Afternoon high tide and a good wind forecast looked good for some development time on the GO 151
Yes folks time for some more of that frustration TOW they call learning to plane
The wind seemed strong enough, the 7m sail appropriate put in the bigger 50cm fin that came with the board.
Spent the next hour phusting and schlogging - occasionally getting a little tease at the possibility of planing. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in a parallel universe where I took the blue pill and everybody else took the orange one ;-(
In hindsight probably needed a bigger sail - occasional whitecaps on the water. Wind gusts showed promise with odd purposefull acceleration bearing off before I ran out of downwind.
Had enough of the required 'development' time and used the last of the daylight to take the longboard out. What a difference - same sail - no changes - I'm off and accelerating WaHoo :-). :-)
Able to get on the plane and head away from the shore. Felt good power from the sail. Able to waterstart.
Sure looking forward to finding out what I'm not doing correctly with the shortboards. Maybe it's not in my mid 50s genetics - I should be following windsurfing history and try to master a short board from the 80s??
Cheers Jeff - doing his time - one frustrating run after another!!
The development program continues....
Went out with the local "improvers" to RQ beach on Saturday. Winds 20knt + gusts
Got smashed!!
Board too big?? (Go151 81cm wide) Wrong sail (7m) Standard fin 50cm
Results as expected-board and sail out of control most of time - spent a lot of time in the water practicing water starts.
I took one look at the conditions and thought I really haven't got the gear or skill to handle these conditions.
I went in anyway
Tony did very well on his new acquisition - tabou rocket 125 - a very happy man.
Went out to sandstone point/pebble beach with the promise of some SE winds.
Well wasn't really enough wind - tried the GO151 with a 9.5 sail. Felt like I had a bucket hooked up to the fin!!
Just not enough technique or wind to get it out of the drag phase.
Took Tony's Bic 283 techno for a spin - it showed more promise - hinting at planing
Don't know what it is about me and older boards - given the GO had the bigger fin 50cm and wider 81cm vs bic 46cm fin width 69cm you would have thought the GO was the better choice
My session came to an unfortunate end when I collided with the infamous oyster beds at Sandstone - ouch!!!
Lost the BIC's fin - Anybody got a 46-50cm trim box fin stashed away in the shed??
So not really getting much recreation sailing lately- I have next week up at Cootharaba. Hoping for some more development time.
cheers Jeff
To re-iterate a point previously made, you should try sailing with experienced sailors, its great you have a crew of like minded people you enjoy sailing with. But as a group of beginners (not intermediates) you will learn better gear choices from far more experienced sailors. It can be hard to judge wind strength, which as you are learning is the difference between a comfortable session and copping a beating. A smaller less powerful fin in the go would have settled the board a little more, but primarily you need to look at your sail selection and wind strength more closely, which comes with experience
On those lighter wind days, try not to focus on getting planing, too many people focus on planing and forget to enjoy all aspects of windsurfing. Get on the bigger board with a smaller sail, and practice your tacks, light wind jibes, sail steering, sailing clew first, back winded, even try some sail tricks such as a sail 360, helitack and so on. It is this time that you learn how to balance the power of a sail, simple footwork, which will all be far more useful than lumbering around on a monster of a rig trying to get planing.
Maybe check out Caesar Finies on you tube and see what light wind windsurfing could be like with practice.
Dam71 is on the money fella, big board small sail for those non plaining days. Honestly you will be suprised how much you will learn, and how much fun you will have by doing so. Not sure queens is the place to learn maybe a drive to golden beach, head over to the sand banks and practise there. Lots of windsurfers sail gb and I'm sure they will be more than happy to help out, really friendly bunch.
In my defense I'm not dismissing light wind practice. Already mentioned 2 hours of said practice at golden beach last week.
So it looks like I made 2 mistakes
- misreading the minimum conditions I could get planning at
- sharing the experience
Maybe we need a thread
- experienced windsurfers available keen to assist beginners. Not like we have a lot of beginners to spare in this sport.
Wanted - Still looking for a shortboard mentor
Wind looks good on Thursday afternoon - any experienced sailors keen to help a 'keen beginner' - have board will travel?
Cheers Jeff
Bit harsh there fella, we've all been there and I'm yet to find a windsurfer who's not keen to help another get the most out of the sport. We can relate to Every frustration and experience you write about I'm working at sandstone point today, pm me and I will try to give you some pointers ( basics only as I'm not that crash hot myself)
Didn't mean to be harsh - I need your support
Sent a pm re sandstone
@tilldark. Thanks for your offer
Cheers Jeff
Hey Jeff.
Personally I think the Go is probably a big part of the problem. As you know I have one and I find it a pain to try and get any performance out of. As Kerry said to me it is a beginners board and not a performance board. I find the GO to be frustrating and not responsive to input from your feet and a pig to gybe.
No doubt this is in large part due to my lack of skills, but I am sure the board is a big part of it. The old RRD I have which is a similar dimension is so much easier.
Maybe it is because it's thinner?
To be honest, the board I have most fun on when the wind is up is my old bomabora Xit. The Xit is a heavy plastic board and I find that when the wind is up it just cuts through the chop and just wants to sit down and go faster. Not a light wind board at all, but I think easy to sail. Far less of a struggle compared to lighter boards, when the wind is up, that I seem to have to battle all the time to control.
Send me a PM if you want to grab the XIt for a try at any time. It is just sitting in it's rack looking sad at the moment and I am sure would love an outing.
I know you are up at the Lake next weekend, feel free to take it up there if you like, just in case the wind gets up. Also, I am out this weekend, but let me know next time you are heading to Sandstone as I haven't been there for years and have been thinking of going up.
Cheers, Brad.
Thanks Brad
Old boards???
That is why I was wondering if my DNA is different.
As per advice here and my various mentors I do try to stick to the one board. Always trying the GO first however I must admit that after an hour or so I revert to my old skool board... The F2 Comet
Couple of examples...
Windwanders meet and greet at Cootharaba a few months ago, excitedly I took the Go out with 7m sail- a little overpowered in the 16+ kt winds. Didn't really get away from the shore
Came back in went out on the Comet F2 (same volume - long and narrow). Had a blast. Managed the footstraps a few times. Got catapulted when I missed getting in before the speed built plus not watching for the gusts.
However was able to have time out in the water windsurfing. Talking to Peter N the other day he said the Comet use to be the intermediate board to use when progressing from longboards
Rq beach in last Saturdays blasting winds. After swimming/walking back in with the GO I put the 7m sail on the Comet and 'went back out' - as I said 'keen' or just foolhardy Well it wasn't very pretty - way over powered as expected but some sailing was done
That's why I thought I would try Tonys Bic 283. I had success on a bic up at Cootharaba last Xmas when I couldn't get the Go155 with a 8.5 sail going but was able to plane on the narrower BIC with a 7.5 sail. I can't explain or account for the difference???
So why did I go and buy another GO?? Spent time with Simon and with the latest GOs the shape has changed to the Carve platform. I really think I just haven't had the right light wind flat water conditions yet to do the board justice. I did get an experienced sailor to take it out on light conditions at Cootharaba last school hols (thanks Jack). He used a 9 m sail and said it was a good board - here's hoping
Cheers Jeff
Hi Jeff, Darren here. I am sure you will get some great pointers up at the lake with Peter Nitschki. Peter taught me when I was only 15 or 16 years old and is a great friend all these years later. (I'm now 42). We often sail at Bribie in se'ers but over the other side at Bongaree. I don't mind sailing at Pebble Beach (Sandstone Point) when I need to re-gain some fitness, and if the tide permits, or if there is a little too much east in it. By all means please give me a bell when you're going there, and I'll try and tag along. I don't claim to be a great sailor but I can teach well and would be only too happy to help.
Cheers
Darren Love
Hi Jeff
46cm trim box is the old techno 293Od fin i think you can order new through goodtime or surf fx or maybe even online with bic
Hi lads thanks for the support and encouragement - it helps heaps when the enthusiasm is waning
Life is great - went out at low tide and trolled through the 'waste lands' of oyster beds - gee it's a knarly place to be taking a windsurfer over
Found my fin - essentially intact. Now to glue it back into the head with a little more glue than used initially. I'll be ready for the weekend.
Cheers Jeff
How lucky are you Jeff not only did dam71 give you advice on how to windsurf he also offered his opinion on how you can improve as a person
Good comments BC. It is really great to see what you are giving to the sport. It can cost many hundreds of dollars to get proper coaching, not to mention the time factor. I did note from reading this thread that there was no distinction between advice given on the beach as to advice while you are sailing. I have always found other riders willing to share thoughts etc., but once on the water you are pretty much on your own. My source of instruction is mostly video I watch (Beginner to Winner) and the rereading of articles by Cribb etc that are freely available on the web. Each time I go on the water I am working on a new skill or correcting a bad habit. After sailing I can watch the videos again, picking up where I went wrong or to reinforce something I am doing correct. Homework is definitely part of the learning experience. It also makes me safer on the water and I have more fun.
Development continues at Turners Camp Road Bribie due to the NE winds.
I haven't sailed there before - didn't know what I was missing :-)
I now have a favorite new spot only 30mins from home.
Thursday. Met up with #dag (Darren) for some expert tuition. Worked on my stance and bearing off technique. Didn't really get planing - Darren took board for a run says it really needs some muscle to get up and GOing. Met Pete who is a Turners Camp regular.
Friday. Linked up with Pete. we discussed boards and decided to give the techno 183 a run with 7m sail. Spent the afternoon enjoying the thrill of planing. WAHOO.
Longest run i had was from Ningi creek down to the boat ramp by the bridge - jumped off as I was heading into unknown territory. Pete got a blurry iphone pic. Tony (nowork) dropped in to witness me blasting past in the foot-straps, carving away from the shore :-) Lots of issues but felt progress was being made :-)
Saturday - missed the epic day with Morgs and Tony at Golden Beach - too buggered after a big morning at the gym. Family day.
Sunday - Cootharaba for Long-board racing and Windwanders meetup. Managed one lap around the triangle course - downwind sailing is a real struggle!
Took the BIC out in the late afternoon - some planing - didn't feel as powered up as Friday - also fatigue was setting in. Broke the fin again - ordered a new one.
Monday back to Turners Camp with Pete and Darren. Lots of schlogging on the GO151 7m sail. Occasional planing but running out of downwind again. Its a nice stable board in the chop once I get it going and start bearing back up into wind.
The boys helped me with my stance and committing to the harness. Met Steve (recent arrival from NSW) who was out on a BIC reacquainting himself with shortboards after a career racing longboards.
Tuesday (turners camp) met up with Darren and Pete. GO151 7m sail -wanted to put up the 9.5 but Darren suggested otherwise. Schlogging again - watching the others planing past me :-( I know patience little one!!
Pete offered me a go on his F2 board (early formula style - 80cm wide, hard rails, flat bottom) with 7.5 overdrive. Up and planing, WAHOO, best I did was front foot in and rear foot on the the strap. Pete was watching and said i looked good but buttoned off a little as the board started accelerating -yes early days !
Discussed the GO151 after both Darren and Pete have been out on it. Needs a lot of drive to get up? Maybe a bigger sail than what we have been considering. Wondering weather the center slot for the training fin is causing drag? Nice board once it gets going :-)
4 days of shortboard - no uphauls - beach starts and water starts (nothing pretty mind you!)- just a little proud of myself ;-)
Wednesday looks like light wind development, Thursday off to the Lake for the Windwanders Clinic weekend.
cheers Jeff
Wednesday..Another great midday session at Turners Camp Met up with Darren and Steve. went out with 8.5 sail Wahoo life is great.
Getting consistently into front strap as the board comes onto the plane.
Seems i look more committed and comfortable travelling left to right - we'll work on that.
Great to have regular sessions and debrief - thanks team
cheers Jeff
@jack - see you at the lake :-)
N - ne. Works way into low tide. Darren stayed out for the arvo yesterday and found a long speed strip at low tide.
Can't believe I've been watching and waiting for SE winds at sandstone high tide and sitting a lot of northerlies out.
So great to have another local flat water spot
Cheers Jeff
Can anyone tell me, how you post your KA72 Google earth overlay to this forum?
This spot is great. I'm a local, and I've only ever sailed here on high tide. Another local (27 Years), said - "Why did we stop sailing here?" My reply -"We've only sailed here at high tide". That "said local" (John) - followed me very carefully into the mouth of Ningi Creek, where he could then see the first red and green marker.
At low tide, all obstructions are out of the water and the entire bank is visible. The start of the run starts at the yellow cross-over beacon. Point high to the bank, and then bear away along the bank, aiming straight for the first green and red and gybe right between the two. Head high on your port tack out. Come back in high, and bear along the bank again.
I have been driving a long way to experience nothing but ripples under my board, and have spent most of my life living right on top of it.
Once sailed at low, you can have just as much fun at any level of tide.
Lee - If anyone tells me how to put my overlay on this post, I'm sure I will sea you there.
Hey Jeff, I live over on the Woorim side of Bribie, and, having spent a hell of a lotta time going through the challenges you are going through-would be more ham happy to help out in any way I can with a few tips here and there. PM your number and we can catch up and go for a sail! As many other would have told you, it's only a few little tweaks here and there with harness lines, body position and boom-you'll be planing in no time. Ready for the forward loop before you know it! Also, I may have a 42cm fin hidden somewhere that will fit the bic!
Also, just keep at it-it's great to see you out on the water-that's really the only way-get out there whatever the conditions and learn to sail each piece of your kit in its highest and lowest wind range. Over time you will develop a knowledge bank of when to take out ea h sail/board combo.
I have sailed turners road a few times, but actually found a spot up near the Avon shipwreck which is great for blasting/freestyle on an incoming tide too. A bit light getting out there but fun once you make it. I'll have to come and have a try at Turners again on a Ne.