I grew up and learned to windsurf in El Médano. Here we have waves nearly every day and the stronger the wind, the bigger the waves. In other words, for me it came naturally to pick up speed and at some point hit the wave right to tale off into the air.
Most people who pick up confidence to windsurf at speed here end up doing a windsurfing jump sooner or later, mostly by accident. Let’s look at how to make a controlled jump so you can enjoy some air time without risking a crash. (more…)
I cannot count the number of times In which I have hear the horror story of how someone fell in and ended up with the sail on top of them so that they were trapped under it and were this close to drowning, groping around and finding nothing but foil. You dont know where to swim because it all feels the same and any direction you choose seems to go on for ever as if you were swimming from the mastfoot to the top. Sure, I had that moment myself when I was a kid but never since then. The main thing that has changed is my realization that by staying calm, the oxygen we have in our lungs lasts longer and we can use that oxygen for something better than wasting energy. For example, to think and to find a way to get to the surface. I think I can make you feel calmer by giving you this piece of information: follow the battens.
The sail has a number of batons across it spaced at no more than maybe 80 cm apart from each other. Each of these batons goes from the mast all the way to the leech, meaning that if you find one (less than a second of groping with your eyes closed is enough for that) then all you have to do is propel yourself along the baton in either direction until the end of it.
And if you have the boom at hand then I probably dont have to mention that the same thing goes, apart from the advantage that you can pull yourself along it rather than having to swim.
I have also heard so many times from people that they dont hook into the harness for fear of getting trapped under the sail underwater.
To me this is completely unreasonable.
“But how am I supposed to get away from under the sail if I can’t move?” I hear you say. Well here is my answer:
You don’t have to go anywhere! All you have to do is twist your body so that it is in line with the boom and poke your head out and then calmly get unhooked. The distance from your shoulders to the hook of your harness plus the length of the harness lines is greater than the distance from the mast to the location of the harness lines on the boom. Problem solved.
It’s a little strange for me to recommend a first time board buy to anyone. My first board I bought by helping out at my parents surf center and having them pay it. It was a custom made twin fin wave board with something around 50 litres. I must add that I was 11 years old at the time 🙂
My first board next to a 62 l 🙂
However, despite this different initiation, I can still advise my students on what their first board should be like.
First off, dont bother with buying a board with a centreboard. That is, unless you want to stunt your own progress for not pushing yourself. The board you will use for the longest period of time is something in the range of the 140-160 litres. Naturally this will vary a little depending on your weight but generally this is the litre rangeyou will get the most use out of.
This is the board on which you can learn the beachstart, waterstart, use of footstraps and perfect the harness use with. It might be a little chunky to get into the speed jibe. Until you get the beach and waterstart down it still offers enough buoyancy to allow for uphauling.
All in all, my recommendation for a first board should also be one you will be likely to keep for those really low wind days once you progress past it on windy days.
A surf center is a key point to a surf spot. It is a resort that offers an introduction to the awesomeness of watersports and the facilitator of means to enjoy any of the sports that use the ocean as its playground.
Here is a list of what I believe a surf center should have.
1. Location
I could say that this goes without saying but it is good to remember what our target clientele is. If you intend on bringing beginners to your center, it would be a good idea to choose a spot with flat water. However, don’t expect experienced riders to come if all you have to offer is a maximum of 12 knots (formula sailors do exist, but are they going to rent or will they be more likely to bring their own stuff? An alternative to watersports should also be nearby for days with less favourable conditions as well as decent establishments for food and accommodation.
2. Good equipment
A surf center is characterized mainly by its equipment. What makes one center better than another at the same location is the quality of the equipment it offers. It will naturally also determine the price it asks.
3. Storage space
People who own their own stuff will most likely not want to spend money on rental. They prefer the commodity of sailing the kit they are used to and if you can’t provide a place for them to store it safely, they will go someplace else.
4. Good instructors
A surf school might have great facilities but if the instructors giving the lessons are no good then you might as well just rent. There are a couple pf things that make an instructor good which will be mentioned in a future post.
Disclaimer: I will refer to both gybes as planing gybe so I don’t have to keep writing “power-gybe and carving-gybe” all the time. Basically the thing that differences them is at the end anyways and I will mention it when I get to it.
We have arrived at the holy grail of windsurfing. Sailing out on a plane, turning around and coming back to the beach with dry hair. Once the waterstart is a struggle of the past an no linger a big deal, it also becomes a bit of a nuisance having to let ourselves fall in the water to turn around and waterstart back to the beach. It is time to learn how to do the planing-gybe.
First off, the technique of the planing-gybe has little to do with that of the beginners gybe. The first is for small boards with little volume that sink when they are not planing. The normal gybe is for large volume boards which float even when at a standstill. For this reason I recommend learning the planing-gybe with a board no bigger than 120 litres, less if you are a lightweight.
So let’s get down to it:
Start by planing
As already mentioned a few too many times before, we want to be planing for this gybe. The one thing that will make or break the success of this manoeuvre is speed. Having it when we go in and keeping it throughout. The faster we go, the easier the entire sequence of motions is going to be since the board will be more stable at high speed and the sail will be easier to handle. Our immediate goal is to arrive in the downwind course having the same speed as the wind since then the relative wind is zero and the sail can be handled much easier.
Take the back foot out of the strap
We take the back foot out of the strap and place it on the downwind rail and begin to put pressure on that rail.
Move our weight forward
As the board starts to turn we shift our body forward, over the front foot to make sure that the board remains as flat on the water as possible instead of having too much weight over the stern which would cause the board to sink and slow us down quickly. Keep the front arm straight and the sail sheeted in
As we start to bear away, the relative wind changes also. At one point the board speed is going to be faster than the actual wind and the relative wind will be coming from the downwind course. To use this relative wind to the fullest extent we must keep the front arm straight and the back hand sheeting in the sail to keep an optimal angle of attack on the sail.
Keep the weight over the front foot
Resist the temptation of leaning back as you pick up speed on the downwind course. You want to lean forward with your shoulders without sticking your bum out. Leaning back will only slow us down or make the board shoot out forwards from under our feet and stcking our bum out will rob us of stability.
Keep steady pressure on the rail
If we stand on the board unsteadily we will be applying varying pressure on the inner rail which will result in the board to not make a smooth arc through the water but snake lines which will reduce our stability even more.
Once we arrive at the downwind course we will do one of two sequences that will decide whether your planing gybe is a power-gybe or a carve-gybe. Taking advantage of the relative wind being close to zero, and so hardly having any pressure in the sail we:
Power Gybe
Carve Gybe
Change our foot position taking care to keep them positioned along the centreline of the board and putting a little more pressure on the heels to keep the board durning. First we change the front foot (of the old side), basically just rotating it on the spot and moving slightly to the centreline of the board so it comes out of the footstrap. Then we move the back foot (of the old side) and move it just behind the mastfoot so that the board remains flat over the water and so that when the sail is shifted we can transmit the power of the sail into the board again.
We then we shift the sail making sure that we bring the mast forward again as quickly as possible as the clew can get caught in the water when it arrives one the new side resulting in the sail getting pulled out of our hands. Once the mast is brought forward we can also grab the boom again with our back hand.
Shift the sail making sure that the mast is brought forward again once it has shifted so that we can grab the boom on the new side and so that the clew doesn’t get caught in the water and the resistance in it pulling it out of our hands.
Now it is time to change our foot position: first the front foot which is taken out of the footstrap and placed just behind the front footstraps and on the centreline of the board; then the foot that is on the rail is moved forward just behine the mastfoot ready to transmit the sail power into the board again on the new side.)
Once on the new side with the feet and sail set up correctly again we need to continue the plane (or get back into it in case we slowed down too much). In other words we must lean back, close the sail and push our hips forward.
I personally do vary on the gybe I do depending on the side I do it in. I feel most comfortable with my right foot in front as I have a goofy stance when surfing or skateboarding. For this reason I do a power-gybe when starting on a port tack and a carve-gybe when I start on a starboard tack so that I stay as long as possible with my right foot in front as I feel I have more control. People with a regular stance will probably prefer to keep their left foot in front longer. In any case, try out both ways and see which one comes more naturally to you.
To recap:
– Important is to be planing
– Back foot out f the footstrap
– Start putting pressure on the rail
– Weight forward
– Front arm straight, close the sail with back hand
– Keep body vertical: no sticking our bum out in a sitting positiion, no leaning back with the shoulders
– Keep steady pressure on the rail throughout the manoeuvre
– Switch feet first, then shift the sail (power gybe)
OR (Depends on preferred stance)
– Shift sail, then switch feet (carve gybe)
– When shifting the sail, bring the mast forward again quickly so the clew doesn’t get caught in the water
