Part 1: Throwing And Catching

How much wind is windy?

I wish that I could lay out a set of guidelines for how many mph of wind makes a game officially windy, but those guidelines would be worthless. In some games, 7mph is crippling to normal offense. In high-level play, teams rarely shift strategies under 10mph. While 30mph is extreme for all players, the nuances of windplay mean that I can’t simply quote numbers to you.

How soon can you tell? Can you look at any two teams warming up for 90 seconds each and judge the wind instantly? Many high-level players can. A few players can read wind changes without feeling them (by noticing the differences in trees and other signs in the direction of the wind) at a pace that can allow them to wait for the best moment within a single stall count to throw. This ability can help in games with rapidly changing conditions, but it is often just showing off. Your goal should be to make reasonable judgment on the wind for yourself and your team within 10 throws on the game field. For most of us, this is absolutely sufficient to help with strategy, but not consistently achievable until at least 3-4 years of playing.

The field site will greatly impact the wind. Tree and building cover not only block some wind directions but funnel others to greater strength. Low structures and nature will block person-height wind but leave a shelf of higher, faster-moving air to disrupt hammers and pulls. Stadium structure can cause strong wind effects in different parts of the field, like the wind-tunnel sideline on the south side of the Windmill Windup final field or the crosswind that blows through the west endzone only of the Irving finals location. Wet conditions exacerbate the wind impacts, while warm wind is generally easier to deal with for offenses. Some local knowledge is always helpful; the fields in Santa Cruz give experienced players a chance to win the flip for wind in both halves around the midday changeover from sea breeze to land breeze. If you are heading to play in new conditions, following wind meters, webcams and surfing guides beforehand can give you a sense for it. It’s not uncommon for teams to start following weather patterns in locations of major international tournaments 12 months in advance to get a sense for the wind in those locations at that time of the year. Ask the Dragons of Boracay about their even more consistent and interesting example of seasonal wind effects on their specifically shaped island.

For the purposes of this writing, I’ll be separating wind into a few categories:

• No wind: There is so little wind impact that all throwers are unaffected.

• Thrower’s wind: There is enough wind to impact weaker throwers on the field, but the best few throwers in the game are not bothered or can gain small advantages (like increasing controlled distance downwind or gaining touch upwind).

• Normal wind: There is an easily recognizable strength and direction of the wind, and some parts of the field are currently more or less difficult to throw from. Note that normal wind is not zero!

• Strong wind: There is an obvious hierarchy to all parts of the field based on from where the disc is being thrown. Some reasonable ultimate throws are turnovers solely because of the wind.

• Extreme wind: A number of normal ultimate throws are now impossible to make reliably, and throws are commonly turned over because of the wind.

Using these definitions, I will move forward. Are you frustrated by the lack of numerical guidelines? Good. I hope this makes clear the complexity and the dependency of windplay on a large number of conditions that can’t be consistently recreated and which make every single game unique. If you want a simple game, go play chess.