, Switzerland, and, of course, the upper Midwest who come specifically to windsurf off the causeway. One guy from Naples drives up here to surf, even though he could do so near his home,” Massey says. “I think it’s a combination of things that make this place so popular,” he continues. “The water is flat, which makes for smoother rides. The wind is dependable, averaging 10 to 12 miles per hour, channeled between the mainland and the islands. The water is shallow so that a knockdown is easily remedied while standing in the water. Finally, you can pull right up to the beach, so you don’t have to lug your gear from a parking lot to the water.”
    Harry Biffar agrees that this is a great place to windsurf. He comes out three days a week. In most conditions, the action is focused on the northwest side of the easternmost spoil island. A wind shift to the south sends the windsurfers to the southeast side of the island or back into the cove southeast of Summerlin Road.
    In good conditions, windsurfers have been known to follow a single tack south along the shore as far as Bonita and beyond. “The big danger,” according to Massey, “is windsurfing in strong offshore winds and getting blown out to sea.” At least one pair of windsurfers ended up a half-mile out in the gulf and had to discard their sails and hand-paddle back to land.
    Overall, though, windsurfing is an easy sport to learn and very family-oriented. Massey is an instructor in the Sanibel Parks & Recreation summer camp program and with Lee County Parks & Recreation. He also teaches windsurfing at Canterbury School. He maintains that a novice can learn the sport in an hour, especially in the forgiving water off the causeway.
Massey once built his own boards and has watched the board shape change from a narrow 24 to 26 inches wide to a more stable 30 to 39 inches wide. The difference, he says, is that “a learner could expect to fall off a narrow board 100 times. With the wider board, it’s only 20 times. It’s a lot easier to keep the enthusiasm up.” Massey observed, “You can put a whole family on the wider board and still stay up.” His wife, Betty, and three children, McKenzi, 3, Madison, 5, and Mitchell, 7, all windsurf. “It is a great family activity,” he says with conviction.

Boarding Aloft
Lately, another related sport has shown up in the same waters. Kite boarding is similar to windsurfing in that it is done with a board on the water. That’s where the similarities end. In windsurfing, the board is driven by the wind crossing the surface of the sail, which is attached to the board by a mast. The windsurfer rides the board while holding the sail at the correct angle to the wind to move in the desired direction. Stunting includes jumping the white caps. But the primary objective is speed.
    Kite boarding, on the other hand, requires the surfer to control the board with his or her feet while a kite catches the wind aloft and propels the boarder who is harnessed to it. Dieter Krins, 51, is a certified kite board instructor. Originally from Munich, Germany, Krins immigrated to the United States 18 years ago. He spends six winter months a year on Ft. Myers Beach and six summer months in Bend, Oregon, where he kite boards in the Columbia Gorge.
    “I like to kite board here because the conditions are so favorable,” Krins says, “and the causeway is so convenient.” He describes the difference with kite boarding as being a sport where the emphasis is on acrobatics. “With the lift of a kite, a boarder can get 15 to 50 feet in the air on a jump and, with the longer air time, cover 100 to 150 feet in distance. It is exhilarating.”
    Kite boarding was invented about 12 years ago and has become popular in the last three years, largely because new kites are more manageable on the water.

Spreading the Word
A grapevine of individuals calling one another used to spread the word when conditions were “up”—when the wind and water were right. “Technology has taken over,” Roy Massey advises. Now, there are wind stations on Sanibel and along the shore. Real-time wind reports are available at Iwindsurf.com.
    Fans of the sport often carry pagers that send them wind reports. “I was in a restaurant having lunch when I looked at my pager,” Massey reports. “It said the wind was blowing 25 miles per hour off the causeway. I said, ‘I’m out of here’ and left before finishing my lunch.” That’s one of the benefits of technology, according to Massey. “The wind can be good on the causeway and not in town. If you’re out there and things are great, you can get so excited you forget to call anyone else.”
    Harry Biffar invites all to join the windsurfing crowd on the Sanibel Causeway. Even if you are not a surfer, you still can enjoy the view.

William Ernest Waites, former chairman of Spiro & Waites Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations, currently spends most of his time as a freelance writer and consultant to the travel industry.